Stavelot, Belgium

Pam found this great little festival for us to go to in Belgium. So we rented a van, packed up a bunch of friends and drove the 2 1/2 hours to Belgium. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. After a chilly morning and a slow start to the festival, it quickly got going and we couldn't believe everything that was happening all at once. See below for more explanation.

All of us at the Stavelot festival!

The crazy outfits of the Stavelot festival

I want a bike like that!

Mmm... Pizza!

They're even feeding pizza to the people in the peanut gallery! How cool!

A few hundred years ago, in protest to the Monarchy ruling the area, the townsmen would get one day a year to revolt against the leadership without getting into trouble. To further hide their identities, the townmen would wear a mask, white cape and use a carrot for their nose to avoid punishment for doing crazy things. Today, it's all fun and games, no more Monarchy. But they still put up funny signs all over town making fun of government leaders and such.

One of the many crazy outfits in the Stavelot parade.

A band walking down main street to start the parade.

Our friend Jana got sucked in... of course they speak French in Belgium so she had no idea what they were saying or wanting her to do.

The drunk transvestite enjoying the party!

This pizza wagon was cooking pizza's during the parade. It was the coolest interactive parade I've ever been to.

A few parade participants.

Hangin' with Aaron on Main street before the parade.

The crowd on main street.

Now that is a serious amount of confetti!

The Stevelot Festival Poster

The party dress - CHECK ...the snack grill - CHECK. Now if I could only find some beer. Oh wait, it's only 10am... oh well!

Aaron Visits...

My buddy Aaron, who I went to high school with, flew to Germany to do a little traveling. It was a great - blast from the past - moment to spend more than a week with Aaron. We laughed, reminisced and gave each other a hard time. It was fun!

We ended up going to Wurzburg, Speyer, Kaiserslautern, Belgium and Köln (aka Cologne). Here are a few pics during Aaron's visit.A beautiful church on the hill in Kaiserslautern.

The castle at Wurzburg.

Overlooking Wurzburg.

Wurzburg (that is me out there)

Getting ready for our trip to Burg Nanstein in Landstuhl

The Palace at Wurzburg.

The Castle ruins in Kaiserstlautern.

WWII momument in Kaiserslautern.

A rolling top of sorts... it actually wasn't very hard to push at all.

A really cool looking building in the main square of Speyer

The Koln, Germany sewer grate.

A statue in the front of the residence in Wurzburg, Germany

A signpost in Kaiserslautern, Germany

The fortress wall of Nanstein Castle in Landstuhl, Germany.

A statue in the courtyard of the Castle in Wurzburg, Germany.

The gardens at the residence in Wurzburg.

The ruins of a small castle outside of Kaiserslautern.

The sewer grate in Kaiserslautern.

Trip to the States...

So I went on a little trip to the states. 3 weeks to be exact. Sorry to those I could not visit. I wish I could have. It was a whirlwind of a trip. It was good to see those I had not spent much time with over the last few years. I started in Washington, visited Seattle, Mt.Rainier and Mt. Vernon. Ended up flying to Tucson and spending a week on the farm with the Racicot's. It was a great time. Enjoy!Mom and I in Seattle

Gram and I in Mount Vernon

The Racicot kids playing in the greenhouse on La Buena Vida Farm in AZ.

The cats on the Farmhouse ruins

Playing with the Racicot kids after church in AZ.


Catherine and Francis on the farm

Another beautiful AZ sunset.

The family in Seattle. minus Pam :(


JJ & Persayus

Dad and the brothers getting ready to race go-karts.

Guys weekend camping near Gig Harbor, WA.

Dad and I getting the excavator ready for spring.

The snow at Paradise Lodge on Mt. Rainier.

View from Longmire at Mt. Rainier.

Volunteering at the retirement home Bingo Hall while I was in WA.

The snowfall on the Nyman Farm in Washington.

Heidelberg, Germany

It's been a while since we put anything up in our blog. Sorry. There has been quite a bit going on, including some short day trips and a few long ones. This specific trip was to Heidelberg, which is about 1 1/2 hours drive from where we live. It's a nice city, with a great old castle. The Rhine river flows through Heidelberg and there are some great bridges that cross it. Enjoy!

A view from the castles edge.

The famous last standing "facade" wall at the castle


Pam at the castle ruins

The largest beer barrel in the world (supposedly)