And Back To Brussels ~ Almost Home

After a week in Paris we drove back to Brussels to catch our flight home. Along the way we stopped off to check out this really cool road that is on the Race of Flanders bike course - we also stopped off in a little town to check out a bike museum Matt was dying to see - not only was it nap time (so two of us waited in the car) but the museum was closed, sorry Matt!

The hotel that Matt booked said it was at the airport - what we didn't expect was literally it was at the airport. We had a nice quiet evening to pack everything up and get some sleep before adventure into another 12 hour flight with a toddler. Here's a funny shot of all our bags (and kid) packed up on the airport carts in the hotel lobby (Dylan loved it).

After checking out we crossed the passenger unload area right into the airport - this picture is standing in the hotel doorway. It was soooo easy. When we got to the ticket counter there wasn't a soul around - I was a little worried that our flight was canceled but nope, just no one around. Very strange.


Here's a funny video Matt shot of Dylan's newest favorite thing to do - her dad showed her this one and she had tons of fun. You can only guess what we did every lay over we had - luckily we didn't have many. And the flight, for those wondering went just fine - of course it did when you have Curious George playing on DVD (for another 10 hours) :)>.





Awe back home! Good to be home after being on the road for a month (a long weekend in Bend, Or then out of the country for 3 1/2 weeks). It was the first trip I was actually a little glad to be heading home. Someone asked me if Dylan got a lot of presents for Christmas - I said she got a lot of experiences AND best of all she was so happy to see all her toys they were as good as getting tons of presents. The only problem about coming home was dealing with the jet lag alllll over again - at least this time we were a little more prepared for it! AND the best part about coming home seeing our 'puppy' (aka Maggie)!

Europe 101 With A Toddler - Brussels

Our first stop on the European Holiday tour was Brussels. Here we are trying to walk off our jet lag and stay awake - it was hard let me tell you! But we were all very excited to be in Europe.


After walking around we got a little cold and hungry so we ducked into a little pub - best thing about Europe is that there are no enforced age restrictions in pubs. "Cheers" (one of Dylan's favorite things), we're in Europe!

Don't worry Dylan's only drinking water!

After a few rounds of 'cheers' we had a little sleepy d on our hands. Bottoms up on those beers and we're out as quick as we came in.


Here's a little family time fun photo.

Auntie Beans and Miss d hanging out at our B&B.

A view out our window.

I'm sorry to say that we didn't get many pictures in Brussels as it was a bit of a blur. We stayed for a few days to get our bearings before picking up our rental car and heading off to Berlin.

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!