Last Day of Summer and First Day of School

For our last official day of summer vacation we rented a boat with an awesome slide on the back and pedaled out on Lake Geneva.  Here are Maisie and her friend Lacey working hard to get us out past the pesky swans:

This is the view back to Vevey when "we" decided to stop pedaling:

Goofy girls striking a pose,

and soaking up the sun which, as you know, we didn't get very much of this summer but last week was spectacular and a nice way to end the break.

This is Maisie the 7th grader on her first day of school:

It was mercifully only a half day so I didn't have to worry for very long but there was no need as she had an excellent day and got all of the teachers she wanted and a big locker.  She's looking forward to another great school year.  Go Maisie!

Belgium and Where the Heck is My Summer Weather?

We spent our summer holiday in Bruges/Brugge Belgium  

I found a B&B which allowed dogs (they had two of their own) so that we could bring Layla with us.  It was cute but perhaps not suited for tall people considering the spiral stair case and bathtub (no shower) but we managed.

This is the little patio in front of our "house"

We had a pretty cool view and delightful hosts

We were somewhat limited in our activities with the not perfect weather and the dog  so we mostly walked around and took in the amazing scenery.  The town is very clean and well preserved and very beautiful.  Most people speak Flemish although we got by with a little French and lots of English.

We took the one sunny day that we had and went to the beach to dip our toes in the North Sea.

We saw this cute little shack where you can borrow library books.  What a great idea!

Windmills

And here is the Frites museum.  We didn't go in but I can't imagine that the life cycle of a potato to french fry was very captivating.  I just liked the door signage.

Of course we had to sample the local fare and compare it to our Swiss chocolate but since I've never met a piece of chocolate that I didn't like, I'm not the best critic.  I thought it was all amazing.  

Here are some of the other local goodies we brought home with us.  I've heard Speculoos called "crack in a jar".  I'll let you know how it is when we open it but when the main ingredient listed is "cookies" you know you're onto something good.

We've had pretty lousy weather so far this summer with lots of clouds and rain but things are looking up today with lots of sunshine with the high temperature in the 80's.   Maybe I won't need a sweater today.  Hope you are enjoying your summer wherever you are.