Rewind to...Belgium and France

The first stop on our two-part voyage overseas was in Brussels, Belgium with a weekend trip to the French countryside. Michel is the youngest of 8 (EIGHT, not a typo) children. For some of you this may explain his tendency to be the little brother and kid around. His fun-loving nature is one of the things I love best about him! We visited Michel's brother Christian and wife Khadia and their two boys Paul and Theo who live in Brussels, plus we got to see Khadia's parents, Mami and Papi Soumare. We loved seeing Michel's brother Eric in Brussels and Lille, and Tonton Guy-rene and his four beautiful daughters who live in Lille (France), and Tonton Alexis and his two awesome kids Nicolas and Olivia outside of Paris. It was my first time to Lille, where Michel spent his years from age 11-14. I am well aware of the fact that we came from different parts of the world and had such different childhoods, so I love visits with Michel's family when I get to learn more about his life back home and I can imagine him as a little boy.

I had no expectations of it being a relaxing trip, and wondered what we were thinking a few days before as we still had to pack up our apartment, move our stuff to Charlotte, and drive up to PA and then to NY to fly on our first of 4 long flights with a 9-month old! But Bentley did great and was able to sleep on most of them. Thankfully he didn't adjust to the time change in Europe so he went to bed at midnight and slept until 11am every day! I let myself sleep in with him which was amazing and exactly what we needed. For those who have youngsters who typically awake at the crack of dawn like Bentley does, go to a later time zone and enjoy late nights and late mornings!

Here are a few pictures from our trip. Unfortunately we lost our photos from the Europe part of our trip, but thankfully my brother-in-law Christian is a photographer extraordinaire so I got some from him!

All smiles on vacation!

My bro-in-law Eric, being patient with my bad French!

I had my first birthday overseas and the Lusakueno family went all out. A close family friend, Christopher, is a chef at a top restaurant in Brussels and so they had him come cook for us! This was my birthday dinner...nothing short of amazing.

Bentley clapping after we blew out my candles. The chocolate cake was delicious!

A nighttime stroll in Brussels. So fun to be able to stay out late with the little guy!

Christian and Khadia, Michel's big bro and sis-in-law...so cute!

Mami Soumare carrying Bentley African-style around the house. She was also giving him airplane rides on her legs...amazing!

Bentley loved Khadia and would choose to go to her over me! I love them laughing together!

Tonton Guy-rene's family in Lille...Bentley was in heaven with all of his girls. Can you tell which one married into the family??

Family outside of Paris...Tonton Alexis, Nicolas, Olivia and Christian with us.

Time to say goodbye :(...with Paul and Theo at the airport