C'est La Vie Part II

I have always loved the beach.  Always.  Eric kept my heart a flutter by taking our family to Da Haan.  We spoke briefly in the car about going to a different beach.  Isaac asked us where we were going and "what's the name of the other beach?"  Eric smuggly replied "Da Chewbacca."  We got lost in the Belgian country side.  It is flat and stretches fooooreeeeeverrrr. Cute little houses with  red tiled roofs dot the land and the cows are muscle-y.  

We are not the only ones who love Da Haan.  It took us a while to find parking.  We found a yummy little shop and got sandwiches and then took then outside...and the boys sat on someones front door step.  (There was lots of mail in the mail box so I don't think we were bugging anyone, at least I hope not.  In any event no one opened up the door to shew us away with a broom).  Baguette sandwiches have become our go to for eating out.  I'll take mine with tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, and gouda please.  Yum!  The Belg love paprika A LOT.  I think it is their spice of preference.  The chips are sorta of like a mellow BBQ.

The beach is like the country, flat and stretches fooooooreeeeeverrrrrrr.  Isaac could go 100 meters out and the water would reach his waist.  No steep drop offs.

For the most part everyone kept their suits on.  Whew.  There were a few naked babes, but naked babes are cute. Benj did have shorts on but they got heavy and sandy, so I whipped 'em off.  Maybe I want to bite his knees.

When we first got there, we noticed everyone stayed up by the board walk to lay out.  A few people walked along the water.  We took our stuff towards the water, and had to move it twice because the tide comes in so quickly.  

I have heard it rains here in Belgium, and I am wondering who is spreading such false rumors.  I know it's only time until it rains on my parade but in the meantime we are soaking up this exceptionally good weather.

C'est La Vie, Part I

For Andrew and Emma, who are my heart's friends (Andrew my bro) and who have asked for details.  Here are the details of our Belgium beginnings is a five part series.

I'm going to work backwards, you know, start with the stuff that is fresh in my mind.  We went to Zolder race track yesterday and as Seth says, "It was awesome ca-blossom!"

Eric's friend is Denis (pronounced Da-knee is English...please dont call him De-nis) Vandensavel.  He is cool on another level.

   Denis drives a lotus race car for fun on the weekends and he is selling his apartment here in Brussels to buy a place in Spain.  Umm....we drive a well beat up Toyota Camry wich we purchased for 1,500 Euro, and we have seen Spain on a map.  Our friendship is totally compatible. 

Waffels ou Goffres in Belgium are YUMMY! I wish America was known for our waffels, you know, instead of McDonald's.  Not only because that is so much cuter but also because then I could get waffels on every other corner in the good ole USA.  I had the best one EVER here at the track...much better than the grand place, the local market, or even the grocery store.  I had hopes for the waffel man who sells them on Thursdays up the lane at market at the church, but Mr Waffel at the race tracks wins. 

 Cool car, and I sorta think Eric is cool for decking the kids and himself in orange.  See the green on the bottom right, Denis and his friend fixed his car by themselves to save money, like lots-so-money.  They wouldn't ever be able to find a perfect matching orange, so they bought some regular ole spray paint.  I love that sort of ingenuity.  Maybe I will make us cool matching shirts with a little greed part on the bottom.

Isaac in the driver's seat as usual.  

 Seth is positively THE cutest person who has ever sat in this seat. 

And the little B-myster.  Did you notice the A+ after Denis' name?  It's not just because he is a fanastic driver, it's his blood type.  Hmmm (gulp).

What you dont see in these pictures is how LOUD it was.  Crickey. 

The orange fans drinking their orange Fantas-we love 'em.

Perhaps the hyphen should say "is".

  

I wonder who was more delighted.  Seth?  or his mama watching him?  Maybe it was a tie.

The people in charge were AWESOME.  They are Dutch speakers and were above kind.  At one point Eric leaned over and whispered, "Can you imagine any where in the U.S. where the staff/people would actually play with your kids?"  Benjamin tried to crawl over the side of this attraction and his face hit the pavement pretty hard.  His toes were all scratched and bloody and he had a goose egg the size of half a golf ball.  He got pretty beat up.  They were wonderful to us, they offered to "bring him to first aide and then [they] would bring him right back."  So nice.  They were kind and walked us over when I said Benjamin and I would prefer to stick together.  So nice. 

This is "real life" Belgium, not what you do if you are a tourist.  Cant wait to go back next year-and I am sure Benjamin will be running to the jumping lot.  Maybe Eric and I will sit back and watch the little gents play while we eat the best waffels ever.  I can hope.

Once upon a time...

There was the cutest little boy named Isaac.  He grew up in one blink and went to school.  His mama didn't cry as much as she thought she would.  And the little boy, Isaac, was very happy in 1st grade. 

Seth is Isaac's biggest fan.

I sometimes want to yell it from the roof tops that I donated half of this handsome little man's genes.  Sheesh, he is handsome.

