Disney Magic! Days 1 and 2

Ok, well we have been home from our Disney Trip for over a month now, so it's high time I blog about it!  Plus, even though we haven't traveled in March, we have done a LOT locally, so I want to make sure I cover it all!

I had asked the girls their opinions on an itinerary and neither one had any preference.  We were locked into going to Magic Kingdom on Tuesday and EPCOT on Wednesday due to some dining reservations.  Also, in my opinion, there isn't much to do at either the Hollywood Studios or at the Animal Kingdom, so I decided since no one had any objections we would skip both of those.  We would alternate days at the other two parks, so Monday was EPCOT, Tuesday was Magic Kingdom, Wednesday was EPCOT, and Thursday was back to Magic Kingdom.

Day 1: EPCOT

We ate breakfast in the hotel room and then departed.  This worked out great, we arrived pretty much when the park opened--we got such close parking we didn't need to get on a tram from the parking lot.  I told Ine we would first see the giant golf ball, and she had no idea what I was talking about, but as soon as she saw it, she said, "Oh yeah!  It does look like that!"

Now unfortunately for me, my camera battery didn't charge the night before, or somehow got drained, so we made Ine the official photographer of the day with her beautiful camera, but she announced she didn't want to take too many pictures, so I had to rely on my phone.  I admire her willingness to be in an experience versus photographing it.  Sometimes I think I miss out on things because I'm too busy taking pictures of them happening versus participating in them.

After we grabbed some day time photos of the golf ball, we decided it would be our first ride of the day, and I think it was a great choice.  The ride is called "Spaceship Earth" and it is all about the history of communications in the world.  You ride in a little cart, two to a seat, so Leah and Ine rode in one, and I was told (by Leah) to sit behind them.  She felt like a big deal sitting with her big sister.  "Let's do it again!" quickly rang in our ears, so we rode it twice, before moving on.

Ine on her first Disney Ride: Spaceship Earth

Afterwards, we went to Mission Space!  This is a space simulation ride.  It simulates as if you are going up in the space shuttle--the force and everything.  There is a lot of warning that you might feel sick or something might happen.  Both girls were nervous so we decided to opt for the tamer of the two simulations, and I think that was the right call.  It was crazy enough that we got to yell, but not so bad we couldn't do what we were supposed to do, which was push buttons and pretend to be the flight crew. 

I can't remember the exact sequence of events for the rest of the day, but here are some highlights:

We found Club Cool.  This is an area that Coke has set up where you can try different sodas from all around the world.  The clear winner was pineapple Fanta from Thailand.  Whenever we got hot or thirsty, we headed back to Club Cool and drank till we were full.

We also enjoyed lunch at the Coral Reef Restaurant outside the Finding Nemo ride.  I gave each girl the option of choosing a restaurant or two for our one fancy meal each day.  This was Ine's EPCOT choice.  The restaurant is built around a coral reef and you can look across the room and see fish swimming by.  Unfortunately, it is a seafood restaurant, and Ine said she couldn't eat fish with all those fish swimming around her, so she ordered chicken.  I found this hilarious. I ate lobster myself.  Heck, when you're at Disney, you should do those kinds of things!

The view from our table

Interestingly, our waiter was from Belgium, although we didn't talk to him about it.  We enjoyed the Finding Nemo ride through the aquarium, and the Tank Talk with Crush, which is kind of a comedy show interactive thing to teach you about sea turtles. 

We also enjoyed a Journey into Imagination which was much better when I was a kid and has now been replaced with an Eric Idle thing that is fine, but not as imaginative or fun as the original.  We enjoyed the little imagination lab afterwards.  We made our own Figments and danced around on magical squares on the floor that played music.

One of the fun things at EPCOT now is that they have an EPCOT Character Encounter Spot, where you can meet Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy.  Before we went to Disney, I gave Ine an autograph book that she could have all the characters sign, and she skipped pages so she could add pictures later.  So it was really great that we could meet so many and get so many autographs for her!

Anyway, the line was only 10 minutes long, which seemed like a great deal, so we hopped on that while we could!  The girls had an awesome time, and we even got a family photo with Mickey Mouse.

