Day 1: Belgium

Bonjour!! This is Morgan and Ima (Ima is a friend who is going to be with us for one week before she heads off to Sweden to see her family who lives there!!). Day one has been crazy! At around 9 a.m. (Belgium time (1 a.m. Chicago time)) we got off our plane and set foot in Europe. Before we left, we rented a car. After we got the car (and figured out how to use it) we found our way to our bed and breakfast through lots and lots and LOTS and lots and lots of round abouts! When we pulled into the beautiful bed and breakfast, we were greeted by a cute, friendly dog named Farah. We were shown our rooms which are AMAZING!!! They are very very beautiful!! After our tour, we brought our stuff in and got settled. Soon after we all took naps for about 2 hours. They were really needed!! After the naps, we explored the area and found an Aldi. We got lots of snacks for the car.We explores a little more, then left to pick my dad up from work (in Belgium). We explored a popular area in the area we were staying in called
Louvain-la-Neuve and ate dinner there. We ate at a Chinese restraunt for dinner. Ya. I know. Our first dinner in Belgium and we choose Chinese. After dinner we came back to the bed and breakfast and got ready for bed. Now, we are sitting on the bed writing this to all of you. We are eagerly awaiting the breakfast that will be served in the morning! :-) yay!!
Bonsoir! Well, good afternoon to most of you. Talk to you tomorrow!

-Morgan and Ima

P.S. Visit www.morimont.com to see pictures of the bed and breakfast! (you should check it out -its pretty cool-)

House is sold...we are off to Europe for four weeks!

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. In early April we put our house up for sale. Thirty days later we had an offer (amazing). The buyer needed a quick closing so we knew we'd be homeless for a bit between houses. Brent seized an opportunity to work from his company's office in Brussels Belgium for a month and the company generously agreed to provide us with a car and housing for the whole family. So after moving out of our house last week we put all our worldly possessions in Pack Rat storage containers (with overflow into a few kind friend's garages and basements...thanks Gratons and Morris's). We stayed with our friends the Walkers for a week (thanks Paul and Melissa) while Morgan was at girls camp and now we are sitting on a plane ready to depart for Brussels. Phew! I can hardly believe it all worked out. We are so excited for the adventure. Europe here we come!

Ragnar Relay - Madison WI to Chicago IL

Ragnar=crazy (running all through the night)

Ragnar Friday/Saturday, Moving on Tuesday=completely nuts-o

The timing was horrible, but we were so glad we did it. Fun friends, fun race. Good times!

Mike Smiley, Tim Holloway, Kim Holloway, Andreas Lex, Kylee Eyre Dial, Rodney Dial, Melissa Walker, Paul Walker, Brik Eyre, Susan Eyre, Brent Paul, Me!

Lake Forest Beach

I love the water! Ocean, lake, it doesn't matter. Large bodies of water give me a calm, happy, peaceful feeling. For two years while Brent was in grad school we lived in a high-rise apartment right on Lake Michigan. Every morning we woke to beautiful Lake Michigan. I loved that view. We now live only about 15 minutes from Lake Michigan, but we don't get over there often enough (mostly because the lake front villages are persnikity about their beaches and make it next to impossible for non-residents to gain accesss...grrr!). Yesterday Isaac had a piano recital in Lake Forest so we took an impromptu drive to the lake afterwards. I can't think of a better way to spend a half hour with the family on a Sunday afternoon.

Isaac's Piano Recital

Isaac had his second piano recital on Sunday. It was held at a beautiful old chapel at Lake Forest College. His teacher, Michelle Ryder, is wonderful. We are so happy to have found her. Isaac's been with her for a year now and is doing great. Isaac peformed "Windmill" and "Concert Time" from his Alfred book.

Our New Home

Our cozy little home sold in just a little over a month and the buyers need us out by June 14th. So, we are offically moving on. It's bettersweet. Exciting to look forward to a little more space and a huge DIY project, but sad to say goodbye to the nicest neighbors and friends anyone could ever ask for. We've been blessed to be surrounded by a pack of sweet, creative, smart, fun kids, amazing parents, great families--and wonderful friends. My neighbors have helped me raise my kids. My kids have grown-up with the comfort of knowing there are five back-up moms and five second homes they can pop into for anything they might need (snacks, band-aids, snacks, phone, snacks, potty, snacks...).We have an inspection scheduled for the new house on Tuesday. If all goes well we'll move-in sometime around mid-July. The new house needs a lot of love. We have some fun ideas but it will take time to get it where we'd like it. It will be a work in progress for awhile.

Life in the Olden Days

Ethan: “Mom, were there only forks in the olden days?”
Me: “I don’t know, I think they probably had spoons.”
Ethan: “Well! (with attitude) You were there, not me! You should know.”