our life in Belgium

Aside from the fact that no one person should be that cute, that is.

Liam’s had this last week off from school.  We chose to do NOTHING.  We’ve all been sick at some point over the last few weeks (it’s currently my turn) and simply preferred to stay home and stay cozy.  The boys, they have been inseparable the whole week.

If you blow up the pics, especially the first, you can see the battle scars from Harry’s latest daredevil attempt.  The scab has finally come off his eyelid, so he’s looking much better these days.  Must mean his newest adventure is just around the corner.

Monday I have an appointment at the clinic with Harry for his….wait for it…. first school physical.  Yes, he’s now officially old enough to go to the local preschool.  Judging by the way he fights me when I try to get him to leave the school after dropping Liam off, I think he’ll enjoy the experience.  He’ll be starting in March, and going mornings only.

Woefully out of date, I know.  Here are some shots to catch you up with the kids again!

Still to come, photos from Harry’s latest battle.  He looks like he was in a fist fight, but he was alone in his bedroom at the time so that can’t be it.  I think he was trying to climb the ladder on the bunkbed and slipped in his footed pajamas.  But it’s anyone’s guess, really.  Anyone care to wager how many times we’ll be in the emergency room with him and broken bones?

What is new?

Liam is back in Belgian public school.  Why?  Because it is very likely we can achieve Belgian citizenship this summer.  This will mean the boys would have the choice to live and work in Europe as well as the US once they are done with their university studies.  Which means they will need better French language skills than we can teach them at home.  Harry goes in next year.  So, what to do with the secularhomeschool.eu domain we bought for ten years?

That’s pretty much what comes to mind today.  I have no pictures to post, I leave that to K.

We’ve had some fun, busy days around here lately.  A recent trip to the local science museum yielded hours of fun.

Harry testing different materials to determine which are good conductors of heat... or maybe just banging pots and pans.

Liam testing what materials will conduct electricity. His favorite? Himself!

Liam rushed about, trying for a great time on the reflex wall...

...while Harry was less impressed.

Parc Paradisio, one of our favorite haunts, is closing this weekend for the season.  So the kids and I made one final trip for the year.

After hours of internet research, I finally figured out what this is: a mara, from South America. Or, as Jesse says, "big damn rat."

Liam in front of one of the old, giant maples.

Liam could not bring himself to put his fingers in -- could you?

Jesse bid on and won a huge lot of Lego Bionicles for Liam, as these are his latest obsession.  The guys had a day and a half marathon session of assembling them all.  It was great fun for the whole family.  Now we are well protected!

Can you find a familiar face amongst the group?

There’s a guy named Bill Phillips who wrote a book called Body for Life.  Apparently, he’s turning into a self-help nut.  Also, his past with anabolic steroids and his involvement with nutritional supplements activate my bullshit detector,  but that’s not what I’m writing about.

Karena has decided we’ll be starting a 12 week round of a BFL challenge.  Which pretty much means I’ve decided we’ll be starting a 12 week round of a BFL challenge.  There’s nothing magical about this stuff.  Move more.  Eat less.  He outlines a sensible exercise routine that alternates strength training and aerobic training six days a week and lays out a simple, well balanced menu to control intake calories.  Some of the results people have posted in three months are astounding.  We don’t expect to astound.  But, we do expect to get to more healthy weights and fitness levels.

After only this first week, I can notice a difference in strength and stamina.  It’s getting easier to put on clothes in the mornings.

One day a week is a day off from the routine.  That is tomorrow.  All bets are off for a day.  We’ll probably overdo it.

This year Liam went to Scotland armed with a camera.  He got a lot of pictures of the coffee table, and his shoes, et al.  But he also got a few really nice shots.  Here are the cream of the crop!

Most of the time we spent relaxing in and around Fort Augustus.  As always, we wish we’d taken more photos.  I wish I had some better pictures of our cottage from the outside, so you could see the whole thing, as it was beautiful.  Guess we were too busy enjoying ourselves most of the time to lug out the camera!

On Wednesday the second came the highlight of Harry’s trip to the Highlands — we took the steam train from Fort William to Mallaig on the coast.  The chugga chugga noise was at times incredibly loud!!  Not the soothing background noise you might expect from watching too many movies.  A great time was had by all.  And the view!

Warning: there are many near-duplicates posted here.  We had better seats for taking pictures of the viaduct and the sea than the people across the aisle, and we promised we post them to share.  Since they put up with out at times fractious youngsters, I’m more than willing to oblige!