Brussels, Belgium

We really liked Brussels, a 3 hour car ride away, which we visited in mid-August. As we tend to do, we didn't pack too many museums or tours into this trip, just a few key sites and then lots of time walking and enjoying this pretty city. My camera wasn't working for most of the trip, so most of the pictures were taken by Ethan - it's a hobby he's getting into and I think he has a good eye for capturing interesting shots (I'm totally unbiased of course ;-)).

Museum of Musical Instruments

The main square Grand Place (next 6 pictures)

Manneken Pis statue - one of the biggest attractions in the city (he's only about 1 foot tall)

Lots of Manneken Pis souvenirs

One of the prettiest places in the city, and we only found it getting lost on our way someplace else! The garden is the Place du Petit Sablon, just across the street from a gorgeous Gothic cathedral Eglise Notre Dame du Sablon.

The Palais Royal

We also went to Bruparck just outside of the city, where they have this crazy Atomium structure (built for the 1958 World Fair), which we walked inside to the top, and a Mini-Europe.

View from inside the Atomium

Inside Mini-Europe

There's Big Ben in the background

Scott & Ethan spotted this in one of the mini city scenes - the A-Team!!

Zons, Germany

Zons, in Dormagen, Germany was a 45 minute ride away, and we visited in early August. It was a fortified town established around 1400, and has some Medieval walls and gates still standing. Usually the boys enjoy scootering around these day-trip towns, but the cobblestone was especially rough here so we ended up carrying scooters more than usual (which inevitably end up whacking you in the back of the ankles). A nice city to explore, and there was a windmill - always a plus for me!

He couldn't resist!

Canary Islands

In our first 10 months here we've been fortunate enough to travel a lot to so many different cities. As great as it has been, though, trips like this are high energy and fast paced so we were ready for a veg-out beach vacation. Our good pal Aaron had his dad hook us up with an all-inclusive resort on Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. For 7 relaxing days we did not leave the resort - we did not drive or have to search out an affordable restaurant - it was exactly what we all needed!

I'd heard of the Canary Islands before, but didn't know anything about them, including where they were. The islands are off the coast of Africa, but they belong to Spain. It's a big beach destination from Europe so it was really easy to get there. Even though the islands are Spanish everyone at the resort spoke English, which was also a relief to us - just being able to easily communicate on vacation was a huge bonus. However, the biggest group of travellers on the islands are Germans so we still heard a lot of the language and all the signs/menus were in Spanish, English & German. This was a little disappointing to Griffin who seems to need breaks from the language more than the rest of us - when we came to the States later in the summer one of the first things he said walking through the airport was "I only hear English - we won't hear any German while we're here, right?". On the other hand, this cultural mix was really cool based on the timing of our visit because it was nearing the end of the World Cup soccer games, and Spain, Germany & the Netherlands were all still in play so the resort played the games on the movie screens in the theater and there were big fan bases rooting for these remaining teams.

We definitely relaxed here, but we weren't too lazy! Scott played beach volleyball every day, Ethan was at the soccer pitch a LOT, we swam in the pools & ocean, we played tennis, and took in the resort entertainment. The beaches were really gorgeous and natural! The prettiest beaches I've ever been on. They are surrounded by small cliffs and volcanic rock which is striking to look at, but then the sand was very soft and fine. The best part was that there was nothing on the beaches - no hotels, vendors, shops - nothing, only a few hotels and condos built up on the cliffs. OK, there were naked people on the beach, but nothing touristy :-)) Yes, we were definitely reminded that we were in Europe because at the pool there were usually several topless women, and on the beach full-blown nakedness - including an entire family where the kids were playing in the sand while mom & dad played a physical game of paddle ball! The boys took it much more in stride than Scott & I - we've gone almost 40 years without seeing nakedness on the beach, but the boys barely noticed - Scott & I were downright silly about it most days!

Views of the resort.

Stairs leading down to the beach






This is how Ethan likes to lay on the beach, right on the sand without a towel, he says it's warmer

Cocktails before dinner


Griffin fell in love with one of the girls who worked at the resort...


Don't we look so relaxed?! We had a great time!