Joyeux Noel

We are getting ready to head back to the States tomorrow, so we've been soaking up all the Euro-Christmas we can, it is lovely! It starts a little bit later than in the US, really not in full swing until December.  You will notice the accordion players on the metro playing "Jingle Bells" and although you won't find Santa at the mall, you WILL find a holiday champagne lounge (even better, right!)
We started our festive season with a fun night out at the Sablon.  They had all the shops open late with goodies being served, wine and champagne in the center lot and music on stage. Here is Sofie posing in front of our tiny tree.

Of course we visited the Brussels Christmas market  one night with our friends, the Devines.  The funny part about the Brussels market is that along with the adorable decorated huts, festive lights, gluwine, and roasted chestnuts are things like the "Ice Monster" which is a giant inflatable horror house!  You will also see the most terrifying creatures on the carousel, drunk reindeer, and half naked santa helpers.  It is very strange, but we knew what to expect this year and had a great night!  

Next we had a short weekend trip up to Stockholm to visit Anna and see the Swedish Christmas markets.  Anna lives in a great area on the island of Sodermalm, where we stayed also.  We met up at our hotel, then she took us for a walking tour through the old town and over to her apartment for dinner.  
Saturday we bundled up at took the ferry to Skansen which is an island thats set up as a traditional Swedish village, with little houses, shops, animals, and a Christmas market.  They are definitely more traditional, and it was very interesting to see another set of christmas rituals.  They like to dance around the christmas tree, there was a band playing carols, of course lots of glug and gingerbread (pepperkaken), and little tomta's that you place under the tree. They look like gnomes with red pointy hats and furry beards and according to Anna they "do things" at night to help Santa.


It had just snowed in Stockholm, so everything was so white and Christmasy! It was great to see Anna and Carl- and we really loved Stockholm.

J'adore Paris

Since Sofie's favorite mode of transportation is NOT the car, we decided that our best bet to visit Paris was by Thalys train.  We had a four day weekend so headed to Paris Friday morning, the train was fantastic, so fast and easy, we were there in a little over an hour. Dropped our luggage at the hotel, and found a Brasserie for lunch where I had the best croque madame of my life.  We decided to head to the Eiffel Tower next because we missed it when we came in February when it was FREEZING and we had the best view of it from our hotel anyways, so why bother. So all I wanted was one little picture of the three of us where you could see our faces and the tower in the background.  This took three different nice people on the street that we stopped, plus the time it took them to get out of earshot while I asked the next person.  So...like 30 minutes :) But we got a good one! Next we did a little shopping on the Champs-Elysses, and visited our first "luxury bathroom" which cost 2 euros, but was in fact quite lovely. Cute idea, more like a bathroom store which fun papers, silver toilet bowl scrubbers, and great smells! For an extra 50 cents we could have gone into the "spa" toilette, which we didn't but I REALLY wish we did just because I can't stop thinking about what that could possibly mean.  A massage seat? Heated hand towels? What, what?
Another fun store we visited was the Lavinia wine shop with a huge selection of different wines, mostly French, and a little card that you buy for tasting them!  You basically put money on the card, then stick it into this machine that holds the bottles, put your glass underneath and get a little 3 oz taste.  Genius!
The next day we walked over to the Seine, through the Jardin Tuilleries, and went to the Musee D'Orsay.  As we walked up we got a little turned off by the massive line wrapping around in front of the building until a lovely man who worked there called us over through the line, and told us "our" entrance (aka stroller, wheelchair entrance) was over to the side...with NO line! We got right in and Sofie even permitted us to see everything we wanted (the whole Impressionist floor, some Van Gogh, Rodin and Gaugain) We walked around the city a little more, had some wine with lunch and took the train back to Brussels.
A great trip!

Bucket List!

A few years ago Chris and I came up with our bucket lists, and over the past year we have made some great progress!
When I wrote mine I had decided to include a few "easy" items to get me started and balance the few "harder" ones, such as own a yacht :)  One of the easy items was to go apple picking which is something that I've always wanted to do, and should be a simple task given all the orchards and farms around NJ.  Well,it turns out for one reason or another that I never got to go, so when a friend told me about a place in Belgium I was so excited! We got all dressed up in fall attire, drove about an hour south with our friends, the Weinbergs', down crazy narrow country roads.  After asking a local we realized we had driven right by the tiny paper sign which advertised the apple farm, and when we finally found it, they were all out of apples for the season! Zut!  Have to try again next year!

