First day of school 5/1/2015

Danny was excited, but not half as excited as the girls! We slept late because we were eating breakfast at he school. The morning was crisp and chilly as we walked over but it was warm in the middle school/high school library where we were headed. Caroline came to say hello, she has the friendliest face and personality ever.  I also introduced Danny to mr. Lowry the MS principal. We sat at a table with a man who is a stay at home dad to 6th,4th and 2nd grade kids and his high powered lawyer wife. I will not feel inferior!  The breakfast was lovely, fresh fruit, yogurt,croissant, juice,tea and coffee. Loads of  staff were there, school nurse Cathy, head of school, asst. head of school, athletic director and his assnt., elementary,middle and HS principals, counselors and more. We heard from the welcoming committee and the parents booster club and other groups will speak at the second welcome coffee(!) on Wednesday morning. Is this the perfect spot for me or what?! Coffee EVERYWHERE! Karen, get over here!

After the general meeting, the middle school kids, Danny and a 6th grade girl named Maeve, were taken to the counseling center for further instructions and placement test. Danny later told me that he was given a math test and then the French teacher came in and just started tackling to him in French as her placement interview. He felt fine about that--Go Danny!

The girls and I stayed in the middle school library for another hour and used the wifi. The librarian was super nice and kept encouraging us to eat more of the food! I enjoyed listening to the elementary parents session, I wished I had younger kids to be a part of the fantastic sounding things they do at St. John's in the lower grades.

Charlotte was happy to connect to the internet, and put some new games on her mini. The girls both found books to check out, we can use the library as a school family, which is awesome. We then headed home for lunch and running and straightening of the house. I get a toe hold into Danny's room with hopes to finish later. Instantly it is 3:20, and molly and I walk back to school to meet Danny at the Lions Lair as planned. This is the hang out area outside of the gym, parents man a snack counter there every day after school and kids with activities can grab a bite and do homework while they wait to start practice or whatever. You will not be surprised to learn that this is where they sell spirit wear, only 2x/month, so it is ESSENTIAL that I get on that today! Ulla, a lovely Mom who hails from Ireland, is on hand to show us the goods. Also unsurprising to those of you who know me, I grab up the sale items--last semester's items, heavens,no! I had promised the girls a hoodie and I am happy to deliver! Photo to come. We run into the extremely tall Coach D in the lobby and ask about joining basketball. He is super encouraging and Danny could start right away. In spite of my nagging Danny does not want to come back to practice at 16:45 today. I will work on him for Wednesday's practice. First day is a bit overwhelming I guess! 

It sure is nice being under 10 minutes walk from school. We are home in a jiffy. Charlotte is showered and waiting and we all convene in huge kitchen to hear about the D's first day. He pretty much started with lunch, after all the welcoming,testing,etc. He was assigned a buddy, Isaiah, who happens to be Principal Lowry's son, and he took him to the cafeteria. Danny said most kids buy lunch, but until I can get money on that lunch card, he will be bringing in his cool Star Wars lunch box he got for Christmas. He said a couple of kids commented on it, they thought it was cool! In the afternoon he had Art, French, Math and Social Studies. He thought they were fine. He felt like he was a bit behind in French, but didn't feel worried about catching up. The class is entirely in French of course! In math he was actually able to contribute, so he felt good about that. He has a rotating scheduling from day to day, and also weeks, something like A week,B week, day1/day2. My head was spinning! He also needs to choose his additional language, because in middle school you are learning at least two. He will choose between German and Dutch. May I go to school there please?! No homework tonight, just some forms to sign,etc. we shall see how the work load progresses.

