Pumpkin Patch!

 Going to the pumpkin patch means:  riding ponies, making our way through corn mazes, running around in the pumpkins, trying decide which pumpkin is the perfect pumpkin, eating treats, getting balloons from the balloon guy, and spending time with awesome friends.
Because I ♥ fall pictures, here's this year's pumpkin patch excursion...  

Ella loves her little friends.  She would play with Liberty and Amelia all day every day if I let her.  

  

Luke thought he was pretty buff picking pumpkins up so easily this year.

These donuts really are the devil.  So good.

 Red candy apples...  probably the messiest treat ever for a messy little cutie.  Good thing we got it right before heading home!

We've been doing some other fun Octoberish activities, too.  Maybe those posts will make it up before Nov!  We'll see.  We are going to carve pumpkins tonight.  Should be fun. Last night we had the dental squadron Halloween party and we went to a little party at the community center last week.  Monday Luke gets to dress up at school, and Monday night we're getting together with neighborhood friends for a chili/cornbread Halloween bash while we give out candy to the herds of kids that come tromping through this neighborhood.  Trick-or-treating on base is nuts!  Hopefully our candy supply will last longer than ten minutes.   

Bruges

Jake and I drove over to Belgium for a little overnighter last week (Columbus Day through the next day).  Here are the highlights and favorite pics!

*It was the first time we have taken the car over to mainland Europe.  We went over via Euro Tunnel.  It's about 1:45 to Folkestone from our house, (where you drive your car onto the tunnel train) and then 1/2 an hour later you get off in Calais, France.  Once in France, it's about 1 1/2 hr drive to Bruges.   Crazy and creepy to think that you are in your car, in a train, in a tunnel, under the ocean.
Here are some pics of where the cars load onto the train, and one I took from inside the car once in the train.

Once you get off in France, you drive on the right side of the road again.  Jake doesn't seem to mind switching back and forth between driving on the right and left.  I'm glad I wasn't doing the driving.  Afraid I'm going to pull out in front of oncoming traffic!

*  We stayed at Hotel Ter Duinen.  Isn't it cute?

View from the front of the hotel..

*  Pretty sure Belgium is the land of bikes.  They are everywhere.  Signs with bike rules are everywhere too.

* The Belfry!  We climbed up the windy staircase to the top.   Good way to burn off some of the Belgian food we put down.

Here's the view from different sides of the top...

And here's the clock interior...

* Lots of old buildings around the Grote Markt.  Here's another cool building they call Stadius (town hall).
I like the good looking guy standing in front of it.  :)

Not digging any of the pictures I'm in on this trip.  Ignore the crazy winded hair and check out the cute markt buildings in the back, k?

Cute horses at the market square..

*Went on a walk at night down to the market.  The Belfry is pretty cool all lit up!

*  I guess Bruges is well known for its' lace.  They say a lot of it is imported from China now- go figure.  But, there are still a few places that make it in town.

*  Can't go to Belgium without trying a waffle!  I was excited to get one, but planned on being disappointed.  I figured it would taste like any 'Belgian' waffle from home.  Not so.  They are more dense and the flavor is different. Deeeelicious. We got all kinds of goodies on ours.

Probably not safe buying waffles from stores that have open windows like this.  Jake totally could have licked all those and no one would have known... haha.

*Um, yeah, so we were on a food kick while there.  Totally worth it though, because how often do we visit Belgium?  And it is all so tasty.  More motivation to run when returning home!  So, another thing on the to do list was try their frites.  Belgium invented fries.  They were good, but I think the dip was what made them extra good.  We went to Fritierie 1900 to try them and they had tons of dips to choose from.  This was their 'special sauce.'

* Tried Flemish beef stew for dinner one night, along with pumpkin soup at this place.  Zeer goed!

* Chocolate!  Another must while in Bruges.  I'm not a big foodie, but I'm pretty sure I can tell the difference between good chocolate and not so great chocolate.  This place has some great chocolate, and I don't think you can top the selection anywhere.  Pretty much every other store is a chocolate maker.

