Sunday, August 12, 2007

We're back!

Here's our vacation in a nutshell:
After 1,5 hours we crossed the Belgium border and I instantly knew I picked the right holiday destination. There it was, gleaming blue and yellow in the sun, and I just had to stop:
Another 3 hours we reached our destination: a small village on the Belgium coast and we went straight to the beach. It was sunny and the beach was perfect - great sand, lots of seashells:
Btw, Damien is sporting his new 80 sunproof set by Hyphen. All I can say is, it was one of my best buys: no sunburn for this kid.
Sunday we had beach weather again, so that is where we went.
After that the weather got colder, so we did little day-trips. We went to De Haan, which has a beautiful park and playground; took the coastal streetcar to the Atlantic wall in Domaine Raversijde, an open-air museum with bunkers from WW2; went to the sea-life aquarium in Blankenberge; and we went to Brugge. We weren't surprised it was on the UNESCO world heritage list after what we saw, it really took our breath away:
Damien also improved his cycling skills and is now well balanced and pretty fast.
Of course we still went to the beach every day, however in clothes matching the weather:
All in all, a fun and recreative family vacation.
Credits: frames by Welli Designs, staples by KSharonK Designs.

38 comments:

Gail said...

Welcome back! So glad you had fun - thanks for the belly laugh about Ikea! Your photos are fabulous!

Yin said...

Welcome back!! That was a great vacation, great one about Ikea! Lovely photos, how do you post the photos in the blog like that without a border - lovely!!

IkeaGoddess said...

@Yin: I color the background of the file the same as the blog background, so the border isn't visible.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back! Nice photos, especially like the one from IKEA as I am also a fan.

Missed your list while you were gone, it´s the best! Thanks a lot.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back...looks like you had a marvelous vacation..Ikea and all!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back. Glad to hear you had a good time.

Unknown said...

Welcome home!!! love the pictures you took!
teri

Anonymous said...

Our closest IKEA is now 5 hours away. I would so pull over to stop at one if I saw it along a highway!

Loved your photos of Brugges - it was/is one of my (if not my most) favorite city in Europe.

Anonymous said...

Looks like you had a great vacation. I'm sure I speak for all of your fans when I say - "WE MISSED YOU!"

Brooke - in Oregon said...

Glad to see you back and it looks like you had an AWESOME vacation! Love the great detail in the old buildings, so cool!

You are back and I am headed out on vacation for a week (thank heavens) :)

Inma said...

Oh my God you stopped in Ikea even on holidays! ;) That was a fun photo LOL

The photos are fantastic, the beach is beautiful and it's a pity you didn't have sun all days there. Brugge is wonderful and the photos make it look a very, very beautiful place. Thanks so much for them and for the links to places you visited, they might come handy if someday I have the opportunity of visiting the place. :)

Damien is growing really fast, he looks a big boy already. Just a question what is he eating in the photo? it looks really nice and yummy (sorry I like food too much *redface*) LOL :)

Thanks so much for sharing the photos with us and welcome back!!!

LVMommy22 said...

it sounds like a wonderful vacation and your photos are gorgeous! i'm glad you had such a lovely time! i missed you, though and i'm glad you're back, lol!
:) M

Serena said...

I LOVE your pictures, they're so wonderful! I'm glad you had a great vacation, you totally deserved it!! Thanks for sharing those! I Love the beach ones, and Damien looks so cute on his bike!!

Kathy said...

You are back. YEA. You have been missed! Lovely photos..my fave are the beach ones.

Cinda said...

Welcome back! We missed you while you were gone. Thanks for sharing your great vacation photos! Ikea opening around here next spring - can't wait!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back! Thanks for sharing your great pictures with us!

Anonymous said...

Welcome home, Ikeagoddess ! We mad our vacations often at the belgium coast, in Middelkerke. Where did you stay ?

Hugs,
Juju

Annie said...

Lovely vacation! I went to Brugge for a day trip 8 years ago while visiting Brussels. FABULOUS place! Welcome back!

Rona said...

glad to have you back! And those are great photos!!!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back. Treasure those memories. We had lovely times on Belgium's beaches, everyone thought we were mad going there, but lovely times were had. My babies, in their 20s now.

Miranda Barten said...

Looks like you had a great vacation!! Think you were close to 'Plopsaland"??? That would have been great!

I missed you around here and I'm happy to see you are back!

Miranda

Anonymous said...

Willkommen zurück - schaut ja wirklich nach schönem Urlaub und viel Spaß aus!
Tolle Fotos und über den IKEA musste ich grad lachen ;-)

Liebe Grüße

Gerti

StarWarsFans said...

Looks like you had a great time! Welcome back!

Deanna said...

So glad you had a wonderful vacation! Of course, we missed you while you were gone. Your pictures were all great and it really makes me jealous and want to head on a plane to somewhere cool!

Lindsay Jane said...

Welcome back..your holiday destination looked like a nice place to visit.

Scrapping Away said...

Nice to see you back!! It looks like you had a pretty good time despite the weather. (I especially like the beach pics and can identify with them lately having just taken my toddler recently to the beach for the first time. LOL, leave it to you to lead off with your top pic in there! It's nice to have you back!!

Anonymous said...

Welcome back! Looks like a great trip!

onehm said...

This looks like a beautiful vacation! And I totally see where you are coming from with the Ikea Love! We are so lucky to have one 15 minutes from our house! ;)

Anonymous said...

I love the big picture of IKEA - you are hilarious! Great photos!

Anonymous said...

So good to hear about your vacation. And so glad you are back! You were missed!! I kept forgetting and popping in. Thanks for sharing your photos. I live very far away so it's fun to see places I'll never have opportunity to visit.

Cheryl Leong said...

Welcome back & it looks like a great holiday for u n ur family... I wish to have my holiday soon, in Sept...

Anonymous said...

Welcome back!! Your photos are gorgeous! Glad you had a good time.

Dulce said...

Soooooo glad you are back. I am glad you had a nice vaca with your fam- Ikea just follows you around HUH... LOL Thank you for the list.. missed ya

jazzmint said...

whoa..u are back finally..we really missed u...love those pics

Jenni said...

Welcome Back! Looks like you guys had a grea time! We all missed you! :)

JenBreeze said...

Welcome back!! Your photos really made me "homesick" since I used to live in Belgium (and spent many Saturdays at that very same IKEA!!) I'm so glad you enjoyed your holiday.

Carol said...

Welcome back, it all looks so fabulous, I can see some wonderful layouts being made by you commemorating your fun time. I LOL'ed at the Ikea picture taking first spot though!

Krizo said...

Hello !

Whoo ! I live in north of France near of the Belgium frontier, and it's strange to think you were near me during your holidays ! I've got the chance to have an IKEA just where I live (Lomme, France). Welcome back, your freebie quest is so useful for us !