We have arrived in Belgium...

26 Jun 06--After a good night's sleep in pleasant rooms with the windows open, we woke ready to go.  We're in a very nice hotel, the Hotel Mercure (a view from the roof is below).  Other than the relief of finally waking up in Belgium, there was not much excitement other than the beginning stages of inprocessing.

27 Jun 06--Some progress towards a semblance of normalcy...our sponsor took Clay up to the nearby air base where he rented a car (the time spend getting an intenational driver's license prior to departure payed off).  With our new found mobility, we were able to take ourselves back to the post, get Clay's ID card and get the kids registered into the system.  They even gave Asa his very first ID card although he is not 9 yet.  He was very impressed with himself and very concerned tghat he did not have a wallet.  We also visited the housing office and made appointments to visit 2 prospects tomorrow...we'll keep our fingers crossed.  Lexie has a fever, but we're not sure why.  We gave her some Tylenol and let her go down immediately after we returned from eating at an Italian restaurant called Pizzarilla.  The boys had pizza, Johnna had calzone, and Clay had a very good ravioli in creme and spinach.  The sun does not go down until almost 10pm, so it continues to be difficult to convince the boys to go to bed.  However, everyone is now down for the evening and all is well.

29 Jun 06--A couple days of househunting and getting lost ALL OVER the Belgian countryside.  The gentlemen who drove folks around for years (and who knew where every house was and the history behind it) passed away three weeks ago.  The saddest thing is that he was at his father-in-law's funeral, had a heart attack and collapsed onto his wife.  Very sad.  Since he was the only one who knew where eveything was, all the newcomers are pretty much on our own.  Suffice it to say that the Belgian idea of road signage is signifiacntly different that ours in the States, so we spent a lot of time guessing and hoping.  We stopped on a number of occasions for directions and Johnna's french--while sparse at best--managed to get the point across enough to keep us going.

After a long day, we treated ourselves to dinner from the hotel's restaurant.  We ate by the pool while the boys swam in the VERY VERY cold water (which they would not admit although Crockett's lips were almost blue by the time he was done).

30 Jun 06--We have chosen a house, but cannot confirm with the hosuing office until Monday morning because they closed at noon today (?!?!?)  Hopefully it is a short process because they do not open until 8 and Lexie has an appointment at the local Belgian hospital's orthopedist to have her cast removed.  Once we do that, we can set up phone/electricity/etc.  Once we have a land line phone number, we'll add it to the contact page to the left.

1 Jul 06--Laundry day (finally).  AND...Lexie did it again.  She pulled her cast off last night just before bed...I guess she figured it was time for it to come off anyway--we actually saw her do it this time and still can't figure out how she did it...  In other news, Crockett has a fever and has been sleeping most of the day.  We think it was caused by the same thing that caused Lexie's a few days ago...we're thinking it was probably some milk (maybe not pasteurized?) we bought at a non-US store the other day.  So much for being adventurous for a while... No more activities today while we recover and fold laundry...

2 Jul 06--After a day to rest up, we're ready to go on another adventure.  We went by the post exchange on Chievres Air Base to buy a fan for the boys' room (the air conditioning has not worked in the hotel since we're been here, but it is in the 80s now...)  Then we decided to find Parc Paradisio, a place we heard about which is only only 15km (about 9 miles) away from SHAPE.  It is an old estate converted into a zoo, falconry, aquarium, and gardens.  There is also a petting zoo.  We made the journey, and actually ended up getting season passes (until November). It is a beautiful place with old towers and building, gorgoeus formal French gardens, parrots and peacocks roaming the grounds freely, and a huge playground.  While the website is in French, it is worth looking up just to see the pictures.  We only explored a part of the park, leaving the rest for future visits.  After returning, the boys swam in the pool again.
 

3 Jul 06--We have a house and a phone!!  We exercised our option on the house in Le Roeulx.  However, we don't sign the actual contract for 2 weeks, so we will be hotel residents for another fortnight or so.  We also found out that our household goods (furniture and everything from our house in San Antonio) has arrived and will be ready for delivery when we move into the house on 17 July.   We took a break to eat lunch at the bowling ally and had a nice meal at a table beneath a huge umbrella.  Most folks here are complaining of the oppressive heat, but since we just left San Antonio, it feels like a nice February day to us... We decided to try to ride our good luck and go by the Belgacom office to set up our phone and internet service for the house.  We are good to go and should be connected on 17 Jul also.  Our home phone and physical addresses are on the Contact Us page.  Remember to use the mailing address whenever possible because (in theory) things will get to us more quickly.  Our final stop of note for the day was the youth center.  While the boys are not part of the school age program (daycare and day camps), because we are new, they are allowing us to "tag along" on one the field trips to enable the boys to get to know some other kids before school starts.  We were able to go in today and pick which one we would like to attend.  We picked the one for next week--a theme park with lots of rides and games especially designed for kids.  It promises to be a fun day.  After another swm in the pool, we ended a full day feeling like we had accomplished something...

5 Jul 06--Yesterday was a fun 4th of July!  After a lazy day taking care of a few small errands (since offices were still open because the 4th is a US only hoiliday), we headed over to SHAPE for a 4th of July carnival hosted by US forces for the entire community.  It was something kin to a small county fair with food, rides, games, live music, and exhibits.  Clay and the boys rode the bumper cars, Johnna, Lexie and Crockett rode a little merry-go-round and Clay and Asa rode the "Extreme" which sent them around in circles backwards and forewards.  The boys had Belgian waffles from a waffle stand for dinner (Crockett's with just powdered sugar, Asa's with powdered sugar and whipped creme) while Johnna and Clay opted for fajitas and ribs from the Navy's food booth.  Later, we all shared some frites (Belgian french fries...served in a paper cone with any of about 10-12 sauces...Belgians prefer mayonaisse) and some croustilles with powdered sugar (small beignets with no fruit or filling).  Crockett played a duck catching game and won a sword, mask, and badge (the package had a Lone Ranger looking person on it, but the plastic sword says "Godric Gryffindor" (from the Harry Potter series)...we are all very confused.  Lexie was very tired so we headed back the the hotel, hoping we would be able to see the fireworks that were to follow at 11pm.  We were disappointed, however, because we could only see the very highest ones, even from the terrace surrounding the roof of the hotel.  However, the boys said we'd try again next year and everyone went to bed very tired and ready for a good night's sleep.