More pics of Bologna!

Fall Break

One of the nice things about an International School is the fact that they adopt different things from many different countries. shout out to the United Kingdom for "half term" of Fall Break a complete week of in the middle of October! On the home front us girls kept busy with Charlotte's pet business--running a full schedule as folks went away. Two houses with two cats each, and two houses with one large dog each. Lots of walking and feeding and petting, aided by the flow chart on the kitchen wall!

Charlotte with Boomer, an Obi clone!

We combined pets with running, watching Downton Abby and a whole lot of nothing else. It was quite relaxing!

The men-folk jetted off Sunday on everyone's favourite discount airline, Ryanair, for Bolgna Italy. They arrived home this afternoon, footsore but completely satisfied. Great flight in, easy trek from airport to city center, Fantastic inexpensive hotel, phenomenal food, friendly people AND the worlds longest covered walkway! I know, I'm putting it on my bucket list! They spent Sunday climbing medieval towers, Monday at the Lamborghini Museum and factory and Tuesday clocking over 16 miles on the Fitbit as they visited castles,churches,basilicas and strolled The Worlds Longest Covered Walkway--

San Luca is the world's longest continuous portico, a covered walkway of 666 arches more than two miles long! It being Italy, massive quantities of delicious food was consumed, along with pastries, gelato, and untold espresso! I will share some photos...

Saturday Racing

Parc de Woluwe was the sight of our 5K ladies race today. And what a day! Gorgeous fall weather, golden leaves drifting down from the trees, and euro pop playing on the loudspeakers! We had dropped Danny off at Coach Smiths house, a 2K distance from the race start, to do a guys workout. The girls from the team would join us for the ladies run. We joined the free yoga class in progress and got all stretched out and warmed up. Received a free beverage from Tao, a sponsor, after class! Yum! We cheered on Maddy, Miranda's little sister in the kids run, then lined up for our turn. Molly headed right to the front with the Coaches daughters, Kayla and Sydney. I love her confidence! Charlotte and I started together but she soon broke away...I guess now that my birthday has passed I'm even slower :(

The course was nice. Uphill and down. Inspirational signs hanging from the lampposts. And at the end, a lovely bunch of swag! The CC team headed back to Coaches house for a BBQ with real America hamburgers (Mrs. coach works for the embassy) and other treats. A good time was had by all, even if my time wasn't so good!

The swag!

The happy runner!

Kicking it up the hill

Strong finish for Molly, talk about running through!

Charlotte finishes well

My triumphant post cartwheel stance

Charlotte, me, Maddy, Kayla, Sydney and Molly

The CC team and Caoch Smith

His girls took first and third!

 

Fete de quartier pour Halloween!

Halloween Belgian Style-- now this has been an eye opener! The holiday is not celebrated in Belgium, though many more stores are carrying Halloween type items than a few years ago. So some American moms who live in our neighborhood, which is the closet one to the school, decided it would be fun for the kids to be able to Trick or Treat. They have been successfully holding the event for about five years. It works like this...if you want your kids to participate you drop off three bags of candy at reception. The organizing moms gather it all up and distribute it to the houses who have agreed to take part, like ours. They give us an orange pumpkin sign to hang up so the kids know who is giving out candy. Schools in Belgium have a fall break--Saint Johns is next week, so the event was held tonight. From 6-8 or when candy is gone.

The girls and I were very excited to take part and even bought some extra candy "just in case" 

We put up our two pathetic decorations and some played some spooky music on the iPad. At the stroke of 5:53 the crowds began to fill the streets of our neighborhood. It reminded me of Fairway Trails, moms and dads in costume, carrying large party beverages, strolling along and laughing and chatting while their kids gathered treats. And now, the differences...

1.hardly any of the kids knew to say Trick or Treat!

2. Most said Thank you in a different language(my favourite was the tiny two year old boy dressed as a pirate who said "tak" in his tiny Norwegian voice!)

