Guest Blogger: Daddy Weekend

Jennifer has been saying for a while that she would like a weekend to herself. Being with the kids all the time can be a little draining, and even though she loves it, needs some time away. Also, Jennifer likes saying that I don't know what it's like to take care of the kids all day, implying that if I tried I might lose one (or parts of one).  So we finally decided to address all of these things and the kids and I went off for an overnight!  We selected Belgium since it's close and we needed to go shopping there anyway (mommy needed Speculoos Spread and daddy needed beer).  :-)

We started early on a Saturday morning and drove to Dover to catch the ferry to Dunkirk, France.  The kids were very good on the 2.5 hour drive, but they did alternate between wanting to listen to the Glee CD (Maxwell) and their Monkey Music CD (Darian).  It's a cliché that kids want to listen to and watch the same things over and over, but they really do, and it's cute at first and then annoying shortly after.  We got on the boat without incident and the kids proceeded straight to the play area where they stayed the entire time.  They played with a couple of French kids for a while and it was cute to watch them 'talking' to each other.

Do you see her all the way in the back?

'I'm on a boat!'

5 hours and 2 countries into the trip and I still had 2 kids with 10 finger and toes each.

The first stop was at a monastery/brewery less than an hour from Dunkirk.  It has just snowed the day before so we carefully drove through Belgian farmland, dodging tractors on small back roads until we arrived at our destination.  Along the way we passed a few bread vending machines that were in farm towns too small for a shop.  I guess the bakery fills the machine every morning so the townsfolk don't have to make the long drive to the next town.  At the monastery we had a beer (me) and ice cream (the kids-although the ice cream was made with some of the beer), before playing in the snow.

The brewing facility.

Maxwell and Darian

Playgrounds are great even when covered in snow.

After the kids were sufficiently frozen from playing in the snow (Jennifer almost was right, we barely survived frostbite) we were off to our next destination....The Hotel!  We were staying in a town called Ieper/Ypres, a town destroyed during WW1, but was rebuilt immediately after. After a pizza dinner we messed around the hotel room.  

Nice face Darian.

That's better.

Shower cap monster!!!
(guess who took this picture)

In the morning we had a great breakfast (Darian ate the frosting on top of an eclair and Maxwell had a pain au chocolat) before going to the supermarket for our shopping trip. I always like doing normal stuff in a different country.  It's one thing to go to tourist locations where you just see other tourists, but a grocery store is a different experience.  Also, here I was not in a tourist area and away from major cities, so English was not very prevalent.  But a grocery story is a grocery store, so even though I didn't know what the lady was saying I just imagined she was asking me for my club card and if I had any of my own bags, normal stuff.  In the end my chip and pin card worked so I left with my beer (case and a half) and speculoo spread (12 jars). 

We then made our way to the final stop, a small beer distributor on the French/Belgian border to get a few more cases.  Darian slept through this part and Maxwell liked the owners dog that was roaming the aisles.  

Shopping.

Hop Farm near the store.

After a quick lunch we drove back to Dunkirk and boarded that boat back to England.  Maxwell and Darian played the entire time again, and wore themselves out.  However, we did have a significant loss, Maxwell's stuffed airplane 'guy' was left on the boat to forever travel the English Channel.  On our final approach to Oxford we again switched between the Glee and Monkey CDs, and came home to Mommy waiting patiently for us...happy we were gone, but ecstatic to see us!  She didn't count their fingers and toes, but believe me, they were all still there.

Speaking English

Since we have been here for nine months now, I think I have gotten the hang of the differences in my American English vs. English English.  Or at least I thought I had until the other night when I rode my bike to the store for some milk.

There were three cyclists in front of me; two were going my speed, one was very slow and wobbly.  The two fast people passed the slow guy, so I did the same.  Except when I went to pass him, he yelled at me!  And you wouldn't believe what he said:  "You wiley cu**!  You almost ran me over!"  Now, at first I was pretty shocked to be called this, but then I realized the wobbliness was because he was drunk (pissed!) and looked like he was probably homeless.  It made me wonder if he had just "acquired" that bike recently.  Anyway, I came home and told Dave that story and he busted out laughing.  I am wondering if in England the term is more common?  Like calling someone a bitch in the US isn't really all that insulting anymore??

