Lisbon Part 1

We went to Lisbon for President's weekend for some much needed time in the sun and had a wonderful time. John David was great. He slept great and even allowed us to enjoy some relatively stress-free meals. Lisbon was a nice city with very friendly people and it was so cheap! It reminded us of a mix between Greece and Italy.

When we got in on Friday we headed right for Lisbon's amazing aquarium. We knew from our time in Barcelona last year that this would be money well spent. Not only did John David love it but David and I could not have been more impressed. They had a wonderful temporary exhibit on sea turtles, which was extremely well done.





You could "walk" on the water as the turtles and other fish swam under your feet. Hard to get a picture of this but you get the idea. John David loved "chasing" the fish.



Once inside the main exhibit there was a massive aquarium with tons of fish, sting rays and sharks in the center with additional exhibits around the outside including sea otters and penguins.







Here are a few pictures of our exploration of Lisbon









This tram is a tourist destination according to our guide book. We wasted two hours stuck on this thing. To be fair we were trying to reach a castle, but never made it. It was just a tram so if you ever go to Lisbon do not waste your time unless you have never been on a tram or are just looking for two hours of your life to throw away.





View from our hotel room of the elusive castle that we couldn't seem to find.









Santa Justa Elevator; we didn't go up because there was a really long line but it was supposed to have an amazing view



In the next post I was talk about our wonderful day trip to the town of Sintra. But first, here is a couple pictures of the Greek solidarity concert/rally going on in Lisbon when we were there. The Greeks seem to follow us everywhere!

Antwerp Aquarium

A couple of weekends ago we took John David to the Aquarium in Antwerp, which is about 40 minutes away by car.  He loves fish and since he loved our first visit to an Aquarium when we were in Barcelona last year we knew it would be a hit.  It was pretty dark in there so I didn't get the best pictures.  I didn't want to use a flash so I had my ISO set at 3200 and was pretty impressed with how well my camera did in a very low light situation.


Checking out the river fish with Dad










Pleading with Dad to let him get in with the fish

Trip to Technoplis

There is a science center for kids just outside of Brussels called Technoplis.  We have been a couple times but this was the first time John David has been old enough to truly enjoy the exhibits. It is a pretty fun trip and David and I had a great time watching him run from activity to activity.



Shopping for groceries in the play supermarket


Pretending to drive the full sized ambulance on display


Not so sure about the clear glass floor looking down on the first level


Water play is always a hit!

Little Gym

John David recently completed his first term at The Little Gym and it was a blast.  It is basically a gymnastics/tumbling class where they get a chance to run, jump, climb, and swing.  He absolutely loves it and I know it has improved his confidence and coordination. Here are a few pictures from our last class of the term (some of the pictures are kind of blurry because he pretty much refused to stay still long enough for me to get a good shot). Enjoy!




Action Shot - getting ready to jump!









Showing off his medal on the last day of term

Playing in the Snow!

Yesterday, it finally snowed in Brussels.  When I got John David up from his nap I opened up the curtains to find giant fluffy snowflakes falling from the sky.  John David was so excited and he didn't even know what it was.  So we bundled up in our snow gear and headed outside to explore.







He kept saying "Snow!" "Snow!" over and over again and pointing at all of the snowflakes.