Last week we decided to go on a last minute trip for the weekend. We found a great deal on the Eurostar to France and booked it! Sounds promising???
Well, it was a bit of a disaster in reality :) I'm starting to laugh about it now, but it took me some time before I was even ready to blog about it (needed to recover!). We missed our train stop once in France and got off at the next one...which actually turned out ok because we were able to just change our rental car and we were going to be driving to that stop anyway! We booked a bed and breakfast in Lille (small town in the northeast area of France). It was beautiful!! We drove over to Brussels in Belgium for the day on Saturday and then left Sunday night to come home. We were READY!
The kids were kind of a handful the whole time...mabe we got brave after having such a wonderful time with them in Scotland?? Brylie actually did great considering...Truett not so much. He is just not at the right age for this kind of travel and he is also going through a "screaming" phase which can be embarrassing in public. It also didn't help that we left our house at 4:50am on Friday to get to the train station (hence the cheap last minute deal - you always pay somehow!).
After checking in at the B&B we went to the city centre in Lille to walk around. I took a few pictures, but something was off with the camera...they were blurry and dark...then it wouldn't take any pictures at all! Totally broken. Huge disappointment. So the majority of the pictures below are from my iphone camera!!
All in all, we had some good quality time together. But we realized that at this life stage we would prefer to take vacations without the kiddos (unless we are doing something specifically for them). They don't know the difference and there will be plenty of trips we can take as a family once they are older! Lessons learned...:)
So here goes...at least these are better than nothing and we have some kind of documentation! :) Bear with me...a lot of these were taken through the window of the car! Oh yeah...if you are ever going to rent a car in a foreign country, a garmin is a necessity!!! We did not have one and got lost several times.
A museum in Lille
We let the kids run off some steam in the square for a while :)
Brylie starting to lose it...no popping in and out of cute shops this afternoon!
Daddy losing it :)
The Ford Fiesta rental :)
Driving up to our B&B right outside of Lille in a little farm town.
Entrance to the back garden...
Beautiful!!
Our room is on the very top
Found some mushrooms growing
We had just gotten there and the kids were exploring the backyard and Geoff and I were busy trying to figure out what was wrong with the camera. We heard Brylie screaming and looked up to see Truett had fallen in the pond! It was only a foot deep, but Geoff had to jump in and get him...here is the hero!
And here is Brylie with her "Nanny" pants pulled up :) She had waded in the pond and Truett tried to follow, but lost his balance and fell!
They had doves flying all around...it was almost funny how pretty and romantic it was...and our kids were running wild all over the place!
This was the scary grocery store we stopped at to get snacks while we were lost in a shady part of town.
Our room.
The view!
Dining room
We ate there Friday night and had drinks and apps before dinner. Would have been so relaxing if it was just the two of us!
They trimmed herbs from the garden for dinner.
Driving to Brussels (just about an hour away). They were belted in, then I looked back to see this...yeah, that is safe! :)
We are here! It then took us another 2.5 hours to find the restaurant!
Our written directions...not sure what we were thinking!
A tiny forklift.
Can't remember what this was...looked like I should take a picture of it though :)
Weird statue Brylie wanted a picture with!
Belgian chocolate!
Found the restaurant!
Not exactly healthy but delicious!
Belgian waffle...yums!
Can you tell he is struggling a bit? Brylie took this pic of us :)
They both took a good nap driving back...
Awake and ready for some rolling!!
The next two videos are Truett's attempts at rolling down the hill...it cracked us up!
Brylie's impersonation of a flower
Brylie took this picture - we thought it was pretty good!
Warm croissants for breakfast...one of the highlights!
Other breakfast items. We felt like we missed out a little on the experience here because of the language barrier. They spoke very little English and we don't speak any French (besides Brylie constantly saying "Merci" which was cute!). They were very friendly though! Lots of smiling and shaking our heads, ha!
Playing in the car and waiting for Geoff to check out.
A few pics of the town we stayed in.
I loved these old barns!
We discovered a free zoo in Lille! So easy...just parked and walked right in!
Learning about owl pellets
We thought these monkeys were so fun to watch!
Back in town in Lille for one last meal before driving to Calais to catch the train home. As you can tell, the kids are already falling apart. This meal (at The Chicoree behind them) did not go well.
Driving through the French countryside!
Bride and Groom hay bales - so cute!
After we got to Calais we got lost trying to find the train station. We finally found it! Then after going through customs Truett snuck away and squeezed his body through a glass wall to the other side where the train platforms were!! Luckily there were two guards there that pushed him back to the other side for us!
Needless to say...when we got home Sunday night it was bath and bedtime for all! :)
Well, it was a bit of a disaster in reality :) I'm starting to laugh about it now, but it took me some time before I was even ready to blog about it (needed to recover!). We missed our train stop once in France and got off at the next one...which actually turned out ok because we were able to just change our rental car and we were going to be driving to that stop anyway! We booked a bed and breakfast in Lille (small town in the northeast area of France). It was beautiful!! We drove over to Brussels in Belgium for the day on Saturday and then left Sunday night to come home. We were READY!