 Sethy always says, "There she goes, and there she blows."  Isaac just walked in there like it was no problem. I actually followed him in to make sure he made it to were he was going.  He did fine. 

 A few weeks later I joined him for his first field trip.  We went apple and corn picking.

 I was in charge of the "greenies,"  at least that is what I called them. 

 It was a perfectly Belgium'ish day with rain.

 Here are my favorite little gents eating the fruits of our labor...literally.

If you are a boy..

this is a good place to move to.  Outdoor living is very inviting here on the property. Last pic is blurry, but I am adding it cause I like to see my boy in a tree. 

 

 

 

I have a good imagination.  I have imagined this very spot when I read Bridge to Teribethia...er something. 

Say what?

Isaac sneazes and says, "I just 'bless you'ed".  I will never tell him they are called sneazes.

We have been singing the baseball song.  This is Seth's rendition:
"Buy me some peanuts and apple jacks..."
"For it's 1, 2, 3 strikes your out at the old bald game."

Seth "I have a surprise for you."  hands come flying from behind his back in the hang loose sign.  He promptly concentrates on his hand and puts the pointer finger up with a triumphant, "Ta Da."  Best surprise in the world.

Isaac tooted and said.
"Whoa.  Who let a stinker?  I did.  It smells terrible.  I wish I didn't have a nose?"

Seth is a lover.   He often throws his arms around me and proclaims his love.
Seth: I love you so much mommy.
Mom:  Mmm.  I love you more.
Seth:  I love you the morest.

Where is a girl to sleep?

Today

Yesterday

Um, believe it or not, my spot is between Seth and Benjamin.  Dear, big, snoring king, please come home and sleep in your bed. Pretty please.  And when necessary carry the little rascals back to bed,

cry baby and side stories

Today, I went to the dentist. Cry worthy.

Seth got stung by a bee. Cry worthy.

Side note on Seth's bee sting.  He came running in hollering about his bee sting. His cries weren't to loud...yet. So I thought maybe he hadn't been stung.  But I was wrong.  And bee sting worthy wails followed promptly. 

He bellered, "I've never been stung by a bee before."

I said, "I'm sorry Seth.  Stupid bee."

Seth, still crying about the bee, piped in, "Weee  dont saaaaaay stuuupid."

Benjamin hit the ground HARD. Cry Worthy.

But no one cried or wailed louder than Isaac.  He lost 2 darts.  2 NERF darts. 2 beloved NERF darts.  Not cry worthy.

Under breath: Stupid NERF darts.  We dont say stupid, but we sometimes think it.  Royal we.

Side note: Seth's prayer at dinner tonight.
....Thank thee for us to say thank you for Jesus.

Another side note:
 Isaac totally gave me the inquisition yesterday about the resurrection.  I did not have all the answers.  We talked about my dad and pajama grandpa.  Isaac knows truth when he hears it. We talked about how and when it happens.  We talked about resurrected bodies; I wont have diabetes any more.  We talked about some pretty deep stuff.  E is away on work but I would have liked to have had him have my back.  That's another reason why missionaries go out by twos and parents are meant to be a two-some as well.

Why stop with the side notes?  Ken likes pictures.  I didn't take any of our mishaps today. So I give you random asides. Isaac played t-ball again this year.  Eric was one of the coaches.  At the end of the season the kids played the parents (aka dads, and a hit by me and one other mom).  Isaac asked for a pitch rather than hitting it off the T, which pleased the sport daddy who was on the pitchers mound.  It was super fun.

Eric is our resident dresser of the little gentlemen on Sundies, (that is how my dad, who was part of the resurrection discussion mentioned earlier,  would say Sundays and it drove my mom nuts.  Now back to our current side story...but not really), Eric never had a My Buddy Doll when he was a kid, but he has 3 My Buddy Dolls now and he likes to be twins with them all.  The pictured My Buddy Doll went to nursery on May 10th for the first time and did great, or so I am told.   But he wouldn't let E leave his sight May 17th. Pictured below is the little man on the 17th, pre-nursery.

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 Isaac went to "bring your kid to work day" April 26.  I dont know who was more excited, Eric or Isaac.  Isaac thought  it was awesome.  I give you his report, "We watched a great big blaster shoot up and onto the roof and [it] work[ed].  We watched some marine dogs, uh, I mean police dogs. We shot our missiles. We went to shoot the big bad wolf but he didn't seem to show up. And we ate lunch.  Then we went back to dad's desk.  And then we came home." He used the royal "we" quite appropriately, dont you think? He didn't say, "Then we were smothered by mommy kisses when we got home, cause she missed us abundantly," but he could have.  And I point out the necklace thing that E gave to Isaac and remind you that E didn't have a My Buddy Doll when he was a kid. And I also point out that Eric will let me know what the necklace thing is really called.

Um...I guess I am short on pics of Seth.