Prague in Pictures

You're in luck!  This will be the least wordy post I ever write.  Why? Well unfortunately, I was in the US when my family made the trip to the Czech Republic last weekend.  We had already planned to go to Prague with the DeKunder family on what turned out to be the weekend of my grandma's funeral.  After weighing all of our options, I sent my people to Prague, and I went home.  I was so thankful the three of them had a fantastic family to share the weekend with.  I knew they were in good hands with these seasoned travelers and friends.  Bear with me as I give you the very abbreviated version of the beautiful Prague.

Here are the travel buddies...the DeKunder family...dear friends from school and church.  Many thanks to Staci for several of the pictures.  She got some terrific shots!

I learned that the youngest DeKunder kept quite close to the younger Vastine.  If they should ever decide to get married, we have great wedding video material. 

1.  I'm not sure what that face is all about???
2.  Thomas is soaking wet because he stood under a gargoyle that was "throwing up" and was drenched with water.  It was a rainy, dreary day but greatly improved the following day.
3.  My children are hugging for a picture.  Clearly I was not there...that would never happen for a picture for mom.

Aren't they cute!  They totally got in trouble for this. :)

Staci got some really great shots of my kids!

In front of the Charles Bridge

Enjoying some play time at an island next to Charles Bridge.  Thomas was able to spend the night with his friend Patrik on Saturday.  They were in the same class at ISB last year, and we were so sad to see them leave Brussels.  But now, we have friends in Prague...who have a sauna and indoor swimming pool!  Bonus!

This is the only Jewish cemetery in Prague which dates back to the 15th century.  Since this was the only cemetery where they could be buried, there are 100,000 people buried there with only 12,000 headstones.  The people were buried on top of one another due to the lack of space.

More wedding video material. :)  Dancing in the streets.

They ate a delicious American meal at Hard Rock Cafe.  They said the building itself was incredible!

The astronomical clock 

Beautiful views!

From the top of the astronomical tower.

There were dozens of screaming girls in the square.  They were petitioning for One Direction to come to Prague.  Our girls are NUTS about 1D, so they were super excited.  This is a great shot from the tower of the fans below.

There was plenty of good food!

And, an interesting way to get all of the dead stuff off your feet.  I will try this some day for sure! :)

I was very sad I wasn't able to join in on this fantastic trip, but I was where I needed to be.  I'll get there someday....I hope!

Until next time,
Wendy

My Precious Grandma

This summer, I was blessed to visit with my family from Hartwick, IA while the kids and I were home.  When I am with my dad's side of the family, I never want our time together to end because it is always so much fun.  On this day, we celebrated my grandma's upcoming 95th birthday!  You could never guess her age because she just didn't act it.  It was only in the last few years that she was more quiet in conversations and struggled with seeing because of a stroke, but she was still her same witty, sweet self.

It's been hard to say goodbye the last couple of times I have seen her because you just never know.  Will this be the last time I get to wrap my arms around her and hear her say I love you?  And, as it turned out, God decided this would be our last day together.  My grandma fell about three weeks ago and broke her arm.  Her breathing was labored, so they thought perhaps she cracked a rib or maybe punctured a lung.  What they found was a mass on her trachea.  It was her wish to let it be.  She even told us she was ready.  She had been a widow for years, lost her son (my dad), and was the last of her siblings.  She lived a life filled with love and passed an immense amount of love to all she knew.  Just two weeks later, she was with our Heavenly Father, and I'm sure there was quite a celebration when she arrived!

The service was incredible and completely planned by my grandma.  The pastor held up the note card with all of her wishes for the service.  Pastor Dan made her proud.  

She was a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan and Iowa Hawkeyes fan.  She had a hand in both wins this weekend.  Thanks, Grandma. :) 

It wouldn't be a family gathering without a game of liverpool.  Some of my favorite memories with my family are those spent playing this game.  When you were little, you just couldn't wait to be old enough to sit at the table and play.  I never thought that day would come.  It was worth the wait. :)

These are my amazing cousins and my sister, Nicole.  I love them so much!  We each shared our favorite stories about Grandma during the service.  Clearly, Nicole and I did not get the tall genes in the family!

We know how to have a good time.  LOL!

Traveling home to say goodbye to my grandma was the best decision I could have made.  This is definitely one of the more difficult things about living abroad.

I was truly blessed to have my grandma for all these years.  One day we will be together again, and what a beautiful day that will be!  I love you, Grandma!

Until next time,
Wendy

Finding Our Happy Place in Brussels!

It was a beautiful evening in Brussels.  Our week had been filled with rain, so the bright sunshine was a welcomed change!  The Brussels Marathon finished in the Grand Place just hours before this, so it wasn't quite as clean as usual but still beautiful of course!

This building has been covered with a facade since before we moved here.  The restoration was worth the wait.  It's gorgeous!

At the recommendation of our pastor (yes, you read that correctly), we visited (stumbled upon) this bar off the Grand Place.  I was nervous about going in.  I'm a chicken like that.  I don't like it when you walk into a new place and everyone stares at you.  That happens a lot here, so basically Chris had to drag me in there. 

Don't they look like they are having a blast.   Ha!

And to our surprise, they served Westvleteren 12!  This has the honor of being the "Best Beer in the World".  I actually tried to order a couple of cases for Chris a few weeks ago and was unsuccesful after 500+ calls to the abbey.  Here at the bar, it was 10 euros a bottle, but because you cannot buy it anywhere else, it was worth the price.  You could even buy bottles and take them home!