Then for some reason, something has changed in Maxwell this week.  He has slowly been developing a bit of an accent for months, but this week we have really noticed a difference.  You can really hear it in the inflection when he asks questions.  It's not something I can express with the written word, so I am going to do my best to capture a video of it!  And of course because I spend all my time with him or other moms, teachers, and kids, I am starting to do it, too.  Dave thinks it is hilarious and makes fun of me, but also thinks it is awesome because I don't even realize I am doing it.  And for some reason I only do it when I am talking to Maxwell or other children.  The biggest changes in Maxwell's vocabulary are that he occasionally now says wee and toilet (instead of peepee and potty), rubbish (garbage), bin (garbage can), bit (piece), as well (too), and biscuit (cookie).  He is also saying today and story weird.  Today sounds like todah, and story is suddenly stor-ay.  And of course, much to my dismay, I get the occasional Mummy.  Yuck.  Of course, these words always sneak up the most the couple hours after I pick him up from school, and on the weekends he doesn't do it much.

Then there is my spelling.  I bought my laptop here so it is set up to UK English and the keyboard is all weird.  I think I am getting used to it.  When I first got it I always had ## at the end of everything because that is now in the place by my right pinky where the enter key should be.  It is weird seeing words that I know I am spelling correctly get underlined all the time, though. Color?  No, colour.  Neighbor?  Nope.  Neighbour.  Favourite.  Favour.  What's with all the extra "U"s?  And apparently I am only supposed to hit the spacebar once after I finish a sentence, although I was taught to use two.  Hmmm...

So, just in case you come to visit or call us on the phone or skype, here's a quick reference guide to some of the new words we are using, due to the fact that if we don't people look at us like we are a little dumb.  :o)

Garden = backyard
buggy or pushchair or pram = stroller
nappy = diaper
pants = underwear
trousers = pants
lorry = truck
trolley = shopping cart
motorway = highway or freeway
slip road = exit on the motorway
queue = line
cinema/film = movie theater/movie
ring = call on the phone
call = visit your home
diary = calendar
boot = trunk
holiday = vacation
proper = actual or real.  I used this a couple weeks ago on my Facebook page without realizing it.  "David and I went on a proper date."  ;o)

These are the terms that have crept up into our vocabulary over the last nine months.  There are a TON more differences!  It took me years of living in California to start saying soda instead of pop, so I am pretty surprised that these changes have happened so quickly.  Do you think we'll all have accents by the time we move back to the States??

Man.  I just heard that last question in an accent in my head.

And We're Off!

When we found out that 1) David got a lot of time off around Christmas and 2) Marie was coming to visit us for the holiday, we decided that we should go somewhere for a few days.  At first I wanted to go to Paris.  I have this idea in my head about Paris at Christmas..I think I watch too many movies!  We started to plan for it, but then Marie told us she was going to France in January, so we figured we should show her part of Europe that she may not go to on her own while she is living abroad this year.

David's favorite European city (so far?) is Brussels, Belgium.  When David and I went to Belgium in 2007 we also fell in love with Brugge, but since we were only there for a few hours during that trip, that is where we decided to go this time.  I thought it would be fun to surprise Marie with the trip.  Our plan was to say on Wednesday night, "Pack a bag for two days...we're taking you somewhere tomorrow."  And then just cousin-nap her away.  But when she first came to town she babysat for us and then she went to Bath and London with her Aunt Terri and cousin Nina..so I started to feel guilty that she wasn't going to be able to explore Oxford much at all.  So I told her on Tuesday night that we were going somewhere so that she was at least forewarned a little bit, but our destination was still a surprise!

Thursday, December 22 started bright and early.  We had tickets on the 9:15 ferry from Dover, England to Calais, France so we had a two hour + drive ahead and had to get everyone up and out the door by 630am!  The kids were excited about the road trip with Cousin Marie in the backseat to play with them!

The ferry ride was cool, and it had a pretty amazing view of England as we sailed away!

The white cliffs of Dover, England

The ferry ride was a lot of fun for the kids, and the adults all enjoyed the views.

Once we landed in France, we had a quick hour or so drive to get to Brugge.  We all agreed that the countryside in France looked quite similar to Illinois!  Very flat, empty fields and plains.  It was strange for David to be driving our UK car (driver's side on the right) in France and Belgium.  They obviously drive on the right there, but they still have round-abouts.  Being on the right side of the car while also driving on the right was a challenge for him!

When we got to our hotel the room wasn't quite ready, so we stashed our things and parked the car in order to go for a walk and explore.  In the main square in Brugge, we found the usual European Christmas markets (mmm...waffles and mulled wine) and an ice rink!  We told Maxwell about ice skating and he said over and over that he wanted to go.  David and I know our kid well enough to know that it wasn't going to happen, but we went with it.  David bought two tickets and got this far with him before the freak out got too bad to continue:

Then since we had already paid for two, Marie stepped in while the kids and I watched!!  It was very warm out and the ice had a good 1/2 inch of water across the top of it, so David and Marie were very careful not to fall!  And they didn't!  Good job, guys!!!

