Last Days at school...

On Wednesday, I was invited to join the class for a "good-bye" party for DS at ISB. DS' teacher, Ms. Meyer, prepared a slide show for DS which you can view below. In addition, various teachers who taught DS and the Director of the ECC (Early Childhood Center) joined a community circle with her classmates to say their "good-byes" to DS. She was also given a special good-bye book filled with pictures, drawings, and messages signed by the faculty and her classmates. Truly special!

The class then got to partake in a giant brownie which said "Au-Revoir, Belgium... Love, DS". Okay, so it wasn't as pretty as the Hello Kitty cake I made for PS' party, but hey -- in the middle of a major move, it was the best I could do! : ) In any case, the kids loved the brownie! And the kids thought the Belgium heart was really cool!

That same day, PS had her last day at the International Montessori School. PS and her friends had a fun day celebrating their last day before the holiday break with a special international luncheon.

PS w/French-Speaking teacher, Ms. Marie & with English-Speaking teacher Ms. Heather & friend, Karen...

Lastly, on Thursday, DS had her last day of school. I was one of the parent volunteers who helped with the 1st Grade Winter Party which gave me a chance to say a final good-bye to Ms. Meyer, DS' classmates and the wonderful parents of this great bunch of kids.

DS with Ms. Meyer

It was on this evening that it finally hit DS that she is leaving Belgium. Her way of expressing herself is through her drawings and writing. And, although this led to a tearful conversation, we know that she will come to love her new home once again...

More FUN in Belgium...

According to this article in Business Week, Belgium ranks as number 14 of the top places in the world to live. That doesn't surprise me...

And, although I am not ready to leave, I am going to enjoy our time here right down to the very last minute!

This past Friday, I was one of the parent chaperones for DS' 1st grade Belgian Studies field trip to the Grand Place. The kids (and parents) had a great time enjoying the city sights with their French Teacher, Ms. Villette. We were also treated to yummy waffles at the famous Dandoy Bakery, chocolate biscuits at a local chocolatier, and hot chocolate at a cafe inside the Grand Place.

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Later that evening, friend Kate hosted a "Boozy Bubbles" evening. It was a fab time chatting with lovely friends while taking my mind away from the stresses of moving.



I am going to really miss all the wonderful people I have met here in Belgium... And will always think of the fun bunch of gals who turned me on to this song... "Reach for the Stars!"

Jane, Tori & Jenny dancing to Reach for the Stars...

Happy "Rääbeliechtli"!!

The Saturday before last, the families of DS' 1st grade class gathered together to celebrate the Swiss tradition of Rääbeliechtli.

This tradition came out of a legend dating back to the mid nineteenth century, telling how the farmers' wives living in the hills around the town would make lanterns out of turnips, to light the way home from church at night during the middle of winter.

Today, around the 2nd Saturday in November, children's processions with lanterns are common in Alemannic Switzerland. Lanterns, called Rääbeliechtli "turnip light", are made and hand carved from root vegetables (removing the interior and putting a candle inside). DS carved her turnip in class and Mommy carved PS' turnip at home -- quite fun! The custom originates with thanksgiving traditions at the end of the harvest in November.

And thanks to DS' Swiss classmate, his family organized a wonderful evening for all of us to enjoy this special custom...

Halloween, Part 2

Alice, Aurora, & Mama Cat...

Recently, after half-term break, DS' 1st grade class celebrated Halloween at school. I, along with a few other moms, helped to put this party together.

PS & Mommy made the marshmallow krispy pumpkins & pizza mummies...

The kids enjoyed a day filled with Halloween Stories in their school library, then returned to their class for a buffet of treats followed by a Halloween craft and trick-or-treating in a few of the staff offices at school.

Since PS' half-term break was a week after ISB's, PS got lucky and was able to join in on the festivities!

Field Trip to the Antwerp Zoo

One thing I love about the schools here in Belgium is that the children get to go on several field trips during the year.

Earlier this week, the first graders at ISB went to the Antwerp Zoo. Established in 1843, this zoo is the oldest animal park in Belgium and is located right in the heart of Antwerp right next to its central railway station.