Sofie in her apple picking outfit, smiling despite having no apples!

Anyways, here are the things we DID manage to check off:

Chris' list: Visit Amsterdam April 2012

 Chris' List: Go in a helicopter, Grand Canyon July 2011

 Chris' List: Go to the Colloseum, Rome January 2012

 Chris' List: Visit the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City January 2012

Chris' List: Visit London, July 2012

Chris' List: Snowboard in the Alps, Zermatt December 2011

 Chris' List: Go to Ireland/Guinness Brewery
The two things that I checked off were being on House Hunters International and flying first class on an international flight which we did when we visited and moved to Belgium :)

The Emerald Isle :)

Well I contemplated skipping through the last few months, so that I could start writing about what is actually, currently happening...but since this blog is about our families adventures, I just couldn't forget about some of the really great things we did this summer.
To begin with in late July we took a trip to Ireland.  It was Sofie first time out of the country, and first stamp on her crazy little US passport (the photo was taken when she was 2 weeks old, and she can't even hold her head up!)  We flew into Dublin where we spent 2 nights.  Sofie was great on the plane, it was only a little over an hour and she was so curious about all the people around her, and voices (pilot, flight attendant) coming from above! We spend our first day walking around the city, it was beautiful and sunny.  One thing we loved was the outsides of the pubs (didn't really see the insides, as kids aren't allowed in them after 6pm)  They were so colorful, decorated with flowers and just exactly as you would picture them- but each one different.  We also visited the Guinness brewery for an interesting tour where the building is shaped like a pint of guinness!  We found a shop that looked up your family heritage in the UK and were able to get copies of Boxer, Thompson and Hewins.  Who knows if they are accurate , but it was interesting to see that the names originated in the area anyways.

Sofie's first boarding pass

Since we are Starbucks deprived in Brussels, its a MUST in any city we visit!

Rented a car the next day to drive west to Galway.  Here we stayed at an old inn/pub (Skeffington Arms) right in the middle of town.  This was another super colorful city that was great to walk around in.  We visited the Claddagh ring museum as this where the jewelry originates! 

Next up was the drive down the coast to see the Cliffs of Moher.  Boy was it windy!! We put our jackets on and climbed the hill to get a fantastic view of these crazy high cliffs! So pretty! That night we arrived in Killarny and stayed in after a long day of driving (Sofie was not much of a fan!)  The next day we drove the Ring of Kerry which is about a 2 hour drive on the narrowest roads (keep in mind Chris was driving on the right side of the car!) where each turn gives your a different, amazing view of the ocean, cliffs, green hills, and animals.  It sounds strange but Chris and I both thought that the view reminded us of Moorea in French Polynesia.  Although the climates are sooo different (it was so cold for a July day!) the mountains must have been formed by the same kind of volcanic remains.

We definitely could have spent more time in this beautiful country, the people were really as nice as they say, especially traveling with Sofie.  Strangers would run over to her to talk, something we aren't used to in Belgium.  I was told that she's the "Imaja-yah" which took me like four times repeated before  I understood :) Also, the butter....oh the delicious butter.  Must be all the green grass and happy cows.

More Grandparents!

Nana and Grandpa came to visit in mid-July and met Sofie for the first time!  I went to pick them up at the airport with Sofie, and was waiting at the gate for a long time with no way of communicating- finally my Mom came out saying they had lost their luggage.  Before I knew it, she had grabbed Sofie and run off with her behind the security gates!  Craziness, though I'm not shocked that this would be possible at the Belgium airport. The security in Europe is SOOO different than in the states.
We had such a great time having picnics in the park, my Dad did ALL of the cooking and Sofie was just as cute as could be- smiling, standing and being fussed over constantly :)

 We took the car one day while Chris was at work and went up to Ghent.  They were in the middle of pretty fun looking festival of music that apparently lasts for the week leading up to the national holiday.  Unfortunately the weather was pretty rainy, but we saw all the sites and had some Ghent beers.

