The Kachers: January 2010

26.1.10

Pig Tails

This is what we do in the morning when we're bored and its too cold to go outside.

24.1.10

On Tuesday me and Paije took the tram to the north end of the city to see something they call the "Atomium." It was built in 1958 for the Brussels world fair. It was suppose to be torn down after the exhibition but I guess they thought it was cool enough to keep because its still there 50 years later.

I had the cutest little tour guide. Her job is to hold the guide book and look cute for photos.
Doesn't she do a good job!

The Atomium

You can also ride up to one of the orbitals. I was too cheap to do it though.
$12 is way too expensive!

I thought this painting on the side of a building was neat. There are murals like this one all over the city. Its fun to come across them.

Ben tells me that this park is beautiful in the summer. I had to use my imagination since it was a rather muddy dreary place this time of year. I did think the green tree trucks were cool though.

We also visited these amazing Japanese and Chinese structures that the King of Brussels in 1905 had constructed. The current King still uses the Japaneses tower so we were only able to tour the lower portion of the building.

The Chinese house which use to be a restaurant for the Kings guests but is now a museum.

21.1.10

Oldest church in Brussels

Yesterday we visited the oldest church in Brussels.

The windows were really pretty.

Paije had a hard time obeying the "silence" sign. In case you were wondering, there really aren't any quiet corners in a cathedral.

Just this week Paije has discovered her fingers and how to use them to play. Its so cute!

This is a really fun street in Brussels with lots of yummy restaurants on it.

Ben giving Paije a bath in our shower.

Haning out at the local pool

This past weekend we house/kid sat for a couple in our ward while they were in Budapest. We had a great time since it meant we got to sleep in a regular sized bed that had room for both of us. On Saturday we took Paije and their kids to the local pool. The pool was packed full of kids and many of them would stop by the infant pool just to look at Paije. She really is quite a star. She was all smiles until she fell asleep in my arms.

Is this not the cutest little bathing suit you've ever seen?
I just wonder why chubby legs can't stay cute forever.

20.1.10

Villers La Ville

On Monday Paije and I visited Villers Abby. Founded in 1146, the abby took nearly a century to build. At its peak it was estimated to of housed up to 100 monks and 300 lay brothers. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the abbey's fortunes continued to diminish. The number of monks and the abbey's wealth dwindled and it was finally abandoned in 1796 in the wake of the French Revolution. Most of the site has since fallen into ruins. In 1893, the Belgian state purchased the site and launched a conservation effort. The church, although in ruins, is an outstanding example of Cistercian architecture, with imposing vaulting, arches, and rose window.

This is what is looks like in the summer.

This is what we saw.

18.1.10

Last few days in the Middle East

On one of our last days in Abu Dhabi Ben and I went for our first official date since Paije was born. We went for a bike ride along the water front, watched the sun go down, and had dinner at a local restaurant. Ben flew back to Brussels without us and we spent another week with his parents.

We played at the local beach and Paije had her first dip in the water. She liked it at first.

But quickly changed her mind about the whole thing.

She was happy again the moment I took her out.

She loved sunbathing with her aunt Nelli.

Cool view from the beach.

Here is a picture of the Kachers home.

6.1.10

Burj Dubai....tallest building in the world

If you haven't already noticed from my other posts, the UAE is really into setting world records. In fact there is even a building in Abu Dhabi that claims to be the largest curved building in the world. It is no suprise then that the UAE would also be home to the tallest building in the world....823 meters to be exact. Its called the Burj Dubi and it is definitely really tall.

Atleast for the next 5 years (according to the news) Paije can say she has seen the tallest building in the world.

We actually happened to visit the night before its grand opening. Even though it would have been cool to see the fireworks, we were grateful not to have to deal with the hundreds of thousands of people they expected to show up to watch the event.

Cool building next to the Burj Dubai

Right next door to the Burj Dubai is the largest mall in the world. Are you surprised? We walked around it for a while. It had some fun shops including this candy store.

It also had an indoor equarium.

Here we are enjoying some of UAE's famous juices. This particular drink has strawberry on top, mango in the middle, and avocado on the bottom.

I opted for the strawberry mango drink instead. Which do you think looks better? Mine had pistachio and strawberry ice cream on top...ok I guess they are more like milkshakes then juices.