The big hit of that particular experience was Goofy.  He is genuinely goofy!  He wrapped his arms around the girls to sign their autograph books.  He also gave great big bear hugs and laughed a lot.

He elicited a lot of giggles from both girls!  Minnie Mouse, of course, was pure class, what a lady!

We weren't able to get into the rides at The Land pavilion that day, as it was just way too crowded.  We had fast passes for our second day, however, so we just decided to be patient and make do! 

Everyone was very helpful, we were able to adjust FastPasses and if we got lost, people were there to give us directions and whatnot, it was just great!  We also happened to run into Chip and Dale!

As the day wore on, we went over to the World Pavillion to check that out.  The World Pavillion is a bunch of little countries set up in a row.  You can visit each country and learn about them, they each have a restaurant where you can try regional foods, and you can get your passport stamped--I bought a passport on the way in.  At the entrance, we found Duffy the Disney Bear, who is apparently Mickey's personal teddy bear and got an autograph and pictures with him as well.

It was getting late already, and we were all getting pretty tired.  We went over to Mexico and rode the Rio del Tiempo ride, I think it's called?  It's a boat ride through Mexican culture and history and is a really lovely ride.  "Let's do it again!" was again requested, so we did it again.  As we left, we happened upon Donald Duck!  So we stopped for photos and autographs with him.

From there, we stopped over at Norway to see the new Frozen ride that replaced the Maelstrom (BOO!), but it was closed for refurbishment, so we decided to head out for the day.  We went back to the hotel, and Leah and Ine decided to go for a swim in the big "flower pool" as Leah called it.  We brought our cups with us to get drinks, and as the sun set and the temperatures cooled off, the swimming came to an end, we got drinks, and went back to our room to eat a quick dinner and sleep.

Day Two: Magic Kingdom

Probably most people equate the Magic Kingdom with DisneyWorld--you see Cinderella's Castle and think of Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World and all that stuff, and you want to be there in the action!  We again arrived pretty early, but we took the tram into the park, even though we could have walked it.  We got through security and the admissions gate and were totally bummed to see a giant crane attached to the castle, which is being refurbished!

Ine was bummed, and I didn't blame her, so was I!  And from conversations I had with other people, so were quite a few visitors.  Since work wasn't being done during the day, it seemed like maybe they could have at least moved the crane away during the day for people to get good pictures, but I guess not.

Anyway, one of the things I was determined to do was to get the girls on Splash Mountain.  Last time Leah and I were at Disney, we weren't able to go on it, as it was closed.  So I thought we should go on it first.  Unfortunately, they both caught sight of the plunge.  Ine spent the entire 10 minutes we walked through line informing me, "I don't want to do this.  I feel as if I am being forced into doing this.  I do not like this." And I was about doubled over laughing.  My attitude was, "We are doing it anyway".  It is a really beautiful ride, the story of Brer Rabbit and company and the American South, and the plunge is only a few seconds out of an otherwise lovely experience.  Of course, when we got on, we got put in the front car of the ride, and Ine was like "NO WAY AM I RIDING IN THE FRONT!" so I let her sit in the back and Leah and I sat in the front.  Then during the entire ride, all I could hear was "Is this it?  I would be ok if I just knew when we are going to drop down.  Is this it?  Is this it?  I just want to know."  And Leah was all scared.  I just shook my head till the pay off, when the Disney Company snapped this lovely picture of all of us on the plunge.  It makes me laugh so hard. You can barely see Leah, who was attempting to crawl into my overalls, and Ine does not look happy.  Even I don't look that thrilled, but I was having a blast!

When we finally got to the end of the thing and got off, Ine said, "I'm glad I did that, it was pretty good."  Leah declared "I am never going on that again!"  I tried to take pictures of them both--Ine was grinning ear to ear, but Leah turned her back on me and refused to smile.  It was absolutely HILARIOUS.

Soaked, but smiling, and proud of herself for bravery!

So right next door was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and we hopped on board that to go for a ride.  This is a pretty tame little roller coaster designed as a runaway train through the mountains.  I snapped a selfie as we took off.  Leah was not happy to be there.

We actually had fun on the railroad, but Leah was officially done at that point, and Ine announced she was absolutely NOT going on Space Mountain, even though she didn't mind the other two.  I was bummed, I wanted to go on it, but I had to respect their feelings.  Still, I asked them at least once an hour if they had changed their minds yet.  The answer was always a mutual NO WAY.

