Somehow...it is June. I'm really not sure what happened to May, but it came and went so quickly. Here is a recap of what the Vastines were busy doing.
Dave and Sandy Colee were doing a European tour and stopped in to see us (technically this was the end of April.) Dave is the announcer for the Big Red Marching Machine (band) and ISU basketball. He was the announcer while I was on the ISU Danceline (yes, at one point I did wear a sparkly leotard on a regular basis.) I was thrilled they wanted to stop and have dinner. It was a great evening.
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| Of course, we had to stop for a Westvleteren at one of our favorite little pubs in Brussels. |
We love to celebrate birthdays, and surprising Melonee on her birthday was so much fun. The look on her face was priceless!
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| Kristina, we can see you hiding back there! |
Allison was in need of appropriate shorts, and by appropriate, I mean nothing you buy in Belgium. So it was off to Lille, France to shop at the GAP. It is the closest one to us. She found a great style, we bought four pairs, and they were 30% off. Yay us!
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| Lille has a KFC, so the day was even better! |
The spring weather has been mild like our winter was, so there have been plenty of opportunities to be outside enjoying it. How about those ghostly white legs!
Thomas left for his 5th grade field trip on May 5th. This year he was off to Trier, Germany. Allison loved this trip, so we had no doubt he would have a wonderful time.
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| As I had said on FB....Allison was super sad to see him go. LOL! |
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| Thomas got a great shot of the Porta Negra in Trier. |
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| I took this shot from the school website. Why? Because that little sweetie is wearing Thomas's ball cap. Yes, there is more to this story, but he wouldn't want me to mention on the blog that he has a girlfriend...so I won't. |
Cinco de Mayo with the Moss family. It was SO GOOD!
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| Back from his trip safe and sound. He had a wonderful time! |
Mid-month, we celebrated our friend Jack's birthday at Hard Rock Cafe (of course!) What a fun night!
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| We had to do a little photo shoot on the Grand Place. They are such special friends, and sadly, they are moving home. We are not quite sure what we will do without them. |
Meet Olivia Pope...she consumes my life and takes away from my much needed sleep time.
It's that time of year....going away parties have started. Kara and Heather will be missed in Belgium. Good news...Kara is moving back to central Illinois, and Heather will be in London. So, no one is really going to be too remote and hard to get to.
We had a wonderful Mother's Day lunch at the Justiniano's house. It was such a nice way to celebrate the day. I loved the "moms only" table.
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| All of the moms! |
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| I'm so lucky to be their mom. |
May 18th, Chris ran the Brussels 20 km. It was such a gorgeous day, and he finished with a great time!
May 19th, Allison left for her field trip to the Alsace region of France. I have yet to see a picture from the trip. There isn't as much communication with the older kids, and she hasn't shown me any she took with her phone. Yes, she is growing up, and I hate it.
While Allison and other ISB kiddos were away, the moms decided to take a trip to Madrid, Spain. This was a last hurrah trip as Shirley and Lucinda will both be moving at the end of the school year. We had a great time, and at some point, it will get its own blogpost. I'm secretly waiting for Lucinda to post her's, and I will copy and paste. ;)
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| She returned all in one piece! |
May 24th was Lucinda and Shirley's going away party. We let their husbands come too. Hahaha! What a fun night. This too will get its own post.
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| The guests of honor. |
ISB hosted an end of the year/going away party. I love these events at school. It is such a great way to bring everyone together on campus. The dads like it for the free beer.
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| The photobooth was a hit! |
We have a nice number of ISB moms who live in our town. We have a wine night once a month. It is great therapy to sit around and chat. I love these girls!
The end of this month officially started our visitors' season. Pete and Jenn were the first to arrive. Pete is a former student, and they are traveling Europe to celebrate his graduation from dental school and Jenn's completion of her nurse practitioners license. We are thrilled to have them staying with us three different times during the month as they move from place to place. They are currently enjoying Italy.
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| First stop...The Grand Place! |
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| Waffles of course! |
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| Pete enjoyed a Westvleteren. Poor Jenn is pregnant and wishing she could have one. |
When Jenn and Pete left for Bruges, we headed to Ghent for the day. It was Ascension, so we enjoyed having the day off together. We finally saw the Ghent Altarpiece, "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb." It is a popular piece of art to see now that it was featured in The Monuments Men. We could hardly fit in the door to see it. It truly is amazing.
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| Lunch along the canal. |
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| Ghent is beautiful! Chris likes it more than Bruges. |
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| A boat cruise was in order. This was a first for us. It was a nice change from the tour in Bruges we have done at least 15 times. |
The following day, Alex arrived from the US. Alex is also a former student. I just love that all of these former students come to visit. It totally warms my heart! Alex is doing a 31 day trip around Europe (by herself) to celebrate the completion of her MBA! We were happy to entertain her in Brussels for a couple of days.
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| Starbucks is now on the Grand Place. Whooohooo!!!! |
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| Manneken Pis! |
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| We are really excited about the Red Devils and the upcoming World Cup. Thomas says he is not cheering for the USA. Hmmm....sorry USA. This boy is all Belgian now. |
That afternoon, my friend Brad and his girlfriend Michelle arrived from a trip to Paris. I felt bad that my guests had an overlapping weekend, but it really worked out well. We were just one big happy touring family for the weekend! Hahaha!
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| We went to the top of the Cinquantenaire Park arches. That was a first for us too. |
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| Frites in Place Jourdan at Maison Antoine are a must in Brussels. After you purchase your frites, you may sit at any of the bars/restaurants around the square and order a drink while you eat. |
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| Chocolate anyone? You need a crash diet after you visit us. |
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| And, then there was more Westvleteren! |
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| Delirium stop after dinner. |
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| Guess who was driving..... |
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| The Grand Place is ridiculously beautiful at night. |
Saturday morning, we were off to Bruges. Guests always love Bruges!
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| Height order! Ha! |
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| Cheers! Drinking Zot the local brew. |
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| Mussels with white wine sauce...yep...doesn't every 11 year old order that for lunch?? |
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| The Madonna and Child by Michelangelo was also featured in The Monuments Men. The cathedral has been under renovation, so we were finally able to see it. |
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| Brad is very good at selfies. We took advantage of his long arms. :) |
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| Who knew there would be 15 DeLoreans rolling through Bruges. This one looked just like the one from Back to the Future. |
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| We had a fantastic rib dinner at Ribs and Beer. Their house sauce is made from chocolate and Belgian beer. Wow! |
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| That is our waiter Olivier. Alex was in love. Hahaha! |
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| What's not to love?! |
Alex had to leave us on Sunday morning and head to Amsterdam. The rest of us attempted to go to Leuven, but every road into the city was blocked. So, we did a pass by the Stella Brewery and then headed to Antwerp.
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| Time for another selfie. We had a stand in for Alex, but she was not nearly as much fun. |
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| The ceiling of the Antwerp train station. |
Brad and Michelle left to head back to the US on Monday morning, and Pete and Jenn returned to us on Monday night. They were off to Italy early this morning, and we will see them again June 14th. And, that is May (plus a few days) in a very large nutshell. Stay tuned for more fun as our school year is drawing to a close, friends will be leaving, and more visitors will arrive.
Until next time,
Wendy
