Home for the holidays

This year we got to come home for the holidays. The kids loved the snow but best of all for them (and us) was being around family. While Santa explained in his letter that he left his gifts under the tree in Brussels, the kids did get spoiled by family. 

 

 

Christmas with Opa's family

Tonight was Christmas with Opa and his family. We were thinking of grandma, off is sunny Calfornia, while we all chatted and caught up. 

It was a fun time. The kids enjoyed playing with the dog, having Emma painting their faces and being silly to entertain the grown ups! 

 

 

 

Winter wonderland

Touch down in Ottawa and someone ordered us perfect winter weather! The kids have been sledding, snowball fighting, building forts and snowmen. It's been glorious snowy and mild. 

 

 

 

 

A night away

Over the past two weeks we have arranged sleepovers for our kids with good friends of our. One weekend we watch the 6 kids, the next they do the same, so that we could each have a bit of time to explore without the kids. This past weekend was our turn.

We booked a hotel near the German border. We explored the Christmas markets in Aachen and Monschau. 

First was Aachen, Germany. Here we explored the cathedral of Charlemagne. It was spectacular. Such incredible mosaic work and stained glass. 

 

 

After that we drove to the little village of Monschau, Germany. This fairytale village of half timber house and mills, with its castle on the cliff overlooking it all, was magical. A musician sat on a rooftop playing Christmas music on a trumpet. Incredible. 

 

The next morning we crossed over to the Netherlands to see the market in Maastricht. This one was more family oriented with rides and carnival games. 

 

It was really fun to see how the Christmas market differ from one to the other. 

Football World Cup Qualifier: Estonia vs. Belgium

I was invited to a World Cup qualifying match where Belgium (FIFA rank no. 5) hosted Estonia (FIFA rank no. 122) here in Brussels.  

My lasting memory is HUGE energy from a crown that alternated between 4-5 different songs, including one song which was only the Belgium Captain's sung over and over again:

EDen hazard
eden hazard
EDen, EDen, EDen haZARD!!!!

The beer was reasonably priced. 2.50/cup

Also in person, no instant replays on the big screen at all.   I was told this was to keep the crowd calm in case of a bad call.  

No batteries required

This week was Sammy's school production. He played a green crayon in a play about how simple toys, like teddy bears, books and crayons are just as fun as electronics. A great message and a fantastic performance. I wish I could share the video here! 

 

 

It's beginning to look a lot like..,

Today the Christmas tree went up. Even though we will be headed home for Christmas we wanted to decorate. 

 

One tradition we've picked up is the Christmas pickle. The Christmas pickle is a glass ornament that you hang on the tree last. The kids then search for it. The first one to find it gets a treat. 

 

Tiny Bubbles

We just got back from a weekend trip to Champagne with two other families. Together we unleashed 8 young children on the tasting rooms of the Champagne houses.

We visited the cellars at Mercier, where a "train" takes you through some of the 18km of tunnels. The cellars were designed to be a tourist attraction for sculpture decorates the walls.

Afterward it was off to a Champagne tasting. While the adults enjoyed a few "coupes", the kids occupied themselves with iPads, colouring books and friends. 

Dinner was done the easy way. back to the airBNB for pizza and a few bottles from the small producers we were staying with. 

The next day, we visited the grave of Dom Perignon and another champagne house before a picnic lunch in the park and back to reality. 

Changes

 

Ancient craft

Today we toured the Cantillon lambic brewery. This is the only lambic brewery still operating in brussels and one of five in Belgium. Lambic brewing uses the original 5,000 year old recipe and technique. 

 

Grains and dried hops (as preservative not flavour) are used to make the wort. But then the wort is left to cool in open air vats where wild yeast and lactobacteria infect it and begin the fermentation. 

 

The yeasts are "kept" in the wooden rafters of the brewery. That's the white you see. 

 

The beer is then fermented in wine barrels for a minimum of 14 months. Because dry hops and wild yeast are used the beer has a sour taste that takes some getting used to. But we have time for that. 

 

Auntie Heather!!!

We just wrapped up a wonderful visit with auntie Heather. We did SO much. From the grand place waffle-off, chocolate shopping en masse, and finding a Belgian beer to love we covered the brussels life. Add to that side trips to Disneyland, Brugges and Cologne to name a few and day trips to the kids favourite places, I'm sure she is now home for a rest. We loved having Heather here and hope she comes back soon! 

 

Connections

My sister just wrapped up a great visit with us. While she was here we took the chance to visit Lithuania ( or North-uania as Sam calls it) to see the country our grandparents came from. While the visit was short, it was worthwile and has given me a new curiosity about my grandparents experience. The weather was cold but the food was good. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Book week

This week is book week at the kids' school. Today they dressed as literary characters. 

Sam couldn't wait to wear his Halloween costume so he was a Jedi. 

Calvin is very much into the book series "the Kane Chronicles" so he went as Carter Kane. A normal kid so another easy costume. 

Emily decided last minute to test my creativity and request to be the little mermaid. Nothing else would do. Luckily some make-up and mermaid hair made up for the make shift costume. 

 

 

Pumpkin picking

This weekend was a beautiful blue-sky fall day so we headed out the pick-your-own farm to get a few pumpkins. At least what passes for pumpkins here. 

 

Unfortunately, the season was finished. So we got a few to decorate the step. And picked some kale and squash that were still available. 

 

At least the weather was good. 

Apple pickin'

On this gorgeous blue sky thanksgiving day we went apple picking. Sort of. 

 

The orchard was on the grounds of a chateau and is only open to the public this one weekend a year. 

 

The orchard is also not a commercial orchard so the trees are very tall and any harvesting equipment is BYO.  

So some creativity was required.

 

Most of the year the orchard is a cow pasture and the cows were eager for some apples. 

 

Roots

This weekend was the family reunion on Opa's side. It was held outside Utrecht in the Netherlands - a perfect opportunity for a day trip into Amsterdam. The city itself is a chaos of trams, bikes, cars and people. Not to mention the refuse of the partyers!

A canal tour was the way to go!

Amsterdam really is meant to be seen from the canals anyway. 

With its dancing houses. 

House boats

And fancy gables. 

And of course a stop at the cheese museum for some cheesy pictures and yummy tasting! 

technical difficulties

So. I updated the OS on my phone and now the Blogger app is not working. I have new posts coming...once I figure out how to get everything cooperating again. Or, failing that, transfer the pictures to the computer and post the "old fashioned" way.

It's a small world

once again it was car-free Sunday, the day when all roads inside the city are closed to car traffic. Since it was also the visit from the grandparents, and Calvin had his archery class across town, we all took the tram. While Calvin was at archery everyone visited Mini Europe and we caught up with them after.

Mini Europe is a representation of all the EU countries. 

The kids loved seeing the places they had already visited and dreaming of their future trips!