Pirates of the Caribbean was closed for the day, but there were plenty of rides to be enjoyed.  We went to It's a Small World and Ine pointed out the Dutch in the display of languages.  We rode on Winnie the Pooh, went to Mickey's Philharmagic, enjoyed Buzz Lightyear, the People Mover, and more.  It was a very busy day full of rides, but other than that we had a great time, there isn't much to say and we didn't take pictures, just enjoyed them.  In the late morning, the heavens opened, and it began to pour.  Everyone immediately ran and bought Disney ponchos, but my girls and I stayed strong.  I noted that the Carousel of Progress was just beginning a new rotation, so we hopped in there for a 20 minute break from the rain and afterwards had to make an emergency potty run for Leah.  Then it was time for Ine's meal choice at the Magic Kingdom, which was the Crystal Palace.  Again, we dashed through the rain, and headed over.

The Crystal Palace is one of my favorite dining experiences at Disney. It is an all-you-can-eat buffet (which isn't that big a deal for me any more!) and while you are eating, a bunch of characters from Winnie the Pooh come to your table for pictures and autographs.  The girls had a great time with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore, and the food was really delicious!

It was a really lovely time and a nice break from all the moisture and walking around we had been doing as well!

After lunch, we decided to split up.  I put Ine in charge of Leah and I decided to go stand on line for 2 hours to wait to meet Anna and Elsa.  The line for them, at the absolute minimum we saw was 2 hours.I knew there was no way that Leah was going to stand for it, and Ine didn't want to wait either, so I decided I would go stand in line and they could go do some rides.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize I was in the Rapunzel and Cinderella line!  AUGH!  So I wound up begging for mercy on some people in the Anna and Elsa line, and they didn't speak English, so they let me through.  I wound up letting a pile of people ahead of me, texted Ine to tell her to come on and bring Leah quick, and we only waited about an hour instead of 2 to get in and see the most popular and famous princesses Disney has ever created.

I much preferred Anna to Elsa--the woman who is Elsa really was pretty cold, personality wise, while Anna was much more warm, friendly, and spunky.  But Leah dressed as Elsa was in absolute 7th heaven, and it was well worth the stress of being in the wrong line and having to jump lines.

The Haunted Mansion--all tolled, we rode it 4 times over 2 days

Cinderella's Glass Slipper

There is a tribute to Rapunzel set up in Fantasyland, and as it's my favorite Disney movie, I was thrilled to see lanterns from Tangled, as well as her frying pan and Flynn's satchel if you look carefully :-)

Afterwards, we just kept riding rides and we had one final character encounter with Tinkerbell, which was superfun.  In fact, she might be my most favorite character encounter of the trip!  We were at the park till almost 10 o'clock, watched the fireworks, enjoyed Peter Pan after an hour's wait (Disney really needs to do something about that ride, but until then, there is fun to be had in the new interactive portions of the line where your shadow can move around and make pictures for you, you can ring shadowy bells, play with Tinkerbell, and more).  We were all quite tired when we returned to the hotel--I don't think Leah even stayed awake past the park gates and I fell asleep pretty quickly after our return to the hotel.

So those are our first two days at the park.  I thought I'd cram them all into one, but I think it's too much.  This is already a long post.  I'll try to finish up in a day or two about our second visits to each park--it was an absolute blast!

A Quick Trip to B'more and Philly

It has been about a year and a half since we were in Baltimore to visit Leah's birth family, and there is a new baby in the family!  It was high time we reconnected with them.  Additionally, Ine has been struggling with government all year, and I had arranged with her government teacher that if I took her on trips of historical significance to American government and she wrote short papers on her experiences, he would give her extra credit.  The first place I had set in my sights was Philadelphia.  Being that it's so close to Baltimore, a plan was hatched.  It was all cemented when I found out my friend Amy would be in Philadelphia at the same time and I could finally meet her. 

We left Fredericksburg around 9:30 on Friday morning.  I was so excited to see the family.  We brought lunch with us and arrived just as Leah's birth mother, Tasha, returned home from picking up her brother.  Her older daughter ran over to grab Leah and give her a big hug and then we all went inside for a nice visit.

