Mom Arrives

Pat is in Belgium! My mom has arrived for a 6 week visit. She did not let a little thing like the entire Brussels airport being shut down stop her! The air traffic controllers just up and walked out in the middle of the day for a 24 hour strike. My mom was in Chicago waiting for her connecting flight and was delayed. Luckily she was not in-route, because all those people had to land in other countries. Unions are very powerful here and take lots of opportunities to show it. We have since heard that it was all because two people were transferred to another airport in Belgium. The country is only the size of Maryland - so could it really be that bad?

Back to my mom, the kisses were non-stop from two of her biggest fans! Her arrival happened to come at the same time Hugh had to go back to the US for work, so she jumped right in and started navigating Belgium to help get my kids where they needed to go. She knows the tram system better than I do now. We took her to a few places we had already been. With one extra person, we were able to experience some things that seemed too much with the kids. We took a boat ride in the canal at Brugge. See the picture - kids could just jump out! In another post, I mentioned how child proofing/personal safety was not the same here. Case in point: see the picture of the swing made of nails that was displayed as functional art in a town we visited. There were many types of swings, all there to be used. The whole equal pressure thing means that you can sit on it, but still!

We also went to Family Day at my work (yes, I am working here!). Face painting is a universal crowd pleaser! Speaking of paintings, we have even seen a few of those now. However, three adults does not even seem to be enough to guarantee success with Brenna. Antwerp was home to the famous painter Ruben. We visited his house. Brenna set off an alarm and had to be carried out while she was having a tantrum. We will now take turns for museums. BIG lesson learned.