Gideon and Heather's Visit

This past week, Cole's brother, Gideon, and his girlfriend, Heather came to visit us. They weren't able to come when the rest of Cole's family came, so they decided to squeeze in a visit before school started again for the year. Unfortunately, I don't have many picture from the beginning of the trip, but here is a little rundown of their time here.

Sunday: Heather arrived late Sunday morning. At Cameron's request, the boys took the tram to the train station to pick her up. She had spent the prior week in France with her dad, so she was one of the only guests we've had so far that wasn't completely jet lagged when we picked them up. We relaxed on Sunday during the day and then went to church in the evening.

Monday: Monday, we had a mellow morning and waited for Gideon to arrive. I helped Heather make a plan to get Gideon from the train station and like a local, she took the tram to the train station, picked up Gideon, and they both took the tram back to our place. We had dinner on the patio and relaxed until Gideon (well all of us really) crashed.

Tuesday: Gideon and Heather spent a chunk of the day exploring Gent on their own. They explored some of the churches, the castle, and of course, enjoyed a Belgian waffle!

Belgian waffles!!

That night, while we had our weekly Dutch lesson, Gideon and Heather took Cameron to the park and of course, got some gelato at Nonno.

Wednesday-Friday: Gideon and Heather decided to take a trip to Paris while they were here. They left around lunch time on Wednesday and spent two days there. They arrived back on Friday evening.

As a side note, Cole also left on Wednesday for London, so we went from a full house, to just the boys and me for a couple days.

Saturday: Gideon and Heather again went out and explored Gent during the day, including visiting one of my favorite chocolate shops here. Thanks to a sweet neighbor, we were able to go out to dinner on Saturday night, just the four of us. We went to De Witte Leeuw (The White Lion). It was nice to have a evening out and enjoy ourselves without having to worry about entertaining the little ones.

I had to take some pictures of the food we ordered. It was delicious!!

Cheese croquettes

Flemish Beef Stew

Goat Cheese Salad

Of course we got dessert. Everyone opted for a huge waffle except for me. I ordered the apple pie and it was delicious!

After dinner, we went to Dulle Griet so Gideon and Heather could try some Belgian beer. 

Sunday: Heather had to leave early Sunday morning to get back to start school at 8:00 am on Monday, so Gideon and Cole got up early to take her to the train station. I can't believe she left on Sunday and started college classes on Monday morning! Gideon checked in with her during the day and she seemed to be doing fine! 

In the afternoon, Cole and Gideon went on a nice long bike ride. One of Cole's co-workers had recommended a local bike shop that rents road bikes and Gideon brought all his gear, so they headed out toward Antwerp and had a great time...especially when they ran into an actual bike race.  

We went to church Sunday night and were able to introduce Gideon to many of our friends here. Because we are not able to comfortably fit in our car with all of us, we took a tram to church, to Cameron's delight!

Waiting for the tram

Monday: Gideon and I took the boys to Rozebroeken to swim. They had a great time swimming with uncle Gid!

Tuesday: Gideon did a little last minute exploring and purchasing during the day. He also spent some time having his feet measured by Cameron!

Tuesday night, we walked to a cute little pizza place called Eat Love.

Chasing pigeons

Playing peek-a-boo

Eat Love is a really cool little place and the food was great! The pizza was completely gone before I could take a picture. Most of the ingredients are local and organic...I saw the chef pulling fresh basil off a plant by the pizza oven! Now that's fresh!

After dinner, we went to get one last waffle before Gideon had to leave.

Cameron loved the giant waffle outside!

Wednesday: Gideon had to leave on Wednesday to head home. Cole took him to the train station in the morning to head to Brussels to catch his 12pm plane. Unfortunately, Gideon got on the wrong train and was heading to Brugge (the complete opposite direction) instead of Brussels!! There was a kind lady on the train who let Gideon use her phone to call us to make a game plan. Long story short, I had to go get him from the train station and take him to the airport in Brussels.  It's only 67 km (41.6 miles) from Gent to the airport in Brussels and without traffic, the drive would take you 40 minutes max.  However, the traffic around Brussels in the morning is terrible and the drive can take two hours. Also, the check-in counter closed 40 minutes before departure because it was an international flight. So, as were leaving Gent at 10am, no one felt good about his chances of making the flight. Thankfully, we got there in time and he arrived at the gate five minutes before boarding!

It was nice to see Gideon and Heather and show them our home here in Belgium. We didn't really know Heather very well before this trip, so it was great to get to know her better as well. Next visitor in a few days...my brother Clinton!