Christmas in Brugge

Awe Brugge, what a beautiful city and the perfect place to spend Christmas. It was our second week in Europe and we all seemed to be finally sleeping through the night. We arrived in Brugge to find the apartment we had reserved ahead of time was a scam (a long story I wont get into) so we scrambled to find a really sweet Bed and Breakfast just outside of town (the town was booked up due to it being Christmas). Our hosts were amazing and the place was great, the even had chickens!


Matt was off to start his filming project for the cyclocross camp so it was just us girls to explore Brugge. After a fabulous breakfast we bundled up and headed off for a day of exploring. Always an adventure in a different place - buses, food, getting around, money - but we did it! By day two we had the town down! And by day three all of us girls caught colds!

As you can see here it was still very cold! The trick was to keep moving!



On Christmas day everything was closed and Matt was off to work again. Jill, Dylan, and I found an ice exhibit that was open so we headed out to go check it out.




On one of our walks around town Dylan came across a poster in which apparently she fell in love with...

Next thing we knew she was kissing this guy! Don't tell her dad!

In the center of town there was an ice skating rink set up. Dylan loved watching everyone ice skate.



Here we are waiting for the bus.

Brugge at night. It was all decorate for the holidays. So pretty.



And this is what Matt was up to during the days. He'd leave really early in the morning and not come home until late at night. He was in his cyclocross glory as it's really a huge deal over in Europe. Thousands of spectators, lots of bikes, beer, and some funny stories.


Auntie Beans was with us for the first two weeks of our trip. It was great having her along! Most of it felt like a blur between Dylan being up all night and then catching colds. She was a trooper and a great sport (even though I knew she was freezing her booty off). We had some great laughs and it was just nice, as always, to get to spend time with her!

Here's a picture of Dylan and I off on our own, as Auntie Beans just left to head back to Seattle and Matt was still working. We ventured into town to do a little shopping and watch the horse and buggies.


Miss D checking herself out in the mirror. She was making very funny faces at the girl in the mirror (which just happened to be herself).


Here's our B&B hostess, Els, and her daughter, Clara. They just loved Dylan and asked several times if Dylan could stay. They were fabulous and took very good care of us during our stay - even did our laundry!

We were in Brugge for 8 days. It was a great city, we liked it very much. It would be really fun to go back in warmer weather and ride our bikes as it was a huge biking city and very easy to get around.

Here's a video of Dylan watching the horse and Buggies go by. Oh she loved watching them - she'd yell and scream, clap her hands, stomp her feet, and yell more more every time they'd go by! She looked like one of those windup clapping dancing monkeys. Ha!

Europe 101 With A Toddler - First Stop Getting There

Awe, the Holidays in Europe! What could be more fun? The snow, being in foreign countries, being with family, the food, the beer, and traveling! We didn't really know what to expect traveling with a toddler and we found out. I do have to say that miss d is a fabulous traveler, as she's been on several trips, I could NOT imagine do this kind of trip with a not so seasoned traveling toddler. But we sure figured out fast it makes for a whole different kind of trip!


Our friend Jeff Proctor runs a cyclocross camp in Belgium during the holiday's (that's when their racing season is). Matt's been craving going for a few years now so we figured what the heck let's go! We asked Auntie Beans to come join in on the fun. She was quite a trooper and flew in from Hawaii, packed up her winter gear, bundled up and off we headed for a winter European Holiday adventure. As you can see from the picture above it was a little snowy!

Here's the troops in Toronto switching planes. Funny as it looks as though we are traveling so light, which is a joke as anyone that has a little one knows the amount of gear you have to tow around with you! Matt was doing a filming project with the cyclocross camp so we had his gear as well. We really tried to keep things down to a minimum but we still managed to fill up our town car (our ride to the airport) and Auntie Beans had to get a ride with her boyfriend, Daryl. Oh and did I mention that Matt hurt his shoulder while racing in Bend just days before? A little crazy but come on it's us that's how we Clark's roll.

Since Dylan was under 2 she was able to travel for free on our laps for the 12 hour flight. Luckily I took Great Auntie Doris's advise and bought a DVD player which Dylan loved watching 10 straight hours of Curious George. Well hey she was happy as a clam! Dylan actually did really good on both the flight over and back. Here she is sleeping in her momma's arms.

And here's our little monkey on the other side of the world - still smiling!