Belgium take two

On July 19th we headed over to our friends in Belgium.  We decided since the last time we were there was in the freezing cold of January, July would be a nice change of pace.  We had a really, really late start heading over there, but that was okay because we were so excited to see them!  The boys kept asking when we were going to be there, are we almost there?  But we made it!!  On Saturday they took us to a beach at Blakenberge.  It was absolutely gorgeous!!!  The sand was soft and the water was actually warm!!  Nothing like the Pacific Ocean where I grew up.  There was a bit of wind blowing, but that didn't stop our fun!!!

 

The boys already in the sand - ready for the water 

 

We set up here on the beach - there were tons of chairs you could rent and wind blocks also.  We are tough though and didn't need any of that.  :-) 

 

We told the boys they had to eat lunch before they went into the water.  We figured we wouldn't get them back to eat if they took off right away!

 

 

The boys off and running.  I don't think they realized how far they went when they first got out there.  We could see them looking for us.

 

So back they ran!  They also had lifeguards there and the lifeguards wanted to keep them somewhat together.  So if they went a little too far left he would blow a horn and back everybody would come.

 

This looked like a cool restaurant to go and eat at.

 

David at the beach with his favorite hat!  Enjoying the sun!!

 

The boys running from the waves.  If you look you can see Michael at the top right of the photo.  That kid was out in the waves right with the taller  boys or farther sometimes.

 

He did start making me nervous when the waves went over his head and the water was up to his chest or higher.  I finally had to tell them to not go out so far.

 

Michael messing around with Steve - I just LOVE that smile!!!

 

Kellee and I took a walk down to the water and you can just see the boys there in the middle of the picture relaxing and having a beer.

 

Michael was the first to call it.  He was getting cold and tired.  They fought those waves for a long time!!

 

The big boys decided they would take a walk down to the water - such great times and wonderful memories with great friends!!!  Of course they had to have their beer in hand.  ;-)

 

David and I in the North Sea

 

 

So they have these little huts everywhere on the boardwalk.  People rent them and leave their stuff for the beach.  What I thought was interesting was that they really just sat in front of them, they didn't take them towards the water or anything.

 

They had all sorts of different things going on at the boardwalk this day - one of them was these go karts.  You can see behind Michael that there are tunnels you have to go through.  They are pedal bikes and there are different sizes.

 

They had a place you could put gas in your car, make a phone call, get money out of an ATM.  It was really cool!!!

 

AJ concentrating really hard to stay right with Jack

 

The three boys getting gas for their cars!

 

 

So Michael was really tired from the water and then going around on the go kart, he said he was done after about 5 minutes or so.  You pay for 30 minutes on the bikes, so I told him to sit on it just in case he wanted to go some more.  He didn't.  :-) 

 

 

Michael and Joey having their suckers after their go kart ride! 

 

 

They were giving out free kiwi down there with a really cool spoon to eat it right out of the skin.  It was really yummy!!

 

The boys decided that playing in the waves for hours and riding the go karts weren't enough to get them tired, so then they wanted to jump on a trampoline for 10 minutes.  On the left Michael is getting a little help getting going.  With the bungee cords it can be a little harder.  Big smile on the right, having such a great time!

AJ's turn - he had a great time also!!!  He and the other two boys were talking about how they were going to do flips, etc.  But none of them actually did them.  But they had a great time anyway!!

 

 

Then we decided to head down to Brugge to have some dinner.  It is the capital of Belgium.  They have canals there a little like Venice.  Not nearly as many as Venice and not the main source of transportation, but pretty none the less! 

 

 

This was on our way to the platz (town center).  I really liked the carving and details!

 

We are almost there.  The boys were so tired that they were complaining most of the way, but they had to trudge on in search of food! 

 

 

This is the Belfy of Brugge.  They were supposed to be built in the safest place in a city.  It contains the city archives, the treasury and also a prison back when it was first built.  The big tower was their watchtower.  They built them as a symbol of power, even over the churches. 

 

Most often the Belfry is connected or built next to the town hall.  Here is the town hall of Brugge.

 

The big boys messing with Michael who is hanging onto David's back!  He LOVED it!!!

 

The big statue in the town square.

 

One of the most important features of Brugge is the "beer wall."  David was very excited to see this!  There are hundreds, maybe thousands of different types of beers.

 

As Kellee said--decisions, decisions.  Unfortunately our kids were really hungry and they didn't serve dinner so off we went in search of food again.

 

 

Success!!  We found food!!  We did quite a bit of walking and then the main square was closed so we had to walk around.  There was a concert there that evening.  We were all pretty tired so decided we weren't going to stay and watch it.  But of course before we left, we had to pick up some new Belgium beer for the boys to try and us girls!!

 

As we were walking back to the car I saw this in some body's back yard.  I thought it was really cute idea to put clocks in there.  To say the least we had a very fun filled day!!!  We all had a great time!