 What would a trip to Belgium be without an abbey visit, so with my parents we decided to go to Grimbergen, one of our favorites.  As an abbey it isn't so much to see (most of them aren't) but the restaurant is really good, we like the beers, and its very close!  The Gallos', Aja's, Weinberg's and Scott joined us as well, so my parents got to meet some of our good expat friends.

Chris and I took advantage of our babysitters, and went out for a date to Belgaqueen.  It was great, the restaurant is set up in an old bank and the food was delicious.  We were also able to get away to the olympics for a day and out for my 30th birthday dinner!

The Olympics in London was a whirlwind day- I really wasn't ready to leave Sofie overnight, so we decided if we wanted to go, we'd have to leave early in the morning and come back the same day.  We saw a hockey game which was in Olympic park and then two volleyball games across the city (team USA!) It was totally amazing to walk around the park, we are so glad that we went!

Sadly Nana and Grandpa had to go home in early August, we really had a such a fun time, can't wait for them to visit again!

Grandma and Grandpa King Visit!

In mid-June Sofie met her first family members, Grandma and Grandpa!  They arrived after a visit to Spain, which of course meant packing for two entirely different "summer" climates.  As much as the Belgians claim this weather is unusual, the weeks of grey, rainy chilliness have continued long past the end of Spring.  It was so exciting to see them and we really had the best time during their visit.

Sofie spend a lot of time "trying on" all her new gear from G-ma

Sofie just loved her Grandma and Grandpa!

We had lots of fun things planned despite the weather, and were glad to have a few days in the sun as well.  First we went up to Waterloo for an annual reenactment of the great battle of Napoleon and the French versus the English/Dutch.  We climbed to the top of the Butte de Leon, visited the muddy battle campsite and had a Belgian lunch at a cafe.
The next day was Father's day so we celebrated with Brunch downtown at the Musical Instruments museum and a walk around the Grande Place.
We also had a visit from Josh, who joined us for a trip to Westmalle Abbey and to the Magritte museum downtown.  Chris was busy with a meetings during the week, so the Kings and I took a trip up to Bruges and enjoyed a canal cruise, chocolate from the The Chocolate Line AMAZING store and of course more beer sampling :)

Walking around Bruges

                                                                                                           

We had to say goodbye to Grandpa early, but we had Grandma for another week and adventures planned to Gaasbeek castle, the Neuhaus outlet and the Tour de France! Gaasbeek was nice, the grounds were really great, but I didn't find the inside to be that spectacular.  Neuhaus was unbelievable, and I was completely sick from eating so much free chocolate! Next time I go in with a chocolate sampling game plan!!          Chris and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary this weekend as well, and with a fantastic babysitter in town (Grandma!) went out for dinner at Comme Chez Soi.  This is probably the best restaurant in Brussels, and Uncle Sean had given us a gift certificate for Christmas which we decided to save for this special occasion.  Everything was AMAZING, we had a seven course meal which included two desserts, some tasty wine, and the most friendly, efficient service I've ever experienced.  It was one of those places where three people run around and fuss if you make a motion like you need to get up for the bathroom, or have a question with the wine.  Very fancy!

Welcome baby Sofie Mai!

So clearly I haven't been keeping up to date with the blogging, I'll have to catch up with the months of May-July
!
May 23rd our beautiful baby girl was born at 7:03 pm at Edith Cavell Hospital.  We were SO sure we were going to have a boy, it was a very fun surprise at the end.  Glad we waited!  She is the cutest thing, was 3.265 kg and 49cm long.  The whole experience was great and I'd love to have a baby in Brussels again! Sofie's due date was a week before and my doctor had offered to enduce on this day.  We thought, why not, so off to the hospital Tuesday May 14th.  One thing that is surely different in Belgium is that you have to bring SOO much stuff to the hospital, so we arrived with a rolling luggage suitcase, pillows, computers, cameras, slippers, robes, shampoo, soap, towels, snacks, books, and clothes for 5 days for all three of us!  This is one of the reasons that it was quite annoying to be turned away- there was no beds for us, so back home we went.  The next morning, we showed up again, me getting more and more anxious to get the babe out, only to be turned away again!  Taking this as a sign, we did NOT show up again the next day, hehe.  Sunday was the new date of induction, so back to the hospital, but after a almost 24 hours of induction meds, two different kinds, we weren't making any progress (just 1 cm dilated!)  I hadn't really slept, the contractions were very painful and we decided to go back home to wait a few more days.  Then Wednesday we arrived at the hospital again, third different induction, Pitocin this time, an epidural and 12 hours later we had our baby! Definitely not the labor story we had expected, but a story non-the-less.
 Our stay at the hospital was great, they have you "room in" with your baby for 5 days! Every day was full of activities, like learning how to give a bath, a visit from the pediatrician, a massage from the kinestherapist, and three pretty good meals a day.

