Thursday, July 30, 2009

Travel, visits, odd and ends

Yes-it has been a while but you are about to see why- I have been off working, traveling, visiting friends and family and all in all just living the crazy life I tend to live!
So first summer stop was Club Malibu- YoungLife's camp in British Columbia, Canada. It was awesome and here are a few pics of our head leader team. The first is us all smooshed into the "info booth." This is the place where at least one of us had to be for many hours each night in order to keep campers in camp- fun times!! The next is our version of the "family portrait" awkward style:)


After camp it was off the Seattle for a few days. My family was in Chicago for a family reunion so I needed to kill a few days til someone was in PA to pick me up from the airport. I got to hang out with Hannah-who was the hostess with the mostess and can get you around seattle like nobodies business!! Here are pics to prove I was there-first the space needle and then Julio, Hannah and I at Gasworks-cool story- when we had been in town earlier we had seen these people running with amazing race envelopes. And we were like- how cool they must be doing a local amazing race. So then we were out by gasworks later and right after we took this pic of us this team comes running towards us with the same envelopes but they had a different colored bandanas. And they were finishing the race-so we cheered them on!! and then talked to them of course. It was a church group and they had been doing it for like 5 days- all over the seattle area-and we were at the finish-pretty cool!

And what would summer be without a trip to the Shore?!!! So off we went at 6am on the 4th of July for a week of fun at the shore. The sisters got hardcore when the firemen gave us plastic hats-no one's messin' with us!

Here we are waiting outside Luigi's.

And some of us before the fireworks on the beach.

After I got back to Belgium my friend Matt came for a visit and we went off to Ireland to visit our friend Emma- here we are in Northern Ireland-rainy just the way it should be in Ireland!

Here are Matt and I at Giant's Causeway- Emma even told us the Irish tale of how it was created by the Giant Finn McCool! I mean how much better can you get-hearing the tale from an Irish lady, in an Irish accent, at the actual Causeway!

And then some of the reasons why it's great to be in Brussels in the summer. Were were sitting in Leuven and these "trash" costumes started walking around. And they would do crazy things. Like here they are standing in front of this truck so he can not get by. They then proceded to lie down in front of the truck and he ended up backing up and going the other way. Then they would walk up to people and lean on them while they walked and not let them go. One lady sat down and the soda can continued to lean over her shoulder. I don't know if they said anything but they were surely entertaining to those of us whom they weren't bothering! The one I didn't get a picture of was the cigarette butt!

Matt and I were out for a walk one night and we saw this coming down the path. A guy on a bicycle with a sofa hitched on the back and a guy sitting on the sofa. They were not out for a joy ride- but were moving furniture instead- it looked like hard work!(for the guy pedaling at least!)

The first video is from the Brussels Jazz Marathon. This was the stage on the Grand Place. I was sitting there and this lady was getting set up when a fairly drunk guy asked her to sing Amazing Grace and she sang a few bars- who'd have thought- in europe?!

This ones from National day in Brussels- I was with a bunch of friends and we got pitas and were sitting on the Grand Place near these (Again) pretty drunk people when this bagpiper man came by and they asked him to play. Well of course a crowd gathered and we ended up in the middle of them!

This is in Leuven- Matt and I were sitting at a cafe having a tea-you just never know what you're going to get in Belgium!