Insurance avoidance

I am supposed to be working on our insurance claims. You can only imagine the paperwork involved in a claim for Maria's big car accident in Germany filed by Americans living in Belgium working for an Australian company. I have done everything I can think of to avoid tackling this mountain of forms. I have made golf plans for next week, checked today's weather 4 times, sent 6 emails (3 to the same person), paid my bills online in Belgium and in the US and even made the beds and did 3 loads of laundry. This blog post is my next form of procrastination then I promise promise promise to get to work on the insurance!

Below are two cute things that have been sent to me by others. Both make me smile!

FIFTEEN THINGS THAT IT TOOK ME OVER 48 YEARS TO LEARN by Dave Barry
1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."
3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
5. You should not confuse your career with your life.
6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
7. Never lick a steak knife.
8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.
9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.
10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.
12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.
13. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)
14. Your friends love you anyway.
15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkBepgH00GM
DANCE TRAIN STATION BELGIUM do-re-mi The Sound of Music - Julie Andrews
(Just click on the link. You will REALLY enjoy the video! Antwerp is about 40min. from us.)

Golf.........finally!

Today Bob and I played golf at the beautiful Sept Fontaines Golf Course in Braine l' Alleud. The course is located on the estate of the Château l'Hermite. We started out with typical Belgian rain and then the skies cleared up right in time for us to get in 18 holes. Bob and I were not on the top of our game but our friends were great. In my defense, I haven't played since June of 2007 and Bob has only played a few times since then too. We can only get better if we practice so we plan to play more this spring and summer. Our golf friends have big plans too so hopefully we will go along for the ride and play more great courses in Europe!

Like rabbits in the fields of Indiana, our luggage multiplied 2 fold during our stay in Greenwood. We came with 4 bags and went back to Belgium with 8. You may be curious to know the items we felt we couldn't survive without in Belgium:

Ramen Noodles
Cool whip topping mix
cookie mix
pretzels
deodorant
Starbucks ground coffee
books/magazines
Model Magic
Converse tennis shoes
Yankees hat(s)
75% off Easter candy
Clothes for everyone
red hots
prom dress #2 (the first one was too big)
movies
Mother's Day cards in English

When we arrived at the Indianapolis International Airport Thursday morning, we checked in and proceeded to the food court for breakfast. This would be our last American meal, so everyone ate their favorite.
Maria-Sausage and egg sandwich from McDonalds (Weird choice because we have McDonalds in Belgium)
Leah and Jenn- Fried rice and chicken from Naked Chopsticks
Julie-breakfast burrito from Quedoba
Time of day does not matter when you are having your last meal before a long flight to the "Country of no fast food".

It really was nice to be home in the USA. We saw so many good friends and family. Mom and Dad came over to visit for 2 nights and even got to throw around the softball with Leah and Jenn. All three girls went to dance at Stage I and hung out just like they used to. It was fun to spend time with brand new baby Mollie. She is adorable and BA and Stacie's pride and joy. Baby Addi is so mobile now and we had lots of fun watching her run around our empty house. Nothing beats a 16 month old who loves to run and play. Ron and Kara even taught her to say "thank you"! I only saw Eileen once, which was not enough but Jennifer H stopped by at 7:30am so I got to give her one last goodbye. Pam and I saw each other over and over and we all got to discuss the perils of raising teenagers. My escapades of the European twist to child rearing made all of them shutter. We started our plans for Maria's friend Kaitlin to visit and Maria arranged for her internship in physical therapy for the summer. She will spend part of her 2 weeks in private practice and part in a hospital setting.

Our trip to the US was great! If there are any economic reports for the week we were in Indiana, I am sure it will show a slight increase in consumer spending. As promised, I did my part to stimulate economic growth in the community.

Still eating fast food

We are still in the US and still eating more fast food than we should. Does a meal at the mall food court count as fast food?

Today I will have my second doctor visit (the first one went well) and my mom and dad will be here for a visit. The kids are still having fun with their friends.