After nice family meal of oven ready moussaka and carrots and then Danny and I spend an hour or so putting away his clothes, hanging posters, sweeping the floor, and suddenly his room looks peaceful and moved in. Yay! And so we enter St. John's school, Waterloo Belgium!

special Olympics Belgium Saturday 3/1/2015

Today is the big day! We are off to the sport club to meet our SO Belgium local team.  Unfortunately it is pouring  rain and 3C out(36ish). I don't know whether we'll be outside or inside, so we layer the girls up in shorts,t's,jackets,sweats a nd hats. Jer,Danny and I wear our jeans, we don't want to get active on the first day, we hope to give the girls a chance to mixin with the Belgian coaches. The nav. System takes us off course a little bit( enough to see the shopping possibilities in the town--WHOOT!) but we arrive at 9:15 on the button. We meet Sylvia, who is the Area Dir./ club president, and two of the coaches.  David, the long distance running coach and a really super nice gal with an awesome smile(a female PJ!) whose name I can't recall. The girls immediately join the team running laps around an outdoor track in the pouring rain. UGH! But they just head right out, no complaining. I chat with Sylvia and another Mom, Marlene, whose 17 yr. old daughter is an athlete. Marlene adopted her daughter, Esme, and her brother,who has no disabilities, from Vietnam. She also has twin 25 year old daughters who are teachers. After lots of laps, the team goes into the covered bleachers to stretch out and do some calisthenics. Then the distance group, of which molly and Charlotte are now members, do a 5K on the track, while other athletes throw the softball,sprint,etc.  When track is through, some athletes head to the football field to practice, but since we are all soaked and freezing we opt for the pool for swimming! This is at a club in the town and once the girls are off with their group to the locker room, jer and I visit the corner cafe fro take out espressos and, oh, why not? A tasty tuna broodje for Jerry. We can sit above the pool and see the action. The girls do a great job, swimming laps and then practice pre-diving skills. I feel bad that I don't have dry clothes for them to change into, but who knew that they would be outside all that time. I later met a dad named Patrick, who mentioned that there is an indoor option for track. "when the weather is bad". What?! This isn't bad?!

We are so happy to get home and have soup,coffee and warm clothes. The plan is to head to a 5pm English speaking mass about 10k from here. 

In the afternoon jerry and Danny go to Sports Direct and buy bikes! They are awesome and best of all were an awesome price, about 1/4 what shipping their bikes would have been. The only downside is...you guessed it,the appalling weather! No trying them out today I'm afraid. 

Charlotte and I take our turn with the car and go to ALDI. What a zoo it is, I think because everything is closed on Sunday. I needed to get some things for Danny's lunches for the week. Even though he has had the same length of time for a break it seems like much longer. I know he will be happy to get to school and get a break from the girls...and maybe me!

It rains even harder as we leave for church! We find it no problem, it has a plain country feeling to it, barrel ceilings painted white, bronze stations along the walls. Just lovely. An organist is playing and a young cantor with a lovely British accent is singing when we enter. We are the only people there. A few minutes later two more ladies enter and one asks Jerry and Danny if they could take up the collection and the offertory. Sure, no problem. When mass begins at 5 there are nine people total. When we finish at six, it is 20, including the priest and cantor and organist. The priest was very happy to meet us and invited Danny to altar serve next time. On the way home we stopped at Carreforre for a blonde beer restock, but we all went in. We love that place! It is really fun to wander around and look at all the interesting products...and buy them! Danny noticed that all the liquor was at the front of the store and on sale post New Year's Eve! We decided to buy weird things and have a Saturday night adventure dinner.

 Ours consisted of foi-gra, sardines in olive oil, raspberry and onion  sauce,crackers,grapes,tomatoes,egg salad with shrimp in it and Viennese mousse cups for desert! It was strange but really fun. Molly was very proud of herself for trying everything....now she has decided she wants to try fried clams. I may have to send her New England for that!

Tintin was the movie, Jerry hadn't seen it before, and molly finished her puzzle of Time Square while watching.

New Year's Eve in Waterloo! 31/12/14

News years Eve in Belgium....

Still cold, brrr, but ice is starting to melt on the roads. Our mission today is to drive up to Antwerp and get the car jerry has been given to use.  Jerry heads to his favourite cafe for coffee and the internet and I have a few moments of tidying,blogging and praying in my warm kitchen before I wake up the kids. Lovely!

