Happy Halloween!

The great thing about an American holiday in a foreign country is that you can celebrate Halloween whenever you like. We did most of our celebrating last night.

Our pumpkin, however, didn't make it to the party. He decided to turn BAD! I guess that's what happens to cannibalistic pumpkins. They grow a thick, furry coat of mold and start to smell a little "ripe". Due to his poor behavior, he was banished to the trash.

His chocolate counterpart, however, was on his best behavior and got to have all kinds of fun. He was invited to a Halloween party in the Netherlands with the teenager! Jess went to a neighboring country for a Halloween party (how crazy does that sound??), and then a sleep-over at a friends house. As a "thank you" gift to the friends parents for putting up with sugar induced teenagers for the night, we sent along this chocolate pumpkin from Leonidas. It's actually hollow, so we had it filled with an assortment of chocolates (pralines) as well. Now the parents are buzzing on a sugar high along with the kids. That's what Halloween is all about!While Jess was off partying in the Netherlands Friday night, we headed off to Russ' work. Everyone decorated the main buildings, and the kids got to trick or treating through all of the offices. After collecting lots of candy, they headed to the Club and had a big party with fun and games. It was a huge success! The big hit of the night was the Haunted House, put on by all of the cops. They had grown men screaming like little girls! (I'm not naming any names, but you know who you are!)This fellow on our hall was a big hit, as well. He was sitting in the dark, and the kids thought the bowl of candy was sitting on a black chair. When they reached for it, he moved and they screamed!

The kids had a blast, and we gave away a ton of candy. We have a lot left, too. We're going to be eating snickers and twizzlers for months to come. There are going to be a lot of busy Belgian dentists near the base! Happy Halloween!

It's Corny, But True

The days are getting cooler. The mornings are foggy as of late. We set our clocks back an hour on Sunday. The horizon of Belgium has dropped about 8 feet. It must be Fall. I think that the most popular crop in Belgium is corn. They grow it everywhere. If there is a field near their house, they will grow corn on it. An empty plot of land in a subdivision? Corn. A half acre beside the school? Corn. A planter box on the windowsill? Corn. (Well, maybe not that last one.) It's not so much to eat, but to feed the livestock throughout the winter months. They have a lot of livestock in Belgium. Almost as much as they have corn. You don't realize just how much of the landscape is covered with these massive fields of grain... until they harvest it all. Then you notice that not only is the country much shorter than you had first thought, but that there are a lot of buildings and fields that were once hidden. I find myself having to relearn some of the landscape. Things look much different now. Instead of turning right at the third cornfield on the left, I find myself looking at the old house that had been hiding there. They built a nice new house nearby, so they just plowed up their former yard and planted...say it with me...all together now...CORN! Ahhhhhh.

Fall Fun!

We had a Fall Festival at Brandon's school this weekend, and he and I won the pumpkin carving contest! Woohoo! This is our winning entry. Apparently the judges shared our strange sense of humor. The prize was a gift certificate for the BX. There is still some negotiating to take care of on that issue. I thought Brandon could pick out a nice fall shirt, but he has something else in mind...a game. Go figure. (He does look a little creepy all lit up, doesn't he?) He gets to go to work with Russ on Friday. We are decorating the offices so the kids can go trick or treating there. Here is some gee wiz info on Belgium. Did you know that they didn't celebrate Halloween here at all until around 5 or 6 years ago? We Americans brought the craze over here, and now local stores sell Halloween decorations. You'll even see some houses and businesses all duded up for the Holiday. Some Belgians aren't too into it, though. They think it's a little too scary. They have Halloween parties and haunted corn fields here, but they don't trick or treat. Darn those healthy people!

