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!