My 10% Baby

Here's a quick scoop on what's been going on. Brennan turned 3 on Thanksgiving! Hard to believe. He has risen from the ranks of 5% for height and weight to 10%! Way to go! I'm hoping for a growth spurt this year as he is finally wearing 24 month pants! Thanksgiving was spent with my family at my parents in Morton. Good food, a game of poker and family made it a nice day. Maya celebrated at school the tuesday prior with a pumpkin pie the class made.
Adam has decked out our house with decorations galore. He made a train from scratch. Woodshop 101 here at this house.
Shopping for the holidays is just sickening me. What do you get people these days? I wish I could have a shopping fairy pick out everyone's perfect gift. And I wish I could have that shopping fairy put it on her tab too.
Adam got himself the Xbox 360. When does a guy grow up? Oh right, they don't. OK, so I bought myself a Coach purse and I'm kinda anti-Coach purse. But I was in the Coach store and just felt compelled to get something. It'll be my grown-up purse when I have to look a little more mature and fashiony. We'll save those bizarre designs and odd material purses for other days.
We leave for LA Hanukkah next week. It's been a year since we've visited. We're all excited.
Funny bit of information.... Maya, aka NoFear, is scared of the Grinch!

And finally, Brussels

We boarded an hour train to Brussels from Bruges. Brussels surprised me the most. I couldn't believe what a city it was. For a second, I thought I was in Chicago. We had a small issue finding our hotel upon arrival, but that's just because street signs seem pretty nonexistant throughout our travels. So Brussels, a lot of businessmen. Lots of trendy shoppers. We were probably noted as tourists because we lacked a trendy, thick scarf and knee high boots worn over the jeans. Seriously, everybody looked good. We went to the Grand Place which is a square of old architecture built in the 1400's. Did you know Brussels is the headquarters for NATO? I'm sure we all should and maybe we do, I didn't. Anyhow, we took a bus tour of Brussels and I'm glad we did because we wouldn't have even seen a tenth of Brussels if we hadn't. One of the fun stops on the tour was the Atonium, which was a part of the 1958 World Fair. It was the only time we gave someone our camera on the trip to take a picture of both of us. Figured they are on the tour, they can't run off with the camera. We saw the famous Manneken-Pis statue, tiny boy peeing. Most of all I think a trip to Brussels can be based around beer and food. And what do you eat while in Brussels? Mussels of course. I had my mussel meal and I ate it all to Adam's surprise. Forgot the camera for that night. We tried as many beers as we could, and never found one we wouldn't have again. Overall, it was quite a trip. It was so nice to see a part of the world not using cell phones, walking on their feet and just plain happy. Other strange observations, there were no overweight people, didn't see too many children and it rained all the time. Everyone knew 2 or more languages and chicken was more expensive than seafood. I wish we could all be a little more European. Although, they seem to love New York and the Yankees.

