Real Life in the Sprouts

So as of yesterday we have officially been here a year...ummm, crazy right!?!  I can't believe time has gone by so quickly.  There's been ups and downs, but overall I wouldn't change a thing about the past year or our decision to pack up everything and move to Belgium.  We've made some wonderful new friends, traveled to places I've never dreamed possible, grown closer as a family of three, and learned so much about ourselves and life along the way!  It really has been one of the greatest and most challenging experiences of my life.  So to celebrate I thought I'd give you a little glimpse in to the "behind the scenes" version of what it's really like to live in Brussels (sorry, wish I had more pictures to go along with these, but hopefully you can picture it in your head :o)...

• The BOB (Autumn's stroller) is truly our shopping cart.  Even though we typically go to the grocery store every day, sometimes I have to stock up on things and it's so loaded down that when I take her out the whole thing tips over backwards.  Yikes!
• Autumn tends to get a little car sick sometimes.  So far she's thrown up in Italy, France, and Germany...ick!
• Autumn turned the bidet in our Barcelona bathroom on full blast and flooded the whole thing in about 2.2 seconds.  Double ick!
• On more than one occasion we have been stuck out in a rainstorm that was so bad it literally turned our umbrella inside out.  Try holding on to that while pushing a stroller.
• Autumn is a big girl now and often doesn't want to ride in her stroller...so she gets to wear her puppy backpack/leash (see picture below).  Yep, we're those parents...there's a whole modern family episode about us...ha!  Hey, what would you do with a rambunctious toddler when you are almost always walking along a busy street or at a crowded place
• Autumn's French is currently better than her Mommy and Daddy
• I love living in the city...Jacob and I have both commented on how we love having everything so close and taking public transportation...it really is great.  I have this unexplainable need though, whenever I'm going to catch the bus or the train I end up half running, half walking right before I get there because I'm so scared I'm going to just miss it (even if there is another one likely coming 5 minutes later)
• Unbeknownst to us, Autumn liked the remote control from our Venice hotel so much she snuck it in to our luggage and it made the trip home with us. 
• Whenever Autumn is banging something on the floor we tell her to stop because the people downstairs won't like it.  And now every night while saying her prayers before bed she asks to pray for "the people" Ha!
• Autumn's picture can likely be found all over the web posing with many an Asian women...we have been stopped at least 20 times all over Europe and asked for her to do a photo op with them.
• We're pretty sure the elevator in our building is the original dating back to the 1930's.  You have to close a door and two gates every time you get in and want it to go any where.
• Our building is in a pretty nice area of Brussels, but it also turns out to be one of the prime locations for the "ladies of the night."  Rain or shine you will likely run in to several of them just around the corner if you are out past dark.  
• During the summer it gets light about 4:30 am and stays light till about 10:30 pm...but in the winter, it's dark till about 9 am and gets dark around 4 pm :o(
• Autumn loves staying in hotels (I think it's because she gets to sleep with Mommy & Daddy) and she'll talk about it for weeks if she knows we have a trip coming up.  On our last trip, she was dead asleep in the backseat when we pulled in to our hotel around 10:30 PM.  As soon as we turn in the lot she wakes up and she screams "I see it, I see it!!"  Haha...she was so excited!

I hope you enjoyed reminiscing with me about the joys of being an expat in Belgium.  Here's to another year of fun adventures...wherever we may be :o)

ps...check out what a difference a year makes when you are little...

here is Autumn when we first moved here compared to now...

Is Anyone Not at the Beach Today?

So for our fun Wednesday adventure this week we headed to the coastal town of Blankenberge for a sand sculpture exhibit.  The theme was "Once Upon a Time in Dreamland" and celebrated Disneyland Paris' 20th anniversary.  Unfortunately I'm pretty sure EVERY single person in Belgium had the exact same idea!  It was a beautiful day...sunny skies, low 80's...the perfect day for a beach adventure, or so we thought...until we realized we were going to be fighting the crowds just to make it in to the tiny coastal town.  Our one and a half hour journey soon turned to three as our overloaded train couldn't even get out of the Brugge station because it was busting at the seams!  They forced people off asking them to catch the next train so they could get the doors closed.  Ha!  Unfortunately our friends that were making the trek by car didn't fare much better as they sat in traffic with little ones in tow.  It was crazy, and by the end of the day I was kinda wishing we had some overcast skies and chilly breezes to make the trip a little easier.  We made it though and the sand sculptures were lovely!

The pictures don't do it justice...it is pretty amazing what these artists can create from sand! After we'd seen it all we were off to enjoy the beach for a bit before heading back to the city...hey, we wanted to soak up some of the lovely sunshine too :o)  After all it took to get there, we definitely needed to at least  stick our feet in the water!