The word was out that Leah had arrived and soon the whole family was there.  Although I have been very fortunate to meet much of the family several times, this was the first time they were almost all there, except for Leah's birth aunt, Mary.  She got to spend time with her birth mother, grandmother, uncles, half sister and new baby half brother.  Although I suppose it should have been Baby Z's day, I felt like Leah was kind of the star of the show.  As you can see, she donned a festive pink hair extension for the occasion.

It was also neat for Ine in that she got to hold and snuggle a baby.  For his part, Baby Z found Ine to be quite comfortable and he snuggled right into her and fell asleep.  It made for a very sweet scene.

Ine said she couldn't remember holding a baby before, but she had good technique and obviously Z was right at home! 

We finally tore ourselves away around 2:00 to head north.  It was a bittersweet goodbye, but I was happy to see everyone, to have them see Leah, and to be able to hand Leah's birthmom her baby back was so moving and special to me.  Ine got to experience some African-American culture and family life too, which I thought was great.

We drove up 95 with no problem and hit Philadelphia around 4:00.  As we were driving up, Amy started texting me directions about where to meet her and her family.  This is an AFS related story.  As host parents, we often think that hosting our student is the way our world will expand.  But little do you know that you will meet numerous other people along the way, and that is just as exciting a part of the journey.  Amy is a case in point.  In 2010, we hosted Penny from Thailand, and I happened upon a Hosting With AFS Facebook group, which I don't think exists anymore.  I really hit it off with several other host moms, including Amy who was also hosting a girl from Thailand that year.  We became Facebook friends, and started our own subgroup of host families from around the country--there were maybe 6 of us.  In 2010, I met up with Leigh, who was hosting a boy from Sweden (I think!?) and in 2011 (I think), I met Katie and Vince from Kansas, who also hosted a Thai student that year, and were also adoptive parents of an African-American little girl. 
But meeting Amy has been elusive.  Till now.  She was going to be in Philly when we were, and although they were there for a family funeral, her husband was cool with us all getting together for a few minutes.  So, nearly 5 years and untold jokes about Tom Hanks and moths in the making, at a pho restaurant, Amy and I came face to face.

And it was so fun!  I guess we maybe got half an hour to an hour together, and I got to meet her son and husband who I have followed on Facebook, and she got to meet Leah who was suddenly shy and Ine who she has been a big fan of too.  We had a lovely visit and Amy has invited us to come up to Vermont during spring break to stay with their family for a couple of days, which I have accepted.  AFS has not only made the world smaller, it has made the country smaller as well.  <3

After meeting up with Amy and her family, we headed over to our hotel. 

Here's the thing about Philadelphia.  I don't know Philadelphia at all.  All the other things I've done with Ine thus far, I've had good knowledge of where we were going and what we were doing.  That is not the case with Philly.  We had my phone's Google Maps at hand and we were flying blind otherwise.  I had talked to a couple of people for advice about where to go and what to do, Amy included, but otherwise, we were just kind of winging it.  Fortunately we made it to the hotel safely, got checked in, dumped off our bags (for one night, you'd have thought the 3 of us were moving in!), and decided to walk around and find someplace for dinner.  We wandered in circles trying to find the Reading Terminal Market, which we did finally find.  Leah wanted pizza, and Ine and I got cheesesteaks, because by the time we found the market, there was nothing else open!  Still, if you're in Philly, that's kind of what you should have, right?

After dinner, which we took back to the hotel, we went down to the pool.  I knew I didn't want to wander around Philly at night when I didn't know anything about it, so in doing the hotel search, I made sure there was an indoor pool available.  This was a good call on my part!  My little fish happily swam and we jumped in and out of the hot tub and pool for over an hour.  The area around the pool was quite cool, so staying in the water was required, but we had races and water fights and there was a great deal of giggling and laughter from all three of us.

The next morning, we got dressed and checked out of the hotel.  We were allowed to leave the car behind till 5:00, so we walked back to Reading Terminal Market for a breakfast at Profi's Creperie.  The breakfast was quite delicious--the girls both had pancake platters and I had a crepe, and it was good.  We were impressed by the variety of foods the market had, it would have been a fun place to explore in its own right.  Many different ethnicities and nationalities were represented there and it would have been fun to do a taste testing!  Maybe another time.

