Brugge, Belgium

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Our small hotel served a great breakfast this morning of a variety of breads and jams. I think we are hooked on the the whole tea with milk thing...Jane will be so proud.

The owner was very happy to show us his bike that was made by a local company.

Achielle makes frames right up the road from the hotel and everything on it is made in western europe. (nothing from asia)

There is a place for the bike pump to attach to the down tube and I love the saddle and bag!

After breakfast, we set off to the monastery. It was lovely and peaceful. There were small groups of school kids there on field trips, but they were all well behaved and having a grand time. Most were unaccompanied (immediately, anyway) by adults. (wow! unheard of in the U.S. right now)

The locals gave us the scoop on the history of the cathedrals and each place of worship had pamplets and placards with the history and significance of each piece in English.

I love visiting the European cathedrals. And the art is dark enough and detailed enough to be of great interest to teenage boys, as well!

We had no idea there was a Madonna and Child by Michelangelo here in the town. The gentleman in the cafe explained it is rare to find outside of Italy. We were lucky enough to have the piece to ourselves for a few minutes before a tour group swarmed the area. (ugh, tour groups in a cathedral.....you cannot whisper when speaking to a group of 15+, I guess)

Madonna and Child

The square was beautiful.

There is lace to be had at every corner and it is interesting watching how it is made.

We had local chocolate and local beer and frites (with mayo of course) and now we HAD to have the waffles. (with cherries and creme)

We rented bikes for 6 euros a day. They have a cool lock that doesn't allow the rear wheel to turn, when you need to leave the bike.

Waiting for the bridge over the canal to come down.

Riding along the canal to see the wind mills.

Riding in a skirt, just like a Belgian.

Wind mill in Brugge.

A LONG ride along the canal. (over 50 miles round trip, I think) The tiny towns along the way were very cool. It felt very good to both of us to get in a workout and it was so much fun, too! You could tell how far we had gone after we had ridden for an hour and noticed we saw more and more riding "kits" and less and less street clothes on the riders.

We rode along the canal for 20+ miles each way, to Oostende, which is the next large town, to see what was there. We picked up some groceries and loaded them up to bring back for dinner.

Parking.

Ah, the gnomes in Flanders have a sense of humor!

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Senior Trip

I decided to take Everett to Europe for his senior trip. Shey took us to the airport on Sunday and we got on the first flight of the day to Amsterdam. There was only one seat in first class, so it went to Everett, as it is his gift.

We arrived in Amsterdam very early Monday morning and took the train from the airport to downtown. We decided to get a tram ticket for the day and walk about the city with the locals and soak up the culture and architecture. Bikes are EVERYWHERE here!! (as most places other places in the world)







We enjoyed sitting and watching all the different types of bikes with every walk of person riding them. We also checked out the house boats on the canal and several of the cool cathedrals. We walked down to the place where Anne Frank was hidden during World War II, but the line was crazy and we decided, very quickly, to avoid that tourist trap.





. We then strolled past the Van Gogh museum and noted the line was very short. We went in and enjoyed the large collection of his work….and the a/c and checking our backpacks, so our shoulders could have a break. :>)

We ate chocolate and snacked all day on the goodies from the shops in the train station. There are wooden shoes, windmills in the city, lots of chocolate shops and hash shops out the wazoo.

We soon had had enough of the city and headed to the train station much earlier than I expected. Ah, a train though the country side is amazing. We are riding with the locals and giving ourselves a lovely tour of the huge selection of community gardens. The farms are amazingly green and well organized. Every apartment building has a community garden behind it with divided sections for the tenants.

Everett passed out for part of train ride. Air conditioned and very comfortable.

Train station in Antwerp.
We stopped in Antwerp, which was another large city, and strolled around a bit before continuing on toward Brugge.

Once in Brugge I was worried about finding a place to stay during peak season, so we set out to find a small hotel. On the first street we walked down, we came across this perfect little family owned budget hotel.

Serious double windows!
After visiting with the hotel owners and a few older local gentlemen, we strolled through the town streets in search of a small cafe.

Canals are everywhere here. (even through the farm land that we saw by train)



We settled on a small cafe serving fish and chips and strong beer, which meant I would sleep very good tonight!

We are thoroughly enjoying our time here and are looking forward to a relaxing day of visiting the monastery and riding bikes tomorrow. (hint: The hotel owner has a locally made steel framed bike, which he is proud to say has all components created locally in western europe.....in other words, nothing from asia. That should make Shey drool!)

