On Valentine's Day, special flowers arrived from afar, from their Granny (Karen's Mom) - the kids were quite pleased with this and quite proud to have their own flowers (along with the roses which arrived from Karen's husband and the tulips for Karen from her Mom) - our house was quite full of pretty flowers for a while!
South of Brussels is the X:Zonienwoud (Soignes Forest, see X:where), a huge swath of forest established by a Belgian king who was not fond of urban sprawl. We go to church in Tervuren and often spend Sunday afternoon hiking in the different areas of the forest - which is also a very popular activity with the locals. The kids love this, and they always pick up sticks (which become "hairy spiders" which then chase us around), they toss rocks into the lakes, balance on fallen logs, and generally get to act like kids.