For now, though, we hit the trail and started walking towards Independence Plaza.  The beauty of it was we had discovered signage the night before, and knew we just had to follow the signs.  We arrived and found out we did not need tickets to Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell in January ,which was a nice bonus.  I guess not enough people go in those months, so we were sent on through.The visitor's center has lots of Philadelphia wonders, including a tribute to Rocky and the Philadelphia Phillies' mascot.  I got a few pictures of Leah with these guys, but I worry about giving Ine picture fatigue, so I only asked her to pose with Rocky, as that was going to be important to the second part of our day.

I haven't been to see these sites in probably almost 30 years.  The Liberty Bell is now housed in a beautiful pavilion and overlooks Independence Hall.  There is a nice display about the history of the bell, but I almost wish that had come after we saw the bell so I could answer questions about it.  We got through security no problem and then walked through the exhibit, but Leah is a "get me to the star attraction" kind of girl, and Ine didn't much say if she wanted to stop and read things or not, so we plowed ahead.

After we were done at the bell, Leah talked to a park ranger and got a trading card and we went across the street to Independence Hall.

LET US IN!

Getting into the Hall was an act of Congress.  We literally circled the building trying to find a way in.  There are barricades and fences and and guards all over the place.  It must be more well guarded than Fort Knox.  Eventually we found a door that looked somewhat promising, but in fact, it led to where the first Supreme Court of the US met.

We talked to an NPS ranger there, as I found it very interesting that even back in the beginning days of the country, we needed a Supreme Court to decide on cases.  The ranger was exceptional--he was interesting and very informative, cheerful, just someone you could tell clearly loved his job.  He told us to go out and turn left and we would be able to get into Independence Hall.  So we followed his directions, but the only thing we met up with was a tent blocked off by another barricade.  There was another kid wandering around trying to figure out how to get in, and we were all very confused.  I didn't feel frustrated so much as I just wondered how exactly to get into the place.  Finally, the kid opened another door, but he immediately shut it and said there were a lot of guards and he didn't think it was right.  So I said, "I'm going to be bold and see what they can tell us in there" and I led the troops in through the door.  Lo and behold, it was the right place, we just had to guess that a blank white door was the correct door.  Go figure!  We went through security again, no problem, and were finally out in the courtyard.  The ranger said that there would be a talk in 15 minutes, but that we could go explore the West Wing if we wanted, so we did.

Inside the West Wing was a coyp of the Declaration of Independence that was printed as a broadsheet on July 4, 1776!  So cool!  There were also copies of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution from that time.  Around back there was the inkstand that the Founding Fathers used to sign these documents.  It was a beautiful thing to see!

We went back outside and got on the line to go into the Hall itself.  The same ranger from our tour of the early Supreme Court was our interpreter for the hall, and I was so pleased about that because he really was exceptional.  And finally we got to see the room where the United States was born and the Continental Congress was held.

It's kind of awesome to know where your country was formed and be able to visit that specific place.  Even cooler is to know that the chair in the top center of the room was where George Washington sat and presided over everything as the country was formed.  The early rock stars of the US were all in this room at some point, doing the hard work of founding the nation, developing laws and ideals that we grapple with nearly 250 years later.  It's humbling when you consider that I can barely figure out a weekly menu and shopping list for the family!

We really enjoyed the tour very much, and I hope Ine can write an interesting paper for her teacher about her experience there.  She agreed with me about the ranger and how good and interesting he was.  I don't know how she felt about the visit itself, it probably wasn't the most thrilling thing we've ever done, but it was the first time I've done this trip with an AFSer and I was pleased that I had been brave enough to undertake it and to get us there.

On the way back, we stopped in at Ben Franklin's grave.  I remembered this from going with my parents when I was young.  The grave is a flat stone behind an iron fence, and I remember it being a thing that you had to toss a penny onto the stone, and if it stayed, you got good luck.  So I took the girls and we dug around till we found some pennies and tossed them on the stone.  All of our coins stuck, so we all have good luck!

Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel, stopped for hot cocoa and snacks, and retrieved the car.  My plan for the next part of our day was to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Ine and I both like art, and I thought I could get Leah interested at least somewhat.  Plus, I wanted us to run the Rocky Steps.  We found parking right away, although paying for it was a problem as all the kiosks were broken!  As we headed up to the museum, it was hailing and raining--we couldn't have picked a worse time to be wandering around the city, but our spirits were high as we looked to conquer the steps of the museum.

We picked a lousy day to visit the city!

 My sister had advised me that there was a statue of Rocky at the base of the steps, so we stopped there to get a picture.  There was a homeless man there who was taking pictures for tips, so I gave him my phone and he got what may be my favorite picture of the three of us ever.

Then it was time to conquer the steps.  It was actually no problem.  The girls ran up first and I went behind them, videotaping their ascent.  All three of us made it to the top and were fine.  We went inside and got tickets and Leah saw more stairs, which to her meant more time to climb!  Ine gamely ran behind her, dutiful big sister that she is. 

Leah took a very kamikaze approach to looking at art.  That is to say, she ran past it, shrieking.  I was also advised that I could look at whatever I wanted, so long as the people had clothes on. Ine was far more studious and so I kept Leah busy so Ine could enjoy herself.  I did eventually steer our little group into the Impressionists wing, as that is my favorite art, and I was pleased to see two different paintings by Mary Cassatt that I hadn't seen before, which made my day.

After more stair climbing, Leah was tired, and so we let Ine wander a bit through a photography exhibit and we sat on a bench so Leah could rest.  When we had seen what we could of the museum, we headed out to our last stop of the day, the Llanerch Diner in Upper Darby.

I was a great fan of the movie Silver Linings Playbook, and Ine said she liked it too, so I thought it would be fun to go and see the diner where they had their tea and raisin bran.  Google Maps got us there, and it is clear to see that they know many people come because of its association with the movie.  The wait staff wear t-shirts from the movie, and the booth were Bradley and Jennifer sat has a plaque over it.  There was also a large movie poster in the front.  We ordered classic diner fare--Greek sampler, spaghetti, and a club sandwich, and it was CRAZY good and huge portions.  Then we piled in the car for the ride home.

I'd been hoping to make it on one tank of gas, and I believe we would have except that we hit some bad traffic on account of the weather.  So we stopped off in Fairfax to get gas and use the restrooms.  We were all revived from that and I took a minute to retrieve our snacks from the back of the car.  While we were in the Wawa by the hotel that morning, we went on the prowl for more bizarre potato chips, like we had eaten when Ine first got here in September (I think?).  The WaWa did not disappoint--we found Cajun Dill Gator-Tators, Spicy Cajun Crawtators, and Voodoo flavored chips.  I had also brought black and white drizzled popcorn from home.  We broke into them and started a taste test.

The verdict?  Voodoo was quite good, Gator Tators weird but edible if one was starving, Crawdad completely inedible.  Ine and I got crazy and mixed Voodoo with the popcorn.  There was a lot of giggling and crunching for the last hour we were in the car, but it was a great pick me up and pushed us through to the end of the trip.

In all, I'd say it was a very successful trip.  I got to experience something new, and we all had a really fun time.  I felt like we were really a family on this trip, and it gave me hope for our upcoming trips, as it is clear we travel well together. 

That was the end of our Christmas break--the next day was Sunday and I kind of mentally checked out, being so tired.  So now you are up to date as of this week!  Thanks for following our journey.  Who knows where it will lead next!

Halloween Weekend

Halloween has turned into something of a big deal here in the United States, although Ine says it is no big deal at all in Belgium.  We took time several nights to drive around and see Halloween displays in certain yards where people really went to town decorating, which she thought was fun, and for Leah it was becoming bigger than Christmas.  I also got both the girls a Halloween bucket of goodies from me.  One of my favorite ways to 'torture' exchange students is to give them Pop Rocks candies, so I was very happy to have found some Pop Rocks while out shopping for Halloween swag.  The night before Halloween, I gave both girls a packet in their buckets and we ate them after dinner.  Hilarity ensued.


