Buh Buh Buh....

We've been doing letter sounds here trying to catch Broden up to attend British school. We did A, then B and Alissa listened to us doing it. She came over and said Buh Buh Buh Broden! I though wow she caught on fast. Since then it has been
Buh, Buh, Buh Alissa!
Buh, Buh, Buh Parker!
Buh, Buh, Buh Remi!
Buh, Buh, Buh Daddy
Buh, Buh, Buh Mommy and even
Buh, Buh, Buh Grand Ma(which is how she says Grandma)
She's too funny.

He's 5!

Our cute 5 year old on his birthday

Breakfast

Yummy breakfast in bed

Money and card

opening HUGE present

Bakugons!

Apple pie for dessert

Broden turned 5 today and what a fun day it was with him! We started the day out with breakfast in bed. Remi was sure to tell Broden last night that he needed to stay in bed for a long time so we could surprise him. He came into our bed about 7, so Remi and I fixed him his breakfast and took it to him in our bed. He loved it of course. He got cinnamon rolls and eggs.

After breakfast we let him open his presents. He was so excited to get money and bokugons. The big box, with smaller one inside and a smaller one in that was a big hit! He played with them until it was bath time. We all got ready then attempted pictures of the kids, then family pictures. Broden was a trooper. He was so well behaved and insisted that everyone call him "Birthday Boy." Then we headed to church!

Today was the primary program and Remi and Broden were SOOOO excited. Broden told everyone he talked to on our way to Sacrament meeting that it was his birthday and that he is 5 now. It was pretty cute. Both Remi and Broden had their parts memorized and said them so well. Everyone could even understand them. Remi's parts were, "Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration," and "Living the Word of Wisdom shows respect for my body."

Broden had 3 parts. His first was,"where did I come from," then "I can be a missionary now," and "God has commanded his people to build temples." Broden did them perfect. He did have his own twist on the last part though. He said,"Heavenly Father told his people to build tons of temples."I thought it was pretty cute and added character.

Broden was a great singer. He can sing really loud and everyone commented on how well he did singing:) He didn't sing as loud as he did in practice, but still loud enough to stand out. After the program the kids went to Primary and Broden got to go up for everyone to sing to him. I'm sure glad they remembered him because he has been talking for days about how he will go up front and get candy! He loved it. Then his teachers gave him a card and more candy and they also got candy for being so good in the program. He was in heaven! He felt so special because he got so much candy and cards.

After church we talked to grandmas and grandpas while we made dinner. Broden's conversations talked about so many things. He told them that he loves tator tot casserole and that we are having tator tot casserole for dinner and that Ingersolls fixed tator tot casserole for dinner when he was there and at our last house we had tator tot casserole tons of times and here we have only had tator tot casserole once but that tonight we are having tator tot casserole for his birthday because he loves tator tot casserole. He told them what his parts were for the program and even sang part of "Scripture Power" his favorite song. Broden said to grandma and grandpa,"I want to stay here forever and never leave because the person in my class that was the first friend I met and my teachers gave me a card and it was the best ever so he doesn't ever want to leave."

I think his mind was going about a hundred miles an hour because he was so excited! I can't believe how much he has changed in the last 2 years. He has gone from the boy we knew we needed to put in preschool so he could adapt socially and learn to be around people with out mom and dad being their, to the most outgoing friendly boy who loves to make new friends. He loves to talk to everyone and will tell complete strangers all kinds of funny things.

I love how helpful Broden is. He usually does whatever I ask him to do. He usually will do one job then come right back and say what job can I do now mom! It is wonderful. He is also a really fun person to do nice things for because he is so grateful. It never fails, as soon as we get back in the car from doing something fun he always thanks us for taking them to do it. He also is always grateful when I fix him something he loves. There aren't very many foods he likes though so it isn't very often. He loves tator tot casserole, spicy chicken, spicy shrimp and rice. These are about the only dinners he will eat. He loves lunch type foods and fruits and veggies, but the main dish is still a battle. He would live off tator tot casserole if I let him and he asks for it almost every day.

