Is anyone out there?

Long time, no see... where have ya'll been????

Last month Mike, Rylee, and I made the short trip over to Paris to meet up with my friend, Erin O'Brien. Erin (for those of you who know her-you'll think this is funny) was chaperoning a three week European trip of ten girls who just graduated high school. While in Paris, we saw Bastille and that night we saw Sacre Coeur. For dinner we all went to a fondue restaurant where your options were meat or cheese and if you were thirsty, your options were red or white wine... served in a baby bottle. While the baby bottle is quite fitting (being that I'm super-pregnant), the wine was not...

More recently, I spent the day with my cousin's wife, Kirsten, lost and roaming around Brussels. We enjoyed Belgian Waffles, some beautiful sites, the Mannequin Pis, and Kirsten got a taste of a few of the 8700 Belgian beers. That evening, we picked up my cousin Brian when he was done working and went to Leuven where we met up with Mike and Cardboard Carey for dinner.

At this point I am 37 weeks pregnant and am now considered "full term." We are anticipating the birth of our son and visits from our family in the next couple of weeks! We have been and will continue to lay low until the stork delivers our baby boy! Our doctor here told us that the picture below would be how it would happen (and what the boy will look like).

Bruges and Paris

Welcome back faithful followers!  We have quite an update for you.  We've been "In Bruges" and in "Paris - When It Sizzles" since we last had a chance to blog.  For these trips, we've also had the company of my Mom to help us "make memories."

Bruges is an extremely charming old town in northern Belgium.  It is one of the few places to have not been effected by either World War, thus the original beauty from centuries ago is still there for us to appreciate now.  Bruges has been referred to as "The Venice of the North," as there are canals throughout the city.  

We took a tour boat on the canal and we were able to learn quite a bit of history of Bruges.  For example, in the picture below, the Belgians used cow blood in their paint. 

We also saw Michaelangelo's marble creation of "Madonna and Child" which is one of the few pieces of his work outside of Italy.

The Belfry (church in the center of town) was beautiful, especially when it was lit up at night.  For those of you wondering, we did not see the midget or the dead assassin.  Unfortunately, no Colin Farrell either...

The morning after we returned from Bruges, my Mom and I hopped a train to Paris.  In our short trip we were able to see many sights including the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Le Louvre, Champs-Elysees, and we even took a boat trip on the Seine.  

 

Thanks to our friend Ida (pictured below) who lives in Paris, we were able to see the sights as tourists, skip to the front of lines, and get a taste of the local flavor.  We also ate a wonderful meal at her home that she prepared for us and were able to finally meet her adorable six year old son and visit with her husband whom we had not seen for almost 10 years.

On our last morning in Paris, my Mom and I stopped at the Four Seasons to get a drink and ran into my friend Amanda and her husband Matthew who were celebrating their two year wedding anniversary... small world!!!!

Back on the home front, we are doing well.  We finally received our sea shipment and we are realizing that having actual silverware and plates is a commodity we missed, after using plastic utensils and paper plates the last couple of months! Due to the recycling laws here, we had to straighten out all the packing paper and fold it neatly.  Rylee decided to help me in this endeavor.  Our garden has several rose bushes and is beginning to bloom roses that are growing to be as big as Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors!

Random Update

This past week we have been focusing on trying to make our house more of a home.  While we got a lot done, we still have a ways to go! We bought another bed (for a guest room) and a sofa (which can serve as a bed too)... good ole IKEA! We're ready for visitors!!!! 

We have come across a couple of interesting things that we want to share with you.  The first is a vending machine that sells bread and sandwiches.... strategically located in direct sunlight in the middle of nowhere! Let me tell you... there is nothing like a luke-warm, sun soaked, 3 day old egg salad sandwich! Yummy!

Another odd thing we have come across is an intersection to get on the interstate... There is a green arrow telling us to go... but there is also a stop sign... what should we do????

Several people have asked about the pregnancy and everything is going well.  I have seen the doctor here and whether I'm ready or not, the baby is going to come out eventually! We had the 3rd trimester ultrasound done last week and the doctor said, "If 0 is the smallest baby in the world and 100 is the largest, yours is a 93..." Needless to say the doctor projected his birth weight to be just under 10 pounds and he is already almost 3.5 pounds.  But the important thing is that everything looks perfectly normal!

Köln/Cologne

This weekend we returned to Cologne to visit family and tour the city from which Mike's parents originated.  With our tour guides Nathalie (Mike's cousin) and Thomas (Nathalie's boyfriend) we were shown the most impressive building in Cologne, the Koelner Dom.  This cathedral is the tallest in the world and has taken over 600 years to build!  We climbed all 531 steps to reach the top of the Dom, and my legs are still hurting!!!! However, at the top, the breath taking panoramic view include the Rhine River and the surrounding city of Cologne.

We also visited the "4711 House" which is the birthplace of perfume... cologne... get it???