Every day Leah would ask "Is it Halloween yet?" or "is tonight the night?" and finally Friday arrived.  She was thrilled!!  I invited my liaison student, Kathy from Germany, to come spend the weekend with us, as I thought it might be nice for Ine to have another teenager around and we had plans for trick or treating Friday, a trip to DC on Saturday, and there was a Native American powwow on Sunday.  I thought it would be great for the girls to experience some Native American culture while they were here. 

Friday after school, I picked everyone up and we had dinner.  Then it was time to get my little Queen Elsa ready for trick or treating.  The girls took an active role in helping her get dressed, and she was very pleased to be pampered by teenagers--particularly since she is five going on 15.  I'm not sure which she was happier about--her gloves that played a few bars of "Let It Go", her glow stick Elsa crown, or the fact that I let her wear eyeshadow for the first time, but she was so pleased by everything.  The girls pampered her appropriately in her mind, and fawned all over her, so she felt very royal indeed!  We started off by meeting our neighbors down the street.  Their two little boys were dressed as Mario and Luigi.  Leah waits with them every day at the bus stop and we have been trick or treating with them almost every year since Leah started trick or treating.  There was a lot of excitement in the air and as porch lights started coming on, the kids were flying up the street.  They did a great job, but excitement overtook the festivities, and unfortunately Leah fell and skinned her knee.  That was the end of trick or treating.  She made it to maybe 6 more houses, and then announced she was too tired and cold to go and she wanted to go home.  So we went home.  After all the excitement, I was pretty surprised that she didn't want to do more, but she did enough, so I wasn't going to complain that I didn't have a half ton of candy sitting around the house!

The next morning, I was trying to decide what to do with the girls.  It was supposed to be cold and rainy and wet, so I was trying to think of indoor activities we could do.  Finally, I decided it would be fun to take them up to DC.  Even though my previous trip to DC was rained out before we could complete it, I was sure we could at least go to the Smithsonian or something if it was really rainy.  Ine and I had talked previously about the Hard Rock Cafe and she said she had never been, so I decided to take them up there for lunch, and then I took advantage of a "locals only" deal for Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum and got us cheap tickets to go in.  The drive up to DC was an absolute dream--little traffic and we were able to park close to the cafe.  Once inside, the host asked where we were from, so I told him the older girls were from Germany and Belgium and that it was all 3 girls' first time inside an HRC.  He took them all over to a 'stage' and handed them guitars and we took some pictures.  They weren't totally impressed with the place, not as I would have hoped, but we had a nice lunch, and now they can say they've been there.

After lunch, we walked just a couple of blocks and found ourselves at Madame Tussaud's.  I learned from a previous adventure there that it was best to just give Leah my iPhone and let her take all the pictures she wanted, so she went crazy posing everyone.  Eventually she calmed down a bit, and we took a few pictures of the girls with famous people.  I was excited to get them with George Washington, the father of our country, and we all posed for a picture with President and Mrs. Obama, which you now have to pay for. I think that's a gyp, back in the day, you could just walk up to them and it was like any other statue, but unfortunately now they are behind ropes and an MT photographer takes your picture.  So we don't have that one.  All the girls enjoyed the celebrity room and had fun with all the famous people there--Brangelina, Katy Perry, Tyra Banks, Beyonce, and more.  I was happy to see the new Stephen Colbert, which I didn't know existed, but where is Jon Stewart!?

Afterwards, since the weather was holding--at most a mild sprinkle here or there--I decided to try the National Mall again.  I drove over and parked at the WWII Memorial as usual and got the requisite picture of Kathy at the Virginia post.  We didn't spend too much time there, as Kathy and I had spoken about WWII a couple of times and her opinion that everyone thinks all Germans are Nazis.  In fact, AFS began its student exchange programs after WWII to help promote peace and understanding.  So it led to some interesting discussions, to say the least.  Anyway, I gave the girls the full National Mall tour on the lower end--we walked over to see Independence Island and I showed them all the signatures of the Declaration of Independence (they were more impressed by the geese), the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (aka The Wall) (they were more impressed by the squirrels), and finally the Lincoln Memorial, which Kathy knew as "that thing with the giant guy sitting inside".