This has been one of those nonstop, action packed, time consuming vacations where you have to go back home to rest!

I just need to make a quick trip to Target............

The girls and I left Belgium on Thursday at 12:00 noon and flew to our house in Indiana. We arrived at 10:00pm on Thursday evening. That is 4:00am Belgium time. We have nicknamed this excursion "our quick trip to Target" since shopping was one of the activities at the top of our list of things to do. Here is what we have done so far in the 30 hours since we arrived.
Thursday:
Maria was in our house for a record 3 minutes and then left with her wonderful friend Kaitlin to go to Steak and Shake.
The twins and I went to bed.
Friday was more exciting
Burger King
Target!!!!
Doctors office for a round of shots for the girls. Ouch.
Coffee at Einstein's with my good friend Jennifer
Mall
Hair cut and color for Julie
Quick visit with baby Addi
More visits with friends for Maria

The kids got to have some real fun on Friday night when they surprised all of their Performing Company friends at the Dance Recital. We hadn't told anyone we were coming so the surprise was huge. The twins spent the evening back and forth between the dressing room and stage. Maria did the same with the Senior Company of dancers. I had lots of fun catching up with all of my friends too. I finally caught up with the twins at the end of the night to watch the finale of the show from the audience. While we watched the kids and teachers (over 300) parade across the stage, we were very surprised to see Maria up there with her former company of dancers! Her friends had insisted she come right out there with them.

Today we will have breakfast with friends, haircuts for the girls, lunch with another friend, lacrosse game at the high school and then go to the 2nd show of the recital. Tomorrow is just as busy with church, lunch with friends, movie date for the twins with their good friend and a visit with baby Mollie. Monday will be the first of 2 doctor visits for Julie and summer internship interviews for Maria.

I thought we came home to shop at Target?

Normandy

Our last excursion with Bob's parents was a trip to Normandy viewing the historic beaches of D-Day, June 6, 1944. Bob's dad is a WWII veteran and was a celebrity throughout the day. We had a personal tour guide who traveled with us along the shores.

Not all the landscape is a beach. Some is marked with jagged cliffs and low marshland. The marker below shows the direction out to sea in which Primo's boat was docked.

The girls in a German bunker at Pointe du Hoc

Bob and his dad walking along the shore at Omaha Beach.

Primo and Mary at the Navy Memorial. Primo is touching the inscription with the name of his ship.
Primo signing in at the American WWII Cemetery. After being officially greeted, he was given a French and an American flag.

At the end of the day, Primo was given the honor of retiring the American Flag at the American Cemetery. This is the site of 9,000 American graves from WWII.

Primo was revered and applauded by all the visitors to the museum. School children asked him questions in French about his experience with their teachers translating. One woman told of her experiences as a 17 year old during the war in German occupied France. She thanked Primo over and over for his service to his country and hers as tears streamed down her face. It was an unforgettable day.

Easter in Paris

On Easter Sunday the entire family toured Paris. The highlight was celebrating Easter Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. Below are just a few of our 168 pictures!

Eiffel Tower

All of us at Mass. It was very crowded and we waited in line for 30 minutes. We have been there many times, but have never seen it that crowded.

Primo and Mary in front of Notre Dame.

Lunch in the park on the Champs Elysees. It was about 70 degrees and sunny. .... April in Paris.....Go ahead and sing the song!

Aachen, Germany

We arrived in Aachen right at the height of the weekly market. It was packed with people buying all kinds of Easter goodies like bunny shaped donuts, cookies and chocolate. We bought pretzels to eat on the street and watched the Germans buy white eggs and white asparagus. Flowers were for sale everywhere. We were given a gold egg at one of the stores. Everyone was giving them away free but I still can't figure out why.

We viewed the treasures of Aachen's most famous church, the Aachen Cathedral. It's original octagonal core was started in 786 AD as the palace chapel for Charlemagne. We also saw Charlemagne's arm and skull encased in gold. In 1978, this church became the first German building on the UNESCO World Heritage. The entire ceiling was covered in gold!