 The midwives were so nice and taught us a lot in the first few days.  Although I was definitely ready to get out of the hospital by Sunday, the stay was very enjoyable!

Our first family photo!

The day we got home Sofie had her first overseas visitor, Clare and Matt!  They were in Brussels, for a few days and we were lucky enough to catch them before they left.  We had a nice time catching up (wish it could have been longer!)

From the very first days home Sofie has been a great sleeper at night and an all around great baby :)  She loves smiling, sticking her tongue out, laying on her jungle mat and being carried all over the house.

A-DAM fun birthday weekend!

When I realized that Chris' 30th birthday was going to fall on Easter weekend, I "hopped" to planning a little getaway.  Not being able to fly anymore (34 weeks prego!), we decided on going up to Amsterdam- just a two hour drive north.  I know what you're thinking, IS there a better party spot for a 30th birthday?!!? What with all the tulips, pancakes, windmills and canals!  Well the answer is no!  We had a blast :)
                                      

First stop on our mini road trip was the world famous Keukenhof in Lisse, Holland.  This is an amazing indoor/outdoor botanical garden, open mid-March to mid-May every year.  You could spend the entire day here walking around the perfectly designed and planned flower beds- mostly tulips but other pretty flowers as well.  There is a classic old windmill that you can climb up to the top of, and on this really windy day it was whipping around like crazy!

A hedge maze!

For my swollen prego feet!

The outside of the Keukenhof was maybe the best part, just field after field of different colored tulip in lines stretching as far as you can see.
After that it was back in the car and off to Amsterdam (just 30 more minutes or so)  We stayed in a nice hotel right by the museum district and one of the major canals.  We checked in then went right out to explore.  Just crossing the street was pretty terrifying.  Living in Brussels we are used to crazy drivers and even trams coming from all directions, but here we found a new insane danger....the BIKES!  People in Amsterdam FLY down the "bike lanes" which are completely indistinguishable from the sidewalk- with just a tiny little bell as a signal meaning "get the hell out of the way or I'll run you over!"  For the birthday dinner we went to a restaurant my friend recommended called Balthazar's Keuken (kitchen) which was SO good.  Just a tiny place run by a couple with a set menu (all you chose is your main course between two options) The owners were really nice, food was delish, we would love to go back.  We got great news that night that the Herron's had their baby earlier in the day.  Little Olivia and Chris share a birthday!

Easter Sunday we got up and had some delicious Dutch pancakes.  They are almost like a thicker crepe, with the filling (fruit) baked right in.  It was such a sunny nice day, we booked a canal cruise that started right outside our hotel.  The "blue boat" took us all around the city, past some really cool looking house boats, Anne Frank's house, through a lot of the historic districts and even to the harbor.  After that we headed over to the Van Gogh museum, which was funny because my parents had just seen a lot of his work in Philadelphia the weekend before.  So we missed a few of the more famous paintings, but still got to see his self portraits, the sunflowers and a lot of less famous, but impressive paintings.  After lunch we walked over to the Heineken "Experience" which is a tour of the old Heineken brewery.  Chris probably enjoyed this more than me, but then again he got to drink my beers (you get two with your ticket!)

Monday we had reservations for a Dutch cheese tasting at the Reypenaer cheese house.  This was very cute, set up like a little classroom where we sampled, graded and analyzed a bunch of their yummy cheeses.  Chris and I are both horrible at identifying what a cheese smells or tastes like....um cheese, hello?  But we still passed the course :) We bought some to take home and along with a Guillotine cheese slicer- which is super fun!

It was great weekend, we love all things Dutch!