the byars' european vacation!

it is almost august, and that means that school is almost here again. i am not quite ready for it, so follow me as i reminisce about our latest summer travels.

mr. tired

say hello to a very tired boy, who actually slept very little on the flights to and from the u.s. to brussels. the flight there was much better than the flight back.

we did get the bulkhead seat, but the arm rests do not raise up, so we were trying to squish him into a seat.

and what else can i say, except that he sweats like his father. poor thing.

mr. hungry

here we are in the adorable city of brugge eating lunch. liam is an all table food boy now, so in europe he ate a lot of bread. there was always some on the table.

great works of art

michelangelo's "madonna and child" is in brugge. it is one of the few michelangelo pieces outside of italy.

see ya later oma and liam

mema, grandad, matt, and i went on a canal tour of brugge, so oma took liam on a walk and put him to sleep. brugge is called the venice of belgium.

a.d.d. opa and fussy liam

we went out to a really nice place for our birthday dinners. meal time in europe is different from here in the states. it is not simply a half-hour to an hour affair, it is closer to to two- to two-and-a-half hours long. needless to say, liam gets antsy and fussy. in comes opa who can't sit still, so they take a break and take a stroll before dessert!

big boy in his in own seat

liam is now a big boy and wants to sit in his own chair whenever possible. the train system in europe is great, because it makes this possible. oma kept a close eye on him as we head to antwerp to shop and go to the zoo.

tiger, tiger at the zoo

liam really loved the zoo and really seemed to be looking at the animals. they had little windows at the exhibits for stroller kids to look through.

all the animals were out and active, the weather was nice but not too warm, and it didn't seem overly crowded! it was the perfect day for the zoo.

what is a vacation without shopping?!

i love to shop, especially in europe. the clothes are fun and funky, and their shopping streets are so pretty. they don't just tear down and rebuild, they work with the existing facades and architecture. it makes it not only fun to shop but beautiful to look at.

brussels city square

we went out for dinner and a walk in brussels and in the square. there is almost too much to look at sometimes. it is such a nice relaxing atmosphere. that is until your 15 month-old starts to screech (in happiness mind you) at the top of his lungs!

chocolate chip muffin - healthy breakfast

liam needs his nourishment and strength as we head to disneyland paris!

sleeping beauty's castle

let the fun begin! the weather was great the first two days, the lines weren't bad, and we all had a great time. it was so much better than we imagined. being disneyland paris, and having heard some not great things about it, we were not sure what to expect. we loved it! the rides were great and the people were nice. it is small, but going with a little one, that was a good thing.

liam loved most of the rides that he rode, but i think that "it's a small world" was his favorite ride. we rode it twice. at the studio park he loved the show "animagique". it was disney characters singing and dancing under black light and, again, we had to go twice.

we are so blessed to be able to do all the things that we do, to have the oma and opa that we do, so thank you oma and opa for a great trip.

it has been a great summer filled with travel and fun. for more pictures of all of our travels check out my flickr site - http://www.flickr.com/photos/hbyars/ or check out my mom's -http://www.flickr.com/photos/bydeedeebundy/

i hope everyone had a safe and happy summer, and i hope that we all have a great school year!!