1st Day of School for R

The kids usually take the bus to school, but for the first day of school sometimes special requests have to be fulfilled. I drove R to the first day of second grade. (J started one day later.) The children all gathered on the playground until the principal called them to line up like ducks following their new teacher. R didn't even need to say goodbye as he sauntered off with his buddy, R (Yes, we call them R and R).

Just like any other boy, when he returned home on the bus later that day, he wasn't willing to chat much about the day. So, we still aren't sure what happens in second grade.

Bible Bayou - VBS (August)

Back home Vacation Bible School was a HUGE event. Our whole family participated (since it was in the evenings) with K wearing brightly colored shirts using a baton to direct traffic while I took turns teaching R and J's classes every other year. What a fun family tradition...so we couldn't go without it this year either.

This year I signed up to be a crew leader with there being only 4 children assigned to my group when I usually have 20 children (with at least 2-3 wild, uncontrollable ones) running around. Personally, I was glad to have a little break. I thought it was God's way of telling me to relax a little and enjoy VBS. We sure did. The kids and I drove up each morning after packing our lunches (we were there for 4 hours) to sing praise songs, participate in crafts, play games, memorize Bible verses, and have fun! I particularly was impressed at how they organized the snacks. Each day a different group made the snacks (of course going along with the theme of the day) and then dispersed them to everyone at the tail end of lunch. Here is R showing off his snack of the day.

What a great way to end the summer, getting ready for a fresh start to school, while putting our focus back on the Lord!

Blosi Beach, Belgium

With the temperature rising, a friend of mine made the comment she'd like to take her kids to the beach. Wow! That's a 2 hour drive both ways + 5 kids in the car = CRAZY.

I was up for it, but when we found an alternative in our thin handy book called "The Guide" containing various places within the country worth exploring, I have to admit I was relieved. The drive to this "beach" would only be a half hour. It would be on the Flemish side of the country. The southern part of the country (where we live) speaks French, and the northern part speaks Flemish.

With thoughts of sand and water, the kids eagerly dressed in swimsuits while I packed lunches, put the address into the TomTom, packed sunscreen and towels, and we were off. The other mother wanted to get there early since the picture in the "The Guide" looked pretty crowded. At about 10:00 we were paying our 3 Euros for parking and surprisingly found a wonderful gem of a beach. We set camp close to a wooden play structure made to resemble a boat, and pulled out shovels and buckets to enjoy the sun filled day. The 7 children (another mom and kids came too) played and played for 5 hours without one single dispute. We only witnessed cooperation while our kids swam, jumped off a small dock, dug moats and rivers in the sand, carried buckets of water to fill the river, and just plain enjoyed hanging out together! What a pleasant surprise of a day!

We of course noticed the pleasure in this day...kids playing while moms chatted and shared travel plans, cultural struggles, parenting styles, and much more. We made another date for the following Monday and had just as much fun again without any of our houses being destroyed with so many children playing together.

My First Dental Experience

I've heard the opinionated rumors declaring dentists aren't as competent here as back home, but with us not returning to America for a while I really needed a good teeth cleaning. I opened my trusty green booklet with names and numbers of professionals recommended by other families in the school.

I walked right in to the dentist's office which is one room complete with her files, desk, computer, dental chair, and everything else she needs for her profession. We chatted at 3:25-3:30 and she filled out a card for me with my medical information. By 3:30 I was sitting in the chair, mouth opened, ready to go when I heard some kind of motor starting on this little power tool she held in her hand. This is the part where she is supposed to scrape my teeth with the little silver poky thing, and suddenly I felt the worst pain I can ever remember feeling and it was coming from a motorized scraper? I've had 2 children, mind you, so nothing should be quite as uncomfortable. I will just say I embarrassingly had uncontrollable tears streaming down the sides of my face as the pain felt like razorblades slicing my gums. (I'm such a people pleaser that I'd rather not tell her how badly it hurt. I'd rather just take it and never go back.) The screeching noises - identical to fingernails on a chalkboard, were my teeth scraping the cleaning device. It only lasted for about 5-7 minutes...I can't completely remember, but after the unbearable few minutes it was over. Relief. I had just enough time to wipe my eyes as she turned to answer the phone...I was wondering, "Does she even realize how badly this hurts? Do all Europeans go to the dentist when it produces so much pain?" I would think not.

Then came the polishing, not with gritty stuff, but something smoother. She proceeded to tell me everything looked good and I didn't need to come back for another year...just enough time to forget how badly it actually hurts. I paid her while she filled out a medical reimbursement form for me and was out in my car by 3:45. How can they do their jobs so quickly here and get me scheduled so soon as well? I had called last week to make the appointment for today. Back home I have to whip out my calendar and dream ahead to what I'll be doing 6 months in advance to schedule a cleaning.

I called K to tell him how it went, honestly. I was acting as the guinea pig for dental cleanings in Belgium. He actually has a choice as to whether he gets his teeth cleaned here or in Indiana since he goes back so frequently. My guess is he'll choose the latter. Guys can sometimes be wimps. As for me, I'm just secretly praying we'll be moving back home next summer so when my "year" rolls around, I'm back to the scraping by hand and teeth cleaning that lasts for about 45 minutes.

Honfleur, France (July)

Honfleur, a quaint town that escaped the bombings of WWII, provided a relaxing setting after our Normandy beach excursion.

We enjoyed a relaxing evening eating pizza, ice cream, and taking a ride on the carousel.

I should have gotten a picture of the bathroom in the restaurant, because as we turned on the light, preparing J to go potty, we noticed the light was changing colors...red, blue, green, making our clothes an array of colors. After completing her business she couldn't find Daddy fast enough to tell him all about the different changing colors.

With the light, she's a little harder to find than R was.

Harbor of Honfleur

Booted Out of Blogging

Our internet was acting up this past week, so I promise now that we have fixed the situation I'll start posting more pictures soon! I have the first days of school and a few others to share...thanks for being patient! :)