Our explorations of Belgium were not over.

We struck out to discover Ghent. Clay and I had never been there either. Apparently the train station is a good 2km from the center of town. Luckily we had good attitudes :)



And in the end we found it!





These are our castle faces.



We were very excited to see a real castle.









We ended the day with a boat ride through the canal followed by frits and ice cream. A Belgian day through and through.



Ghent was a fun surprise and may need further exploration by us Sandozes. Very cool city.



Side-note: I wore a scarf to church on Sunday. Yes. Late July, the piping hot center of the year, and my neck was chilly. I am not going to question it.



The Royal Palace in Brussels.



I was really excited. I love visiting famous places, especially homes of enchanting people like Queen Paola. Look at this picture of her with Queen Fabiola from the '60s. Seriously gorgeous.



And here's the dork ready to tour her castle.



The girls had waiting long enough for true blue Belgian waffles.



They weren't disappointed.



We took in the light show in the Grand Place and then headed to bed.



One last cup of Starbucks at the airport and off our little friends went. We are so glad you came Sidney and Caroline! We miss you already.

Just a couple of high school grads taking Huy by storm.

Train ponderings.



Austin invades Belgium.




Antwerp.

Lately

Time with sweet friends.



4th of July with more sweet friends.




To the zoo to see my baby elephant who has grown so much this past year.



Saw a caged cardinal. Who ever heard of that?



Watched The World Cup among the Dutch. Awesome.



Had some really yummy fallafel.



Found this in Antwerp. Incredible.



Had some visitors from Austin!





Their blurry-eyed exit.



Quickly followed by another ray of Austin sunshine :)



And watched skies like this...



... turn into skies like this.



Summer.

Sprucing

We've got a slew of visitors coming in the next 2 months, Hallelujah! I've been cleaning and sprucing getting this place ready for a party.

The entryway now has a fun new greeting-board.



I used an old frame we had lying around and some fabric Mom and Mel bought me in Glen Rose last year.



I also never showed you the vintage-tablecloth curtains I referred to a few months ago. They turned out great and keep that marvelous 5am sunshine out of our eyes.



At this rate, everything should be perfect around here just in time to move out come March :)

But no matter. Guests, bring it on! We offer you a happy 'Bienvenue!'

A fun weekend.

A Sirin weekend, hooray!



We walked all around Verviers, watched a chick flick, and ate chips and guacamole. I am so thankful to God for my friend Sirin and the fun girl-time we get to have together.



The boys joined up with us and we headed to 3-Borders, the place where Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany intersect. Our cell phones were going crazy with all the roaming in and out of different countries. Awesome.

There was a labyrinth. Has anyone done a labyrinth lately? Why don't more places have these? We had a blast.



It even had water spouts blocking certain paths that you had to wait to jump over.




We were thankful to be with our brilliant friends who know German (and French, Dutch, Latin, Greek, and Turkish for goodness sakes!). Without them we never would have noticed the 'Exit' sign. We would probably still be trapped in all those hedges if it wasn't for them.



Ah Belgium.



And friends.




We love you guys!