Cousin Time

As we ventured further west after James' conference in Las Vegas, Birelle was able to hang out with cousin Gavin. They had a great time in the bath at the Warnick's house. We had to keep the camera far away because these little kids were splashing like crazy!



Here are the kids on a trip to Costco. Brielle was trying to pull on Gavin's ears the whole time. They just love growing up together!



We could not take enough pictures of this. These a little silicone balls with soft spikes on them. The are meant to be stretched over the head. The kids were really annoyed with them at first until they saw that the other one had one on their head. They spent the rest of the time trying to grab at each other then worry about their own!

Viva Las Vegas

To start off our trip out west we spent the long weekend in St. George (Utah) with everyone in Megster's family (except for Jenny). We had a great time hanging out and hiking. The landscape was beautiful and there was no snow and that is always a plus when you are coming from Michigan in the middle of winter.



This is a picture taken in Snow Canyon just up the street from Craig and Debbie's place. It was a fantastic place to explore. After a day of exploring it was nice to come home to a house and just relax.



After leaving St. George we headed south to Las Vegas. The whole reason for our trip out west was for James to attend the Western Veterinary Conference. He attended sessions Monday through Thursday focusing mostly on seminars dealing with practice management. He found them very interesting and was glad to be able to attend them because vet school is not known for their business teaching. :) We found a great condo to stay in (for only $99 a night!) with a full kitchen, dining room (pictured above) and two LCD TVs.



While James was at his conference Megan and Brielle explored the city. They went to every major hotel on the strip and went to all the free shows. We were also able to attend a LeAnn Rimes concert that was sponsored by James' conference.

International Affairs

Last Saturday evening, Jeannie, along with 12 other cadets from the International Club at the Coast Guard Academy, went to the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. They visited with officers from other countries around the world who were attending a year long program to get their masters in war tactics. Each officer made a typical meal from their country. Jeannie enjoyed dining and schmoozing with international officers from Somalia, United Arab Emirates, Poland, Iraq and Sweden to name a few. And she reported that all the food was just delicious!

Belgian Waffles!

Okay, I know I post a lot about food, but when I eat as fabulous treats I want to let others know about it (this way you know what to make sure to eat when you visit Belgium!). This is a true Belgiam waffle and Belgian waffles truly are the best. At home I eat my waffles with syrup, but in Belgium I eat them with whipped cream and chocolate sauce - can you blame me?

There are little waffle places all over the city, but especially near the Grand Place (pictures on that later). As you can see in the picture they don't use waffle batter, but more of a waffle dough. And there are little sugar ball-things that melt when they cook and become carmelized. Hmmm... so good! The waffles are scrumptous plain as well. Be sure to keep checking the blog for more great Belgian food, like frites (french fries) and, of course, CHOCOLATE!

Guatemala #1 - Pyramids and El Progreso

This time we were taking an ambulance to a small town in El Salvador. It was shipped about a month ago and we flew down last week into Guatemala City. On the way, we had a long layover in Mexico City so decided to go and see the pyramids at Teotihuacan. The first picture is of Evan, Helen and Margaret on the Pyramid of the Sun, with the Pyramid of the Moon in the background. The steps going up the sides of the pyramid were very steep. The final two pictures are taken after we had landed in Guatemala City. We needed to travel part of the way to Metapan, El Salvador before nightfall but getting out of Guatemala City was a nightmare with the traffic. Not liking to drive the roads there at night, we found a "hotel" in El Progreso about two hours from Guatemala City and stayed the night there. The Hotel Tio Juan had rooms for $12/night, and I think we overpaid at that. The picture of the outside of it actually looks pretty good but it was the inside that was the scariest. . .there was no hot water but it didn't matter because we were all so tired we didn't even notice.

Igor and Ilenia's New House

While I was in Italy I was able to see Igor and Ilenia's new house. It is such a nice house - I really enjoyed the tour that Ilenia took me on. For those of you who stayed at Ilenia's parents' bed and breakfast, Ilenia's house is right there, just up the little hill. This is Ilenia's kitchen (with Ilenia and Valeria). Since Ilenia and Igor spent part of their honeymoon in California, I knew that everyone would want to see pictures of their new house.

Here is the master bedroom that looks over the B&B and vineyards (what-yards?).

Ilenia made a delicious dinner one night. I had a fabulous time in Italy with Ilenia and her great family.

Carnival in Venice!