They had some of the cutest chocolate shapes and animals.  And some of the craziest... I didn't know that chocolates were made to resemble so many body parts.  Sick.
                                                                                                                                   

*Checked out the Basilica of the Holy Blood.  Saw what is supposedly a venerated relic of the Holy Blood collected by Joseph of Arimathea and brought here during the crusades.  Click on this to check it out.  Interesting place.

*Went on a boat tour of the city.  Had a fun tour guide, but we could only understand what he was talking about like a quarter of the time.  Cool views of the city from the canal though!  

*   Walked around the city and checked out the shops.   It was nice shopping without two little people who don't enjoy being at the store!  

These guys were putting on quite a show along the side of the road.  Forgot to change the setting on the camera, so it's kind of blurry. 

A little of the shopping area..

 And, one more picture.  Just because I like it.

I'd like to go back for a day trip sometime.  Fun place.  Thanks for a great time, Jake :)

3!

A couple of weeks ago my baby turned 3!!  This little girl is spunky and fun, girly, messy, feisty, sweet, and is almost always is saying it's too hot!  She will come and give me a big hug and then tell me to go away because I am making her hot.  haha.  (She is lucky she lives in England.  I don't think she'd survive in AZ/NV/TX!) She makes me laugh every day with the little things she says and does.  Her little voice saying I love you sooo much just melts me.  I love you Ella!!  

 Some of Ella's favorite things at 3:

♥ She says that her favorite thing to do is play tea party and princesses.  She spends a lot of time jumping on the trampoline and is still a big book worm.  I asked her what her favorite book was and she mentioned just about all the books we own.  

♥ She loves playing with her brother.  She misses him when he's at school.  

♥ Her favorite girly buddies are Amelia, Liberty, and Olivia.   

♥ Favorite movie/TV shows all involve Dora the Explorer.  

♥ Every night she requests that we sing The Itsy Bitsy Bider before bed.  She loves to sing Snuggle Puppy and Sesame Street's I love my Hair at the top of her lungs (click here to hear the hair song if you haven't.. it's pretty cute).  

♥ She's a big fan of water.  Loves bath time and swimming lessons.  She can often be found making soup with water from the hose, rocks, grass, and whatever she and her friends find outside.   

♥ She isn't a picky eater, but when it's her turn to choose she usually wants spaghetti.  She loves fruit too.  

♥  She loves animals.

♥ Oh, and to throw one more favorite into the mix,  she loves the color pink.

Miss Ella, here are some pictures from the day you turned 3.
You wanted to open your presents bright and early.... before your dad left for work a little before 7.  We ate waffles and then walked Luke to school.

Every time we pass the bakery in the commissary, you want to check out the cakes.  On birthday week you finally got to pick one out!  We looked through their big cake book and you were set on having a Dora cake. We picked it up early in the afternoon and you kept climbing onto the counter wanting to look at it. You were pretty good about not touching :)  

We went to the park and played with some of your buddies and then the Willeys came over for dinner.  You were sad this year again when it was time to blow your candle out.  Just like last year.  Everything was great until we lit that candle.  Dang scary candles...

You wanted spaghetti for dinner. Oh, and dessert didn't come first, guess I'm just putting these pictures in the wrong order.

You scored some fun presents. This was the year of the pink scooter, dress-ups, and fun little pets. You were spoiled by grandmas and grandpas. It's exciting getting packages in the mail! Trying out your new Rapunzel dress...

Okay, Miss El,  I think that was most of the big day's highlights.

Can't wait to see what this next year brings for you.  ♥, mom

First Day of Kindergarten

Luke started Kindergarten Sept 6.  Here he was just as we started walking to school on his first day.  He was not in the mood for pictures and didn't want to even look at me.  I got this one though!   Little stinker.  This boy isn't a fan of waking up earlier than 8:30.  Stinks when school starts at 8:10! 

I got another picture when he was lined up with his class.  There are 16 munchkins in Ms. Morales' Spanish Immersion class.  So far Luke is enjoying the kindergarten thing.  He likes his teacher and thinks it's awesome that there are so many other boys in the class!  At his last school the boys were seriously outnumbered.