Yesterday was fun-filled as well! Jess is off of school this week for Fall Break, so we went to the market at Peer for a morning of shopping! We went a little crazy at one booth selling beautiful scarves. (Scarves are VERY big here!) They were 3 for 10 Euro! Of course, that meant we had to get a few. We ended up with 6. I think that shows a great deal of restraint for the two of us. It could have been a lot worse! We had to stop off at Leonidas for some chocolate to restore our energy for more shopping. After picking up some dried pineapple and mango, speculoos cookies, a new purse, and some fresh vanilla waffles (shopping is hard work, so we had to refuel!!), we headed home. Jess got to relax for the rest of the afternoon, but I was off again. I had a class on how to make a Fall floral arrangement in a pumpkin. I've never done this sort of thing before, so I was a little hesitant about it, but it was a blast! I think it turned out pretty good, too. It was lots of fun getting together with the girls, sharing laughs, and making a big mess. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it all. I think it's time for more chocolate.

Walking In The Woods...

I went for a walk on this bike path the other day and happened upon this beautiful house in the woods. I just had to take Russ back with me this morning to check it out. I think you'll see why in just a minute. How is this for a country home? Nice! It's hard to see in this picture, but just on the other side of that fence is an in ground swimming pool. Farm living is tough here. I love the thatched roof, too. Belgians like to keep these little deer around. I've heard that they raise them for food, not unlike cattle in the US. I think some people just like them as pets. There is a little buck in the middle, surrounded by his ladies. That isn't the reason I wanted Russ to see this place, though. Let's look in the other field behind the house. Hmmmmm. What is that out there? Wait...could it be.....

That's right. It's the big daddy of bucks. He was huge! He kept checking us out to make sure we weren't getting too close. I wonder if I should go get Maynard. I bet he'd love to have another buck to play with...

Thursday

This morning started out pretty normal. It was raining. I'd sent the kids off to school, and the house was dark and quiet. I was upstairs in the bedroom when all of a sudden, I heard a huge crash and something skittering across the tile floor. It's hard to figure out where sounds are coming from in this house. It has an open floor plan, and the living room has a cathedral ceiling that opens up into the loft office upstairs. It also has tile and hard wood floors throughout, so any little sound is magnified and tends to echo throughout the entire house. My first thought was "CRAP! Someone's in the house! Where on earth are they?????" My second thought was "It had better not be a ghost, because although I think it would be really cool to see one, I DON'T want to see one when I'm by myself!" (OK, I don't really believe in ghosts, but when you are locked up tight in a house alone, there is no way for someone else to be in there, and you hear a huge crash, your mind does some crazy stuff in the span of about 5 seconds!) I stood in the bedroom and listened. Nothing. Quietly, I tiptoed out the bedroom door and into the hall. Still nothing. Then I peeked over the railing and down the stairway. Hmmmm. Now things aren't looking quite so good any more. I can see part of my artificial tree (don't judge, I don't have a green thumb!) that normally sits in a pot in the alcove beside the stairs. It's laying on it's side. This is a pretty big tree, so it's hard to knock over. Now I'm thinking that someone might have somehow gotten in and hid behind the tree, then knocked it over when getting back out. Ugh! OK, I can handle this. I crept over to the other side of the balcony in the hallway and peeked over. Nothing. I don't hear anything, so I slowly descend the stairs. As I reach the bottom, I see that the crash I had heard was indeed the tree falling, and the skittering sounds were from the little clay lizards that were hanging onto the side of the pot (again, don't judge). The crash had sent them flying across the tile floor. I didn't see anyone there (living or ghostly), so that's a good thing. I started to head around the corner and check out the other rooms, when I noticed something. My Fall wreath that was hanging above the alcove is on the floor behind the tree. Oooooooohhhhhh. Things start to make sense. I didn't want to mess up the plaster and brick work there, so I had used a sticky hook to hang the wreath. Apparently sticky hook+humidity=falling wreath. The wreath was hanging above the tree, and when it dropped, it hit the top back part of the tree, sending it crashing forward to the ground. It's either that or the ghost is back up in the attic, giggling with his friends and trying to figure out what to do next to scare the crazy American. I'm going with option #1. I bet you thought today's little story was going to be something educational about the canal, didn't you? What on earth were you thinking?

