Ironing - making due

There is no way I was going to buy an ironing board when one is coming in the sea shipment!

The little things

This makes me happy. And having ordered it from the UK I'm extra happy that it works here. No more crumbs under the table. Yay! 

Lost tooth

I was having quiet time in my room. I was trying to take LEGO apart with my finger but I couldn't. So I tried it with my tooth and it got super wiggly ... My tooth not the LEGO. So I pulled it out. The rest. It was only a teeny tiny bit. Tonight I am going to put it under my pillow and see if the tooth fairy comes in Europe. 

~Emmy

Creative kids

It's awesome having creative kids. Sam and Em have made a game out of IKEA Allan keys and wrench...

Put 'em to work

Feels like home

The universal IKEA experience 

Visit the the war museum

Our first real museum visit in Brussels. It took a while to agree on which one to start with but in the end the war museum won out. It was huge! We only saw half of it but we'll be back. It was great for the kids. And free. 😀

Here are some pics. 

Ridin the rails

Sam finally got to ride the tram 

Dirt, stains and tears

After a week in the hotel my little family had created quite a mountain of laundry. So our first day in the new house I was looking forward to tackling some of it. However... The washing machine reduced me tears, not because it was tiny and fit only half a laundry basket of clothes at a time. No. It was in German or Dutch or some other language I definitely couldn't read. 

At least the dryer had the decency to be bilingual! 

~Cynthia

Unpacking - round one

The helpers....

And the motivation!

As good as Bologna?

According to the kids this makes the grade

Air shipment is here!!!

Reflection on moving

As I was corralling the kids around today I noticed something. They have stopped questioning why we have walk. They don't whine as much. And I reflected on this - after fishing Emmy's ice cream out of the park fountain - in the end it's a good thing we are without our car for so long. The next month without a car will help break the kids' - and our - dependence on it. We can truly embrace our new walkable life. 

~Cynthia 

Emmy's subway find #2

House is not a home without Lego

The air shipment arrived today with the kids' precious Lego inside - they are happy to have some of their toys again

Calvin's observation - waffle sewer covers

Fashion for the first day of work

Rockin the Prince Albert tie knot!

Sam's new fav game

Why are most statues naked?

Calvin observant question for today : why are most statues naked? 

Here are the kids' answers

- because the artist was lazy

- because they always have to pee

-because clothes are hard to make

Cook and Book

Today was my first day in my own with the kids as Peter was off to work. After many lectures about behaving, we finally got out. We went to the Cook and Book for lunch and a bit of Belgian culture. Cook and Book is a huge book store/music store/restaurant/bar. We had lunch in the comic section and then shopped for some of our own. 

Then the kids were itching to spend their euros so we went over the the mall to find a toy store. So in the end everyone was happy. 

Emmy's find

In the subway today Emmy found a little silver moose - a bit beat up but still a moose. "It makes me think of my friends. I hope they are thinking about me too" she told me :) 

The hood: part two

We made it to the house today to show the kids. Pizza again at the neighbourhood pizza place - we're already regulars! This time we had ice cream too. And of course playing at the park. 

My room had lots of closets. It even had a sock drawer! 

~Emmy

The house was really big. I liked that it had a porch. There are trees for our slack line. 

~Cal

The hood

Today we took the kids to see the new neighbourhood. Pizza at the pizza place near our house was so good even pizza-hating Em liked it. Then a walk around the park, which the kids all agreed was "huge". They all liked the fountain and outdoor gym. 

We wanted to use the last day of the hop on/hop off bus ticket to see Atomium so we left visiting the house for tomorrow. 

Missing my bus nap

Back in Ottawa, as many of you know,  I would commute to and from work between Stittsville and downtown by OC Transpo.  In the process, I would get 30 to 40 min of glorious bus nap each way.

After an overnight flight with limited sleep, the whole family was tired and we decided to do the double-decker bus tour of the city as a low energy way to stay awake.  Good plan for the kids, bad for me.  After I dropped the maps on the floor for the second time, I have to conclude that I was really asleep.

Now being only 5 km from work here in Brussels,  my days of meaningful bus nap are over.  Maybe I'll need to start a coffee habit.....

~Peter

Brussels fact #1

Today Iearned the city of Brussels is 20% parks. Just outside the city looks like this 

Day one in Brussels

The city is really big and our first day was exciting. My favourite thing I saw was Atomium. 

~Calvin

I liked taking the pictures at the place.

~Emmy 

I liked pretending to pee like the statue! 

~Sammysubway ridin'

A huge cathedral 

Chocolate fountains!

Mmmmm waffles

Grand Place

Atomium (we're going there soon)

European Commission. And we found him...

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