Bikes and Baseball

Ryan wanted the training wheels off his old bike this morning...I was a little nervous but he was pretty confident he could do it. He hopped right on and went down the street!He is now wearing his helmet so no need to worry but I just really didn't expect that I would be able to let go so quickly.

Dylan lost another tooth on Saturday and was able to cash in on 2 teeth since he was still holding on to one he lost in Ohio. He is busy riding around like a pro on his bike and playing baseball.

In Bruges

Gabe asked me where I wanted to go next. I told him, Bruges, Belgium. He went on a mission and soon enough we had a hotel room booked and he took a day of leave from work. Bruges is about 4 hours from Ramstein AB so we left in the morning on Saturday to maximize our time. We planned to stay 2 nights. We made one stop at Spangdahlem AB to gas up mid-way. We arrived at our hotel and I have to say...Gabe did a fantastic job picking this place out. It's called the Best Western Premiere Hotel Navarra. It's a charming family-run four-star hotel enjoying a prime location in the heart of the historical city center of Bruges, only 100 meters away from the main square (with its famous Belfry tower), all major attractions and shopping streets. The hotel has a long history and is now considered an historical landmark. Hotel Navarra

We soon headed to the main square and hit up a place for some mussels. Dylan would have cleaned the bowl himself had we let him.

The Belfry Tower was built around 1240 AD and stands in the center of Bruges. You can see it from anywhere in the city. We did not get a chance to climb the 366 stairs to the top...maybe next time?
We went into one of the MANY chocolate shops and watched the chocolatiers make chocolate creations. Yes, the chocolate is amazing!

The next day we drove 20 minutes to the coastal city of Oostende. The weather was beautiful but it was a bit windy so we wore our sweatshirts while on the beach. The boys really enjoyed playing in the sand. We also rented a bike that seats four and rode up and down the "boardwalk".

We went back to Bruges and Dylan and I went on a canal ride while Ryan and Gabe took a nap and swam in the hotel pool. BTW, they call Bruges "The Venice of the North".

Gabe and I hired a babysitter who works for the hotel to watch the boys while we went out for a couple of hours. We went to dinner at a place called "Tom's Diner"  that had rave reviews online. The locals claim it to be one of their favorites. They were right! The food was amazing. It's a few streets from the main square and it's inside what looks like an old house. One cook and one waiter/bartender...that's it. There were only about 12 small tables and all but one was reserved...lucky us :-) We ended up next to a few Americans who kept us laughing! We ended the night with some ice cream and strawberry crepes....perfect ending, I'd say...

Last but not least...if you travel in Europe be sure to bring your own bottled water with you. Water is not a given in many restaurants and often they charge you 3 Euro ($4.50) for a small glass bottle of Evian. Here is an example of what I got when I ordered 2 waters in our hotel bar...