Some cute things he says lately are:
Yes Sir, while soluting to Blake and sometimes to me
Yes my Majesty to Remi
He likes math and will say things like 2 and 2 costs 4(he hasn't caught on that everything isn't money)
Best day ever! If something is fun.
Best mom, or dad ever

We love our Broden so much and are so happy he had a fun birthday!

Bruges, Belgium

Bruges, Begluim

Venice of the North

Belfry in the Markt

In the Eurotunnel

Signs in Belgium, I think the language is Dutch?

Another cool sign

And another

Not quite sure what this sign says...

Across the street from the bed and breakfast

Amazing buildings and plant

Our room at the B&B

B&B stair landing going to the room above ours

Our room

On the stairs climbing the Belfry

Gears that run the clock and bells

How many stair we climbed!

A wood model of all the bells.

After climbing the Belfry.

Walking to the Canal for the boat tour.

Canal

Restaurant with Blake's lemonade and bread

Blake at restaurant and my yummy drink.

My chicken and fries. DELISH

Blake's meal, interesting, but good.

In the Markt at night

First breakfast at the B&B

Blake loving the Nutella on bread.

Headed to Choco Story in the rain

Bet you didn't know these facts about chocolate. Unfortunately it only applies to the real chocolate. Not the stuff most of us eat filled with sugar and fake stuff.

Apparently chocolate doesn't cause cavities

Hmmmm..... interesting. No wonder chocolate is a romantic gift.

 When Parker was born Blake was in the middle of residency, so he couldn't take time off to help out. Normally the military will give fathers 10 days of Paternity leave. Thankfully Grandma Jones was able to come to Nebraska to help out. Blake's commander told him he could use his paternity leave for up to a year and that he could request it at his next base. So, when we got here we looked at Blake and Remi's schedules and decided he should request paternity leave the same time Remi had time off school. So he did and got 10 days off!!!

school on our walk to Markt

We started looking into planning a trip for the time off and between the ward being split and primary program practice and the actual program, Broden's birthday, Blake's Halloween work party, and the ward trunk or treat we didn't have too much time left for a vacation. Blake and I decided we could just go somewhere and the kids would have just as much fun staying with their friends. So we looked at plane tickets and quickly realized that because it was the British Holiday the tickets were 2 and 3 times as much!!! So were the hotels and pretty much anything in Europe. But, some friends from church had just gone to Belgium and so we decided to just do that.

Chocolate in the window

Restaurants in Markt

We booked our tickets on the Eurotunnel or Chunnel and booked a bed and breakfast in Bruges, the Venice of the north, known for their Chocolate, French Fries and Waffles, Perfect! Parker isn't quite on his own eating wise, he still nurses once right before bed, so he got to join us. Remi, Broden and Alissa were so excited to stay with the Ingersoll's. They each got to pick a treat to take with them and had so much fun! It is so great to have friends we are comfortable with leaving the kids with. We were so grateful!!!

Tapestry window desplay

Monday morning we woke up early and got everything ready. We took the kids to Ingersoll's at 7:15 and headed to Dover, where the Eurotunnel is. Our scheduled departure was at 12:20 and we got there at 10:30. They said we could get on right then if we wanted, so we did. We drove down the ramps, right to the train and it was the craziest thing, we just drove right on the train. They put like 5 cars on each car of the train, I think 2 layers. 5 on top and 5 on bottom! Then you just sit in your car, or stand by it while the train crosses under the English channel. It only takes like 30 minutes. They make little announcements about how fast you are going and what you are supposed to be doing. Turn off your engine, don't walk between cars, put your windows half way down, prepare to depart, etc. When we drove off the train we were in France! Blake says, "I am and American, who speaks spanish, driving a British Spec car in France."

Boat tour

It was a little crazy driving on the right, or correct side of the road again. Also, being in France we couldn't read the signs very well:) We drove north and crossed into Belgium which had even more interesting signs. They speak Dutch there, or Finnish and it is even more interesting than French. We had the address to our bed and breakfast in our SatNav and followed the directions. It told us to exit and we did. There were signs saying something, but we just kept following the directions. Then we came to a road block. HHMMMM, what did it say? What did it mean? We figured it was probably meaning we weren't supposed to go that way. So we went back the other way and found some orange signs that said Bruges, so we figured it meant detour, so we followed them.