The drive to Antwerp is easy because no one is on the road. Jerry's office is actually in Antwerp and when he is in the country he will be working either there or in Ghent. When people hear that they are aghast, "who would want to drive So Far?" Of course by our standards this is nothing, like going from MI/Brighton to Southfield, or NJ/West Orange to NYC. Jerry likes to be at work early and that is not the European way, so he thinks he'll be fine. Anyway, we find the dealership no problem and the guy is waiting. Truth told, when I looked at the car on line, it looked bigger! Thank you marketing photographers! But no matter-here it is and we aren't paying for it, so it is lovely. It does have to back seat, so total capacity of 7, visitors take note! We were presented with a bottle of champaign along with the vehicle--bonus for picking up the car on New Year's Eve?! Off Jerry went to the in the rental car, he will cab home from there. The kids and I pile in, I have spotted an Aldi just up the road and since we are in huge Dutch half of the country I want to stop in to see which of our favourite products are here. Unfortunately the exit from the dealership is up a slight hill onto a busy street, and I embarrassedly stall the car 4 times before managing to clear the premises--yikes! I stall once more in traffic before parking at Aldi, but somehow my skills at the stick shift have revived by the time we are done shopping(toast sprinkles,tiger broodje,eierkoken!) and I get us on the highway and home with no further stalls, even in the small traffic jam we hit. Go Me! After lunch Danny, Molly and I take a walk downtown to go to the Proximus(comcast) store. I am hoping the SIM cards I got in the mail will activate the phones I brought. 45 min. wait later I find out that my android will take the card, but not the cheapy I brought. It seems it is locked for the US. Hmph! So I will continue to figure that out. Meanwhile, if I new anyone in Belgium I could call them! We walked a bit, visited a couple of shops and the food markt and then headed home. By this time Jerry had come down and joined us, which helped because he could carry groceries too!

Our New Year's Eve festivities consisted of:

Making a delicious Belgian hot chocolate recipe that the secretary at Danny's school, Mary, gave us...

Cooking up frozen pizzas we found- Turkish,Greek, and pomodoro

Watching Cinderella Man with Russel Crowe and Renee Zellwiger-pass the Kleenex

Calling family- I happily got a chance to talk to Mom and Susan, Jer chatted with Hank

Listening and then watching the tremendous amount of fireworks shot off at midnight. I had just gone in to say Godd Night and Bonne Anne to Danny when they really kicked in 11:58ish. We opened his shade and could see right through his picture window as the colours exploded all over the dark Moom and star filled sky. It was so cool! 

Happy New Year in Belgium!

Our first few days

We all sleep in on Sunday, we will gradually reign it in. We are not able to coordinate mass, but at least we went during the week for Christmas, we will make it happen next weekend for sure. I despair of ever being able to do anything other then micro wave in 30 second increments...stove top not working! Then I realize after close study of the French manual, that the cooktop is induction and therefore requires special, "not the cheapest ", cookware! At least I didn't email the landlord to complain, that would have been very embarrassing! Sunday is spent just vegging, playing UNO, drinking coffee and fiddling with our heating system...it is pretty chilly in here!

Monday-29/12/15 (please note my cool switch to European way to write the date! I am also working on my 24 hour time, harder to get my head around!)

After a late breakfast for us ( jer is at his cafe with wifi at the crack of dawn) We decide to make another IKEA run since Jerry has a lot of work to do and  the wifi is free and easy there. We install him on a couch, making note of the line to get food. Well, it is noonish, surely it will be much shorter later on. We are able to skip the showroom and go directly to the markt place to pick up more coffee cups, a mixing bowl and many other exciting things. The place is a mob scene! Everyone is off and hanging out in IKEA apparently. We go up to the cafe around 2:30, expecting to eat and chill a bit, and the line for the cafe is even longer, literally out into the shopping area. Ok, no meatballs today! We go down, grab our chairs and coat rack and pay and load and leave, arriving home and unloading into the basement around 4ish with 3 starving kids! I am in need of some alone time, so I volunteer to carry everything up and unpack, while Jerry takes the kids to the Turkish pizza place he and I scoped out on our visit in Nov. All parties are happy with this decision! The kids love the food and I love the quiet!

She did bring half of it home!!

