Luxembourg

I was able to take the train to Luxembourg two weeks ago and had a blast exploring the city. This first picture is taken from the bridge to get to the center of the city.

And this is looking from the city center.

There were a couple of churches in the city center and we enjoyed going in some of them. This one was one of my favorites.

You can see that church in the background of this picture.

This is just a couple pictures of Luxembourg. My camera ran out of batteries, but fortunately, my friend had her camera too. So look for more pictures later - especially of the caves!. I really enjoyed the day we spent in Luxembourg - it was a great city to explore.

Four New Sisters

Here you can see my four new sisters. I live with an American family outside of Brussels and commute into the city everyday. This family has four very fun and adorable little girls. Carrie (8), Sydney (6), and Lauren (3) are all big helpers with Rachel (1 1/2), who loves to laugh and play with her sisters.


This is the view out of my bedroom - there is a large field and then forest. The girls love to play outside when it is not raining...and often wish they could play outside while it is raining.

Coming home from work is great because Lauren and Rachel both give me a hug. I have a blast playing games, reading books, or just hanging out with the girls. A huge thank you to the Scherbels for letting me live with them and have four new little sisters.

Duarte High Wins State Acadeca

Evan and his high school Academic Decathlon team went to the state finals this past weekend. To get there, they had to beat out 55 other teams in LA County. . .huge schools with 3000 and 4000 students, like Beverly Hills High School, Arcadia, San Marino, La Canada Flintridge, Glendora, etc. Duarte has only 1200 students. They are pictured in front of the state capitol in Sacramento. Whatever team wins the state championship in California almost always takes the Nationals because of the high competitive level in California.

Pictured here is the Super Quiz competition in the Memorial Auditorium.

Out of the 54 teams from the different counties in California, Duarte placed 1st for medium sized schools (1000 to 2500 students). They will be competing in Nationals for medium sized schools. . .not bad for a school that has always been known for their athletic teams and not their academics prowess.

Great Grandma's 80th!

On March 3rd Georgine Finlay celebrated her 80th birthday. We drove down to Ohio after getting back from out West to visit and help with a little bit of a surprise. Margaret, Brad, Megan and Gavin all flew out from California without Georgine's knowledge, as did the Atlanta Finlays. It was the surprise of a life when they walked in the room totally unannounced.



For her birthday we went out to eat at Lannings (Georgine's favorite restaurant) on Saturday with the whole gang. The great grand kids we a little more interested in eating the menus than looking at all the yummy choices.



The food was delicious and the company was even better. We all laughed and ate too much. The porterhouse steak was especially good. Megan's favorite part was the peanut butter cup pie.



Gavin and Brielle had fun at the coffee table in the front room of the house. They "talked" and provided much of the entertainment. While looking at some old slides that night we found a picture of Megan Warnick playing at that exact coffee table over 27 years ago. Things have really come full circle!



After spending a few days in Ohio we packed up to come home to Michigan. We were lucky enough to have Megan and Gavin come with us. It was their first time to our home and a new state for Gavin. It was so fun to watch Brielle and Gavin play with one another. They enjoyed a stroller ride to the dairy store up the street and many baths together.

Megan came all the way from California to help us redecorate our bathroom. She did a marvelous job. It was fun for me to come home each day after school and find the bathroom with a new paint job, new light fixtures, new hardware and a new mirror. Makes me want to spend more time getting ready in the morning!

"New" Pics of Roots

These pictures of Brielle were taken in early January so they are already 2 months old! I have to do a better job of getting these up for people to see in a more timely fashion. Enjoy!

Pablo's Ranch in Metapan, El Salvador

Pictured here is Pablo's ranch that we stayed at for 3 days, when we presented the city of Metapan with the ambulance.

When we first arrived, Pablo had one of his workers cut some of the coconuts grown on the ranch open for us and we enjoyed really fresh coconut milk.

Gloria, the cook at the ranch, taught all of us how to make homemade tortillas. They were delicious with the black beans.

Pablo's son, Jeffrey, took Evan out horseback riding on the ranch.

Some Sites in Brussels

On Saturdays (after I study for the LSAT for a couple of hours) I go into Brussels do explore some. This first picture is of the Arc Cinquantenaire (which I have the most difficult time pronouncing). It is on a main street in Brussels and can be seen from a distance. It also has quite a nice park attached to it. I was able to go up in it and have a great view of the city. I took the stairs up and the elevator down - this sounds backwards, but I figured a good idea with all the yummy things I have been eating.

Here are two pictures of the Grand Place. It really is quite a spectacular square with such amazing architecture.


This is probably my favorite church in Brussels. I have been in quite a few now (I love visiting old churches). I hope to be able to go to a concert in it.


This is the Galeries Royales St. Hubert, which is basically a really nice place for shopping. There are a variety of shops, including lace, chocolate, clothing, and book shops.

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.