Vacation Bible School

Grayson and I just finished up a fun (and exhausting!) week of VBS at our church. I was one of the crew leaders for the 3-year-old class. Here's the job description:

• Accompany a group of eighteen 3-year-olds from activity to activity, including up and down stairs, from room to room, and in and out of the sanctuary and fellowship hall where there were 250 other kids (in other words, just don't lose them!)




• Help them with their crafts (in other words, assemble most of them for them)




• Help them listen to the lessons (in other words, try to get them to be quiet and sit - every 2 minutes)




• Deal with any "oops" moments (in other words, band-aid their boo boos, wet-wipe their faces, hands, and clothes after snack, clean up their accidents, and (try to) remove all marker from their faces before their parents arrive)




• But most importantly - just don't lose them! (we accomplished this most of the time)
  
  

The 3-year-olds, waiting for theater time

In the sanctuary, dancing and singing their little hearts out

There was lots of wild dancing





Grayson had a blast




The other kids did too!

And he slept really well at night!

Our Little Fish!

Grayson is taking swimming lessons twice a week with his friend, Ellie.

That's Ellie on the left. Before the lesson starts the kids line up at the edge of the pool.

Then they climb in and hold on to the side - and practice blowing bubbles.

Then it's time to practice their kicking.

Then they get out and line up . . .

and take turns jumping in to Allie, the instructor.

Allie then helps them "swim" back to the edge.

Then they take turns floating on their backs as Allie counts 1 - 2 - 3.

Then more "swimming" back to the edge.

It's a lot of fun!

After our lesson we go to the wading pool where Grayson has a blast splashing around.

Grayson is always sad when it's time to go home.

More Computer Woes

Yesterday my computer arrived from Brussels (it was shipped by air along with some of Grayson's toys - all the rest of our stuff takes 6 - 8 weeks as it travels across the ocean), and I am once again experiencing the trials and tribulations of moving a computer internationally. Back in October, 2006, in my very first blog post I wrote this:

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????

A few days after writing that entry a Belgian computer guy replaced the power supply in the back of the computer and explained that it no longer had the little red button because it would automatically adjust depending on the voltage. At least that's what I think he said, but who knows given the language difference and my desperate desire to just have the thing work right away.

Well, not so much. My suspician is that the new power supply only works in Europe (220V), because when I try to turn it on nothing happens. So I'll be off to Best Buy to have the power supply replaced . . . again. I've been belgianed (a term my expat friends use when the locals aren't so nice to us foreigners) and I'm not even in Belgium!!

It's a shame, because yesterday I took some really cute pictures of Grayson during his swimming lesson. I'll post them as soon as I'm up and running again.

Calling All Creative People!

Now that we're back in the USA, in Atlanta, in the South, this blog needs a new title. This blog used to have some lame title like "Go Grayson" before someone else suggested the catchy "Our Little Brussels Sprout" title. I'm just not clever enough to come up with something like that.

But we're no longer in Brussels, so I need a new title. So please - help me out! You can post suggestions to the "comments" section below, or send me an email, or just tell me the next time we talk. I really, really need something good!!

Happy Birthday America!

Just two days after landing in the USA we celebrated the 4th of July. What better way to do it than at an Atlanta Braves baseball game!

It was the Braves vs. the Astros. The Braves won!

This was Grayson's first major league baseball game (actually, it was his first sporting event of any kind)

He ate popcorn

Learned the Braves' tomahawk chop (which we explained was NOT the same as the FSU Seminole's chop)

Did "the wave" with all the other fans

Ate dippin' dots with Daddy

And absolutely loved the post-game 4th of July fireworks!

What a welcome home it was!

Last Days as a Little Brussels Sprout

Our last few days in Brussels were incredibly hectic. The movers took all our stuff out of our apartment and put it into the cargo container that will be driven to the port of Antwerp and then set sail for the US where it will arrive 6 - 8 weeks later in (I think) Savannah.

Here's how they get our stuff out of our apartment - through the window!

This is our cargo container. When it arrived, they asked if we were putting a car in it along with our furniture and boxes (no!).

Moving was not without some drama. The outside lift broke our already rusty balcony railing. It went plumeting to the ground as Grayson and I watched from across the street - oops! And on our very last day in Belgium during our move-out inspection Tony discovered the movers had missed a bunch of our stuff from one of our storage closets - including our baby crib! They had to rush over, pack it up, and ship it separately. Drama, drama, drama.

After our stuff was moved out of our apartment, we lived with our friends for five days. Rich and Kelly have four daughters - Sonny (6), Poppy (4), Maya (2), and Dali (6 months). We all had a blast going to the park, eating meals together, and goofing around!

Grayson, Poppy, and Maya at Parc Tenbosch.

Dinner time was always fun.

So was storytime.

Even teeth brushing is fun when five kids are doing it at the same time! (well, four I guess as Dali doesn't have teeth yet)

And on our very last day Grayson had lunch (and popsicles!) with Valentina and Castalie.