Our last day in Brussels

We had a memorable final day in Brussels, thanks in large part to our hostess, Amy!  We started the day eating breakfast with her family and then she took Ethan to help drop her boys off at school. 

Amy was so kind to offer to watch the boys while Jenna and I went out to a local cafe to enjoy a little mother daughter time.  The last few months have been so busy, that it has been nearly impossible to carve out time for special dates like this.

Jenna and I quickly decided on a cafe in the market square and eyed the pastries from the counter. 

I really can't believe she is the same five and a half pound little girl who we brought home over eight years ago!  We enjoyed our eclairs, cappacinos and conversation about American Girl accessories.  Thank you, Amy!

After lunch, I ran a few last minute errands, including dropping off our change of address at the post office.  It was a bit of ordeal as the first post office I went to had 23 people in line (literally, I had to take a number) and then I went to another and it was closed from 12:30-1:30 for lunch!  Finally, I was able to make the drop early afternoon and we were ready to enjoy our last afternoon in Brussels.

Post Office near our house

I just had to take a picture of my nearly perfect parallel parking job on a fairly busy street!  Parallel parking was one of the things that made me most nervous when we moved to Belgium.  I've always lived in the suburbs and had probably parallel parked about 3 times before we moved!  Thankfully, after a few youtube tutorials and LOTS of trial and error, my skills are a little better.

I also wanted to add this picture of the street near where I parked.  This street shows the typical style of houses in our area of the city. 

For our last afternoon, Amy and I took the children to a park nearby that we had both wanted to check out. 

We were pleasantly surprised by the park.  I always love when there is a fence with our wandering prone third born son!

One of the main attractions for this park was a large concrete hill structure with a octopus like hub at the top and several long blue slides attached to it.   

Amy took some great photos of the kids at the park.

Even though our little Drew adds grey hair to my head every day, he is such a sweet guy who always puts a smile on my face!

After an hour of playing and running, we tried to rally the troops for a group photo.  Here is a little montage of our efforts:

Jenna insisted on a photo of the moms, and even though I rarely think a photo taken from below is very flattering, it is a good memory.

We picked Jason up from his final work day at the Tekelec Brussels office and headed downtown for one last view of the Grand Place and, of course, a final Belgian Waffle.

Despite a forecast of rain, the weather held out for our final hours downtown. 

We took the kids to Quick Burger (the Belgian equivalent of McDonalds) and the adults grabbed salads from a neighboring restaurant.

We had to pass by at least 3 waffle stands before we could find one that offered Nutella as a topping.

The kids decked out their waffles with strawberries, chocolate, ice cream and sprinkles. 

We made our way back to the Grand Place and found a bench that was completely empty and perfect for the kids to enjoy their treasured desserts.  It all seemed to be going so well...

and then it began, what we like to call The Great Grand Place Waffle Massacre.

It all began while I was precariously balancing two waffles, mine and Jason's, in one hand and all of the sudden Jason's waffle slipped and splatted face down on the ground!  Then within two minutes two more waffles went belly up on the ground.  Seriously, three waffles in three minutes. 

As you can see from the picture below, Ethan was one of the other victims of the Waffle Massacre.

From the photo below, I think we need to work on Drew's compassion skills a little, but this photo was too cute not to share.

My friend's son shows the proper way of enjoying a waffle.

After a most memorable final night downtown, we headed to the subway to get back to the cars.

Thankfully, the metro was fairly empty and the kids were able to enjoy a little subway surfing (i.e. trying to ride the subway without holding on and not falling down). 

I'm thankful we were able to spend our last day in Belgium with such dear friends and create some hilarious, heart warming memories together.  As with any move, there is quite a bit of stress and an overwhelming amount of details to coordinate, but being blessed with these amazing friends helped lighten the load and allowed us to enjoy those final precious hours.