The Good Life

Life is going by so fast. I believe it when they say time flies when you are having fun. So many adventures, so little time.
Lainey had her First Communion last month. She is such a big girl now! She was extra lucky because her Grandparents came all the way from California to be there for this event. I do not know if it is a big deal in other cultures, but here in Belgium it is pretty big. Which is just common language for saying it will cost the parent a lot of money. The clothes cost as much as mini wedding dresses, the party after is almost always done at a restaurant with a 5 course meal. After the church ceremony we got to the restaurant at 1pm and didn't leave until 8:30pm! Yes, good times. We were lucky the weather was gorgeous and the kids all played outside in between meals the whole day.

We were talking about cultural differences, so I have to talk about this interesting tradition. In Belgium, when you have your first communion party, the desert is always an "ice cream lamb". This vanilla ice cream sculpture represents the sacrificing of the Lamb Of God. Here comes the gruesome part (which I never ever gave a second thought until moving to the US and having my own kids. The child gets a big knife and with all the guests watching has to behead the lam, followed by a nice raspberry cream sauce flowing from the lams neck.... WHAT THE??? I can laugh about it now, because I know first hand the all the kids know this and even look forward to doing this without any kind of trauma being instilled, but I still feel strange describing our culturally accepted act out loud. You had to be there, yeeaah alrighty then, moving on..

It was really nice having Will's parents here in Belgium. They actually were here for three weeks and spend about a week visiting both Rome, Italy and Barcelona, Spain. They also where able to be here when the girls performed in their dance shows. The kids took a Flamenco Spanish dance class this year (keeping up with their Spanish roots). So cute! they looked like real grown up Spanish dancers.
We had fun just hanging out with them like we used to when we lived in Tracy. Except this time I think they were happy to go visit the other countries just to get away from my vegetarian cooking :-). Want to know what Will's dad's first meal in Barcelona was? Not tapas, no paella, not even a Spanish tortilla, but........Burger King!!!! I don't understand, what is wrong with my Tofu filled eggplant?? :-)

Speaking of eggplant, I went to Montreux, Switzerland for my four day final for my health coaching course. It was so beautiful there! My hotel overlooked the breathtaking lake of Geneva with the Swiss mountains in the background. I went running there and the air you breath there will make you run twice as long! The four days were great, meeting many new friends and learning a lot! Of course I passed and am now a "Health and Vitality Coach". I even have my first client already. I am still learning and some time in the future you will get my health blog as well.

Super excited to pack our suitcases because we are leaving to California in two days!! Get ready America, here we come!

Little child of mine say what?

Lainey asked: "how come when couples kiss on TV they look like they are eating a big piece of pizza??

Chloe would not eat her salmon so I told her it was important to eat her fish because it has a lot of good fatty acids. She replied: "then for sure I don't want to eat it because I don't want to get a fatty ass!


BIG husband of mine say what?

Quick background: Will is good at ANY sport, no matter what we do he will be better no matter what. We are taking tennis lessons and after five lessons they ask Mr Will to be on the tennis team... whatever

Lesley: "I am glad you are doing good, but it sucks that I am never as good in any sports as you.
Will: "why would that matter?"
Lesley: "well, it is nice to have you look up to me for a change.
Will: "Well, I can understand that, but you have to look at it differently. Take Michael Jordan compared to the Special Olympics. Even though they will never be better then him, he too looks up to them just in a different way!"
..............silence......................................
Lesley: "You did not just compare me to the special Olympics"

Until the next time,