Bruges

Bruges was a cute gingerbread town. It's a very old city dating back into the 1300's. Really, it's just unbelievable seeing these buildings, churches and houses that have been around forever! Plus the city is completely cobblestone roads. We took a 4 hour train ride from Amsterdam to Bruges. We only stayed for one day, but caught some fun sights. We climbed the Bell Tower (366 steps). This tower was built in 1486. Seriously I am in awe of the brilliance of these buildings. We got a beautiful view of the city. One of the things I really wanted to see was the Basilica of the Holy Blood. According to legend, Joseph of Arimathea washed and preserved several drops of Christ's blood in a crystal vial. In 1150 the patriarch of Jerusalem gave the blood to a Flemish soldier as a thank you for rescuing his city from the Muslims during the Second Crusade. The soldier brought the vial to Bruges. Anyway, we were lucky and got to see this relic. Most of the day the blood is kept in a tabernacle in the church. This is all super cool and all, but then there is the additional legend that the dried blood miraculously turned to liquid on fridays for 2 centuries. The blood dried up for good in 1325. That's where I get a little hesitant believing the entire story. However, the slight chance that this is all completely true makes me happy to have seen it. Another church we were able to see was the Church of Our Lady. This church homes Michelangelo's marble sculpture Madonna and Child. We took a brewery tour in Bruges. Belgium beer is really good. It's all pretty smooth and has no bite. The tour was fun and one of my favorite parts. We had delicious dinner in Bruges and visited a local pub and put down a few. I had a popular cherry beer. It was pretty yummy.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is quite a place. It's a beautiful city with lots to see and do. I could never imagine actually living there, but I would go back in a heartbeat. The city is so laidback. Very easy to get around and the english language is definatly not an issue. We visited Anne Frank's hideout, the art museums housing Renoir and Van Gogh's works, and the Jewish museum. We took a candlelight wine and cheese canal cruise, walked the streets of the Red Light District as well as the other districts of the city. We attempted to go to the Heinniken Brewery, however it was closed for renovations. Lots of food choices... Indian, Argentinian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese. Lots of shopping!! Too bad the dollar is awful over there. (We cashed 350$ and got 207.50 Euro... It didn't mean their stuff was cheaper either!) And yes, Amsterdam is filled with "coffeeshops" galore, selling enough mary j for the world to be happy. You could find any drug pretty darn easy and you know what.. having it all legalized seemed pretty smart and safe. Did we indulge? I can't answer that. If I said yes, I'd have some moms on our backs and if I said no, well then I'd have some people wondering why we didn't take advantage of the freedom? Like Vegas, what happens in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam. Brugges and Brussels we'll save for another day.

Greetings from Amsterdam

Just wanted to say we made it and are enjoying ourselves thus far. The weather is nice, rainy, but apparently that is how it always is. People seem to be nice and we haven't had a problem getting around this city. Yesterday we went and saw Anne Frank's hiding spot and walked the Red Light District. Yes it is full of semi naked women in the windows, sex shows and "coffeeshops" aka smoke shops. Today we are heading to the Van Gogh and Rembrant museums. We're going to try and take a look at the flowers and Heineken Brewery. We still need to take a canal cruise too. In a couple days it will be time to take the train to Brugges, Belgium. Birthplace of Tony Parker and Dr. Evil.
Anyhow, hide all AquaDots.... what is this world coming too? Drugs in kid toys? Maya is going to be pretty upset with their disappearance.
Eating cheese and drinking beer for all of you!

Teacher's Conference

Maya is a stellar student. Apparently she is 1 of 3 of 23 kids total in the PK3 classes that can write her name. She knows all her letters and all her sounds. She traces and cuts well for her age. The teacher wants us to help her start reading her sight words. We were curious to see if we could get her in a kindergarten class next year, but apparently because of the silly birthday "law" she cannot. Today her teacher told me she worked with Maya on some kindergarten software on the computer. It's kinda unfair that Maya has to go to PK4 again next year when the teacher even said Maya knows what a student is supposed to know to enter kindergarten. After September 1st birthdays!!! Ugh!!! And I know all my friends have kids in this category. I'm not saying I want to push her and make her grow up faster, I'm just saying she wants to go and is ready. Maybe she'll be in the "gifted" program... hehe. I could never figure out why those kids were so "special" when I went to school. Anyhow, the only real concern for Maya right now is her talking!! She's a talker.
I'm leaving on a jet plane tomorrow. Until I return..... may your days be merry and bright.

Bye Bye Birthday

Our weekend in a nutshell goes as follows: Birthday party. It went really well. Everyone showed up and I'm pretty sure everybody had a good time. The kids got a lot of really nice things. A lot in the sense that Hanukkah and Christmas may just get cancelled in this house. It was nice to celebrate both of the kids' birthdays at once. I think the stress of one party is all I could take. Thanks to all that made it fun. Movie. Today Adam and I went to go see Into the Wild. I've been wanting to see it for awhile, being that I read the book way back when. It made me miss Alaska. They showed a few Fairbanks scenes in the beginning... so that was pretty cool. Anyhow, good movie... long, sad, but meaningful.
We've got our bags packed and we are ready to go. I'm ready to go, but also ready to be back and know everything went well on both sides. I hope I can relax enough to enjoy myself. Adam has been researching everything and making maps. I can't wait to tell everybody about it. This will be my 4th trip to Europe and hopefully not my last. I love travel.
Don't these boys play so nice together? (I had to laugh watching the dad's play with the toys)