And boy did it feel good!!  The trains were only leaving once an hour so after cleaning off *most* of the sand :o) we high-tailed it back to catch the 3 o'clock train and somehow even managed to get seats this time.  We were worn out from a long day of traveling, but I'm so glad we made the trip!!  Tune in next week for more Belgian fun!!

Oh and click here if you want more sand sculpture and beach pics :o)

A Weekend in Prague

Last weekend was Belgium's independence day so we had a three day weekend to plan.  We originally planned to make it a four day weekend and to go to Prague AND Berlin, but soon decided that was just too ambitious and likely not enjoyable at all.  So we were off to lovely old Prague instead.  Prague is about a nine hour drive from Brussels (without stops) so we opted to split the trip up on the way there with a night in Wurzburg, Germany.  It worked out great and made the drive much easier to take.

We arrived in Prague around noon on Saturday to our lovely Hotel Questenberk. Built back in 1610, it was such a charming hotel and since it was located up the hill by the monastery, the views were great! I had to laugh though, when I asked if it used to be a church...the lady looked at me like I had two heads or something and said no it was just old.  Here's a picture of it...any guesses where I got that crazy idea :o)

After we got settled we headed out to explore.  It wasn't exactly ideal weather...as it was chilly and raining off and on, but we still had fun.  We wandered around the palace...

We saw four brides/grooms getting photos done by the beautiful St. Vitus Cathedral

This one was my favorite...

We played some hide n'seek...

 It cracks me up that Autumn thinks she's hidden if she can't see you

Here she is peaking up to see if we can see her :o)

It was a fun afternoon...even if the weather was gross.  After a quick bite to eat it was back to our room to rest up for another day of sightseeing.  Sunday morning we were up bright and early and off to explore some more.  It started out pretty gray too, but by the end of the day the sun was shining...yeah!  So we headed down the hill to see the rest of the city.  Here are some favorite shots from the day...

After our hike back up hill...and trust me, it was a heck of a hike! We had dinner at our hotel and then took some pictures of the view (with some blue skies).  This was the view from just behind our hotel...told you it was cool!

After dinner we decided to hike up yet another hill to the lookout tower/eiffel tower replica.  We didn't have enough Czech Koruna (money) to all go to the top so Jacob offered to let me go alone...so sweet :o) 

The view from the top was awesome...don't you think...

Prague was a nice weekend getaway...even if it was a long drive.  It's a beautiful city with lots of history and character.  We enjoyed our time there and are thankful to be back traveling again.

Click here to view the full album of pictures from Prague. 

Antwerp Zoo & Shopping

Our second installment of "Wild about Wednesday" was another big hit!  Again we some how managed to get some sunshine and nice weather...which just makes everything so much better! And we had a lovely time with friends exploring the Antwerp zoo and shopping off the sales racks (Belgium law allows stores to only have "sales" in January and July...so of course we had to take advantage).

Autumn and I hopped on the train bright and early to make the trek to Antwerp to meet our friends for a fun day at the zoo!!  We actually arrived at the train station a little early and since there is a train from Brussels to Antwerp leaving about every 20 minutes or so we were able to catch an earlier train...too bad we didn't realize it was the SLOW train to Antwerp...our 50 minute ride just turned in to an hour and a half and we actually arrived AFTER the train we originally planned to catch...ha...so much for my planning.  But we made it and found our friends and had a great morning wandering around checking out all the animals.

 Ooh-Ooh-Aah-Aah

Love her expression here...she looks like she swallowed a bug :o)

Where did the giraffe's go? 

I couldn't believe how packed the zoo was...especially at 22 euros a pop!!  I am definitely spoiled by the awesome FREE zoo we have back home.  After we had seen just about everything, we stopped for a quick picnic lunch and then our friends were headed home for naps.  Autumn and I were planning to make a day out of it though...she's always been great at napping on the go (sometimes too great and she naps in her stroller when I want her to wait and sleep in her bed...ha!) so we'd planned to spend the afternoon shopping.  Before nap time though we had to get in one more treat...a ride on the cars!  The was a small carnival just outside the zoo with the cars Autumn loves so much!  She chose this fun pink rig...

After a few hours of retail therapy we were back on the train and headed home.  This time I made sure we caught the fast train and made it back to Brussels in around 45 minutes!  We had some in-train entertainment too with two cute little French speaking girls sitting across the aisle from us.  By the end of the trip they were sitting with us, drawing pictures for Autumn, and giving us the traditional "cheek kisses" goodbye.  It was so cute...even if we couldn't understand each other.

