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.  

Summer List

For the first time in recent memory (+/- 10 years) we have NOTHING to do this summer.  No travel plans, no visitors, no summer camps and no motivation to change it.  

This will probably never happen again so we're taking full advantage.

We were inspired by the Myklebusts to make a list of fun things we want to do this summer but we're slightly less ambitious especially since we only have 56 days of summer vacation and I have a pre-teen who likes to read for hours on end and is starting to appreciate the beauty of sleeping in until 9:30.  

But here it is, Our List:

OK, it's just part of the list but you get the idea.

We had a couple of fun days before The List and here they are:

Yesterday Maisie agreed to go antique shopping with me (not her favorite thing to do) because I just discovered two really great jumbled up stores not too far from us.  We found lots of great things: 

These cool French apothecary bottles

A rocking Swan

an Animal head (the Swiss sure seem to love their taxidermy) 

A hat

and a new boyfriend

The day before we went to check out a little lake that's not too far from our place  

Yes, Maisie got a haircut including bangs.  Don't ya love it?

Swan family

Oh, and to celebrate the 4th we had "hot dogs", corn on the cob, and a watermelon salad (with feta and mint) for dinner.

Sweet!

I love summer.

Today's blog post by MAISIE!

Hi there folks!

I went to London on a school trip and all you get are these blog photos (not even a t-shirt).

We were there for 5 days and 4 nights.  

Let's start at the beginning.  Here I am waiting at the airport.  Our flight was 2 hours late.

One of the first things we did was go to St. Paul's Cathedral.  On our way there we passed the Tower of London.  This is me and my friend and roommate Francesca in front of it:

We took the tube a lot and so I thought I'd take this photo:

This is St. Paul's:

(I took this inside picture before seeing one of the 47 "No Photos Allowed" signs) Oops!:

More St. Paul's

My favorite thing we did was to visit the Globe Theater.  We got to see a performance of Much Ado about Nothing on this awesome stage.

See, here it is in action:

This is the outside of the Globe.  Pretty cool, huh?

This was one of the costumes in the Globe Museum.

Some of the group went on the London Eye.  I didn't because I've already been so I just took a picture:

and one of Big Ben:

We even got to meet the Queen (at Madame Tussaude's in wax form!).

We also went to see The Lion King and got to go shopping at Harrod's and Covent Garden.  I loved this trip.  It was really, really AWESOME!

Happy Birthday Maisie!

12

Can you believe it?  

We had a super fantastic party for Maisie at Parc Aventure which is a park with lots of cool and difficult obstacle courses in the trees of a Swiss forest.

It was a shared party with her school friend Georgia whose birthday is on the 25th.

First the girls harnessed up and listened to the rules

Then they were on their way

here are Georgia and Lacey climbing up...

 Maisie on the first platform

 Georgia on the suspended bridge

and Maisie on the zip line!

I was impressed with their skills, balance and bravery.

After all the hard work they were rewarded with cake (made by Georgia's Mom) and snacks.

Maisie made a pretty sweet haul on the gifts as well.  

She's already planning for the big 1 3 next year.  

Help me.

Layla's first hike

I took the new puppy along with my hiking group last week.  We went to Creux du Van in the Jura mountains of the Neuchâtel region.  The hike was about 12km (8 miles) and took us about 4 and a half hours.  Layla did it all except for the last hour when I wrapped her up in a makeshift sling and carried her.  And she loved every minute (as did I).

 

The formation is technically a cirque http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirque and is 1400 meters (870 feet) wide and 150 meters (500 feet) deep.

The climb was tough but worth it.

We even got to see one of the Ibex who live there.  He was just hanging around on the stone wall and didn't seem to mind the hikers or dogs.   Turns out their poop is irresistible to dogs.  Layla had her first bath when we got home.  Yuck!

Layla!

here's winking at you, kid...

Here's the newest member of our family, Layla.  We just got her today and we are already in love (and exhausted).  She's a Yorkshire Terrier mixed with Miniature Pinscher and pure sugar.  We're looking forward to lots of good times and adventures with our new best buddy.

Oh, and there's a kid here too who is going to be 12 this month

She likes clothes from Target, Gap, and Abercrombie  (size 14 (slim if possible)) and she loves snack food like Goldfish, Cheezits and Reese's PB cups (HINT HINT).