Seventeen

Seventeen years ago, I said "I do" to the man I loved with every fiber of my being and who I considered to be my best friend. I couldn't imagine at the time that I could ever love him more. I was wrong. It hasn't always glamorous--I mean, we celebrated our anniversary today with all our kids in tow at a place called "Balls & Glory." And, it certainly hasn't always been easy. In fact, sometimes it has been more work than either of us thought we could handle. But, work we did (and do!), every single day, even when we don't want to. And, you know what? We are more in love with each other today than we were seventeen years ago. I am so thankful I get to do life with this amazing man! He is my hero, and I still love him with every fiber of my being and consider him to be my best friend! We had such a fun day celebrating with our people in Ghent!

Seventeen years

This is the first time in 13 years
that the kids have joined us for the anniversary outing,
and we had such a great time!

This is what you get at Balls & Glory, a restaurant focusing entirely on meatballs.
(Despite the quirky name, the food was absolutely delicious!)

I thought it was appropriate that we saw a passionflower today while walking around Ghent.

We tried this interesting (but not delicious) local candy delicacy: Ghent Noses.

The lovely castle in Ghent

Burgers on the deck of our houseboat

Weston thought we needed a cocktail for our anniversary.

Belgium

We left Luxembourg this morning and made our way to Belgium. Our first stop was the Waterloo Battlefield, where Napoleon was defeated in 1815. For our CC friends, we had so much fun singing our history song (over and over) about that event in the very spot where it occurred! Our next stop was Brussels, where our main focus was on tracking down some of the famous Belgian delicacies: chocolate and waffles. (Don't worry, we also purchased Brussels sprouts and will have them later in the week!) Finally, we arrived at our houseboat in Ghent, much to the delight of all the kids (and adults). When we asked the kids what they wanted to do the next couple of days, they all said, "Just hang out on this awesome boat!" It doesn't happen often, but sometimes a parent CAN knock one out of the park. (Thank you, Airbnb!)

Lion Mound at Waterloo Battlefield

This is not our most Napoleonic child,
but it is the one most willing to have his picture taken.

Posing with the "chocolate" elephant outside Chocopolis

We had so much fun looking in all the chocolate shops in Brussels!

Grand-Place in Brussels

Belgian waffle time!

Chocolate horseshoes 

It was super hard, but we finally narrowed it down and made our choices.

Our Belgian home

The view from my bedroom window