Our little princess comes home!

After six days in the hospital, DS was released today and allowed to come home! Although it will take some time to regain her strength, her spirit is back and she is her usual happy self again.

The doctors, nurses and staff at the hospital were great and made our stay as painless and comfortable as possible. Although nothing beats being at home (or in a hotel), the hospital stay was not as bad as you would think. Maybe its because I had time to get some rest as well...

GM and GP also left this morning to depart back to sunny California. Although they will be missed, we look forward to seeing them again in December when we visit for the holidays.

We took some pics of DS during her stay at the hospital. These were all taken on Monday and Tuesday, when our little princess finally started smiling again.

View from hospital room as sun sets upon Leuven...

DS and "Strawberry the Bear" recuperating at home...

Our Fallen Princess...

Life in Belgium is not always fun and games.

We were hit with a dose of reality this week when one of our little "princesses" fell seriously ill. DS had come down with a high fever, soon after arriving on a week-long holiday in the Netherlands, with mommy, PS, GM and GP. Worried mommy immediately took her to the doctor there, where she was prescribed with some medicine to address her fever.

Unfortunately, her fever remained high, so the vacation was cut short and DS came back to see her regular pediatrician in Brussels. She was immediately referred to a radiologist, who confirmed her pediatrician's suspicion: Poor little DS had come down with a serious case of pneumonia!

We rushed her off to the University Hospital in nearby Leuven, where DS was immediately admitted. She has since been on antibiotics and fever reducer that have thankfully improved her condition. With every passing day, she is looking much healthier and regaining a little more of her strength.

Mommy has been staying at the hospital every day with DS, while PS is being watched over by GM and GP. Daddy has been doing double duty at the hospital and at home, so needless to say, everyone has been busy...

We are grateful for the wonderful medical care that exists in Belgium. The experiences we have had with the doctors and the hospital has been first rate. The medical care in Belgium is heavily skewed towards the side of caution, so it has been very reassuring for us, during our first real experience as worried parents...

We are happy to report that DS should make a full recovery and we thank all of our friends and family for their well wishes and kind words. We hope to share pictures of a fully-recovered DS, experiencing life in Europe, very, very soon...

Thanks again to everyone...

Ray and Jo

Joyeux Anniversaire (Happy Birthday) to Me!!!

Normally, I prefer my birthday to just pass with as little fanfare as possible. I've had enough of them over the years...



However, this year, I thought what the heck? We ARE in Europe...



So, Jo Ann and I decided to take full advantage of having visiting grandparents/babysitters in the house and took off for a quick overnight birthday celebration to Paris! (they did say they missed the grandkids, didn't they...???)




Jo and I boarded the Thalys high speed train on Sunday morning to start our visit to the "City of Light". The tickets cost about $100/ea and the train takes a little over 1 hour to cover the 300KM distance (180 miles) from Brussels to Paris.

After arrival at Paris' Gare du Nord (North Station), we headed down to the Metro subway to try and decipher the "spaghetti noodle" map of the French subway system. We were lucky to meet a very nice French woman who not only helped us with our ticket purchase, but also happened to be heading the same way...

We got off at Champs-Elysees and walked a few meters to the Paris Marriott (I thought it would be cool to stay at the "Paris Hilton", but alas, we don't have any Hilton points!)

After a quick hotel check-in, it was off to see the city. This was my first time to Paris, but it was a return visit for Jo. We hopped on the City Tour Bus and saw all the biggies - Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral and of course, the Eiffel Tower.

Built for the 1889 World's Fair, the Eiffel Tower was once the tallest tower in the world. Although it no longer holds this title, it is probably the world's most famous structure today. It is amazing to note that the tower was met with much public criticism when first built, and was called an "eyesore". In fact, it was almost demolished in 1909, because the original building permit only allowed it to stand for 20 years.

Today, it stands as the symbol of France and is the most visited tower in the world. And if you look closely at the picture below, you can see that the crowds still line up to enjoy one of the most spectacular views in the city.

I made it a point to stop and see Toyota's showroom display on the Champs-Elysees called Le Rendez Vous Toyota. I wonder if I can write this off now as a "business trip?"

Jo and I always make sure we enjoy the local cuisine wherever we go, and of course, Paris is no exception. We stopped and had a crepe/pancake at a small deli that, although good, was no match for our favorite Belgian waffle at the Grand Place.

We took frequent breaks to have drinks or cappuccinos at the almost endless number of outdoor cafes in Paris. My favorite pastime is to sit across one of Paris' crazy roundabouts and watch the endless parade of cars, taxis, buses, mopeds, bikes and pedestrians all try and avoid each other!

Jo couldn't wait to sample one of her favorite dishes, escargot, while in France. However, no amount of yummy noises she could make would entice me to have one...

Soon enough, it was Monday evening and time to head on back to Brussels and relieve the grandparents from babysitting duty. This trip to Paris was memorable and a lot of fun for us, mainly because we were able to enjoy spending time alone again.

It almost makes having another birthday kinda painless...

Click here for Disneyland Paris: Part 1, Part 2, and Part trois. Click here for A day at Mondial de l'Automobile.

Lier, Belgium

The month of September has been an enjoyable one with the arrival of GM and GP from California. The girls are overjoyed that GM and GP are staying with us and are enjoying every minute with them (as are we).