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Orientation and Road Trippin'

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Everett had his orientation at KSU last week and Jansen and I dropped him off at the campus, then went for a mtb ride at a local trail. He has registered for classes and spent some time at the campus bike shop. Cool!!

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Jansen just finished his xc race at the Subaru Cup in Wisconsin and finished 2nd. He met Wes in TN and they picked up Brad in Indiana on the way up to the race. Brad flatted and I have not heard how Wes finished. They liked the course, but it was on a ski slope, so straight up and straight down. They are racing short track tomorrow, so wish them all good luck!

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Riding around MTB Camp

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Shey and Jansen headed to Alabama with the C-Town trailer and raced BUMP. Then, from Alabama, they picked up Tanner and headed straight up to North Carolina for training camp at Pisgah, with Andy Johnston. After a week of riding Pisgah and Dupont, they headed over to Tennessee, to drop Tanner off and race SERC at Raccoon Mt., before they finally headed back home.   Lots of driving!

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Tanner and Jansen

Shey teaching mechanical repairs.

Wes came to ride with the guys, along with Tristan, Cory, Andy Johnston, Shey and Andy Applegate. So, there were some really good trail leaders, for sure!

The guys were tired and ready to come home, but had a good time!

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Block Head

About three weeks after Jansen crashed, I noticed something sticking out of the wound on his cheek. He checked it out and realized it was another piece of wood.

This, of course was on a Friday evening, before Memorial Day, no less...... so we left a message for our doctor (Jansen had missed his check-up appointment, and we needed to make another one, anyway) and Jansen worked on it over the weekend and finally got it out on Monday!

Here it is.....

The wound was a mess and it was hard for anybody to see what was going on inside. The paramedics had done a great job of cleaning the wound and the doctor was very thorough, as well.

This is what it looked like. Pretty.

Quality family time. :>)

The wound healed quickly after the last piece was removed. It looks great and is a small, but very cool scar, now.




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THE NEXT STEP

WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR EVERETT AS HE HEADS OFF TO HIS NEXT ADVENTURE. HE IS A WONDERFUL SON, GRANDSON, BROTHER, TRAVELING COMPANION, ATHLETE, CHEF, TECHIE AND SO MUCH MORE. GOOD LUCK WITH EVERYTHING YOU DO!!!

Graduation 2011 !!!!!!!!

So long High School!!

Hello University!!

The ceremony was very nice.

Good friends and brothers.

Yeah! We can finally send out that family photo that everyone keeps asking for.....you know, one where we are not wearing spandex and helmets.

Proud parents.

Proud grandparents.

Handsome guys.

We ate at a great little mexican food restaurant. Yum! Grandma and Grandpa have been so good to the boys and very supportive over the years, so it was awesome to have them here to see Everett walk across the stage. Dad brought enough barbeque to feed an army....or my three guys...whichever.......

Our dinner was amazing. Great choice Everett!

Jansen Can Bounce Off Trees: Bad Crash

Shey and Jansen hit the road early Sunday morning to make it to TN for the SERC race at Tanasi. They were donning their new Cycle Youth kits....very dapper!

Jansen went down hard in his first lap. Evidently he hit a tree, then bounced off at least one more, then ended up down an embankment in the end. He said he mostly hit things with his face and right side. Tanner was right behind Jansen and thought the crash was hard enough to drop his race and walk Jansen out of the woods. The faster these guys get, the harder they hit.

(they both wish Tanner had on a helmet cam)

At first, Jansen said he couldn't breathe and his side was excruciatingly painful. His face didn't hurt, but his vision was blurred. Once his vision cleared and he could breathe again, he and Tanner started walking. It was a very long walk.

Paramedics cleaned up the cuts and did a quick check of his side. When he got home, I could see there was a puncture all the way through his cheek and his side was still incredibly painful. He had xrays and a thorough exam by our friend, Kwan, the next day and they found no ribs to be broken and he did not stitch the hole up, since the face heals so quickly.

Jansen cannot believe he did not break anything. He was very fortunate!

Unfortunately, the wound keeps bleeding and today another large splinter came out of it.
The pain in is side is finally easing off after a couple days.

Here he is all cleaned up, before the swelling started.

Lower right is the puncture. The right side of his face is swollen and discolored, now, but should heal quickly.



Ah, another manly man scar to show off!


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