I had a great time celebrating Carnival in Venice. To get into spirit of Carnival I got my face painted. Right outside of the train station in Venice there was a whole line of people ready to paint faces. I am standing on the Rialto Bridge with the Grand Canal in the background. It was such a lovely day.

There were a number of people dressed in very elaborate costumes. This couple was one of my favorites. Valeria (Ilenia's little sister) is in the picture with me. We had a blast together as she showed me around Venice.

Here is another couple dressed up with a gondola behind them.

This is right next to St. Marks Square. I just wanted to show the number of people that were in Venice.

Here is another picture taken from the Rialto Bridge, but it shows Venice a bit better. It was a fabulous day, especially seeing all of the people dressed up for Carnival and now knowing what all those masks are for.

Italian Food!

I know it sounds too good to be true, but last weekend I was in Italy for Carnival! I had a blast with Ilenia and her family. I will be posting pictures of Venice (where we went for Carnival) later, but I had to be sure to post pictures of the important things: the amazing food that I ate while in Italy! Lucia, Ilenia's mother, is a phenomenal cook. I ate so well. Lucia is pictured above with Ilenia's sister Elisa showing a really good lasagna.

Here is the Bovo family sitting down to a really good meal. Each course was delicious. We even had chocolate salami one night!

This is galani and it is sooooo good. It is a treat made during Carnival time. It kind of like a dough that is fried with powdered sugar on top, but it breaks very easily.

I am convinced that I went to Italy at the perfect time because there are some things that are only made during Carnival time, like the frutella that Ilenia and Igor are eating. These are also fried with powdered sugar. My favorite food that I had that week, you ask? That is a tough one, so I will just list some of my favorites: chocolate salami, galani, sausage risotto, and lasagna. Thanks so much to the Bovo family for their hospitality and to Lucia for her amazing food.

We Love Colorado

Megan, Gavin and I made a quick trip to Colorado to surprise our dear friend Karen with a visit. We flew into Colorado Springs, made a quick stop at the Air Force Academy, and then drove through a snowstorm up to Denver (our California appreciation lesson). Gavin was all smiles for Karen, daughter Britt, and her husband, Jeff. We had a great time and laughed a lot. Thanks to Britt and Jeff for helping to keep the secret. We can't wait to see all of them again.

Experiencing Holland with the Wondergems

On our way to pick up Katinka at the airport the Wondergems showed me more of Holland. The first picture is of Kinderdijk, which has quite a few windmills all in one area. It was very neat to see so many so close together. This may seem like a "duh" remark, but I have now experienced the wind in Holland and know exactly why the Dutch built windmills. And having been inside of a working windmill and understanding how land was "created" in Holland, the importance of the windmill is incredible.

We stopped at a seaside fishing village and since it was so windy and rainy we took a small break and had some hot chocolate. Pictured are Katinka's parents Simon and Ankie, me, and Katinka's sister Marjolein. There is a wonderful tradition in Holland of serving a small cookie with coffee hot chocolate in restaurants. I'm trying to figure out how I could bring that concept to the US, but I love it.

On my plate you will see two krokets. These are very Dutch and are like a mushy meat-gravy substance breaded and fried. They are great by themselves or put on bread.

When I put "experiencing" in the title I meant it. Marjolein is holding up a small part of a fillet and I am holding skin...of an eel...that we ate! (We didn't eat the skin.) In this fishing village you can buy eels that have been smoked, but the eels look like eels when you buy them! As interesting as it was, I won't go into the details of how you go about eating it. It was pretty good and tasted like something smoked.

Check these out! Are they not the coolest slippers ever? The Wondergems got these slippers for me to remind me of my trip to Holland. I had a fabulous time exploring Holland with the Wondergem Family (look for more posts!) and am excited to see them again spend a long weekend with them while I am still in Brussels.

Staying Inside and Keeping Warm

So, nothing special is going on, I just thought I'd post more pictures of our cute baby. I figure if I post often enough you will all feel like you see her practically every day, even though we don't live close to any family.

Ellie heard the plastic wrap and dove for it. I don't know why she loves everything that she isn't supposed to have. I was thinking if I just put plastic bags around the house it would encourage her to crawl. There are two problems with this: 1. It's not actually safe to let your kids play with plastic. 2. I am still enjoying not having to worry about a mobile baby.

She just can't get enough of playing the piano.

And this was just for my own fun.