La Trappe Trappist Brewery

We have been trying to visit all of the Trappist Monasteries while we are in Belgium.  Today, we went to La Trappe, just over the border in The Netherlands.
 

First Day of School!

 The first day of school!  Which is actually just a couple hours of meet the teacher.....  but still!

Grace is starting Kindergarten.  Her teachers are Laura and Wynne.  Laura is from Australia, and Wynne is a University of Missouri grad, but from North Carolina. 

Grace wants to be an Engineer when she grows up.  She didn't come up with that entirely on her own.  She spends quite a lot of time building things, including rigging up our two single doll strollers into double strollers, etc.  I commented to her one day that she should be an engineer.... and so I believe that's where that came from.

Audrey is starting Pre-School at ISB. She is actually in the same class Grace started at ISB in.  Her teachers are Ms. Senior and Ms. Suzanna.  Ms. Senior is from England, and is a substitute.  The real teacher in the class, Ms. De Kloe, is out on maternity leave until January. We spent a little bit of time in the spring getting to know Ms. Senior so we would hopefully have a smooth transition into the class.

Audrey wants to be a teacher and a cowboy when she grows up!  Giddy up!

Sunday Funday at Chateau de La Hulpe

 

After church, we decided to take a picnic to the grounds of Chateau de La Hulpe to explore.  It's a beautiful old Chateau not too far from our house, but we had never been there before.

It is very beautiful....tons of walking trails, and ideal picnicing grounds.  Little did we know it was illegal to picnic there, though!!!  Luckily, we were not caught!  :)

Brussels Flower Carpet 2014

Every other year, there is a giant carpet created on the Grand Place in downtown Brussels from begonias.  It is a sight worth seeing!  2 years ago, we had been in England during the great "rescue the Sister with the broken elbow" escapade.  We came back to Brussels on the very last day of the flower carpet, and temperatures reaching almost 100F.  It was not very pretty.

This year, it was very cool, grey and overcast.  Actually, probably not a bad forecast for keeping the flowers looking their best.  Just not an overly great forecast for mid-August.

Isn't that beautiful?  I'm glad we got to see it this year, since there is a good chance we won't be here in 2 more years!

Beach Photo Shoot

I love having two girls and dressing them the same on occasion, and dressing them in blue.  Especially these two.  With their eyes and light hair.  Love it.  I also love taking their pictures on the beach.  I got a couple cute ones this year.  And they actually cooperated for the most part.

Fun at Granny and Hapa's

Last stop on our whirlwind tour of the US.....Florida!

We went to the beach every single day!!!!!  We had to soak in as much vitamin D as we possibly could before heading back to Belgium.

The girls had so much fun at the beach.  It is definitely all of our happy place.  Even if we only go for about an 1 1/2 at a time. 

Here they look like sweet sisters, but only for a split second.  They were busy burying two horseshoe crabs that had washed ashore.  Always something to do and see at the beach!

Enjoying a tractor ride with Hapa. 

Click on this pic....you can see Audrey waving with her purple princess gloves on!

We had such a wonderful time in Florida!  Thank you Granny, Hapa and Beau!