Colvins and Smiths in Belgium

We had a great quick trip to Belgium to visit Charlie over the weekend. Brian, Kelly, John and Marcy were up early on Friday to catch the city bus, to catch the coach bus to London Heathrow to catch our plane. Arrived in plenty of time and traveling with handicapped Dad Boy has its perks (like the ultrafast lane for security and golf carts to travel around the airport). Plane was about 45 minutes delayed, but arrived in Brussels just fine mid-afternoon where Charlie and his host family (parents Yves and Corrine) were waiting to pick us up. They took us to Lasne which is the town where they live. We were able to meet their kids (Arnaud and SeSe) too. (Actually I've met everyone there when I visited in March.) They have the most delicious fruit tarts and champagne and Belgium beer awaiting and of course it hit the spot! Yves and Corrine were leaving early the next day for a trip, so we didn't stay too long.

They drove us to our hotel in LLN (the town where the baseball diamond is) so we could check in. We relaxed a bit and then headed into the town for more tasty Belgium beer and find a place for dinner. Luckily, one of Charlie's new friend Sarah met us out and helped us order our dinners! The full menu in French is very daunting to look at! However, we were all successful in our dinner orders and had fantastic food. Definitely a big step up from the English pub fare!

Had a long baseball day ahead of us on Saturday so we got some sleep Friday night and had a nice leisure breakfast at the hotel in the morning. Can't go wrong with fresh crossaints and coffee. Yum!

Charlie coaches the Juniors team and they played at 12:15. So we arrived around then to watch their game. Arnaud plays on the Juniors team and he played very well as pitcher and short stop. The Juniors won and they had a pretty loud American cheering section!

Next up was Charlie's team, the Seniors at 3:30. The crowd of Belgiums grew to watch and we were making new friends. Especially when the club house a few steps away has a delicious array of snacks and more Belgium beer! Charlie's friend Sarah is actually the score keeper, and we met a few of his other friends Hugh and Chloe who were there watching. Hugh and Chloe will be moving to Chicago soon for his job, so we were telling them how great the Midwest is! The Seniors played a great game and won. More Belgium beer and burgers were consumed to celebrate. We headed back to the hotel for Charlie to shower up and some of his friends followed us there for a few pints. For dinner, we headed back into town and ended up dining with a large group of baseball guys and their girlfriends at a casual Italian place. We were also joined by the president of the baseball club, Carlos, who dad had fun visiting with and asking all sorts of baseball in Belgium questions. Ma, Dad and Kelly were pretty tired after dinner and headed back to the hotel. But Brian and Charlie did some brother-in-law bonding at the bars with Chalie's buddies and had a good time. Although Kelly wasn't too thrilled when they got home to the hotel and woke her up at 4 a.m.!

P.S. This is what happens when you drink too much Belgium beer!