Houthalen - Wednesday, July 24

On Wednesday, we were invited to go to Tijl's dad/stepmother' house for a Belgian barbeque. Both Josh and I had been really excited about this ... and (spoiler alert) we weren't disappointed. We took the train - first class seats that Tijl's dad got us - over to Hasselt. Then his dad, Theo, picked us up and drove us to their home in Houthalen.  

 

 

Ine and Tijl on the train. I was always taking sneaky pics of them.

But they are just too cute ... I couldn't help myself.

 

This is what we found upon arrival. It was SUCH a nice set-up ...  *There are some strange spacing going on ... not sure why it won't do what I want*

 





They brought out hors d'oeuvres and champagne.
 

 

Their pup, Wannes, wasn't too sure about Josh.
Though he (Josh) was quite insistent about making friends.





 

After we had a bite, we decided to go to the brewery down the road from their home.
 

 

Like all of the other beer we had ... it was fantastic.

A shot of the fam courtesy of Lotte, Tijl's sweet little sister

 

We talked about all sorts of things (naturally, they all speak impeccable English). And a funny thing happened, somehow or other mentioned that my name means "from the Linden tree." Then I said "I don't even know what that is." Tijl's step-mom, Marijke, was like ... "Oh that's one." LOL, seriously?

So naturally I had to get a picture with it.
 

 

Lindsey with a linden-boom

 

We met up with Petra, Tijl's soon to be sis-in-law, and went for a walk through the picturesque woods nearby.  

A boy and his dog

 

The pup, Tijl and Theo. Another favorite picture.

 

We even watched Tijl play Twister in the woods.

 

We returned to the VanHaren house, where they showered us with food, booze and other goodies. They even gave us several beer glasses.

Oh sidebar: That was one of the major lessons that we learned in Belgium - you MUST have the proper glass with the right beer. No drinking out of bottles. We also learned that foam is good (but more on that later). 

 

So generous.

 

Tijl's sister Lotte gave us buttons that she made. Those were adorable. She's just the most precious thing. She flits around kinda like an angel.

She's going to be an exchange student in Canada next month so she'll be on our side of the world. I've offered her a place to stay if she wants to thaw out at any point during her time there.
 

Love her.

 

So yes. We had drinks and tons of food ... but most of all we had a blast. These people were so generous and hilarious. Loved every minute of it. 

 

Duvel triple hop ... oh yeah.

 



When we were leaving, Theo gave Josh a t-shirt like the one he was wearing. It was just such a fabulous day. It's probably our favorite day we spent there. It's hard to choose but it just felt like we were home.

So cozy.

I'll never forget it.