Battle of the Bulge....Bastogne, Belgium

On the first of two long weekends that we had in May, we decided to head to the Battle of the Bulge site here in Belgium with the Hamlets.  It's only an hour or so away and Mike had just watched the Band of Brothers HBO series so he was really wanting it to be on our Euro "list."  Well, we get to check that off now!  The kids actually didn't complain about this trip because there was no castle or church on the agenda :)

This museum actually had a lot of good information and the props looked pretty real.

The boys were interested in why the men would need these things....

Next we went to the Mardasson Memorial, a massive monument honoring the over 76,000 soldiers that were wounded or killed in the Battle of the Bulge.  The outer rim of the monument names the 48 states and from an aerial view, the shape of the monument is a star.

The Latin inscription on this memorial stone says "The Belgian people remember their American liberators- 4, July 1946"

The inter-walls were inscribed with the story of the battle

We climbed on top of the monument for some nice views

Then we drove towards Foy, which is a tiny little town, to see the woods where the battle went on.

If you've seen the Band of Brothers, then you know these are THE woods where it all happened.  One side of the road was where the Germans were and the other side, the Americans.

Preslee thinks she may have found a foxhole!

And the boys think they have found a piece from the war....I don't know about that :)

Preslee thought maybe this area was used as a "table and chairs."  It does look that way.

These boys will eat off anything!

To continue our American "holiday" in Belgium, we headed to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany for a fun few days of Americana!!  Bowling, golf, and Taco Bell!!!!

Best buddies...Kade and Ryan

These two stick like glue!  Connor and Drake

And the pretty ones of the group...Caroline and Preslee

Thanks Hamlets for a fun-filled weekend!!