More happenings at the Burgin B&B

This spring, Jason and I have been thrilled that many of our friends have taken us up on our offer to visit us in Belgium.  We were excited to welcome guests again this week.  Sunday afternoon, just as Jenna's birthday party was wrapping up, our friends Brian and Belinda arrived with their little boy.  I went to high school and college with Belinda.  She is the friend Jason and I went to visit in Germany in 2002 while she was  living there doing graduate work.

I had not seen Belinda since her baby shower for their little boy, so this was the first time we were able to meet him.  He fit right in with our dynamic duo of boys. 

He is an inquisitive little guy, and managed to entertain himself for literally hours over the span of four days with our sliding door! 

Both Brian and Belinda jumped right into life with a larger family, and played outside with the kids once they were home from school.  Brian managed to take these sweet photos of Drew.

Brian and Belinda are pretty travel savy, so they explored a little more independently while they stayed with us.  On Monday, their little guy stayed with me and Drew so they could go to Bruges together.  They had been traveling in Europe for a week before arriving at our house, so I hope it was a nice break for them to spend a little time together. 

Once they returned on Monday evening, we ate a quick dinner with the kids, got them headed to bed and then hired a babysitter so we could walk around downtown Brussels for a while. 

 We explored the historic Galleries St. Hubert,

and meandered down the Rue des Bouchers avoiding eye contact with the many waiters lest we be accosted into eating a second dinner of overpriced seafood,

toured the Grand Place and marveled at the centuries old, gilded buildings, 

 and finally made our way to the famous (and mildly under-impressive) Manneken Pis statue. 

Following our brief city tour, we settled at a ice cream shop for dessert and coffee.  Belinda managed to catch a photo of Jason and me when we were not ladened down with all of our normal travel gear! 

On their second day in Brussels, we made our way to the chocolate outlet to pick up some souvenirs for their friends and families back in the States.  That makes two trips to the chocolate outlet in two weeks for me! 

Their little guy was such a trooper through our shopping, so we hopped over to IKEA for some play time and lunch. 

Once the kids were home from school, we attempted to make a healthy dinner, but all the children could talk about were the left over cupcakes from Jenna's party. 

It was a week full of sugar for these guys!

Did I mention the amounts of sugar that were consumed?  I think we had at least 3 rounds of cupcakes and endless chocolate during their visit thanks to Jenna's birthday.

Once the kids were finally down for the night, the adults were able to sample some of Belgium's finest!

Following a rainy and cool day on Tuesday, we woke up to a beautiful, mild Wednesday morning.  Once Jenna and Ethan were dropped off at school, we headed out to Brussels to check out a few more sites. 

We walked through the Royal Gardens, gazed at the Royal Palace, found an amazing view of the city...

and the little guys were thrilled to find a water fountain!

We finished our morning with fresh Belgian waffles.

It is hard for Jason and I to believe that nearly a decade has passed since we visited Belinda when she lived in Munich.  We never dreamed we'd be able to repay the favor.  We truly enjoyed being able to reconnect, especially all the great conversations in the evenings after the kids went down for the night.  We are constantly reminded how blessed we are to be surrounded by such loving friends and family who have supported us through this journey.