Tuesday 

We set out for a recommended running trail around noon, after Jerry returns from his wifi cafe. They must think he has no home! He is still using Danny's computer since his has died. He will get a replacement in Phoenix next week. Anyway, back to our fitness plans. We follow the directions and end up literally bumping down a cow path with 2 foot deep icy,muddy ruts, glad it is the rental car! Jerry and I are thinking no way can we run out here with Molly. We finally come to a parking lot, and low and behold, at the end of the lot, we see a sport club. We decide to go check it out and are invited for a tour and work out! HOORAY! It is a lovely club, pricey but all inclusive. Only issue is the distance on foot from our house, the girls and I will be hoofing it as Jerry will have the car every day. So we will see if we join, but in the meantime we have a great workout! And we all needed it!

Moving to Belgium

big day!

Brussels here we come! I am so happy to be leaving...because it means I can stop getting ready to leave! All the craziness of Christmas shopping, packing,organizing and goodbye-ing is behind me! Relief! Ed Bedner and Jake are driving us to the airport at 10:30am. I actually spend several hours stuffing last minute items into tiny spaces that open up mysteriously overnight at the edges of your suitcases; what started out as one suitcase per person has now turned into a chaotic jumble of a bathing suit top inside a running shoe wrapped in yet another persons jeans...you get the idea! I told the gang that when we arrive everything can go in huge master bedroom and I will unpack it all and make piles for distribution.

God was so good to us this morning; the weather is clear and perfect, the ride to the airport is traffic free, we wait only 3 minutes for a curbside check in person, and get Jackie, a really nice friendly lady. She checks all 10 bags WITHOUT weighing them, or charging us for the extra 5! And she was able to issue us boarding passes, which doesn't always happen with an international flight, so we don't have to wait online inside at the counter. I even convinced her to get in a photo! Jer gives her a great tip! Security has the long roped corridor set up, but NO ONE is in it. We even have a moment where we wonder if it is closed, but up we zigzag walk. We go right through an NO ONE is at the bag/people scanner either. Perfect for molly who gets very flustered by the whole remove your shoes, get everything up on the belt routine when folks are huffing and glaring behind you. So with our 5 carry on bags, our 5 backpacks,all our electronic devices,belts,shoes and contents of pockets we pass through the body scanner. Only one pop on a suitcase, Danny's pencil case for school, which I shoved in a carry-on, had a pair of scissors in it. So it got pulled, but the guy even gave them back to us after examining them. So no problem. Then we went on to the World Club, which can sometimes be very hectic, and it to was very sparsely populated and relaxed. The kids all got soup,snacks,coffees and sodas to enjoy in huh one cool window seats that look down into the main corridor of the airport and you can with call the common folk passing by! AWESOME!

We were able to relax there for about 45 minutes because everything else had gone so smoothly. So thank you GOD!

Our flight to Atlanta was up and down no problem, and due to a full flight, were able to gate check our carry-ons for free! Yippee! We checked out Hartsfield's world club and then got on our Brussels flight. We had good seats; Jer and Charlotte, Me and Molly, and Danny in front of me. His seat mate was a slim young man who was friendly but not chatty, the perfect guy to share a seat with on a long flight with. We were a bit late pushing back as we loaded extra fuel and landing sequences due to snowstorms across the Netherlands, the pilot told us we may have to land somewhere else....but in our great and continued good fortune, we were able to land in Brussels on time(8:25am Brussels time) and without incident! Amsterdam, where we usually fly through, was snowed in and delayed. Bingo! Customs-"bonjour and on your way,enjoy your stay, aurevoiur" , rental car-about 15 minutes, but a large enough trunk for most of our luggage and Molly. Cab for Danny, Charlotte and I to the house, ready and waiting, key to the house, right where Steve said he'd hide it, alarm code correct and deactivated, and We're In! 

