Date to Brugge

Here is Brugge at night. I can't wait to see Brugge when it's warmer!

Brugge

A few days ago we visited Brugge, which is one of my most favorite places so far. It was amazing! Eric took me back the next evening for our first real date since we moved here. It was nice walking around this beautiful place together.

Brussels

Here are pictures from our trip to Brussels. We went there to visit the US Embassy to replace Tyler's passport that somehow got lost. After going through security, filling out paperwork and handing over a chunk of money, we were called up and handed Tyler's original passport. Someone found it and the police sent it to the embassy. Amazing! So, we got our money back and didn't have to deal with the hassle anymore. We walked around Brussels a little and saw this famous statue. It is a major tourist picture spot! We also went to a museum about the history of Brussels. The security people were very uptight. Brandon accidentally bumped a picture and they had a fit.

Ashley and Ryan's Surprise

Ryan and Ashley each got a piece of paper for Christmas. Ryan opened his first and, as you can see, Ashley is a little amazed when she sees what it is. She was very happy to see her own piece of paper later on. They both get to fly back to Idaho in May for a visit and for Ryan's graduation.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was pretty exciting! The kids were excited that Santa Clause found them clear over here in Belgium.

Here are the photos of us acting out the Christmas story. Emily was Mary and Tyler was Joseph. Brandon was an angel and Ashley and Ryan were shepherds. We missed Grandma and Grandpa Wallentine being the inn keepers!

One day we all got on the train in Drongen and rode into Gent to the Christmas Market. The kids were given balloons so Caleb got to do his favorite thing--let the balloon go and watch it disappear! He has always loved that!

Christmas Baking

This year my Christmas baking was limited quite a bit, but we still made gingerbread men. I think they all got eaten before we could frost them. It was fun!

After visiting London we rode the ferry back to France and then drove home. It only took about 3 hours to get back home. Just so you know, the black Mercedes is not our car. Brandon just had to take a picture of it.

After a full day of visiting London and freezing nearly to death, we were so happy to see one of our beautiful church buildings. This church in Hyde Park was dedicated as the church headquarters in Europe. We arrived just in time for a little program put on by the missionaries. We sang Christmas hymns and listened to the missionaries play music with hand bells. It was so nice. We went back the next morning for church. It was nice to listen to lessons taught in English.

Trafalgar Square

This is Trafalgar Square. It was really beautiful at night, especially with the giant Christmas tree. The National Museum was close by and the little kids only let us spend a short time there looking at the art before getting restless and making the security people nervous.

Big Ben

Picture of Big Ben. We also liked riding around in the double decker bus.

St. Pauls Cathedral

Here we are at St. Pauls Cathedral. It is so huge, the pictures don't really do it justice. The day we were there, a band made up of just tubas was playing Christmas music. It was very beautiful!

Buckingham Palace

The week before Christmas we went to London. It was freezing! Here we are at Buckingham Palace. Ashley really wanted to get a picture of her standing right by one of the guards, but they were far behind the fence. Too bad!

Gingerbread Houses

We invited the Goethals family over to our house to decorate gingerbread houses. It was fun!

Caleb's 4th Birthday

Caleb turned 4 years old on December 14. He got a ninja turtle and we had pizza for dinner and angel food cake. He's a fun little boy!