While the girls are in school and Ray is at work, my parents and I have been busy taking in the sights of Belgium. We recently enjoyed a day-trip to the town of Lier. A small, charming and beautiful town located south of Antwerp along the river Nete, part of this town's appeal is its lack of mass tourism.

We first stopped at Zimmer Tower, which houses the Jubilee Clock. Displayed on the front of the tower, it was built by watchmaker and astronomer Louis Zimmer. This amazing clock consists of 12 clocks encircling a central one with 57 dials. These clocks show time on all continents, phases of the moons, times of tides and many other periodic phenomena. We were able to tour the inside of tower where we viewed the mechanisms that operate the clock.

In addition, a pavilion next to the tower houses Zimmer's masterpiece, "The Wonderclock". Without going into the detailed facts about the Wonderclock, let's just say that it is appropriately named and was impressive enough to intrigue Albert Einstein.

After leaving Zimmer Tower, we headed out on foot to the beguinage of Lier. This community, dating back to the 13th century, used to consist of women who would live like nuns, but without taking vows. The entire beguinage has a total of 162 houses, spread over eleven streets. The beautiful Saint Margaret Church is located here.

We stopped for sandwiches at the Grote Markt and enjoyed the view of the surrounding Guild Houses and Rococo Town Hall. Here we sampled the Lierse Vlaaikens (cakes of Lier). Only bakers in Lier have the recipe and they cannot reveal its "secret ingredient". I tested this theory by asking the baker what was inside, in which she replied, "it's a secret." They are the size of a mini muffin and tasted what we think, is pumpkin. I heard that you either like it or don't. Let's just say that I'm glad we tried it.

Our last stop was Saint Gummarus church of Lier, which is said to be one of the most impressive gothic churches in Northern Belgium. The eye-catcher is the splendid late-gothic rood loft in the church, which is almost unique in Belgium.

Our leisurely and relaxing day in Lier ended as we had to head back to Tervuren to pick up the kiddo's. This town is one that I'd definitely recommend visiting.

First Day of School Arrives in Belgium

All good things must come to an end and so with that, our first summer in Europe has quickly come and gone.

And suddenly, it was time to send our little ones off to school: DS to kindergarten and PS to pre-school.

We have enrolled DS into the International School of Brussels (ISB), a private international school located about 8 miles away from our home. ISB has over 1,400 students from 62 countries. Besides the normal kindergarten curriculum, DS will be having French language training and art classes as well.




A big yellow bus comes to pick DS up every day at 7:50AM and brings her back home at 4:20PM. It was quite exciting to send her off on her very first day of school and we were so proud to hear that she really is enjoying this new experience.




Meanwile, PS is returning to the International Montessori School, in Tervuren. She attended this school shortly after arriving in Brussels last March and was quite excited to get back to school.


The Montessori school is in a smaller, more intimate classroom setting that focuses on personalized development of each child. We had heard many good things of this specialized method of education and we are glad to see PS also enjoying her experience here.


PS attends 5 days a week, but only 2 days are full days. And like DS, she is getting early training in the French language.

However, more importantly, we are excited that they are being exposed to such diversity in culture and people so early in life.

Our little girls are growing up fast... (sniff sniff)

Fun in De Haan...

After a week of gloomy weather, the sun finally peaked through -- perfect timing as this was the day we joined some friends at their family get-away in De Haan, Belgium. The name De Haan literally means "The Rooster". According to a legend, the place got its name because a rooster rescued a group of stranded fishermen when its crowing led them here.

A 1-1/2 hour drive brought us into this lovely coastal town situated along the Belgium seaside. What makes this town so lovely is its low skyline and limited "apartment blocks" which affects many of the Belgium coastlines (building along this town is now strictly prohibited).

The girls enjoyed a day playing with friends, building sand-castles on the beach, wading in the ocean and playing at a nearby playground. We also rented an eight-passenger bike where the eight of us biked along the promenade and got a brief tour of the town. During our ride, Dirk pointed out a statue of Albert Einstein who we later found out resided in the town of De Hann for six months after leaving Naxi Germany in 1933.

Our day ended when we stopped for some "naughty pancakes" (as Tori calls them) at a local cafe for an early evening snack. These pancakes were more like crepes topped with iced sugar -- very yummy and yes, very naughty!

2008 Tapis de Fleurs

Every two years, the Grand Place of Brussels holds the famous "Tapis de Fleurs", where about a million begonias are laid out in exquisite detail to create a 3,000 square foot carpet of flowers.

Floral Architect, Mark Schautteet drew his inspiration for this years design from a real 18th century carpet made by the French factories "La Savonnerie."

This event, which began in 1971, reminds the world that Belgium is one of the biggest producers of begonias -- exporting about 48 million bulbs a year. In addition, the flower carpet reminds everyone that Belgium is one of the world’s largest makers and exporters of machine made carpets.

The carpet was created and displayed from August 15th through 17th -- perfect timing as we just got back from our summer holiday on the 16th! Just as beautiful as I imagined it to be, it was well worth the trip to town to check it out. Since Ray and DS were perfectly happy to view the carpet from the ground, PS and I waited in line and paid our 3euros to access the town hall's balcony (which was opened to the public on this occasion) to get an aerial view of the carpet. It was well worth it! Not only did it offer us a beautiful view of the flower carpet, it was also really neat to see the Grand Place from this new vantage point. Very cool!