Fishing!!

Cory's been begging for a while to go fishing.  BEGGING.  In fact, he really wanted to go with Grandpa when they came to visit.  Unfortunately we didn't get it worked out, but Grandpa, being the wise, ahem, old man that he is, spent some time teaching him how to cast in the yard.  It was very sweet, and Cory loved it.

But it still wasn't fishing, and Ted promised him that they'd go fishing--no excuses.  This past Sunday, after we got back from church and lunch, Ted and Cory gathered their fishing gear and headed out.  And they did not disappooint

Of course, when it was time to do the real work, Cory was nowhere to be found!

They were a yummy addition to our dinner that night--at least for Ted and me...the kids wanted nothing to do with them!

You Picasso Face!

Today, after a little internet researching and studying, we produced our own Picasso-like faces.

Here's what we know:

• Picasso helped create Cubism, an art form that takes an object and breaks it down into its simplest shapes--cubes, rectangles, spheres, triangles, cones--and puts them back together in an abstract way.  
• African masks amazed him.  He used them in his paintings and started collecting masks.
• He was from Spain, but moved to France where he did most of his work.  His dad was an artist as well.  His mother claimed his first word was "piz piz" short for the Spanish word lapiz meaning pencil
• He used objects around him and put them inside his paintings.
• He was not just a painter, but also a sculptor.

A snapshot or two

Thought it might be fun to see some random pictures from our recent days.  Enjoy...

Co-op year end presentations--Lucy's music class

Could Lucy be any sweeter?

 Piano Recitals

 Riley played ALL of Fur Elise.  She did awesome!

 Mary played Home on the Range, and of course sang it, too.  The best part was when she announced that we should all sing along for the last verse.

 Cory played a song called Kite in the Sky.  He is learning very quickly.

Visiting Lake Barcis--the colors there are beautiful

Gelato at the Grand Canal in Venice

 Baseball--Cory's playing on the A's.  He's having a BLAST!

Just a few snapshots into our days...

All Smiles

Judging by the smiles, I think everyone's having a fun time!

teaching Grandpa how to play Ninja in the backyard

roasting toes and marshmallows at the patio fireplace

sightseeing in Salzburg, Austria

singing songs from the musical at The Sound of Music pavilion in Salzburg, Austria

a first ever pony ride in Lipica, Slovenia

sharing some of Grandpa's espresso in Barcis, Italy

enjoying a Coke and Cappucino break in Aquileia, Italy

Good Times

a GRAND adventure

The Granparents are visiting.  We've been busy seeing the sights.  Here are just a sampling of pictures from the first two weeks...
At the Pantheon in Rome

At the Arena in Verona

At Aquileia Basilica in Aquileia

Tiptoeing Through the Tulips

We started doing the math and realized we'd be next door to Holland during the bulb blooming season.  It fast became a priority to make the drive there to see the legendary bulbs in bloom in person.  The drive was about 3 hours (one way) from our gite in Belgium, and as we headed out I began to question whether the long drive for a single event was really worth it--especially as the kids were having so much fun with the friends we were staying with.  Let me just say, for the record, it was 100% worth every kilometer we drove (although, technically Ted did the driving through the construction and crowded city traffic, so maybe we should ask him).  We had a lovely day, exploring the Keukenhof Gardens (near Lisse, Holland) on foot.  They claim to plant more than 7,000,000 bulbs every year.

After that, we explored the countryside on bike.  

The tulips hadn't yet peaked, but that was no disappointment, because the hyacinths had, and suffice it to say that the scent was delicious.  Mary Beth and I just drove down the path and inhaled deeply hoping to remember the smell forever.  

We followed a marked path, but got a little turned around at one point.  Our attempt to return to the bike rental shop led us, instead, to the North Sea (the rental guy mentioned that one of the paths would take us there, so we weren't terribly shocked).  Not what we had planned, but it was a great accident.  Now we have a few shells to add to our shell collection from other ocean visits.  

But the real highlight was the tulips and other flowers in the gardens and carpeting the countryside.  It was beautiful.

And now, let's see how smart you are (or how well you google).  This year, Keukenhof was featuring Poland.  So, who is this famous person from Poland.  You probably don't need a hint, but here's one anyway--he's a composer.  

First one to respond wins the prize.  (Note I say "the prize" not "a prize."  My kids win "the prize" sometimes for being the last one up in the morning or for being in the clean plate club,  for example, and I will have to admit, they're always disappointed that "the prize" is just a phrase.)

Belgium

Spring Break brought us to Belgium.  Riley had the opportunity to join her youth group, Club Beyond, at an Adventure Camp in Belgium, and we decided to vacation in the area as well.  That way we could do some things on either end, drive her into camp and enjoy some of spring break together.  Also, it was nice not to be 12 hours away, just in case.  :)

We found a lovely place to stay in Belgium that accommodated us and two other families who we vacationed with.

Just inside the door of the gite was this stone mosaic in the floor.

It was in a small, quiet village with a beautiful park just across the street.  The kids were happy to spend hours there.

Near the park was also this picturesque castle-like building.  We took advantage of the "picturesque" part and took a whole mess of pictures of it.

We didn't do too much big city touring in Belgium--in fact we missed Brussels altogether.  The kids were having such a good time with friends that it was nice to hang out in the gite and stay nearby.  We did, however, go out and about the area geocaching.  One cache, which we have no pictures for, took us on this lovely walk through the literal countryside.  Another cache had the group climbing up a very steep hill to get to a railroad bed at the top where the cache was cleverly hidden.

A third cache took us to this sentry-like tower.

While caching, we drove by the Bocq brewery and decided to head there later in the afternoon for a tour and some beer tasting.  That was not as fun for the kids, but lots of fun for Ted.

We also spent an afternoon walking around Dinant, one of the larger cities in the area that is the home of Adolphe Sax, the inventor of--yep, you guessed it, the saxophone!

There was also this lovely church and a citadel high above.  With the river below it was a pretty sight.

While in Belgium we also took advantage of the bakery down the street and tried loads of awesome pastries, breads and waffles!  The waffles had little chunks of sugar inside, making them super sweet.

The bakery had a vending machine where you could easily purchase loaves of bread.  

Mary was excited to try French fries in Belgium after reading that they were a popular item, served in Friterie stands around the country.  Indeed, the creators of the fries, the Belgiums had friteries all over the place--almost like an ice cream stand.

It was a good few days in a very beautiful place.