Time keeps on tickin'

I have not been blogging much lately about exciting European travel because, frankly, there has been little time to travel!  With the children enrolled in full-time, public school our schedules have become much less flexible and our weekends are becoming booked up with weekly soccer practice, birthday parties, church and activities associated with the life we have settled into here in Brussels. 

Our time here is passing so quickly!  We flew past the 6 month anniversary of our arrival, which was on September 23rd.  That means one quarter of our time here is already behind us!  Jason and I are working on a short list of the "must see" places before we head back to NC.  Any traveling beyond that list will just be icing on the cake! 

So what have we been doing, if not traveling?  We have been developing friendships with families we have met in Brussels by sharing meals, arranging play times for the children, and various other activities.  Jenna is continuing to study the piano with weekly piano lessons.  I took on the responsibility of leading one of 4 small discussion groups for our church's Thursday morning women's Bible study.  I also have two hours of French lessons each week.  Ethan is signed up for an English speaking instructional soccer league this fall.  Here are a few pictures from his first practice.

Ethan's team is the Green Hawks.  Each Saturday morning they practice and do drills for 30 minutes and then they scrimmage another team for 30 minutes. 



The couches are energetic and make the morning fun for the children. 

Here is Ethan in an action shot! 

Even Jenna and Drew practiced a little "football". 

Last weekend, we were blessed with amazing blue skies and warm weather, maybe even hitting 70 degrees!  Hoping to take advantage of what could possibly be the last of the warm, sunny weather for many months, Jason and I took the kids to Bokrijk park (don't even ask me how to pronounce that!).  It is an awesome provential park about an hour north east of Brussels in the Flemish region of the county.  The park was recommended by a friend and we were not disappointed!

This is a small part of the entry area we walked through.  Such a beautiful fall day!

Check out these slides!  The Europeans are serious about their play equipment.  Very often, Jason and I are whispering prayers that the children will not fall out of or off of any many of these structures!

Drew was excited to make his way across the swinging bridge.

While Jenna and Ethan enjoyed a pony ride...

Drew was checking out the sheep!

These tires were a lot of fun.  You jump up and down and try to bounce each other around.

These two photos are of another one of those CRAZY high rope structures that the kids love ever so much and I cringe every time I see them.  It will be a miracle if we leave Belgium in two years with no broken bones between these three children!

I had never seen a swing like this one.  The kids all sat on it and it rocked back and forth.

The Burgin trio...deceptively sweet looking, aren't they!  No really, we had a wonderful day at the park.  We are so thankful that we could enjoy one of the last few warm, sunny days that we will have for several months!  The cold weather has moved  in now and the forecasted high on Sunday is below 50 degrees!