An End to Block Leave

It's all over.... one month of traveling and enjoying the time with my husband. But now it has come to an end and we have to get back to the real world.

Let me recap for you the last week!

Lots of time spent in airports! We played a lot of card games and computer games!

We spent three nights in Beligum. The first day we took a train to Brussels. It rained on us all day, but that didn't stop us from seeing all the sights. We still walked the entire city. Brussels is just a normal European city, nothing too extremely exciting for us to see.

The next day we decided we were tired.... we didn't feel like being wet.... so we took the day off. We went on to an Army post close by, shopped at the commissary and the PX, hit up the library for awhile, and then went back to the place we were staying. We sat and read for awhile before heading to Mons to find some food. It was a nice day to slow down a bit!!

On Friday, we drove to Weeze, Germany to the airport. There, we hopped on a plane heading to Leeds, England. I was so excited to see Elizabeth! She picked us up (thanks for not making us hitch hike!) and took us out to eat. Then we went to her place, which is absolutely ADORABLE!! It is an old barn that has been turned into a little house. I loved the wood beams and the stone walls. She has done well in the past month!

On Saturday, we were going to head to York. But it was raining sideways because the wind was so strong! Instead, we decided to stay in the house and build Elizabeth's bedroom furniture (Jay did most of the work. We played games instead). We stayed in our pj's all day and took care of things around her house! It felt good to just "stay home". That night we were going to go out for fish and chips... but that would have required us to change out of our pj's and that just didn't sound like fun for us! So, it was pancakes instead!

On Sunday, we went to church in the morning. It was fun seeing another chapel and how things were done. Then we went to a surprise birthday party for a middle schooler. Then it was off to Xscape, which was an indoor fun park. It had bowling, mini golf, a rock roll, indoor ski slope, and several other things. It was a teenagers heaven!! Elizabeth needed to check it out before bringing kids there. We were glad to go with her! We played two rounds of mini golf before heading home.

Monday meant we had to go home! After a traditional English breakfast, we were off to the airport. I was sad to say goodbye, but I know I'll see her again! If nothing else, I'll have to go visit again this summer!

Today was the first day back to real life... we had to set the alarms, we had to get up and get going, actually accomplishing things today. While Jay went into work, I stayed home and worked on the house. The Christmas tree and decorations came down, the usual decor came back out, laundry from the past month got washed and put away, supper was made (which I was so glad to do after eating out for the past month), made food for Bible study tomorrow night, and the house got cleaned. It sure feels good to be sitting in a clean house tonight, not needing to get things done (even though I'm sure I could find more to do).

Now we have to get our minds in gear for the next year ahead of us!