Eventually, we got to "Home Sweet Home Bed and Breakfast and got all checked in. Our room was on the second floor and was perfect. We stayed in the Charming Room and had our own bathroom next door to our room. Our room overlooked the cute little street and had a cute little table with everything you need for tea next to the window. The lady who owns it was really nice and spoke great English, which was awesome.

Windmill in Damme

After getting settled a little bit we headed to the town center. We loaded everything we might need into the stroller and were off with our map and our guide book. Our b&b was about a 10-15 minute walk from the town center and it was a great walk down the cutest little streets with amazing old buildings. I loved how old and cute everything was. It seems like in most old cities the buildings get run down, but here they looked like they were new, just built to look old. Pretty amazing. On the way we grabbed a sandwich from a little sandwich shop. It was ham and cheese, but so much better than any regular ham and cheese. We couldn't decide if it was the ham, cheese or bread, but something had tons of flavor to it that made the sandwich delish. It was on a baguette that they toasted, then they smashed the whole thing to be a flat sandwich. Hard to describe, but wonderful to eat.

Road(not sidewalk) in Damme

Christmas display

Building in Damme

When we got to the town center or Markt, we looked around then decided that since the weather was so good we should climb the Belfry so we could see everything. So we went and paid and climbed, the stairs and saw a little museum, then climbed some more and got to see the gears to the clock, then climbed some more and saw the big bell and then climbed and climbed and climbed all 366 steps to the top where we could see out windows all the way around and see the whole city. There were also lots of bells in the middle and they rang when we were up there. It was so amazing that the clock works with gears, that are connected to a cylinder that has different bumps on it that signal when to ring what bell. So when the clock gets to a certain time, the bells play a song. It is like those piano's that you can push the petals with your feet and it plays songs. 

view on bridge in Damme

Lots of the doorbells were like this

After climbing back down all 366 steps we went out of the belfry and came to our first chocolate shop. AMAZING!!! Everything was made out of chocolate! They had a huge window display with balls, ghosts, houses, pumpkins, mushrooms, dogs, cats and lots of pralines(chocolates with a filling). We went inside and bought a little bag of chocolates to have later with our herbal tea. MMMMM....

More in Damme

We left the chocolate store and just walked, heading towards some other places on the map. Every shop we walked past had the best window displays. It gave a whole new meaning to window shopping. Even the restaurants had great window displays, I thought some of them were plant or furniture shops, but they were just restaurants. There were lace tapestry shops, Christmas shops, toy shops, plant shops, clothes shops, chocolate shops, chocolate shops and more chocolate shops. We walked past some of these on our way to the canal. We found a boat tour and took that around the canals of Bruges. It was beautiful and amazing to see all the buildings built right there pretty much built in the water. Parker had done great up to this point. He was SOOOO tired, but just wouldn't go to sleep. He did pretty good on the boat tour, but was done by the time we got off.

More in Damme

Damme aga

Everything was cobblestone

When we got off the boat it was about dinner time, so we headed back to the town square to find some dinner. Food there was EXPENSIVE!!! We wanted to experience the culture though. So after walking Parker to sleep in the stroller and after looking at all 10 restaurants that were along the "Strip" and realizing they all had about the same thing for the same price we just chose one. We got the cheapest 2 things on the menu, because that is just how we are. Blake got Belgium chickory. I think we decided it was a Leek wrapped in ham with a creamy white sauce. Pretty good, but we didn't especially love the leek. I got half a chicken with a pepper sauce. The sauce came on the side and I just dipped my chicken in it, but it was amazing. It was almost like a cream of pepper soup, but really yummy. It also came with fries, of course. We also got drinks. I got some kind of lemon soda which was also very good and Blake got fresh lemonade. It was lemon juice in one cup, water and ice in another and some sugar in a dish. I think by the end of the meal he got it tasting just right.

