We got home today from a long weekend spent in the very beautiful and charming Ardennes, an area of Belgium with rolling hills, green pastures and very old, stone cottages. We stayed in a mill in the town of Grupont where we went last year with my folks. Waking up to the sound of the river with ducks quacking is absolutely heavenly, if you ask me. I stayed in bed two of the mornings enjoying that soothing sound before grabbing my running shoes and exploring the town and surrounding area on foot. Running in the early morning with that crisp, clean air is as heavenly as the river and ducks. I enjoyed two runs and after three months of being the only one to be able to soothe Tiny Baby, I am thrilled to say that he is now permitting others to hold him and keep him entertained while I have some much-needed "selfish time" to myself. Afterall, with all the traveling we are doing lately, I can't save running for Brussels alone and I can't bring along the jogger stroller everywhere we go.

One highlight of our weekend was sampling some escargots after a very didactic session on these slimey critters at an Escargot farm. Eating butter that has the texture of cheese and various cured meats afterwards at our cottages with different beer was a definite highlight too. We had a hike to the "cou cou" which was hard as the first part was all uphill and we didn't have snacks. Another hard part was car travel with Tiny Baby who really can't stand his carseat or gets motion sick or something. The screaming is brutal and so one of the days, I stayed at the cottage with him so we could avoid all that.

We enjoyed beautiful weather the whole weekend. In a few days, we'll be packing our bags for our next adventure...Ireland. I can't wait. And getting plane tickets for 5 Euros each just could not be passed up. Ryanair sure is amazing and if we could have flown on a Tuesday, we only would have paid 1.49 Euros. Our friends flew to Shannon for 50 cents, if you can believe it! It is ridiculous but true! I am really looking forward to heading back to Ireland and enjoying an Irish coffee in a smoke-free pub. I am so happy to say that Tiny Baby may never experience a smokey pub in his lifetime as one by one, countries will be become smoke-free, I hope. Anyway, enough about all that. Just can't wait to get over to that gorgeous, green isle.