Heading Across the Pond...

Yesterday we decided to travel to the southern Walloon (French speaking) region of Belgium and spent the day exploring small villages along the river and Geocaching with Ben, Davy, and Daan (Ben and Davy's friend).  Geocaching is a great way to explore off the beaten path and we get great exercise too...I think we walked several miles yesterday.  We returned home to the Verbeeren family just in time for another delicious meal and our last night's sleep in a real bed.  Davy has been more than gracious to give up his room to Brad and I this past week.  Our home for the next several weeks will be the tent that we brought along with us.
We've been busy getting everything ready to go to England, Scotland, and Ireland (hopefully) for the past couple days.  It seems we overpacked for our trip here, so we had to "weed out" some non-essentials...I hate making decisions about what to pack!  We have tickets for the ferry from Dunkirk to Dover this afternoon and we plan to camp somewhere near Canterbury tonight.  I can't help but think of my senior English class where we made a "pilgrimage" to Canterbury right before we dove into our English literature unit (specifically the collection of Canterbury Tales).  We're not sure how accessible an Internet connection will be while we camp, so we may be "disconnected for a while".  If that's the case, we'll have plenty of catching up to do when we return to Belgium in a few weeks.

En Bruges...

A great movie, but, more importantly, a beautiful city.  We made a quick trip to Calais, France yesterday to pick up our car and decided that today would be a good day to go for a drive.  We ended up in Bruges, a city that we visited three years ago, but one that we still enjoy.  Despite the rain, we had a wonderful time strolling through the medieval alleys and buildings, snacking on some delicious chocolates, and exploring some of Bruges many treasures.  Our car and Eloise (Gavin's name for the sweet British voice of our GPS) got us there and back, safe and sound!  We're grateful to have Eloise along for the rest of our trip...she's very helpful!  We plan on spending the next couple days getting ready to leave for England on Monday.  Everyone seems to be over the jet lag and we're excited about the coming adventure.

Seattle to Iceland, Iceland to Belgium

I think we've finally oriented ourselves to this time zone...it only took two days!  We left Seattle on Sunday afternoon and arrived in Iceland at the Keflavik airport (near Reykjavik) on Monday morning.  We decided to spend our ten-hour layover at The Blue Lagoon geothermal spa.  What a treat!  We spent the day relaxing in the naturally heated lagoon, covering our faces with Silica rich mud, and trying to stay awake.  After a good soak, a shower, and clean clothes, we were ready to head back to the airport for the second leg of our journey.  After a quick bit of lunch, the boys fell sound asleep on a bench and woke only long enough to board the plane (I think I might have fallen asleep for a few minutes as well).  After a short three-hour flight, we arrived in Brussels where the Verbeeren family was waiting to pick us (and all our luggage) up.  As excited as we were to see everyone, sleep had to be the top priority.  Brad was able to sleep on the plane more than anyone else, so he was ready to "party" at 5:30 AM.  I, on the other hand, was not even remotely coherent until 1:00 PM the next afternoon.  It took me most of the day to feel human again.  After resting most of the day yesterday (Tuesday), we were ready to head into Brussels today.  We enjoyed a short walking tour (courtesy of Ben's dad, Michel, and Ben's brother, Davy) which included the Palace of Justice, The Little Peeing Boy, The Little Peeing Girl, lots of shops (Brad LOVED Beer Planet), The Grand Place, and a public restroom that Gavin claims was "just like a nightclub" complete with a strobe light.  Brad has made it a mission to try and write about as many different beers as possible on our trip, so we ventured out to the "beer store" to choose a nice selection of Belgian beers.  We topped off the day with a quick soak in the hot tub at Joke's house (Ben's cousin) and a delicious BBQ that included sausages, beef, pork, bacon, ham, and chicken...along with some non-meat products!  We're feeling rested and relaxed as we plan the next phase of our trip...next stop: Calais, France in the morning to pick up our car!  Looking forward to a trip to the Belgian coast this weekend for a beer festival then off to England/Ireland/Scotland on Monday afternoon.

Icelandic Volcanoes & German Cucumbers

In just a little bit more than a week we will be off to the land of erupting volcanoes and E Coli infected vegetables...I can't say that it won't be an adventure!  

It looks like the volcanic ash has passed, so we'll cross our fingers and hope that no further eruptions happen between now and then and that our flight plans (including a layover in Iceland) will be unaffected.  At this point, I’m much more concerned about the breakout of a mutant strain of E Coli than a little bit of ash!  On our last trip, we lived on fresh vegetables, bread, and cheese while we camped (It’s not easy to cook much on a tiny backpacking stove!)  It looks like vegetable might be taken off the menu for the time being...Connor is delighted! 

Perhaps more concerning than volcanoes and E Coli is the fact that we still are not packed.  We have exactly 6 ½ more school days standing between us and vacation; it’s difficult to see past those days at this point.  I have visions of late nights and last minute packing once we finish up with school.  Originally, we planned to leave around the 16^th, but flights on the 12^th were so much cheaper that we couldn’t pass them up...In hindsight, those extra days may have been worth the extra airfare.  Brad still insists that all we need are airline tickets and passports; the rest “will work itself out.”  We shall see!