Antwerp Central Railway Station

I try to participate in DS' class as much as possible and since I had not been here before, I took this opportunity to chaperone the trip. My group of five kids from DS' class had a great day exploring this lovely intimate zoo. The zoo had several old buildings in beautiful surroundings and housed a wide variety of animals such as lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, birds, camels, hippo's, and penguins, just to name a few. According to my group, the highlight of the day included the nocturnal house, the aquarium, and the sea lion show.

And of course, the playground was a big hit, too!

Fair's, BBQ's, Picnics and Parties...

The end of the school year is finally upon us here in Belgium and all of the farewell festivities have commenced! The festivities not only celebrate the end of the school year and beginning of summer, but also signal a farewell to some fellow expat families that are moving on to different assignments.

This past Wednesday, PS' school hosted an International Fair. And although I have over-extended myself with room parent duties this year at ISB (DS' school), I did manage to volunteer as the event photographer for the fair. And, coincidentally, there does seem to be alot of pictures with PS in them...!!!

PS getting her "passport"


The children had a great time visiting each "country", while participating in the crafts, activities and food-tasting of the different locales they visited. They even got passports that were stamped from each country they visited!

Visiting "France"


Unfortunately, since ALL of the girls' kimonos were sent to storage prior to our move, we dressed PS in Aloha attire (after all, half of her roots are from Hawaii...) It actually worked out well, since it turned out to be a very warm day (actually hot for Belgium) and aloha attire was the way to go. And, of course, PS was simply adorable!

Sampling a taste of Germany


Showing off during the "chopstick" skills competition


On Thursday afternoon, there was a BBQ hosted by the Family Association of the International School of Brussels (DS' school). Daddy stopped by after work to take DS to the BBQ and bring her home afterwards.



And on Friday, the kindergarten classes at ISB had their year-end picnic where all the families were invited to partake in food (potluck style), face-painting, and an endless array of picnic games!!





Relieved that my duties as room parent are now officially over (yeah!!), we began a relaxing weekend with a wonderful Friday evening at Iza and Zbig's house, where we enjoyed another BBQ of great food, drinks (a little too many!) and great company.



Saturday morning brought an early Father's Day celebration at the house! The girls hand made some gifts for daddy to let him know how much they appreciate him. One of the gifts were "coupons" redeemable for things like "an hour of quiet time" or "1 afternoon nap for daddy". This gift was especially appreciated...



The fun continued on Saturday afternoon with LD's birthday party at Tor and Dirk's house (Tori, of Tori's Turtles fame!).

Beating on the pinata at LD's party


And, in the early evening, it was time to celebrate DW's birthday at Mike and Dena's new home. They are new expats here from Texas, so it was a nice evening of meeting new friends and trading stories of "life in Belgium"...

Making s'mores at DW's party


Finally, on Sunday, friends David, Karen and DN arrived to visit us in Belgium and to join us on our Greek island cruise next week.



We look forward to the summer holiday season here in Europe, but also are a bit saddened to know that this is probably our last summer here...

However, there is no time to to feel sad. We are too busy planning for our next adventure...

GM & GP are here!!

Jo, DS, PS, GP and GM overlooking Namur from Citadel

It was much easier coming home from Italy knowing that GM and GP would be coming to Belgium for a visit. The girls are overjoyed that GM and GP are here (as are we) and are enjoying spending time with them.

Since GM loves flowers, the girls and I took her to the Hallerbos Forest where the famous "bluebells" (wild hyacinths) were blooming. Seeing the forest covered in carpets of purply-blue, along with the fragrant smell of these delicate flowers was quite magical. As the bluebells are only in bloom for about 2 weeks of the year, we were happy that we caught the tail end of it. GM and the girls enjoyed picking a small bouquet of flowers to display in our home.

When GP arrived the following day and while the girls were in school, I took them to see the Royal Greenhouses here in Laeken which is open to the public a few weeks of the year. This was my second trip here as DS and I went to see this last year.

Royal Greenhouse gardens

We have also taken a few day-trips to Namur, Antwerp, Mechelen, Tongeren and Maastricht this past week... I will post more details of these cities on future posts.

In addition, we made a visit to DS' school, ISB earlier today where the school is hosting a school-wide art show. We are very proud that one of DS' watercolors was featured in the show. I must say I was quite impressed with the artwork exhibited by the students at ISB (from grades Pre-K all the way to Grade 12)!