Then we walked down the other side to the Korean War Veterans Memorial and back to the WWII Memorial where we hopped in the car and drove down to the FDR and MLK Memorials.  This is a lovely walk because it is on the Tidal Basin, so there are lots of water views.  The FDR Memorial is my favorite because there are tons of different fountains and everything is amazing.  There are some great statues as well, so I got the girls to pose with the breadline statue that symbolizes the Great Depression, and then we got back in the car and returned home for pizza and sleeping.

Sunday morning, we all went to church and then tried to go to the powwow, but unfortunately it had been canceled due to the weather!  So I took Kathy home and we spent the rest of the day relaxing.  It was a remembrance day in Belgium, so Ine was a little blue, missing her family and whatnot.

On Monday evening was the main event I had been waiting for, my just reward for dealing with Halloween:  going to see Richard Marx in concert!!  Richard Marx was one of my favorite singers when I was a teenager, and about a week after Ine got here, we found out he was coming to do a concert in Virginia.  I asked her if she would like to go and her response was "I don't know", which I took to mean "yes".  Monday after school, a babysitter arrived to take care of Leah and we headed up to Birchmere in Alexandria.  I had never been to Birchmere before, so it was a new experience, and not really one I'd be all that keen to repeat--it's not a great concert venue.We met up with my friend Andy and split a plate of nachos, which were AWFUL, and expensive bottles of water.  But the show was absolutely amazing.I was transported to my teenage years again as Richard sang lots of his old stuff and some of the new stuff.  It was just great.  I asked Ine afterwards if she liked it and she replied "yes, a lot" which is the most enthusiasm I'd heard from her about anything, so I figure it must have been pretty good! :-)

Ine and I are waiting impatiently for nachos and Richard!

It's fun to share this stuff with an older child--Leah will go to concerts because she likes to dance, but generally as it gets late, she gets bored and she doesn't like the noise.  It was fun to go with Ine and sing and have fun.  In December, we'll all be going up to Baltimore to see The Fresh Beat Band live in concert.  The Fresh Beat Band is a kids' rock band and they have been extremely kind to Leah and me since my husband died, so we will go backstage to see them.  This will allow Ine the chance to go backstage at a concert, which I don't know if she has ever done before.  But she'll get the backstage pass to wear and the whole nine yards.  So I think that will be fun--VIP swagger!

So that was our busy Halloween weekend.  The next day was Election Day here, so I took Ine with me to see how the polls are run in Virginia--I can't say in the US because it seems like they are different all over the country.  She remarked that they are very different here than in Belgium.  At least according to movies she has seen, there are big booths with curtains in Belgium, whereas here, we had a table that had partitions around 3 sides, we just stood there, I filled in the bubbles for the candidates I wanted to vote for, and we put the ballot in the machine.

It is fun to share the highlights of our exchange with everyone, but of course, there is always the day-to-day grind of school and housework and homework and quiet nights.  Ine recently revealed that she likes to do jigsaw puzzles, so we completed the below puzzle last week.  it was 1000 pieces and when she first saw it, she said, "I meant I like to do easy puzzles" and laughed, but honestly, she did about 85 percent of that puzzle on her own.  She's like an Olympian of puzzling. It was fun for me because generally I don't do these on my own and my mom and sister and I never have the time at the same time without piles of small children running around getting into things.  A lady at church gave us another puzzle to work on and I gave Ine one for Halloween, although after this, a 300 piece and a 550 piece puzzle should be a snap!

So it is a peaceful and quiet house, which is how I like it, and I've been able to relax and Ine has been blossoming and enjoying her time here.  This week she starts on the swim team, which means lots of late practices and yelling in the stands and my family plans to get together for her first swim meet in a couple of weeks.  My sister has dubbed her The Belgian Bullet and we intend to fly flags and make signs and get the younger children to yell and cheer for Ine.  She'll probably be so embarrassed she won't leave the pool.  But isn't that the perk of parenting teens?  Embarrassing them? :-)  Next weekend she will go see a Wizards game in DC with her school, and then we have a weekend off before Thanksgiving and all the fun and games of a uniquely American holiday.  I am looking forward to having my family together, cooking and baking, Black Friday shopping, and Ine will get to meet my dad!

My next update will detail our trip to NYC, but honestly I still need a couple of days to recover from that one--I'm still exhausted... Still, Ine wanted to see NY and I made darned sure she saw it.  We had a great time.  Stay tuned!