Beginning of our walking tour

Parker woke up just as we were finishing our meal and we headed back to the B&B to relax and let him walk around for a while. We enjoyed our Herbal Tea and chocolates, while Parker played and ate some of our left over dinner. The tea was ok, but the chocolates were delicious. When he got tired again we set up his packnplay and tried laying him down. He isn't really used to sleeping in the same room as anyone, so this made it hard. He also usually cries himself to sleep, which we weren't going to do when we had someone sleeping next to us. So we tried rocking him and just keeping him quiet, but it just wasn't happening. So we got all bundled up and went outside and walked until he fell asleep, which took forever. We layed him in his bed and he slept pretty good, only waking up 3 times. He had been sleeping through the night for weeks. I would just feed him and lay him back down so he didn't wake up anyone else.

In the morning we woke up and got all ready then headed down for breakfast. It was deluxe. Kelly served us a basket with all different breads and rolls in it, then a platter with meats and cheese. Also on a little tray next to the table there were everything you would need for coffee or tea, also there was home made pear jam and berry jam, honey and Nutella. Then on a shelf there was yogurt and all different toppings to go on it and a shelf with all different kinds of tea. We also had orange juice. Blake loved the meat and cheese on the bread and my favorite was the pear jam on the crescent rolls. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

After breakfast we loaded Parker in the backpack and set out to find Choco Story, the Chocolate Museum. We went inside and learned more than we needed to know about the history or chocolate and everyone who ever drank it. Not really, but it was a lot of history. It was fun to see the old things they used to get the cocoa bean and read about chocolate. By the time we were ready to get to the fun part Parker was exhausted, so we left and walked until he fell asleep, then went back. We got to see a demonstration about how they make pralines, and taste them. They were yummy of course.

The rest of the day was spent eating lunch in a hamburger joint, going for a peaceful drive to Dame then out in the country side. Then we did a walking tour of the more quiet part of Bruges. It was all beautiful and a little more quiet than the touristy area. That evening we ate dinner then headed back to go to bed. Parker was ready for bed and went to sleep on our way back to the B&B. He still woke up 4 times that night, but would go right back to sleep when I fed him.

Wednesday was our last day in Bruges. We enjoyed our breakfast, then packed up and headed to see a few more things. We wanted to see the Michelangelo statue, Madonna with child. I thought it would be outside, but Blake didn't think so. We were in the car and were just going to drive past. We never did find it though. Oh well. We then drove to the church Blake wanted to see. It was crazy driving through all the touristy stuff. So we parked and walked to the church, then picked up some chocolates for gifts and some scarfs for keepsakes for ourselves, then headed back south to catch the train again. We stopped in France for lunch and to get gas. When we went to get gas our credit card and debit cards wouldn't work because they don't have a chip, which is what everyone here uses. So we had to wait until we got back to the UK where we could use our pounds chip card. We didn't take our Euro chip card with us.

We got back to the train earlier than our scheduled departure and had about an hour to wait, so we walked in some of the shops, then got on the train. Parker fell asleep and we were both tired, so we also fell asleep. We woke up to see the car in front of us driving forward and realized we slept through everything, all the announcements and the whole ride. Blake quickly started the car and we pulled off the train. Back to driving on the left and trying to remember which lane is the slow lane and which side you pass on when you are going faster. We figured it our and got gas and eventually made it home after being stuck in rush hour traffic and only going 6 miles in 45 minutes. We are so happy Blake doesn't have to commute in that kind of traffic. He would go crazy!!!

Us in our scarves on a busy street.

The kids were happy to see us and we were happy to see them and give them their little gifts. We are glad we took our first adventure off the Island. Now we feel like we know what we are doing when we go to Europe. More than before at least.

Van driving onto the Chunnel

Some funny things. Blake pulled out 250 euros as money for everything while we were there. We thought the Euro was equal to the dollar, so that is how we compared everything. Dollar for euro. So our dinner was 13 for mine and 17 for his. When we were waiting to come back to England I realized the exchange rate is almost equal for Pounds to Euros. So, everything we were buying and doing was costing more than we though:) Oh well. For most people this probably is a bad thing. I think it was good for us. We are both so tight we probably would have starved ourselves, or not done something because it was too expensive. This way things just seemed to have normal prices and we got to enjoy ourselves. We are excited to have more fun adventures!

Just before our nap on the Eurotunnel