Lunch was another funny adventure. We thought we were getting German food, but it turned out to be Greek. Oh well...

This is Primo and Mary on the street of Aachen. Primo is holding all of our market purchases!

Brugge

On Tuesday we traveled to Brugge to view the Holy Blood at the Church of the Holy Blood. The vessel holding the sacred relic is from the year 1200AD. Mary and Primo saw a statue by Michaelangelo which is rare to see his work outside of Italy. It is the Madonna and Jesus right above Mary's head in the picture.

I just had to add this picture of the funny trees. This type of landscaping is very popular in Belgium. These trees are right outside of the church with the Michaelangelo statue.

Bob's lunch. Mary tried it too!

Bob and Primo. Mary and I had Flemish stew for lunch. Yum.

Brugge was beautiful. We also saw the Lace Museum and ladies actually working on the age old craft of lace making. It is entrancing to watch them work.

Ghent

On Monday we went to Ghent and took a great boatride through the city. We also had a great lunch filled with lots of new foods.


Views from the boat

The top picture is of Bob and his parents waiting for the boat to set sail. The last picture is of the oldest Guild House in Ghent. If it looks like it is leaning forward, you are right. It is! Ghent is a beautiful city. It is quit a large town with plenty of history, a university and lots of industry. It is the location of the factory where Bob works the most when he isn't traveling to other countries.

Photo credit

Jenn gets credit for the new photo at the top of the blog and Leah gets credit for most of the shots in the blog entry below. Both of the girls got some wonderful shots of the beautiful flowers. Maria took even more photos. I will add some of hers later.

Keukenhof

On Sunday, all 7 of us went to Holland to see the wonderful display of flowers at Keukenhof. This 60 year old showcase of flowers was absolutely beautiful. Check it out at www.keukenhof.nl
We took over 200 photos!

Flowers outside and inside.

Gorgeous

Maria and the twins got so close to the swans. Maria looks a little bulky since her back brace is on underneath.

Maria's back injury

(This post used to be called "Inspecting Maria". When Bob finally read the blog, he said it sounded weird when pared with the photo. This is a picture of Maria's scar. Our Belgian orthopedic back specialist will remove the screws and pins from her spine in December using the same incision site.)

Mary and Primo at Grande Place

Yesterday, the girls were in school so Bob and I took Mary and Primo to Grande Place. It is the most popular tourist attraction in Brussels. We drank a beer and sat outside watching the other tourists. The weather was beautiful -72!

Primo and Mary Visit Belgium

The next few posts will be about Primo and Mary, Bob's mom and dad, visiting us in Belgium. They arrived yesterday morning on a direct flight from Chicago. The first place we showed them was the market in Overijse. They were amazed by the Chicken Man, the vegetalbe carts and the friendly people all speaking Flemish. I was proud that I had made a friend of the cheese lady and even knew her name. We also stopped in at the butchers and purchased salami and pork (varkensvleesje).

They were excited to see the girls so Mary and I drove to ISB to catch the twins on the playground. They were so excited to see their Grandma!!! All of Leah and Jennifer's friends came running to meet Grandma too. We realized that everyone is waiting for visitors just like us. It is such a big deal to see relatives visit.

Keep watching....We went to Grande Place today and I will post pictures soon.

High Tech

Mom wrote me an email and used the acronym L.O.L.
-I really did LOL when I saw that my own mom is so savvy with cyber lingo.


Leah said, "Our carbon footprint is huge!" She is 11 years old.


Bob's mom and dad were talking to us on the phone and said, "Just send us an email." They are over 80 years old.


Maria asked permission to go to the Prom with her new boyfriend. Bob hesitated to say yes just to make her mad. Jennifer suggested she put together a PowerPoint presentation with all the reasons why she should be able to go. PowerPoints are part of the 5th grade curriculum!