The Grand Tour

I was about to give my flight info to Natalie and I realized that everyone would need the info. Ta!Da! the Blog. We really do owe Lara a big "thanks" for getting us all connected. She started this whole thing and it's really great!
THANK YOU LARA!
So you only have to read what is applicable to you....
SALT LAKE CITY: 10 Nov to 17 Nov. Arrival at 8:18pm from Houston on flight Continental 752. I have to go to Newark then Houston, then SLC! I depart SLC at 7:15pm on Nov 17th. My plan is to rent a car from the aiport, so I won't need to be picked up. I need to coordinate with Nicole, Seth & Heidi, Suzanne & Jerry & my Mom to get together with them. Otherwise I'll be at Dan/Lara's.
AUSTIN: 17 Nov arrive at 10:55pm on Delta #4453 (operated by Atlantic Southeast) It's direct from SLC. Nicole arrives the day prior on Friday, Nov 16th. (Depart 9:45am to Denver arriving in Austin at 4:29pm on United 7560) Sorry for the late arrival Natalie and Noel. I hope the airport isn't too far from your house. It will definitely be a late night! Depart Nov 23 at 6:00am (man, Natalie you won't want me to visit ever again)
CHARLOTTE: 23 Nov arrive at 11:29am via Atlanta on Delta #1708. Tom and Steve arrive 21 Nov at 8:08pm on US Airways#751. Mel gets stuck doing Thanksgiving dinner. Put those boys to work I say!!! If you don't trust them cooking in the kitchen, they are super at clean-up. They depart 25 Nov at 4:20pm and arrive back to Brussels the next day at 10:50am. Ugh, off to work and school. I will continue my visit and depart 29 Nov at 12:15pm arrival Brussels at 8:00am on 30 Nov.
Just so you know, I was able to get all my flights on skymiles. That's why the dates aren't exactly perfect, but hey, it was close enough.
Now, it's here for whenever you need the info! Love to all!

Painting

So Nicole and I finished our paintings. Mind you we had more fun than we had ability. Although Nicole's turned out quite well I thought, with lots of thought to detail. Her personality, right? Mine is more, "slap it up there and something will hopefully turn out!" It takes a lot of time to get there, set-up, mix your paints, etc. We were using community brushes, and they were in very poor shape, just for the record. I left two of them at the art center for them to use on their bare walls, and the others make a nice display in the laundry room! Hooray!

week-end in brussels

We had a fun Saturday. After pancake breakfast with all the toppings we did housework and yardwork and washed the cars....that wasn't the fun part in case you were wondering, BUT then we took a bike ride to Tervuren Lakes. Then we went downtown to see if there was anything happening. There was! It was the Summer Music Festival which means that there were bands all over the place, and everything was in the outdoors and FREE! We heard Jazz (the lady sang so smoothly you felt like you were melting) and Celtic (which Colie and I loved having just been to Ireland) and Funk/Pop. That was in the Grand Place and the band was called "Level 42" Anybody ever heard of them? Tom looked them up on the web and found out they are semi-famous. They were GREAT!!!
So in case you are reading this Seth, the music rock of Leuven is no longer a hit. It's Brussels #1....Yeah!

Update for Natalie

So Natalie thinks I should update my blog more often. Hmpfh! I just got back from taking Seth and Heidi to the Amsterdam airport....yep, I'm bummed. We stayed at a hotel the night before b/c their flight was 0400 (not really but it was early!) and when we said goodbye at the door, I was A-OK with it all, but then Seth popped back in the room to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything...and that's when I got teary. Why doesn't it get any easier??? You would think it was a piece of cake by now. Nope. Maybe it's b/c he was thinking it might be his last time to Europe, at least while we are residents of Belgium....and I was just feeling the "pain". Or maybe I just like the extra noise in the house and the extra action. Well, Nicole will be home from work in a couple of hours and her chatty self will surely help, don't you think??? Of course she is only here for one more week, but what a week....no more work, only play,play, play! Steve starts 2/days for football. Has to be at school by 6:30am, picked up at 8am, taken back at 3pm and picked up at 6pm. I think he should ride his bike TO school and I pick him up, but he said he'll just cry if that happens. Wonder if he would???
We did have fun in Amsterdam though. Went to the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank house. Great wind up if I say so myself. We stayed right at the airport and the metro into the city was only 6euros roundtrip and was only 15 min. The deal of the century. It was only a 2 hours drive home this morning and I listened to music and sucked tootsie pops to stay awake. But now if you don't mind, I think I'll have a little sulk!

