Playing at Bois Des Reves

Belgium is often described as being rainy. Everyone says you can't sit around and wait for a sunny day, you just have to put on your rain boots and rain coat, get your umbrella, and go outside to do what you had planned on doing! So when it was sunny four days in a row, I was wondering if we were setting another Belgian record. The kids and I decided to head to a local park, or provincial domain, as they're called, one of those days. We typed the address into the TomTom, gathered our warm winter gear, and headed 20 min. south. Along the way we passed some chickens alongside the road and a one lane tunnel until we finally had "reached our destination" according to Tom. We turned left onto a road that had an electronic arm and a button to push just like at a parking garage. So I pushed the button thinking it would raise the arm and we could go swing. The button didn't work so I pushed a couple more times until a voice finally said something in French. I asked in English if this was the park. Nope. From the back seat I hear R say, "Mom, that's weird. It's the first time the TomTom has been wrong." I didn't tell him that I might have turned too soon since I thought it would be better if he thought the GPS made the mistake, not me. We drove just a few hundred yards farther south and saw the signs for the park. After parking the car we ventured into the park to find a sign and ticket machine saying we needed to pay a Euro for each child playing on the equipment. After paying, a ticket to prove payment is printed to keep in your pocket in case people decide to come validate tickets. It's based on the honor system. I'm not sure what the fine is if you don't pay, but I'm a rule follower and wasn't about to find out. It was worth it! The play area was enormous. It was about the size of 2-3 parks all put together back home. I took one picture and then the words "out of batteries" appeared on my camera. I couldn't talk the kids into going back to the car for the charged one. Instead, they played hide and seek in the sandbox, swung, walked a tightrope, climbed the pretend rock wall, and burned off many calories!