Brussels and Mechelen, Belgium

In late October, Julie represented St. Jude at a trade mission with the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce to Brussels, Belgium and Paris, France.

The below photos are of the famous Grotte Markt with guild houses and the historic town hall in Brussels

In between meetings, I had an opportunity to spend a day with my Belgian cousins in their lovely Flemish hometown of Mechelen which is halfway between Brussels and Antwerp

Luc, Jozef, Jeanine and Lieve braved the cold to take me on a wonderful walking tour of Mechelen

The three oldest guilds in Mechelen
Luc, Leive and Joseph
One of the oldest churches in Belgium
The Grote Markt of Mechelen with St. Rumbold's medieval tower
Another view of the Grote Markt...just lovely!

Happy Halloween

Shane's school, CIPEC, has students from all over the world so they enjoy celebrating many international holidays. While Halloween is not celebrated in France with trick-or-treating, the school does have a dress-up day to celebrate....Shane was a pirate, with his new Venetian mask
Julie and Syd got into the spirit with their masks as well
Syd entertained the witches in Shane's class
Samantha, Julie, Syd and Sydia clowning aroundEven Riley dressed up - in his adorable French beret!Charlie and Shane hamming it up
The witch Shane's class made from an outline of Shane's body (Shane is the tallest kiddo in CP1)...Shane was VERY PROUD of their witch!

After school drop-off, Julie invited several girlfriends over for a Halloween "mask" party...masks being facial masks! Watch out, the following photos are truly SCARY!

Julie, Riley, Samantha, Sandra, Sydia, Annina and Anja

Anya and Julie in their green-goo LUSH masks
Sydia and Sarah...ha ha ha!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN:-)

Pumpkin Festival

In mid-October, we enjoyed a pumpkin festival in a nearby village Pony rides are always a hit!

Mallory, Lula, Alys and Shane in front a HUGE gourd

Anna, Charlie, Alys, Lula and Shane painting pumpkins

Mallory and Miranda cuddling with Miranda's puppy, Gracie

Miranda and Mallory on the moonbounce

Shane's smile says it all....it was a VERY fun afternoon!

Germany Trip

On October 4-5, Julie and Syd went to Stuttgart, Germany for the Porsche Grand Prix, a women's professional tennis tournament featuring the top female players in the world

We really enjoyed watching Venus Williams play
Jelena Jankovic won the tournament
Syd enjoyed dreaming of Porsche Cayennes
and Porsche Caymans

Birthday fun

Shane celebrated his 7th birthday on October 3

Shane with his beloved "gormeti" cake

Shane shares his birthday with buddy Maximillian Veyne, so they shared a super-sports birthday party with 17 friends at the Set Club.
Max and Shane shared birthday wishes, as only boys can do...with a hug, serious neck strangle and fiesty nose twist!
Shane ran and ran and ran for 3 hours
They played soccer, basketball and a French favorite...dodge ball! They also learned archery

To top off the fun, Shane had ANOTHER chocolate cake!

It was a very spirited birthday celebration!