Chateau d'Attre

While passing near the town of Brugelette recently, we were checking out the fields of mustard and other farmland when this beauty popped up out of nowhere. The last thing we were expecting to see in this rural area was a huge mansion. Turns out, this is an 18th century castle called Chateau d'Attre. How cool is that? It was built on the foundation of a medieval fortress, and sits on a 17 hectare (a little over 42 acres) estate of beautiful woods and gardens. The castle and gardens are open to the public from 2 to 6 pm on Sundays during September and October. I doubt we'll be about to fit it in this year, but it will definitely go on my list of places to further explore in the future! If you are interested in finding out a little bit more about this beautiful chateau, then check out this link! http://www.chateauxduhainaut.be/

Weekend At Ramstein

We decided to head out to Germany again for the weekend, but this time, we were heading to Ramstein AB. Russ has been here before, but the kids and I hadn't seen it. Besides, it has the extra bonus of being the home base of some friends of ours from Alaska. Whoohoo!This also means another means another trip on the Autobahn. With the leaves starting to change into their fall colors, it was a beautiful drive. In the US, I knew a few people who drove cars like BMWs and Mercedes. Here, just about everyone has them (European and American), and I'm quite sure that the reason why is mainly the Autobahn. Ramstein AB! This is the fancy new KMCC- that's Kaiserslautern Military Community Center. This is a huge complex that was only opened about a month ago. This part is the fancy new hotel. What they don't tell you on the phone, however, is that they only rent rooms in the new building to people without crumb snatchers (kids)! When we checked in, we were directed to the old family units on the other side of base. Darn kids!Here's where we ended up. They were actually very well maintained and clean. If you are in the process of moving to Ramstein, this is where you will likely spend your first month or so. It was a nice little 2 bedroom apartment. The only real downside to the place was the bathroom. This shower/tub combo was something out of a 1950's horror flick that takes place in a mental asylum. You can practically hear the scary music playing when you take a shower. I kept looking over my shoulder for an escaped patient wielding a dagger. Fortunately, this did not occur. (Screech! Screech! Screech! Screech!) This was the big draw to this base! This is the largest BX in the entire world and it just opened last month! It was really big and impressive, and is basically just like a mall in a huge city. I had flashbacks of Dallas while we were walking around inside. There is a massive food court with all the fast food we know and love from the states, as well as lots of interesting local shops all along the main corridor. I did realize something while shopping, though. I have been spoiled by the small town atmosphere of Belgium. I'm not a big city girl any more! There were so many people and so much noise that it was really overwhelming. It's been over 4 months since I've had to deal with crowds, and I'm no longer used to it. I think I'll head back to Belgium, small town life, and peace and quiet. Suddenly Internet shopping sounds really nice. We had a fantastic German dinner with our friends Saturday night. I finally had real Wiener Schnitzel, and it was delicious. It was also huge! (Tip for eating in Germany- order one dinner and two sets of silverware! They feed you really well there.) And Dajana--I finally had a real German pretzel and it was REALLY yummy! Back on the Autobahn and heading home to lovely Belgium.

We weren't too far into our trip back home when we came upon this glorious view! Wow! Pictures just can't capture how impressive this was.

This is an area of Germany that we'll have to check out when we have more time. It was already pretty late on Sunday afternoon, so we hit the road again.

I thought this was pretty cool, too. They planted crops on the side of these steep hills. How would you like to be the one plowing on that angle? Not me!
Apparently Sunday is harvest day in Germany. We saw quite a few tractors working away in the fields.
We had a great weekend exploring yet another place in Germany. Once more thing to cross off of my list of things to see in Europe. Hmmmm, I wonder what's coming up next.

Random Friday...

I just wanted to share a few interesting things that we've seen while driving around Belgium lately. A windmill on a stormy day.

