Wow, this week was a busy and fun one!
It started with John's Birthday. I cannot believe John is now 20! He is the most thoughtful and amazing man, and we truly miss sharing these moments without him. We know he's enjoying this time in his life, though, and has just moved into his dorm at UCCS!
Monday was also Liam's first day of school here in Belgium. He has a 15-minute walk along a country road to his bus stop at 7:40 a.m. He would normally be home again by 4:20, but since Volleyball has begun, he stays until 6:00pm. 
Speaking of Volleyball, High school try-outs were this week, and Liam made the team! 😎He isn't too sure he got the position he wanted to play, but nevertheless, he is so happy to play the sport he loves.🏐
This week, I got all the boxes unpacked, pictures hung, and the downstairs area 100% in place! The upstairs will be finished this week. I am 75% of the way done, and then I'll be sure to take a video of everything to show you.
Arturo and I celebrated our 4th anniversary this week.💕
The time has gone so fast since our wedding, and so much has happened in these four years. Arturo joined the military, and we moved from Indiana to Washington State. Now we are living in Belgium. If you had asked me 9 years ago, when we first got together, if I saw any of this happening, I would have thought you were crazy. Especially since I was living in Colorado Springs and he was in Bogota. If any of you want to hear the story of how we met and became a couple, just let me know, and I'll make a post about that!
The time has gone so fast since our wedding, and so much has happened in these four years. Arturo joined the military, and we moved from Indiana to Washington State. Now we are living in Belgium. If you had asked me 9 years ago, when we first got together, if I saw any of this happening, I would have thought you were crazy. Especially since I was living in Colorado Springs and he was in Bogota. If any of you want to hear the story of how we met and became a couple, just let me know, and I'll make a post about that!
On Saturday, we went to Amsterdam for the Sail Parade. "Since 1975, Tall Ships from all over the world have been coming to Amsterdam every five years. SAIL was first organized by the Amsterdam port as a celebration for the city's 700th anniversary. Thanks to its enormous success, it was decided to repeat this event every five years. Over the years, SAIL has grown into the largest freely accessible event in the Netherlands. In 2025, we will celebrate the 750th anniversary of our capital, the 50th anniversary of SAIL, and the 10th edition of the world's largest nautical event."
We went with a travel group from the base since the event was so large. When we got there, we all took a cruise on the water with the ships!
We sailed for about an hour, seeing all the fascinating boats with such history! Afterwards, we went off on our own. We had 6 hours to explore Amsterdam. Since we had been up since 5 am and it was now 1pm, we were ready for a good meal. Amsterdam has so many restaurants, I think we could eat out every day for a year and not visit them all! We had been craving Mexican food, so when we came upon a Venezuelan/Mexican restaurant, we couldn't resist. We enjoyed Venezuelan empanadas, chimichurri steak, rice, beans, and a carne mechada burrito. It was delicious and we were so hungry that I forgot to take a photo. Ha!
We sailed for about an hour, seeing all the fascinating boats with such history! Afterwards, we went off on our own. We had 6 hours to explore Amsterdam. Since we had been up since 5 am and it was now 1pm, we were ready for a good meal. Amsterdam has so many restaurants, I think we could eat out every day for a year and not visit them all! We had been craving Mexican food, so when we came upon a Venezuelan/Mexican restaurant, we couldn't resist. We enjoyed Venezuelan empanadas, chimichurri steak, rice, beans, and a carne mechada burrito. It was delicious and we were so hungry that I forgot to take a photo. Ha!
Knowing that this will not be our last visit to Amsterdam, we didn't feel like we had to do and see everything in one day. We had Liam with us, so we wanted to do things that appealed to us all. 
After lunch, Liam said he would really like to do some shopping, so we went to the main shopping streets in Amsterdam, Kalverstraat and Leidsestraat. The shops were nice, and Liam found some good deals on clothes.
After we shopped for a while, we walked by this place and knew it was time for dessert! The Nutella-covered strawberries were the best, and the guys made equally good choices with a strawberry, chocolate, and Kinder Bueno croissant. 
After that dessert, we decided to sit by the canal and watch the boats and people. Everyone was having a fun time, and we were entertained by the flow of traffic that had some singing, drinking, and crashes. 
After we relaxed a bit, we decided to try one of the attractions. We chose The Amsterdam Dungeon. "Dive into the world of witch hunts, torture, and executions, and experience what it was like to live in those times. Combining theatre, scenery, special effects, and professional actors, the past is brought to life in a unique and vivid way." It was a really fun way to spend an hour, and we laughed and were scared throughout the entire tour. When it ended, we noticed we had 15 minutes to get to the bus, and it was 20 minutes away. We made it just in time to grab sandwiches for the ride home, and then managed to sleep most of the 3-hour ride home. It was a really nice day for sure, and I'm glad we checked out some things Amsterdam has to offer.
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