Travel To-Do's

I make to-do lists for everything, but this to-do list isn't stressful or the least bit boring. We have about 7 more months left and we decided it's time to make a list of the places we definitely want to travel to before we depart. I started my list before our move to Belgium in a fun decomposition book from my grandparents in Florida. I keep track of hotels, restaurants, travel ideas and itineraries in this book. I have a tendency to also keep every ticket, restaurant business card and map from each place we go to. Right now it's in a box but maybe one day I will get creative and make something out of it! I also really like this New York Times "36 Hours 125 Weekends in Europe" book, it's a fun book for the coffee table and I love to peruse through to dream up a weekend.

Of all of the places on my list that we haven't been to yet I have narrowed it down to four places. In no particular order they are... 

1. Visit where Ry studied abroad: Copenhagen, Denmark 

 2. Hike through the Cinque Terra or the "Five lands" 

 3. Edinburgh, Scotland 

4. The island of Capri off of Italy

   

What's on your travel to do list? 

Good Reads

A friend of mine from Brugge just recommended the site goods reads and now I have become addicted!  It's a great way to catalog books you have read, books you want to read, and rate books to get recommendations. It also allows you to link up with your Google or Facebook page to see what your friends are reading.

Here's a glimpse of what the site looks like:

I love reading and have started to read more and more nonfiction books. I just finished a classic book, Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl. The book is a memoir about the authors survival of the Nazi concentration camps and its spiritual lessons that helped him survive. Some things I took away from the book: 

• “Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.” 

• “Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love, the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true.” 

• “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” 

• “For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth - that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.” 

x

A Colorful Week

This past week we have been learning all about colors. I introduced the class to Mr. Roy G. Biv. A guy who helps us remember the rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. We also read poems and books, wrote colors in alphabetical order, and made our own 'crayons' in our favorite colors.  Lastly, we did a science experiment to see if water can walk! The kids loved this experiment, they were so quiet you can hear a pin drop. It has been a busy week - and it's not over yet. On Friday we will collect some data and graph our favorite colors :)

Mr. Roy G. Biv

The bulletin board of our favorite colors and a poem.

Walking water!

Have a colorful day x 

Pumpkins Galore

Finding cans of pumpkin puree is impossible in Belgium. Last month when we went to the Commissary (a large base) to stock up on food. I went a little overboard on pumpkin products. This past week I have made two new pumpkin recipes. The whoopie pie recipes calls for too much cream cheese icing, so I used the same icing in the cake rolls. 

1. Pumpkin whoopie pies 
2. Pumpkin cake rolls 

Both were relatively easy and delicious. I still have left over icing (which is perfectly good by itself!) so who knows what I will make next. 

Happy Fall x 

It's you.

Life in a 4x4

     Life has been hectic! Lots of guests, the first term bulletins were due at school, appointments, and traveling. On Monday I went to London for 2 nights to show Ryan's Aunts my favorite city. Yes, I have decided - London is #1. This week marked my seventh time to the city and it never ceases to amaze me. I love everything about it, the sights, people, fashion, pubs, neighborhoods, the tube, shopping, I could go on and on! Did I mention that we saw the Queen? Yes, the Queen of England! While we were waiting for the changing of the guard she drove up to Buckingham Palace with a few police escorts and the crowd went wild. Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo but she looked as elegant as ever. 
    Today I baked an Apple Crisp deliciousness because we had a lot of apples and it's Ryan's favorite. I also picked up those hydrangeas TWO weeks ago at the local market and they are still alive and kickin'. Today is Halloween and the Belgians really don't celebrate at all. I can't wait to be back in the States to celebrate Hallmark holidays. But one of the local shops had a beautiful window display with everything made of chocolate. I love the skulls :) 

Happy Halloweenie!

Dads!

Dad's come to Brugge and Stuttgart 

Last week my dad and Rout (his best friend and coworker ... who later had the nickname Dad #2) came to Brussels for a work convention. Ryan's dad also flew over for the event! They extended their stay and we went to Stuttgart, Germany for a beer festival. We also met up with Julie and Josh. They have become great friends and travel buddies. Stuttgart has the 2nd largest beer festival in Germany, Oktoberfest is #1. Stuttgart hasn't been taken over by tourist and feels local and of course... German! 

 The Dads! 

 My Dad and I in Brugge at the top of the brewery.

 Julie and I the second day! 

 The only size available :) 

Julie and Josh

Overall we had a great time and drank a lot of beer! I am so lucky that my Dad was able to extend his trip and spend the weekend in Germany. Now we just have to get the whole family over together before we move back :) 

xoxo