Dad's Birthday!

Thanks to everyone for making Dad's birthday a great one. We took him to Domus on Tuesday night while Seth and Heidi were still in town. We had a little party when we got home as well. Then today he had a party at work that Nicole and Steve were able to attend, a special dinner at home, but then sadly he had to leave to go to the Hague for work. Dan and Jake called but he was already gone (they still get full credit!). Natalie called the day before and caught him!
We asked him what was one accomplishment he had when he was 55 that he was especially pleased about? It was making his CD!!! And he hopes to make another while he is 56.
When Nicole saw these photos of Dad she said, "He looks just like Dan!" I guess it would be more like Dan looks just like Dad! It's funny though, some people say some of the kids look like one parent or the other, or one sibling ressembles another sibling or NOT....it's a crack up!
One thing is for sure, Dad is sure proud of his family! Each one of you hold a special place in his heart (and mine too). We love our children, their spouses, their children. We couldn't feel more blessed. So all of these 56 years are worthwhile because all of you are a part of our lives. To love and to receive love. That's what it's all about. XOXO

Pretty cool

Hard not to put this photo on the blog. It's pretty magnificent. No wonder Steve felt this was one of his highlights....the hike in this area proved an eyefull in every direction. I hope to make a photobook of the trip but it will be hard to narrow it down to just a few pictures. I think Colie said she downloaded 260 photos all together. I would do more but it's a BEAUTI-FUL day today and I must make it to the veranda for some summer reading!!! Oh it's nice to be a retired mother. I sure as heck picked the right profession!!! AHHHH

Oh, I hope Heidi will put up one of her "disgusting" pictures. Demand it!

Photo shoot at the castle

Here is just one of the pictures I took of Nicole and Heidi at the castle. I took lots and had so much fun. But then I had two great models and fabulous backdrops. How could I not have fun!

Greece, the highs and lows

We had a great time in Greece, although we hit the heat wave of 40C and higher. We survived by staying near the pool, beach and taking our siesta in our A/C apartment and driving our cars with A/C. As with any trip, we had lots of "highs and lows". Last night for FHE I asked everyone to share what they thought of the trip...

Tom: "I didn't like having to put all your toilet paper in the waste basket and not be able to just drop it in the toilet" (we all hated that!) "I liked gettting ice cream every night and finding chocolate/chocolate magnum bars!

Anita: "The day I went to the grocery store to buy food, and of course there is no A/C in the shop. I finally get out of there and can't find Tom with the car, so I have to wait on the street, where it is ROASTING and I have a meltdown, literally. One of my favorite times was a 'photo shoot' that Nicole and Heidi and I had at the castle in Parga. (I'll post one of those pictures!) And the sunset over the beach on the last day before we flew home."

Seth. "I liked swimming in the pool and being able to see the sea while I was swimming. My low point was getting lost while trying to drive OUT of Athens."

Heidi. "I liked swimming and reading and having lots of time to do both. My low point was when we arrived back in Belgium at 1:30am Greece time and spending another hour trying to find our bags at the airport."

Nicole. "I liked not knowing what day it was, truly on vacation when you lose track of the days. I had time to read 4 novels! I hated the windy road we took to Meteora because it made me car sick!"

Steve. "My favorite day was the day we took a hike up to the monastery in Meteora. My least favorite times were all the time you waste in the airport."

So that's our trip in a nutshell. Now we are back home and we are doing laundry and getting up to date with our emails and phonecalls and bills and grocery shopping, etc. The real DRAG is that the WC is acting up AGAIN!!! What is the deal with this house? Whenever we go on vacation we always come home to a problem, whether the basement floods (did that too) or the WC has problems (that too). Heidi and Seth went to Iper today to visit Flander's field. We go to Paris tomorrow.