Boo - It's Halloween!

Saturday night we went to a Halloween trick-or-treating party that was co-hosted by our friends. The kids got to trick-or-treat at a few homes (pre-arranged, of course, as Halloween is a purely American holiday). We had a blast - this was the first year Grayson could really trick-or-treat and he loved it! He was the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Even the parents had to dress up! Tony was famous Belgian René Magritte's Son of Man painting (pictured below - Tony even carried around a green apple). The Belgians got a kick out of Tony's costume - many we passed recognized him immediately.

Sonny has become Grayson's honorary big sister. She loves to play with him and give him hugs, and Grayson loves all the attention from the "big kid."



I was Cleopatra - sort of.

Toward the end of the trick-or-treating Grayson must have gotten tired, because everytime we came to a stoop he sat down to take a break.

Let's play!

We found a playgroup!

The best thing about moving abroad with a toddler is that you automatically have something in common with so many others - your kids. Just today Grayson and I went to our first playgroup. The Brussels Childhood Trust (BCT) organizes them every week in each of the neighborhoods (called communes) for English speaking families. My friend Kelly told me about this one, so we went. Much like my playgroups in Atlanta, each week they are hosted by a different Mom at her house. This one was hosted by an American from Seattle. Her son is 2, plus she has a 4 year old and one on the way. Then there were 2 Moms from Britain, 1 from Italy, and 1 from Japan (all spoke great English). They were all there with their toddlers. Grayson had so much fun playing with the other kids, and I enjoyed getting to know the other Moms. We've both been missing our playgroup in Atlanta.

And a music class!

We have also signed up for a weekly toddler/Mom music class. Kelly helped us sign up, and we went to our first class last Friday. There were four other parents (3 Moms and 1 Dad) and their toddlers (all were French speaking, except us). The class lasted an hour and was entirely in French. It was great! We sang lots of songs (all the French nursery songs that they all know - we just sang "la la la la"), then the instructor played different instruments (including an accordian!) while the kids danced or played along. I was able to pick out a few French words I had learned, including a few colors ("rouge" is red, for example) and some others ("chouette" means great!).

And of course, there are parks!

We've been very fortunate to have a couple of great weeks of weather. The sun has been out and the rain very little (until today, that is - today the typical Belgian weather has (I've been told) begun - it is rainy and gray and starting to get chilly). Anyway, because of the 2 weeks of good weather we've been able to visit several parks around town. Below are photos from this great park in the center of the city. Grayson loves it, and I have met a couple of Moms there (one from Hungary, who has a son about Grayson's age, and another who is a native Belgian, now living in Germany, but who was in town to visit). This city is so very International.

Rain rain go away . . .

The rainy, windy, gray Belgian weather has begun. I've been told to not expect it to go away for about 6 months.

Just like home.

There are only two McDonalds in Brussels - it figures that one would be right around the corner from us. And a Pizza Hut. If I never ate Pizza Hut or McDonalds again it would be ok, but for Tony it's another story - he is already craving them.

We made it!

Hi everyone - - We made it! Below are a few stories of our first few days in Belgium, as well as photos. We miss you all!

PS: To view the photos larger, just click on them.

PPS: At the very bottom of the page is a link to our Shutterfly photo albums, for all the other photos I take but don't post here.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Packing up and shipping out.

The day of our flight we realized we had way more stuff than we could possibly carry on the plane - - including our desktop computer which we had naively thought we could throw in a suitcase. So less than an hour before we left for the airport Tony brought 4 boxes of "stuff" and the computer to UPS to be shipped.

As you can see, we still had tons of stuff to lug. That's Grayson sitting on top of our suitcases after our arrival in the Brussels airport.

There is this great park not far from our hotel - it has a great, fenced-in playground that Grayson loves (I'll post pictures later). This fountain is just outside the playground. The first time we visited someone asked me to take a picture for him. He then proceeded to converse with me in what I assumed was French. At the end he said (in English) - "Oh - you don't speak Italian?."

Belgian waffles - yum!

The long flight and jet-lag are worth it, so long as you get to eat a Belgian waffle dipped in dark chocolate. Pure heaven. Not only do they sell them in small shops along the shopping streets, they also have mobile waffle trucks (like ice cream trucks) - no kidding!

Bank day.

So you may be thinking - man, they're already dressing Grayson up? Actually yes, the Belgians dress up it seems everyday. Even the kids at the playground wear baby couture. How to spot the Americans? Look for Moms like me in jeans and t-shirts. So on this day we had to go to the bank to sign up for a Belgian bank account. I figured I'd better dress Grayson a little nicely. We arrived early, so I let him run around the park that surrounds the Arc de Cinquantenaire. By the time he was back in the stroller his shoes were muddy and he was covered in grass stains. Needless to say he was back in his jeans and tennis shoes the moment we returned from the bank.

Give that poor American some ice.

On my first day alone in the city with Grayson we stopped in a little sandwich shop for lunch. The few words I had learned in French from my podcasts completely escaped me, so I managed to order my sandwich by saying "ah ah ah" and pointing. I then tried to ask for a Diet Coke, which does not exist. They have Coke Light. Once we figured that out, I sat down, completely intimidated. My stress must have shown, because when the waitress brought my Coke Light, she brought it with a glass of ice. In Europe they don't drink their Cokes with ice - you either go without like they do or you have to ask for it and hope they actually have ice (the books I've read said they often don't). It was kind of them to take pity on me.

I blew up 0ur computer!

Yes - literally - after a week with no computer it finally arrived today. I unpacked it like it was Christmas morning. Then I plugged it in and jumped about three feet off the ground when it sparked and made a loud POP. Apparently I needed to switch a little red voltage button on the back before plugging it in. Now why couldn't I have learned this lesson with my hairdryer????

So my computer is fried, and I was utterly depressed at the thought of more days without electronic contact with the outside world. So Tony - sensing my desperation - managed to borrow a laptop from work for me to use. AAH - it is so nice to be connected again :)

Email me! I miss you all!

Shannon