A Walk in the Woods and Glace in La Roche-en-Ardenne

You don't realize how much you miss real forests until you spend a day in the woods! We found a hike near Outhe down to the Maboge river. The cool river felt good on the warm day! While the boys waded around, the girls found a large rock and sat and played for 15 minutes, telling stories with little pebbles. The sweetest! 

More hiking, less hugging! 

Peace like a river

We drove down the Maboge to have a picnic lunch along the riverside. Too cold for my blood! 

We drove into La Roche-en-Ardenne, a very cute town, for some delicious glace. 

Castle ruins we didn't get a chance to explore

Great views of La Roche driving home

We stopped in Hotton for a grocery store run and playground time. There was a circus set up in town, which was tempting after our last lovely French circus last summer.

I tried to capture the very muscular, Belgian cattle

Dinant and the Domaine Provincial de Chevetogne

A really fun first full day, exploring Dinant and Chevetogne park. I'd seen friends' photos of Dinant, a charming city along the Meuse river, and had to see it for myself. Pete had passed through when the 9th-grade orientation trip was in the Ardennes a few years ago. It is a major tourist spot (for good reason) so masks were required everywhere in the busy town. We didn't make it to the citadel for the sweeping views, but enjoyed our time along the river. Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone is from Dinant and his house is now a small museum. 

Citadel behind the cathedral

Couques de Dinant, a super hard biscuit unique to the town. Sort of a honey flavor. You can't bite into it for fear of breaking a tooth, but have to suck on a small piece. Not really our cup of tea (though maybe better dipped in tea?!)

After lunch we drove to Domaine Provincial de Chevetogne. It was recommended by a sweet local girl who was working at the Houtopia museum. It reminded me of a very nice state park in the states. You paid an entrance fee and had access to the 14 playgrounds, canoes, trails, swimming pools, castle, and a lot more. We barely scratched the surface and would definitely recommend this spot. 

We found our way to a big water play playground at the end of a lake. The kids had a blast and it took some convincing for them to leave to go to the pretty cafe over the lake. Love a spot where kids can get popsicles and adults can get local Belgian craft beer! 

We gave the canoes a go and they were a big hit! The kids wanted to take turns paddling so I kicked back and enjoyed the scenery. 

One final playground, a really cool mining setup complete with gold rocks everywhere (about 20 of which are now in Maeve's treasure chest in her room). 

Nathan grilled dinner back at the campsite and then we staked our claim on the communal campfire pit. A Belgian mother and daughter joined us and we think we won them over with smores and our "entertaining" children. Our kids loved playing with the teenage daughter and she became our de facto babysitter for the trip! 

It was hard for the kids to wait for the coals to be ready for roasting marshmallows so Sara came up with the idea that they put on a talent show for us and Nathan helped them execute it. I'm not sure what talents were on display, but it was entertaining nonetheless! 

Planning

Performing

Bravo! 

Summer happiness right there! 

Camping Trip in the Ardennes, Belgium with the Gilbert/Pfannls

Our last trip of the summer was a 4-night camping trip in the Ardennes in Belgium at the end of July with Sara, Nathan, Julian, and Lucia, another ISA teacher family. We brought our camping gear over last Christmas, but had yet to use it! I was so excited to introduce the kids to camping and they really loved it.

Fearful of Saturday traffic in the direction of Belgium/France, we were on the road by 6:30 am and made it in just over 3 hours to a little village, Houffalize recommended by Pete's friend. There was a kid museum with an awesome outdoor play area that you see as you drive down into the town. We were there before opening time, so Pete hit up the boulangerie (the Ardennes is in the French part of Belgium) for some provisions.

The interior of the museum, Houtopia, was all about exploring the senses and very well done.

This was way harder than it looked. Pete trying to do it was hilarious! 

This intimidating slide was disappointingly slow! 

Then we drove and met Sara and Nathan at the campsite they found through Campspace. It was in the large garden of a B&B. The owners informed us that there would be a concert in the garden that afternoon for their friends. It was basically karaoke for hours. Some good hits in there, but by 8pm we were ready for them to do their encore and be done with it! The kids loved the tent setups and also exploring the little wooded area by our site. There were hiking trails near the property so we got in a nice walk before dinner to escape the noise for a bit. We made it to the ancient Oppagne megaliths in the middle of a wheat (?) field before turning around.

Blackberries proved to be an excellent hiking motivator on this trip and thankfully they were in abundance. When little legs got too tired to carry on, we'd point out the next bush up ahead and those "tired" legs would run to find some more. 

Getting the excited kids settled with the karaoke party going on proved challenging. Thankfully the other nights were far calmer!