3. Several of the kids were collecting their treats in doggie doo disposal bags! ??? I swear!

4.a large line of treaters had formed coming up my steps and two kids from Iran just dead stopped in front of me and said "WATER". "What?" I said..."Do you want water?"  "YES!"  "Ummm, OK." So I scuttle into the kitchen, fill two cups with water and return to the front door. They grab them, stand there and chug them, hand me the cups and then turn and leave! 

5. A 10yr old Chinese boy races up the front steps, kicks off his shoes at the door and says, as he races into the foyer "PEE, I need PEE!!!"  Charlotte, looking shocked, points towards the bathroom and he flys by. A minute later he comes out, puts on his shoes, picks up his candy bag, says "goodbye" and heads off...I had never seen him before in my life!

When I asked my friend Malia, a long time Belgian resident, if anything happens on the actual day of Halloween, she shared this with me "well Kerry, as you know they don't do Halloween in Belgium, but it is kind of growing in popularity. The problem is the Belgians don't really understand that it is 31October, so you may get people knocking on your day a few days before and even after, at any hour, looking for candy!"  So stay tuned for more Halloween Adventures!

Ps. We ran out of candy by 7:15👹👻

Happy Pet Care

Fall break is next week here in Belgium and everyone goes away. Jerry and Danny are planning a man-break but don't worry about us gals...along with binge watching Downton Abbey I will be helping Charlotte take her pet business to the next level! She has named it 

Happy Pet Care and we will be working on business cards and signs. She has four clients for the week, two houses with cats and two with dogs. We are gathering keys and instructions, downloaded scheduling apps and getting ready. I hope to serve as a patient job coach type, I hope I can pull that off!

Charlotte with Bella

Waterloo Running Mums!

Monday, Wednesday and Friday, rain or shine, cold and wet (after all, this is Belgium!) or sunny and dry, our amazing group is out pouring the streets and fields of this fair city! We meet at the back school parking lot, arriving on foot, by bike and by car and stretch and greet each other. At approximately 8:35 we are on our way usually a 10K on M-F and a shorter 5K road run on Wed. We talk about our kids, our weekend plans, our trips, our husbands jobs, the quirkiness of Belgium and the great new sushi place. In other words, LIFE! we are there for each other and support each other and hold each other accountable for the run. Wow! I joined this group last January for Molly and Charlotte, so they could meet some people. I always thought I preferred running alone. Well I guess that was because I never had a real group before! I am hooked on the encouragement and positive ness our gals give each other. This morning some of us went out to Paul, a great boulangerie, to celebrate my birthday! I got a little gift and a great cup of coffee, but the greatest gift of all are these women! Feeling blessed!

This one includes Jen, on far right

Else, Molly, me, Charlotte and Colleen

50+ and Forward!

And we're off on another year! Celebrating my birthday today with my little family and with loads of good wishes from far flung friends and family. It does make a girl feel blessed! We shared a weekend of volleyball games, play rehearsal, religious education teaching and church. Jerry and I went to a Young Life adult October fest party last night filled with good food (my apple pear crisp was a hit) and our favourite new friends from the Saint Johns community. My goodness the expats are friendly. We feel so embraced in such a short time--awesome! And this afternoon we had a lovely carrot cake and coffee afternoon visit with the Fosse Family, our friends from Norway. Else runs with us and comes to Bible study, Peder is one of Danny's best mates, and husband Ingva and 6th grader Maria round out the family group. They live just round the corner from us. Jerry enjoyed viewing the end of the Michigan game(ok, he didn't enjoy it! You know what I mean!) with Ingva and explaining some of the subtleties of American football. Turns out Ingva is a fan! Finished up my weekend with lovely thoughtful cards and presents, and the Autumn special on CountyFile....truly what could be better?! I decided last year that I am just going to claim 50 as an age for as long as I can pull it off....let me know when it becomes painfully obvious I am older than that will you? Thanks!