We are excited to see if the kids like the house, and they do! We let Danny pick his room first, and he doesn't choose the loft room bed as we imagined, but the one with the full size bed....perhaps due to the fact that he is growing a half an inch per night?! Charlotte has a large room with a view of the garden and Molly's room is at the front, smaller and cozy. Every room has it's own sink, so we will all have the cleanest teeth imaginable. No halitosis here! We literally pile right back in the car and set the navi for IKEA--meatballs here we come! Ahhhh, fabulous coffee, predictably good and familiar food and a nice large table by the window to watch the snow fly, just what we needed. I've got my list and we eventually tackle the store. Most everyone is off here between Christmas and the New Year, and this is apparently a big time for home projects unless you can afford to go to San Moritz, so the place is quite crowded. No matter, we power through, with the girls staggering along zombie-like after being up all night. But we are mean parents, and we will make everyone stay awake til at least 7pm so they can start adjusting to the new time zone. After check out( yes they do have those euro yogurt cones here too!) we realize that in order to get the largest box in the car(kitchen table and four chairs) we need to put the back seat down. Charlotte,Danny and I crouch down on the edge of the folded back seat with our necks bent for the ride home- not ideal, but we got our load home! Unpack IKEA and then head to the food store-thinking of how nice it was in Holland when Jerry's coworker Machiel met us at the Pijnacker house with two starter bags of groceries. We hit Aldi and Carrefour and load up on milk,bread,beer,pindas,cereal,cookies and cheese! Because half the country is Dutch and half French, the products all have two languages on them, none English, but I recognize a lot of Dutch and we happily get some of our old favourite things.last stop, Mediamarkt, for a coffee maker! You know what? Let's get two! One Senseo, which is my fav. from Pijnacker, and one regular coffee pot. Now I can relax!

Home and unload the groceries and then figure out where pj's are,hook up the computer to the TV(The Muppet Movie!), heat soup in the micro( can't get stove to work) and relax. We make it to about 8pm before we all crash into our beds. So that's our travel and arrival day--We're Here!!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Beautiful! 

Beautiful tree (nicest one ever! That's what my Mom always said!) 

Beautiful kids...Beautiful friends (thanks for the annual visit Stewarts, even though we couldn't play UNO due to little Oliver!) 

Lovely food ( thanks for the fantastic Polish dinner Wisbiskis! Complete with Wisbiski Sausage and cruschiki!)  

Sacred and beautiful midnight mass ( though I stayed home with Charlotte and Cassie, I was so proud of my two handsome sons, one heading to usher and the other serving at the altar, and my handsome husband in his blue suit ushering as week, and my beautiful Molly, going to do her unofficial job of making everyone feel welcome!)

Beautiful morning-- with all eyes on Cassie as she saw what Santa had brought...the requested Garbage Truck and much more!

Beautiful sight-- as the full suitcases finally piled up in the kitchen, the tree came down and headed to the curb ( I mean who ever heard of an pre-lit artificial tree whose lights don't work and who sheds more than a real tree?! Time to go tree!), the pantry looked empty, the old "dead body" freezer was given away via Freecycle, last minute laundry folded and the floors vacuumed(and my friend MaryJane didn't have to do it like she did when she came to drive us to the airport when we were moving to Holland-long story!)

Beautiful house, sad to leave, happy to be ready to go to our next adventure! 

Christmas festivities

In spite of being inundated with Christmas music and decorations since before Halloween I still love those two weeks before December 25! Holiday concerts, school pageants, cards in the mail every day and excuses to eat those special foods! I love baking things to give to people, imagining how happy they will be to receive them. This year I did not bake as much because of the move, but I did have time  for pumpkin bread, Italian ricotta cookies, no bake's and pumpkin chip spice cookies. Jake took several trays into work for his bosses and the kids took plates to school for favourite teachers.  We also dipped pretzels and made chocolate dipped peanut butter cookies.

Scranton held their Christmas concert at the Brighton Center for the Preforming Arts and it was dynamite. It featured the 7th and 8th grade bands and the jazz band.  Mrs. Evans acknowledged the band officers and solo/ensemble medals winners, so Danny stood up twice. She also announced Danny's move and talked about what a good tuba player he is and how much he will be missed. Then she talked about what a nice family we are and how much we volunteer...I was blushing even though no one could see me in the dark!  It was very special. We will certainly miss the brighton Band program, it is really terrific.

Danny had his last scout meeting, a white elephant gift exchange- Christmas party- Stooges film fest.