Quaint with a capital Q

Belgium is Quaint.  Capital Q was totally intentional!  Seriously the quaint factor here is to the moon.  Here, let me paint the picture...or at least try to.  

At the end of the cobble stone path that leads to our home there is a lovely church in the middle of a round-about about 200 meters from our home.  The bells chime every hour, if I am busy I dont notice them but if we are outside and I am just existing I do hear them and they make my heart smile.  And on Sundays I love them because about the time for us to go to our own church they chime like crazy for like 15 minutes.  THAT is quaint and I LOVE it.  There are Canadian geese and swans all over the estate where we live, I was enchanted with the gorgeous swans until my dear neighbor told me the male attacked the baby geese.  The geese are quaint from afar...until one goes for a walk.  There is goose poop everywhere.  Not quaint.  But the little neighbor boy said you get used to it and I suppose you do. 

Most of the homes in the city are town houses or row houses, which doesnt sound anything special.  We lived at 8 Rue Franklin when we lived here 10 years ago.  Eric took me for a drive past the old abode and the memories flooded into my already stuffed thoughts.  It was quaint.  The houses are distinct in design and color; all smashed together they look charming and I am curious about the lives of those living in them. Side note, I also wonder where everyone would run if there was a block fire, morbid eh?  But I worry about non realistic things sometimes, just because. 

E took us to the Stokel Market our first Saturday in Wezembeek-Opem (that is the name of the commune where we live).  I was excited to eat a waffel which a neighbor of mine said are the best in Belgium, and I was very excited to buy fresh produce,  We bought some fresh spaghetti from a charming fellow and decided it really was delish. We will buy it for the adults and box spaghetti for the gents...they dont care as much as E and I. 

Lastly, I am adding an exerpt from and email I sent to my mother. 

"Well I love you.  I love Belgium.  I love that you are eating peaches and apples-two of my top ten favorite foods.  I love watching Benjamin run after his brothers and repeat EVERYTHING they say.  I love watching Eric play tag with the little men.  I love opened windows.  I love red scaloped roofs.  I love commuters on bicycles.  I love railings that stop you from falling on stairs.  I love French.  I love waffels.  I love missionaries.  I love Jesus."  

C'est La Vie Part III (it rhyms)

The Grand Place

{Big}

Every two years The Grand Place is a blooming spectacle, they call it the flower carpet.  Even the little gents recognized it's beauty.

{BIGGER}

The whole thing is like a huge floral mosaic. 

{BIGGEST}

Brussels town hall is the icon of the Grand Place and I have long wanted to enter, but it's actually not just a pretty edifice, it's a working office environment.  BUT, they let nosy tourists into to go to the balcony to view the carpet from a higher vantage point.   It was a-maz-ing.  The building is nearly 600 years old, or at least part of it is.  There is a lot of carved wood,  HUGE fireplaces, and lots of red, which reminds me of my favorite unsinkable Molly Brown.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SETH!!!  Seth turned four on August 8.  That was the first day we (-Eric) saw the house.  We told him he was getting a new house for his birthday.  He ate at Pizza Hunt.  Dont judge, we were tired, we didn't know the area, we were hungry.  He chose a spiderman cake which we ate back at the hotel.  I got permission to light the candles in our room because E was paranoid the smoke alarm would go off.   We are so grateful Seth is in our family!

Benjamin is our little comic, often times without knowing it.  He loves to wear this helmet.

The moving fellows were from Poland and they were AWESOME!!!  E tipped 'em good and I was glad he did.  They totally deserved it.  They set everything up and unpacked in two blinks.

The kitchen...I haven't totally found my rythmn in here yet but I think we'll get there.