We made it to Dallas

Eric was nice enough to take us to the airport at 4am.  We had a short flight to London then a 3 hour layover.  The nicest thing about the London airport is that it has a play area so the kids could run around for a couple hours.  When we went to find our seats on the airplane, we found that our tickets weren't just the normal economy, they were economy plus or something so seats had more space and a leg rest popped out.  We were the back row of it and I'm sure when we sat down with two little kids people around us were thinking they were going to be in for a long flight.

The kids did good, however they weren't as interested in the TV as we had anticipated.  We had pre-ordered a kids meal for each of them which ended up being awesome.  Not only did they get their food before everyone, but they ate almost all of it and took a good hour to do so.  Both of them took a decent sized nap (sadly, every time I tried to fall asleep they wanted something).  Kevin loved using the bathroom and went at  least 10 times and I'm not even exaggerating.  He did drink a lot and I'll take that over peed pants any day.

When we arrived in Dallas, we quickly found all our luggage and took the shuttle to pick-up the rental car.  We rented a full size car and it was packed to the brim with 10 pieces of luggage, 3 personal items, 2 car seats and a stroller.  This is where it started getting not so good.  I got my knee shut in the door when closing it which really hurt and left a good sized bruise, I forgot to pull out the GPS, we got lost finding our apartment an hour later after digging through the bags to find the GPS we found our temporary housing (a 2 bedroom apartment) and got everything unloaded.

We stopped at Chick-fil-a for dinner.  The kids loved the play area and their chicken nuggets.  We stopped at Walmart so our cupboards wouldn't be bare the next morning.

It was a long exhausting day, be we made it and Dallas welcomed us with 80 degree weather :).

Last Days in Belgium

The last couple days in Belgium we went up to our favorite bakery in the morning for some delicious pastries.  So good.  Aside from that we ran a couple errands to pick-up some items we wanted to pack back with us and I sent a huge chunk of time packing and repacking bags.

I spent the entire last day in Belgium at the Hatches house and man am I going to miss them.  Jenny and I chatted all day and the kids played (ahem, played itouch that is).  We made toffee (ruined one batch...do NOT excessively stir toffee) and Jenny let Kherington help make dinner.  Then after dinner all the kids went to bed including ours.  Kevin and Kherington are not early to bed kids, but I guess playing with friends all day with no nap wiped them out.

That made it so we could actually play games!  I had so much fun but at the same time it made me so sad that we hadn't done this earlier.  We played Qwirkle and I even won for the first time ever.  It took us 3 years to find a family that we all click with (husband, wife and kids) and now we're moving.  I just want to take them with me.  Man, making friends like this is hard.

Bokrijk, Bread and Ice Cream

Armistice Day is a public holiday here so Ryan didn't have to work.  He was set on taking the kids to this awesome playground that we hadn't been to in a long time.  We got the kids ready and went to head to the car, but the kids really wanted to go to the small playground behind our temporary housing.  They had fun for all of a couple minutes before we were able to persuade them to think going to the huge playground would be more fun.

Bokrijk is the largest outdoor free playground in Belgium and it was awesome!  You normally have to pay for parking but I guess it was free because of the holiday which made it even better (park in P1 parking to be closest to the playground) .  We thought it might be crowded but lucky for us we got their early enough the our kids were able to do whatever they wanted at their own pace.

After the playground, we stopped at a outdoor vending machine to pick-up so bread then headed over to a delicious ice cream place called Croccantino that I wish we had tried years ago.  They had huge portions for a decent price plus a covered area to eat in and they were actually open on a holiday.  At the end of our fun filled day, I thought they kids (and daddy) looked so cute sleeping.  I found it quite funny that on this full size bed (if that) Kherington is actually laying in the middle so Ryan and Kevin are sharing the other half.

Church

We had our last Sunday in the Brussels 1st Ward.  Church here has definitely had it's challenges.  Because of all the expats that come and go it has also changed a lot over the past 4 years.  Classes are first followed by Sacrament meeting.  Classes are translated as needed.  Currently there are 5 different languages in primary (French, English, German, Italian, Swedish) with the bulk of the kids speaking English whereas when we first got here it was a French/English split.  During Sacrament meeting, headphones are used to translate French/English depending on the language spoken.  In addition each Sunday we alternate the language songs are sung in.

With all the expats coming and going, the leadership in the ward has changed over the years.  Pretty much each summer there are big changes. We've been able to meet a lot of different families over the years.  Below are a few of them: Rasmussen's (moved from Kentucky), Vivian Grandfils (from Congo, but has lived here a long time) and the Fernandez's (French and Belg).

Ryan has been 1st Counselor in the Bishopric for the last year and a half and apparently they asked if he thought I would want to speak and he kindly offered himself instead (what a great husband).  Church really has not been very easy but definitely a good growing experience.  Ryan would leave for meeting before church and often stay after (taking the tram both ways) plus wasn't able to help with kids during Sacrament meeting.  I was in Primary almost our entire time here (when I wasn't I was the Gospel Doctrine teacher and Kevin was little).  Most Sunday's between full-filling callings and trying to keep the kids quiet while wearing headphones, I really didn't feel like I personally got much out of going to church.  However, I do know my kids were learning so were the people I taught.  It made me that much more grateful to all the teachers I had growing up.  A couple things about service that I learned from this ward include (1) If everyone is pitching in it really does make a difference, (2) Nothing happens unless someone is making it happen and (3) Just because someone else may be better at a task does not mean they should do it.

The Primary was very sweet and gave Kherington and Kevin an early Christmas present that was made by one of the previous Primary Counselors. 

Market Fresh Waffles

The best liege waffles in Belgium can be found at Stockel market on Tues, Fri and Sat or Evere market on Wed from the same vendor.  They are amazing and best eaten immediately.  Aside from waffles, it is fun to try random new food.  This is most easily done by finding a stall with long lines and watching to see what other people buy.  I've had some delicious hummus, tzatziki and thai food.  I wish I liked olives so I could enjoy sampling the vast variety available.

Kherington cracks me up.  She loves taking pictures and walked around the market doing so.  Mainly focusing on the flower shops.  Another reason she makes me laugh is her sense of style.  It has recently gotten cold here so capris are not longer an option.  Her solution is to wear capri pants with  her socks pulled up high enough cover any bare skin.

Consolation 'Christmas Market'

I spent awhile looking to see if any Christmas Markets would open up before we moved, but sadly there were none within a decent driving distance.  Lucky for me, Metro started their Christmas decoration sale early and they were selling these nutcrackers again.  I love these.  Now we have 6 of them, plus we let Kherington and Kevin each choose a smaller one.  The kids enjoyed wandering around the Christmas and toy area and kept requesting that their pictures be taken with different items.

That evening, when the kiddos got ready for bed, Kherington and Ryan both came out in her Purdue gear. Kevin loves Purdue (Ryan has successfully brainwashed him) but doesn't have any pjs so he just kept chanting 'Go Purdue.'

School: Field Trip Time

For our last school day, I took Kevin and Benj to techonoplis.  Since they are both under 3 they are still free (Benj turns 3 on Sat).  It was empty when we arrived so the boys got to explore the whole place.  They drove the airplane, played at the water tables, wheeled around on the wheelchair course, drove a car (I did the gas) and watched a bowling ball trap all before heading to the little kids area.  In the little kids area they made pizza, played in the ambulance, used the crane to build, printed money from the bank, went grocery shopping and built an igloo. This place is really a kids dream.