This is the passageway you walk through to get to the bar.  It is hidden down an alley and even though it is just off the Grand Place, very few tourists know about it....well they didn't know until I just plastered it all over this blog. :) 

Doing the Macarena at the Grand Place.  I wish I was kidding. :)

So, the whole point to going to the Grand Place on a Sunday night was to meet up with my mom's cousin Randy and his wife Debbie.  It was fun to show them around part of the city.  We visited Manneken Pis, the kids had waffles, and of course we had to take them back to the new bar we discovered.

Cheers to Westvleteren!  Chris has certainly found his happy place in Brussels!

It's exactly what you would picture an old European bar to look like!

Then we had dinner at Chez Leon.  Of course, you have to order mussels and frites at this time of year!

Randy had a beer list he was working on, so we stopped at the Delirium Cafe to see if we could help him mark off a few more beers on his list.

But, it was a school night, so we had to head home.  You can't hang out at the Delirium all night with an 11 year old and 9 year old.  That might be frowned upon.  We loved having Randy and Debbie here even if it was only for a few hours.  Anyone else want to come and visit?  We have certainly found some fun new places to take our visitors.

Until next time,
Wendy

Family Reunion - The end of the 4th grade field trip!

On Monday morning, Thomas left for his 4th grade field trip to PGL in Normandy, France.  The purpose of this field trip was team building and all kinds of adventure!  

Here he is all ready to go.  I'm thankful he will still pose for a picture or two for Mom.  

Each night, the school website was updated with pictures of the kids participating in the daily outdoor, adventure activities.  I was amazed by all of the awesome things the kids were able to try.  They were repelling, flying on the trapeze, walking on a tightrope with the help of their classmates, shooting bow and arrows, a bonfire, and the fun goes on!

And, it looks like there was plenty of mud!

My friend Vivian is a teacher at ISB and was on the trip.  She kept me updated on FB on how Thomas was doing.  One night she told me how proud I would be of him.  While he waited for his friends, he took it upon himself to wipe down the dirty tables his classmates didn't clean.  That warmed my heart and made me so proud!

Finally, he arrived home today (Friday) around 4:45 P.M.  I was so ready to see him!  He chit chatted all the way home about his roommates, the magic tree, great teachers, the activities I listed above, and the mud.  With all of that fun comes some seriously dirty clothes.  To be blunt...he smelled awful, but come to find out it was his shoes!  They smelled so badly from being wet.  When he took them off at home, Allison actually winced at the smell.  They went straight into the wash.  YUCK!!!  And on a side note, they were his "inside" shoes for the trip...that he accidentally wore out on the "mud" day.  Why am I not surprised???

They would never admit it, but they were happy to see each other.

He also came home with a war wound on his face...something about a friend with a stick...the friend didn't get in trouble...and it didn't bleed.  That's as much as I could get.....

I think he grew this week!  The ISB moms are sure happy to have their babes back home safely!

He was pretty quiet the rest of the night.  He watched a movie and then quietly dozed off in the chair.  I think the week of fun took it's toll.  I'm just happy to have him sleeping in his bed tonight.  His room was just too empty.

Until next time,
Wendy

Brussels Bike Tour

One of my new volunteering positions here in Brussels is at the kids' school.  My friend Mackenzie and I are in charge of Community Events at ISB.  It is our job to help parents find their niche at school, as well as organize fun monthly activities.  Our first outing was a bike tour of Brussels.  

We saw many fantastic sights around the city!

Can you see the Atomium in the background?

About midway on our 14 km trek, we stopped for frites (fries in Belgium.)

Once you buy your frites at the stand, you can sit at one of the local pubs...as long as you buy a drink.  The waiter told me I had to buy a beer, but it turned out I could have purchased a Coke.  Anyway, I got a Grimbergen, and I actually drank the whole thing!  Pretty good for a girl who detests beer.  But, I will admit it tasted really good with the frites!

Our group enjoying their break! 

Self portrait of me...riding my bike...praying I don't drop my phone. :)  Clearly this sort of nonsense was done after I had the Grimbergen. ;) 

We called this fashion vs. safety.  April was obviously the smarter of the two.  We were riding in some pretty crazy traffic.  My cute hat was not going to help me one bit!

A shot of the group at Cinquantenaire Park. 

Smurf sighting!

Claire and I acting like tourists.  We've definitely seen Manneken Pis a few times.

And, another group shot.  Thank you for the pic Mackenzie...that I copied from your Facebook page ;)

There were so many parts of the city that I didn't realize were so close to each other.  Brussels is definitely a city that can be done by bike.  It was a great day of fun and education with such fabulous ladies!

Until next time,
Wendy

Bon Voyage!

Mr. T left today for his field trip to France.  The students will be getting a fantastic outdoor educational experience while team building and having fun!!!

We met at school "dark (not bright) and early" at 7:15 A.M.

Here he is loading his bag into the bus.  The kids are responsible for carrying their own suitcases.  I didn't want him to have a bag that big, but it had to fit two pairs of his shoes.  And, he has adult sized shoes!

Waiting to depart.  I wish I knew what he was thinking.... 

Traveling in style!

The last wave...he blew me kisses too.  I'm thankful he is still willing to do that.

And, they're off.  We received an email that they arrived at their destination safely.  We will get nightly updates with pictures to see how our kiddos are doing.  I'll be anxious to see him on Friday evening.  I'm praying he has a fantastic week!

Until next time,
Wendy