Apparently, older generations in Cologne would use the original "Eau de Cologne" as a cure-all for any and every type of ailment: coughs, colds, swine flu... you name it!

Antwerpen - The Diamond Capital of the World

This past Saturday, we spent the day in Antwerpen.  Our first stop, after persuading Mike, was the Diamond District.  This area had store after store of diamonds of all colors, sizes, and shapes! It turns out that my skills of persuasion have room for improvement, as I left there with the exact same amount of diamonds that I came with.  I was, however, able to get him to agree to go to the Diamond Museum.  I learned, much to my dismay, that diamonds are not forever... but sapphires and pencil graphite are.  Over 80% of all jewelry grade diamonds make their way through Antwerpen. 

After the Diamond District, we went to the Grote Markt.  A bizarre fountain in the middle of the square was surrounded by beautiful ornate buildings.  In this area, too, is the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekatherall (Cathedral of our Lady).  This Cathedral took two centuries to build and it is the tallest Cathedral in Belgium!

                

We also saw a 500 year old building, that was built to serve as slaughter house.  The bricks of the building were also made to look like slabs of lean and fatty meat.

Belgium is known for a few items of food, one which are Mussels.  Mike has been indulging on occasion on this Belgian seasonal favorite.  Unfortunately, the season is coming to a close, the mussels are getting smaller, and we'll have to wait until next year for more! 

Back on the home front, we are settling into our home nicely.  We just acquired our dining room table cast from the finest ethylene.  For those of us who aren't Mike and didn't get our degree in Material Science, that means plastic!

Movin' On Up

We have finally left our teeny apartment, and moved into the house!  It was a lot of work, but was well worth it to get out of the apartment.  Being that our shipment did NOT include any furniture, the four bedroom house is quite empty.  The house does however have four half-baths, which I guess equals 2 baths?  Either way, we're more than happy to not have to deal with a "shoilet" anymore.  We did, however, head to our local IKEA to outfit the master bedroom, so we wouldn't have to sleep on the floor.  The company car provided is a Ford Focus Hatchback, and I'm told that it is a step up from Mike's Corvette.  He doesn't agree.  This isn't exactly an SUV, but is actually quite roomy for European standards.  See below as to just how roomy it is, after our IKEA shopping spree.

Since we are now in our new house, we are learning many new things, such as the garbage/recycling system.  As trash has accumulated, it was time to buy trash bags.  I went to the local grocery store, and after about an hour of looking, found none and return home, tail between my legs.  I had to reset myself back at the house to avoid a grocery store meltdown.  I knew that we couldn't just let the garbage just build up, so I went back to the grocery store determined to find the garbage bags!!!  After another hour of searching, I found these endangered garbage bags.  The sweet success of discovering the location of the bags was tainted by the complexity of the garbage bag system:  brown, blue, white, black, each in varying sizes.  I had heard something of the garbage and recyling color system, but I didn't know that I needed a master of science in garbagocity, to figure it out.  So I bought each kind and spent about $25 for 25 garbage & recycling bags.  I'm hoping there's some sort of tax built in to this, otherwise Mike and I are going to start a garbage bag manufacturing company... seems to be a healthy margin.  

Here's our new address, for anyone who wants to write or visit:

Kardinaal Mercierlaan 21

B-3001 Leuven

Belgium

We will not have internet access at our house until Monday, so we will be out of contact until then.  Also, next week, I will post all of our pictures for the month of April on my facebook page, if any of you facebooker's are interested in seeing them.

House, Brussels, etc...

For those of you who have not yet heard... We have finally picked out our home for the next couple of years and will get the keys tomorrow!!! We are very excited because it is a bigger place than we anticipated renting and the location is great! Just a short 15 minute stroll to the center of Leuven... :) We are the brown building that Mike and Rylee are posing in front of!

Also, since we received our air shipment last Friday, our small apartment seemed to get smaller and well, let's just say that Rylee will be glad to have more space in our new home... her own space!

     

This past weekend we went to Brussels and visited the Grand Place and the "Manneken Pis," which in Dutch means the "little pee man." The Manneken Pis is a small bronze fountain sculpture of a little boy urinating.  Apparently they will frequently dress this statue up in various costumes and will occasionally hook him up to kegs of beer so he will... you know... pee the beer! Yum! ;) Only in Belgium... 

    

The weather here has been great and the trees are blooming, as are the tulips.  We are really enjoying this opportunity and I still can't believe that I get to live here!!! What a blessing...

Koeln

On Sunday morning, we packed our bags and Rylee and headed to Koeln, Germany to visit Mike's Aunt Christa, Uncle Adi, his cousin Nathalie, her boyfriend Thomas, and their dog Charly. We had a great time, ate wonderful food, spent time with some super-hosts, Mike had some Koelsch beer, and Rylee was spoiled beyond belief! So much so, that we now have to hand feed her while she is lying down to get her to eat her food.