David and Marie, trying hard not to fall!

Jen and kids, enjoying just watching!

 Brugge is such a beautiful city.  The buildings are like a fairy tale land, and with the bridges over the canals and the trees...it is just so magical.  It was wonderful to see it all done up for Christmas.  The markets are really cool.  There are stalls with food, crafts, clothing, beer, ornaments.  Anything and everything.  We even found a section of one that had some games, so we stopped for the kids to play!

We had a nice dinner out that first night and then walked around some more.  Once we got back to the hotel and got all settled in with kiddies in bed, David and I took advantage of our travelling companion (Marie!) being there to stay with the littles while we went out and got a drink.

Friday arrived with the wonderful news that the kids had slept in...late!  The hotel had awesome blackout windows (must buy those for this house) and we all got some much needed zzzz's.  After a quick breakfast we loaded up for the day and headed to the train station to Brussels.  It is really interesting trying to take public transportation in cities where you don't speak the language.  Interesting.  Luckily, we made it to our train and were ready to have an awesome day!

Our stops in Brussels before heading to the town centre were really, really cool!  David did a great job of planning our day.  First we went to the Atomium, a structure that was built in 1958 for the World's Fair.  Hard to describe, so here is a photo:

Atomium

Crazy long escalator tube!

5 or 6 of the spheres are open, connected by ginormous staircases and escalators.  They have art exhibits, a restaurant, and one of them is dedicated to the construction of the structure in 1958.  We watched a video of these guys hanging from the thing, tightening nuts and bolts with their bare hands.  It blew my mind!  I couldn't believe this amazing piece of architechture was built in the 50s without scaffolding, cranes, etc., and then that made me think about ancient creations like the pyramids and from there I had to stop myself because no good can come of me letting my mind go like that!  (Dave, Mom and Shelly know what I am talking about!  Ha!)

Anyway, after the Atomium, we popped over to the rest of Europe to see some of the sights.  You know, the Eiffel Tower, Acropolis, leaning tower or Pisa, Big Ben, Stockholm Cathedral, Mount Vesuvius, Arc de Triomphe.  All the normal things that you would see in  a day, right?  :o)  We went to the coolest exhibit:  Mini Europe!  Set up almost like a mini-golf course, the path led us through more than 25 country's greatest architectural sites.  It was really amazing, and now after seeing the miniatures, my list of places to visit while we are here has grown even more.

Marie and Jen at the Eiffel Tower

The whole time we were at Mini-Europe it was drizzling and cold, so we decided to pack up and head somewhere warm.  We made our way back to the tube and took a train to the Grand Place, the main square in Brussels city centre.  In the center of the square there was a giant Christmas tree, and all the buildings were lit up and there was a light show set to music.  Not a great photo opportunity, but very cool to watch.  We had a not-very-Belgian dinner at an Italian place and then walked around the markets.  Marie and I had waffles for dessert and David and Marie enjoyed a hot mulled wine.  All in all it was a great day!

On Saturday morning (Christmas Eve!) we realized that a lot of things we could potentially do that were a bit touristy were closed.  We took our things to put them in the car and the car wouldn't open!  The ceiling light had been left on in the backseat (for TWO DAYS) and the car doors wouldn't even open.  We were able to open the driver's side door with the actual key, but the car was totally dead.  David was about to head back to the hotel to call someone, but I suggested seeing if there was anyone working in the garage.  There was, he was able to go pick up a portable battery and cables and give us a jump.  So I saved us a couple hundred Euro.  :o)  David stayed behind to take care of the car and Marie and the kids and I went for a walk around town.  We fed some ducks in the canal, got another waffle, did some shopping.  It was such a beautiful day, that we really just took advantage of our surroundings and really soaked it all up.

When we parked the car on the ferry for the ride home, we pulled up right behind a car from Greece that had an Illinois State sticker.  How cool was that!?!  I felt bad taking a picture of the car with the driver still in it, so I waited until he got out and asked if it was okay.  He was a really nice Greek guy who was VERY proud of the fact that he had gone to ISU.  He was so surprised to hear that Marie and I were from IL and had gone to school there, too!

Our quick trip to Belgium was absolutely amazing.  I love that country.  I just love Europe.  I am so glad that Marie came to stay and that we were able to show her a part of the world that she might not have thought to visit on her own.

To view the complete album of photos from our trip, please visit my Facebook Album.