Hello parents and friends. We made it, and our jets were certainly faster than this wifi connection. Pictures though have been posted

With each post I'll hope to post two or three photos, and to see them all you can go to the Fiickr site by clicking this link to see the first of the photos. And also for future reference, you can find the low resolution photos posted on the MindStretch Travel Adventures Facbook page. Those load a lot faster and I do post just two or three sentences about our day's activities...when I can.

I say "when I can" because there will be days we have no Internet access, we get in too late, or there might be some other technical difficulty. Just know photos are coming.

To spare you the boring details we made it to Brussels about 30 minutes late and that wasn't a problem for us. We were on no time schedule so we took care of validating our Eurail passes (now good for 17 days of unlimited travel), took a train from the airport to downtown Brussels, and then about 45 minutes later were headed to our destination for the next two nights - Bruges, Belgium. It's also spelled Brugge. Alex McIntyre's mom, Virginia, suggested this as a better place to stay than Brussels and was she ever right!! It's a charming small city and our hotel is just one minute from the heart of it. Of course, that's making for a noisy evening - but as I write this all the boys are fast asleep. It's 10 P.M. Belgium time and most have been asleep since 7 o'clock. That would have made over 30 straight hours most have been up. They'll be raring to go in the morning.

So today was meant to be a leisurely get here and take it easy day. We did have lunch outdoors at a sidewalk cafe and then gave the boys some time to explore the shops and sites. We had one of several trip meetings before that to go over some of our expectations. And we also sent one leader and one young man back to the train station to see if he could find his lost baggage. Don't worry. You would know if this were your son's bag since his parents have been notified. We're hoping the train company is about to retrieve it and get it back to Bruges.

Tomorrow will be another leisurely day. Boys will eat breakfast whenever they want within the window of opportunity of the hotel (7:30 -10) and we'll meet at 10 to plan the day. A part of that is choosing where we're going next and then trying to get train reservations. And we also have other things planned including a visit to a place called the Historium which you'll hear about tomorrow.

And so the carillon concert just ended (right next door to our hotel) and it's "kind of" settling down out there. I'm exhausted...and ready for bed.

So excuse any mistakes, enjoy the pictures, watch for more though they might not show up every day.

And yes, we're having fun.

It's been just a week since we returned from a wonderful week in West Virginia with 20 energetic and excited boys. It was a great trip and I miss those guys a bunch.

I'm also so excited that about 48 hours from now we'll be somewhere over the Atlantic heading toward Brussels and the start of 20 amazing days in Europe. On the West Virginia trip we had major activities planned for each day with time left over for the unexpected. But on the Europe trip, all we know is that we're starting in Brussels, taking a train to Bruges, Belgium for the first two nights and then about two and a half weeks later ending up in Munich, Germany for the final three nights. In between, the boys get together and decide where they want to go, how long they want to stay, and what they want to see. They can choose from over 20 countries in Europe and we travel to all of these places by train using our Eurail passes.

I am so fortunate to be able to take these fabulous trips. I so appreciate parents for their support and the kids for their willingness to try new things. Follow this blog for trip updates and photos. It all starts Sunday and the first blog posts will hopefully get started on Monday evening depending upon jet lag.

I can't wait.