I'd say summer is definitely starting to perk up...today we had our first music class (this time at the English music school called Ding Dong), tomorrow we're off to Prague, and for our next Wednesday adventure we're headed to the coast for a sand sculpture exhibit!

Yesterday was a good day...

I've been desperate to break out the slump I've been in so I've decided to start planning an activity for Autumn and I (and anyone else who wants to join us) for every Wednesday...I've lovingly named them our "Wild about Wednesdays."  Yesterday was our first one and although it was short notice Andi and Brooklyn decided to join us...yeah!  I had been planning to visit the Royal Museum for Central Africa in the nearby town of Tervuren since I'd heard about it in the hints class.  And since it is closing at the end of the year for a 3 YEAR renovation I decided we probably should do it sooner than later.  


So off we went...it was a relatively easy trip although it took about an hour.  But the best part was when we arrived the clouds parted and the sun was shining on the beautiful gardens that surround the museum.  We decided to take advantage of the sun shine and let the girls run around a bit. As are many places in Belgium, the grounds were nicely maintained and quite beautiful.  Autumn and Brooklyn sure had fun!

The museum itself is quite stunning from the outside too...

After the girls were somewhat tired out we decided to head in doors.  There were many interesting things to see inside the museum.  Lots of musical instruments, an enormous canoe carved out of a single tree trunk, and many other relics...here is a full list from the website of what is housed here (WOW):


Impressive figures
10,000,000 animal specimens
6,000,000 insects
800,000 fish
400,000 19th century photos of Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo
650 films about DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi from 1940 to 1960
180,000 ethnographic objects
60,000 specimens of woody plants
40,000 aerial photographs
20,000 geological maps
16,000 minerals
8,000 musical instruments
4,000 works of art
2 km of historical archives (including over 10,000 letters and photographs, 88 diaries and notes of - among other - Stanley)

I have to admit though Autumn and Brooklyn's favorite part was the animals!!  There was even a giraffe and an elephant!!  Cool :o)

After we had made a full loop it was time to head home and get our two girlies in bed just in time for naps (ok so they both fell asleep in the stroller, but it was totally worth it...and Autumn surprisingly transferred to her bed quite easily to finish her nap).  After our fun first adventure I'm definitely looking forward to more "Wild about Wednesday" trips!!

And to top off the day I met some lovely ladies from the American's Women's Clubs for their Mom's Night Out.  They were headed to a very American style restaurant called Fat Boys (that doesn't sound like it would be American at all does it...haha) that was only a quick bus ride away.  It was great catching up with some ladies I hadn't seen for awhile and enjoying a delicious hamburger too.  All in all it was a great day in Brussels...and I'm starting to think Wednesdays may just become my new favorite day!

Summer has finally arrived!

I know most of my friends back home will laugh at this post when I say I've been missing the warm, sticky days of good ole St. Louis (especially since it's been over 100 there lately), but until just recently Brussels weather has been cold and rainy and blah!  It's really not helping with the funk I've been in either...ever since our whirlwind travel/visitor schedule ended I've been feeling kinda down and just not motivated to do anything!  It doesn't really help that everything here virtually shuts down during the summer.  No more music, no more playgroups...many of our friends aren't even in the country right now :o(  Our schedule that was keeping us busy and entertained since we got here is just missing and I'm kinda bummed out.  But enough of the blues...the weather is changing and I think summer has finally arrived!  We've even had a couple days in the 80's!  So we're trying to get out and take advantage of it...

Here's Autumn playing in the fountains at Flagey (where our outdoor market is on the weekends)...

And yesterday we visited one of the provincial parks (Zwembad Provinciedomein Huizingen) in the area...this was our first trip to one of these parks and my exact words were "I think I kinda love this place."  It was amazing...beautiful landscaping...tons of open space, kids playgrounds, a mini zoo, paddle boats...and a water park!  You probably think we're crazy for going swimming when the temperatures have barely gotten out of the 70's, but the pool was heated...and we had so much fun!!  Lots of areas for the little ones...which was good because Autumn is still a little timid about swimming...but by the end, she was blowing bubbles in the water and venturing out on her own a little bit.  It was a great day...and we will definitely be going back!

So hopefully nice weather will stick around so we can get out more and make the most of our time here.  After all who knows how long it will last.  One thing that will definitely help is we now have our trips planned out for much of the rest of the year...yeah!!  In two weeks we're headed to Prague for a long weekend, in August we're spending 5 days exploring the UK including Scotland, in September we're going to Istanbul, October...to the lovely US of A :o) for my sisters wedding, and November we're off to Seville, Gibraltar (as in rock of), and Morocco!!  Woohoo!