A thatched roof on a lovely old house. (Looks like something out of Hansel & Gretel, doesn't it?)

A construction worker robot, waving his arm to signal drivers to slow down. Uh.....what?????

In The Mood?

Just what do you suppose he's in the mood for? And is this a good thing or bad thing? I'm just sayin'...

U Bent Hier

Don't you wish everything in life came with a map, an arrow, and a little tag stating "You Are Here"? Think how much easier it would all be. Until that great day arrives, I'll have to be satisfied with the occasional signs that we seem to come across. We were on our way home from dinner at the Banana Split in Overpelt, and I was taking a couple of pictures through the windshield of the pretty fall leaves. Then Jess (in all her teenage wisdom) asks, "Uh, Mom, why are you taking pictures of a road when there is a windmill?" What? A windmill? There is no windmill on this road! "We just went right by it!" she said, clearly exasperated. (You can practically hear her thinking "Old people are SOOOO slow! Why do I even bother?" ) We turned around, and behold...the teenager was right! Apparently I've driven right by this beauty several times and never noticed it before! Maybe old people ARE slow!

According to the map, there are actually TWO windmills in Overpelt. I'll have to check the other one out as well. I'd also like to return to this one on a prettier day. It was a tad rainy and overcast. Still, any windmill is a glorious one.

In case you are wondering about the fall leaves, here is the picture I was taking as we passed the windmill. You have to admit, it's pretty distracting. Fall has come to Belgium, and it is beautiful. Even us OLD people can appreciate it.

Falconry and Fun At The Wedelse Molen

This is the Wedelse Molen in Overpelt. When I had pictured a little pub in Europe, this is what I had in mind. This building dates back to the 1100's. It was a working, water driven grain (corn) mill from the 1200's until 1957. It was turned into a pub in 1974. There is a really great outdoor seating area out back. (Unfortunately, it was a little rainy today.) It's also where you will find the entrance to the pub. This is a glimpse inside the Wedelse Molen to the inner workings of the grain mill. Everything is still working today, and it's fascinating to watch all of the wheels spinning and connecting with each other. There are stairs to the left of this, and when you go upstairs, you can see where they put the grain in to be ground up.
In case you think this place is all about the history, you need to know the important facts as well. The owner is a very nice fellow, and he told me that they have QUITE the assortment of Belgium beer, both in bottles and on tap. This place has a great reputation for not only delicious beer, but great atmosphere as well. If you ever find yourself in Overpelt, be sure to stop by, check it out, and have a drink.

In the field next to the Wedelse Molen, there is a large field, and that's where the Valkerij & Plattelandsbeurs was taking place today. (That's Falconry- Rural & Exhibition for those of you who aren't up on their Nederlands yet.) All around the field were birds, tethered to little roosts in the ground. In the center of the field was the area where the shows and exhibitions were taking place. It was really fascinating, and I've never been this close to so many species of birds before.
This little fellow wins my first place prize for HOW CUTE IS HE??? It's hard to tell from this picture, but he was TINY!

This fellow was very impressive as well. He looked like he was ready for some serious flying.

Can you tell that I was really interested in the owls? I think I took the most pictures of them. Check out this do!

This owl was more than a little irritated by all of the attention he was getting. Then something caught HIS attention. A couple walking by had brought their little dog with them. He was really checking this little pooch out.
Then he fluffed all up. Now he was bigger than the dog he was checking out. The dog was more than a little intimidated by the whole thing, and they didn't stay very long. Owl-1, dog-0.
Coming from Alaska, I'm pretty used to seeing a lot of eagles. What I'm not used to, is seeing one kept as a pet. There were several eagles here, and they were all trained.
This falcon had the most beautiful coloring. Did I mention that they had a very wide assortment of birds on display? This one was a bit of a surprise to me. They had both vultures and buzzards. I had to end on a cute note, so here is another little fellow with quite the appeal. If you are curious about today's event, here is the link to their official website.
http://www.vepb.be/