M I A

Well, we've sort of been missing-in-action here on the blog these days. My mother came to visit for almost 2 whole weeks! Despite our close quarters, we had a really good time! She came a couple days early (while I was still working) so she could get over the jet lag. She got here on a Friday morning and besides walking thru a park and grocery shopping, we took it pretty easy. Saturday morning we got up early and went to Ghent! It's an hour ride on the train. Greg and I hadn't been yet. I thought these pictures were fun . . . waiting at the tram stop . . .

Riding on the tram . . .

Waiting at the next tram spot . . . Mom really wanted us to take a picture of us on our streets to show people where we live. This is a pretty standard pic of Brussels. All the streets look like this, for the most part. If we go ANYWHERE we end up waiting here at this tram for 10 minutes or so on our way.

The train station.

We're here! We grabbed some food and just started walking around . . .

Ok, the pants I wear are not as tight as they appear in that picture.

We stumbled upon this amazing oil and vinegar shop. Look at all the giant viles in the background. You just grab a bottle a fill up! I bought a really yummy vinegar.

Mom was going CRAZY like a little kid. She was constantly yelling at me from one end of the store, "Come over here! Try this!" They had samples EVERYWHERE!!!! It was disneyland for our tatstebuds! Mom was walking everywhere leaned over with her arms outstretched going for the next thing. She couldn't slow down.

On to see the city . . .

It reminded us a lot of Brugge, just bigger and more city-ish.

Walking thru we were stopped by a Bachelorette Party asking if one of us would play a game with them. I said I would. So it was a contest of who could finish their drink first (Coke), but you had to drink it with a spoon. We also each had a candle that we had to light first and could only drink when it was lit (so we had to keep relighting it). It was pretty funny. I won!

In the background you can see the castle. We went inside and toured around.

By now I've seen a lot of swords and I think this is the biggest.

Nice big fireplace . . .

And yes! The giateen. I've never seen one of these before!

Then we ended up at the top.

It was really pretty. Thru our whole vacation you could see spring coming. Each day, more and more flowers or trees were in bloom. It was great!

There was this long walkway that had no rail to guard against falling. It was weird. I kept getting nervous I'd be looking thru a camera lense and just walk off!

Bye bye!

On to some shopping for mother!

Mmm . . . and a fondue resaurant for dinner! Thanks Mom!

And some gelato to finish off the night . . .

The next day was Sunday, but it was conference! So we watched it online. Since we're 9 hours ahead, we watched watched Saturday's sessions on Sunday and then I think the sunday morning session live at 6pm here! I think that's how it went . . .