road trip- beer in belguim!

sorry in advance for the random order of these pictures... i try so hard!

i had an idea back in january- let's do something different! sure, we can grab a rick steve's guide book and head to an old, historic city in europe any weekend- but im sick of that! (spoiled, i know.) so i ask brian if we could go tour some of the breweries that make the belguim beer that he loves... he liked the idea! and while most of these breweries are monastaries (with real monks!), i was a little worried about the kids being with us. so, what great idea do i get? let's bring the leadbetter's along too! 4 kids are so much better than 2! okay, maybe not- but everything is just better with the leadbetters.

friday- we are off by noon- in the rented 9 passenger van! it was the BEST idea! we drove 4+ hours to the town of dinant, belguim and boy were we surprised when we drove into this beautiful little town on the river- it was perfect. then we found our hotel- holy moly! it is a 16th century renovated convent- just wait til you see the pictures below! it truly was a treat to stay here. it just opened last may and really should be featured in travel and leisure magazine! we had a 4 bedroom suite and i werein awe the whole time we were there.

friday night we checked out the town and ate the BEST mussles, which belguim is known for- and sampled some of the local beers, just prepping for the days to come...

saturday- let's go! brian put this whole trip together on his own. no tour book, lots of google searches and limited knowledge of the french language- so there were sure to be some bumps in the road... we had 5 stops the first day and boy were we disappointed at the first stop- it did not look like the beautiful monastaries we were all dreaming of. it looked like a 1970's meeting hall- could this be where the monks retire? after making fools of ourselves trying to ask for beer at 930 in the morning (in english, in a 9 passenger van, with 4 kids!) we quickly moved on...

second stop was a hit. third stop was closed up (apparently tourist season doesnt start until april 1- who knew). 4th stop was definately a brewery, where the guys saw their first monks, but no beer for sample or tasting (had to hit the local gas staion where we could buy cases!) and the 5th stop was great- it even had a playground!

sunday the guys went for a bike ride, we ate lunch in dinant and then we went to two more places on our way home. dinner was at hooters- crazy to find hooters in germany, right? it was a perfect stop. (nick even commented "they are in thier underwear!" way too cute)

sorry i havent labeled which place is which on our trip- hope you will still enjoy them!

underground tunnels to get the nuns out- JUST KIDDING! (im going to hell, i know...)

cool tree...

there were amazing ruins of the first monestary on the grounds of the oval brewery- i was amazed to see such a sight...

the "new" monestary

in an effort to keep the kids happy and quiet- we played "this is what life is like in catholic school" with them. if only i had a ruler...

i love that brian snapped this picture of the leadbetters!

  all these two really need is eachother...

probably the most detailed stained glass window we have seen yet

tate is so tiny compared to the gigantic church

the kids take a break from the van at a playground!

i do think that sara and i both have cheese in our mouths in this picture! HA! (the monks make delicious cheese too. well, except for the suspicious "cheese ball" that we got at one place. it was horrible.)

peek a boo

we really did see everything on this trip. from the places with monks walking around that did not want tourists, to the playground place that wanted tourists, to the retirement home we started at- and this place had a DJ and disco ball! maybe setting up for a monthly dance for the monks and nuns?

its like where's waldo in this pic- where are chris and tate?

 view from the hotel

 not sure about this next pic- i must have chosen the wrong picture!

 dinant, belguim (where we stayed) is where the inventor of the saxaphone was from. the kids liked this monument!

 crazy rock on our drive through town

 pictures of our hotel...
the hallways were amazing!

 the wine bar- or chris and brian's idea of heaven! they spent time in here each day/night (without kids or wives) and were like little giddy children together!

 the last supper room- probably the main santuary for the convent at one time, now a banquet hall

 the diningroom was breathtaking- with a glass ceiling. we had breakfast here each day and enjoyed a fabulous dinner one night too.

 the enterance to the hotel

 the view of the hotel from town- it is a massive building, sitting high over the river

 let the fun begin in the van! when kids cry, give em chocolate!

 and we are off! everybody had somebody- tate and nick sat next to eachother watching 'super friends' together and thought life was just perfect. macy and shane fought over sippy cups and blankets, sara and i took turns napping and passing out snacks. chris and brian never ran out of things to talk about on the long, dark, drive home. we are so blessed to know these guys...

our favorite meal- because we all had our own tables, in our own area of the restaurant, at the leffe beer cafe.

the final and priceless picture- at hooters!

next trip- in 3 weeks, back to garmisch, germany (the edelweiss resort again- yippie!) with the leadbetters, of course, where we will visit the famous neushuanstein castle, the town of oberammergau and the greisbrau brewery (for some german beer this time!)