Off And Running

Bruges was the last place we visited in Belgium. I still have pictures of the return trip and some others I wanted to post, but for now I am taking a break from pictures of our trip (which is beginning already to seem like so very long ago) :( to post something about Frazier. It is, afterall, his birthday week!

He's been walking now for a month or so and I can't believe I haven't posted a video. It's hard to believe he's walking...it makes him seem so much more like a little boy.

Here, at long last, is a video:

(as a side note- this particular day he was super excited about everything. I mean, he's usually pretty pleasant and enjoyable, but that day? He was just beside himself happy. About anything. All our days are good ones, but that one was exceptional.)

In Bruges

(And yes, we totally watched the movie before we went.)

This is what you look like when you get stuck pushing the stroller with two broken paraplus:

And this is what you look like when you're nursing at an open air cafe and it starts to rain (and everyone can run for cover but you):

My Mom took this picture of Bruges by night...how postcardesque is that?

Amsterdam and the North Sea

Correction: The castle and canal pictures from my Germany post? Not taken in Trier...those are from Ghent. My bad. That was bound to happen, I suppose. I mean, I have a bajillion pictures.

And speaking of which- here are some more! These are from the first half of our last trip- Amsterdam:

...And the North Sea. Who'd have thought this would be the first beach Frazier saw?

Fourth of July

Our Fourth of July long weekend didn't turn out quite as we'd planned or I'd have already gotten the blogpost done. Josh had a four day weekend, and though we couldn't go far since he was on call for work, we had a nice long weekend planned for close to home. Sunday, we met Mae Mae and Pop and Josh's parents in Jefferson at my parents'old house for lunch. Then we spent the afternoon visiting and walking around downtown followed by an evening at the park downtown where they have a gazebo surrounded by white chairs and American flags and tents where they sell homemade ice cream, hotdogs, lemonade and snowcones for $1 each. At 9:30 we went back and watched a pretty impressive fireworks show. Frazier did great during the fireworks, by the way...he wasn't scared on bit! I tried to cover his ears, but after awhile he didn't even want me to- I couldn't believe it!

The last time we were in Jefferson for the fourth was two years ago. And, random trivia: I wore the same outfit. One could never say of me that I am not loyal to favorite outfits.

Anyway, it's all very picturesque (Jefferson- not my outfit) and sort of feels like the way the fourth should be. And really, the fourth itself was a very good day. The whole trip to Jefferson was lovely. We drove over right after church listening all the way to my the Wee Sing America album. It was my favorite when I was little and while I still have the songbook (all tattered and taped up from so much use),

I'd long since lost the cassette that went with it...thank you iTunes!

Anyway, we got to spend time with family- and eat lots of good food and we spent the night there so it was like a little vacation...

But then Monday Josh woke up sick and thus began a terrible three day bout with what the doctor determined today was probably food poisoning. Pretty much ruined the rest of our long weekend and then some. Thank God, neither Frazier nor I were sick at all. We quarantined Josh in the bedroom on the chance he was contagious. He's still not up to par, but is feeling better. Plus he has an anti-biotic so I think he's on the mend.

So...this explains my overdue blogspot on the fourth. And speaking of overdue...this day one year ago was Frazier's due date! And what happened today one year ago? Nothing.

Germany

In addition to Monschau, we visited two other places in Germany...

Trier

We dined right there to the right of the canal:We toured this castle-

...perhaps most exciting, visited multiple sites with Roman ruins......and took a ride on the canal:Cologne

Yes, this is the Cologne that cologne was named after. Here's the info about that. I got a little bottle of the original Cologne cologne...and it is quite lovely.

But the main attraction there is this magnificent cathedral. My pictures don't do it justice; it's absolutely unbelievable. You can read more here.

This is a bridge covered with locks. The tradition is for couples to bring a lock, put it on the bridge, and throw the keys into the river. I wished we'd brought one.Fountains were a big draw for Frazier wherever we went.And here's the Chocolate Museum!There were some Roman ruins here, too; they were underneath the City Hall!