The kids were kind of a handful the whole time...mabe we got brave after having such a wonderful time with them in Scotland?? Brylie actually did great considering...Truett not so much. He is just not at the right age for this kind of travel and he is also going through a "screaming" phase which can be embarrassing in public. It also didn't help that we left our house at 4:50am on Friday to get to the train station (hence the cheap last minute deal - you always pay somehow!).
After checking in at the B&B we went to the city centre in Lille to walk around. I took a few pictures, but something was off with the camera...they were blurry and dark...then it wouldn't take any pictures at all! Totally broken. Huge disappointment. So the majority of the pictures below are from my iphone camera!!
All in all, we had some good quality time together. But we realized that at this life stage we would prefer to take vacations without the kiddos (unless we are doing something specifically for them). They don't know the difference and there will be plenty of trips we can take as a family once they are older! Lessons learned...:)
So here goes...at least these are better than nothing and we have some kind of documentation! :) Bear with me...a lot of these were taken through the window of the car! Oh yeah...if you are ever going to rent a car in a foreign country, a garmin is a necessity!!! We did not have one and got lost several times.
A museum in Lille
We let the kids run off some steam in the square for a while :)
Brylie starting to lose it...no popping in and out of cute shops this afternoon!
Daddy losing it :)
The Ford Fiesta rental :)
Driving up to our B&B right outside of Lille in a little farm town.
Entrance to the back garden...
Beautiful!!
Our room is on the very top
Found some mushrooms growing
We had just gotten there and the kids were exploring the backyard and Geoff and I were busy trying to figure out what was wrong with the camera. We heard Brylie screaming and looked up to see Truett had fallen in the pond! It was only a foot deep, but Geoff had to jump in and get him...here is the hero!
And here is Brylie with her "Nanny" pants pulled up :) She had waded in the pond and Truett tried to follow, but lost his balance and fell!
They had doves flying all around...it was almost funny how pretty and romantic it was...and our kids were running wild all over the place!
This was the scary grocery store we stopped at to get snacks while we were lost in a shady part of town.
Our room.
The view!
Dining room
We ate there Friday night and had drinks and apps before dinner. Would have been so relaxing if it was just the two of us!
They trimmed herbs from the garden for dinner.
Driving to Brussels (just about an hour away). They were belted in, then I looked back to see this...yeah, that is safe! :)
We are here! It then took us another 2.5 hours to find the restaurant!
Our written directions...not sure what we were thinking!
A tiny forklift.
Can't remember what this was...looked like I should take a picture of it though :)
Weird statue Brylie wanted a picture with!
Belgian chocolate!
Found the restaurant!
Not exactly healthy but delicious!
Belgian waffle...yums!
Can you tell he is struggling a bit? Brylie took this pic of us :)
They both took a good nap driving back...
Awake and ready for some rolling!!
The next two videos are Truett's attempts at rolling down the hill...it cracked us up!
Brylie's impersonation of a flower
Brylie took this picture - we thought it was pretty good!
Warm croissants for breakfast...one of the highlights!
Other breakfast items. We felt like we missed out a little on the experience here because of the language barrier. They spoke very little English and we don't speak any French (besides Brylie constantly saying "Merci" which was cute!). They were very friendly though! Lots of smiling and shaking our heads, ha!
Playing in the car and waiting for Geoff to check out.
A few pics of the town we stayed in.
I loved these old barns!
We discovered a free zoo in Lille! So easy...just parked and walked right in!
Learning about owl pellets
We thought these monkeys were so fun to watch!
Back in town in Lille for one last meal before driving to Calais to catch the train home. As you can tell, the kids are already falling apart. This meal (at The Chicoree behind them) did not go well.
Driving through the French countryside!
Bride and Groom hay bales - so cute!
After we got to Calais we got lost trying to find the train station. We finally found it! Then after going through customs Truett snuck away and squeezed his body through a glass wall to the other side where the train platforms were!! Luckily there were two guards there that pushed him back to the other side for us!
Needless to say...when we got home Sunday night it was bath and bedtime for all! :)
3 comments:
I'm sorry, but I love the one of Brylie having a melt down in your amrs Shelley, and then Geoff's face in the next one. I feel like Stephen and I could just cut and paste our heads onto those two pictures and it would document our outings as well :)
Loved your weekend excursion pictures and totally empathize with having two kiddos and their meltdowns.Ha! Geoff at two had a harness so we could control his movements.We would probably be turned in for abuse today... Keeping up with a 22 month old and a new baby were not easy. The store was the only place I ventured with them. A trip, no way! You have been so brave.
LOL - I think Geoff should still have a harness sometimes. That mental image seriously cracks me up....
I'm so sorry the trip was so hard. So sad. :( Beautiful photos, though! Hang in there - it has to eventually get easier, right?!
Post a Comment