Today in Brugge.....

So long, Farewell

2009-05-30T12:54:00.000-07:00

As you can see by the picture above our house is "Te Huur" or in English: For Rent. We're officially moving back to America. It's going to be a crazy summer for us.

People are asking if I'm sad to leave well, I'm more reminiscent than sad. I've grown so much as a person over the past 3 years. I've pushed my self to do things I never thought I'd do. I've survived living in a country where I don't speak the language very well. We've grown as a couple. We've delivered and raised a baby in a foreign country. If that's not a challenge I don't know what is. I've seen more places than I ever dreamed I would see.

I find myself always saying, "In America" or "In my country" but, I bet from now on I will say "Well, In Belgium!" Belgium has left an everlasting mark with me and I will never be the same.

I'm extremely excited to move back to America and have all of the modern conveniences that I haven't had for 3 years. But, not having all of the modern conveniences (dishwasher, car, large washing machine, large dryer, large refrigerator, freezer, large oven, a double kitchen sink, dry cleaners, air conditioning, etc.) has really taught me to appreciate things more. I hope to take all of what I've learned here and keep it up in the U.S. I'm sure it will be hard not to get swept up in the self-indulgent, glutenous ways of American life but, I'm sure going to give it a try.

I'll try not to make it sound like an award speech but here are a few shout-outs.

Shannon, without you my European experience would have been a miserable 3 years. From keeping the slingbox working (my American TV); sending countless care packages; coming out to visit me when I needed a friend or just a vacation; loving Alexis as if she were your own child, calling me everyday. You will never know how much those things mean to me. Your not only my BFF you're the sister I never had.

Mom, thank you for always being there for me. For calling me everyday at 9:15am your time. I looked forward to your calls everyday. Thanks for keeping up with all of our mail that was sent to your house. Thanks for skyping everyday to see me and Alexis.

Dad, thank you for always being there to help us out when we got stuck in a sticky situations. Like the time we accidentally put unleaded fuel in our diesel tank. And all the times I needed voltage information or drill help. I always enjoyed our Sunday morning chats too!

Thanks Mom and Dad for putting us #1 in your life.

Jacke, thanks you for all of the times you came out to see us and travel with us. Thanks to for all the shirts you ironed for me! And calling to check in and keep up with how our week was going.

Shanell, thanks so much for letting us come to see you so often. Just knowing a family member was so close was just like being at home. Thanks for letting us go to the commissary and PX to fuel our American cravings. You never complained when we had two carts piled high with groceries or when we had 20 jumbo packs of diapers in the cart. Your kindness will never be forgotten.

Finally, thank to everyone who ever came out to see us. We really enjoyed showing everyone around and showing them our new life.

Thanks to everyone who ever sent anything to us. Whether it was a card or gift, it was nice to know we were being thought of.

Thanks to all of my blog readers out there who faithfully read each week and kept me in check when I wouldn't post for a few weeks. You are the ones that kept me doing this for 3 years.

_ - _ - _ - _ -

I leave next Friday and will officially be back in Atlanta (Gwinnett specifically). Scott will be back and forth from Europe and Atlanta all summer until we officially get settled in. Only 1 more 10 hour flight with a baby (well, now toddler!) YAY!

I won't be doing the blog when I get back to ATL (it is called Today in Brugge afterall) but, I should have a couple more posts before we leave so keep checking back. Just wanted everyone to have time to grieve over not being able to read the blog anymore. laugh.

Until then....

Hanging out in the city

2009-05-25T00:53:00.000-07:00

We had a little photo shoot by the windmills the other day. It's so fun now that Alexis is walking. However, we didn't get too far because she stopped every step to pick the flowers.

It is very crowded in town with all of the tourists so Scott likes using the backpack. This time he wanted me to try it. He bribed me with pizza to wear it out. I'm not a backpack kind of girl so this is the one and only time I'll be sporting the look.

The stroller is more my speed.

FINALLY, someone told me where the one and only baby swing is in Brugge. It was in a park and neither Scott or I had heard of. I love this park. It's a little further out but it's much cleaner and more peaceful than the other parks in town. Alexis loves the swing too. Daddy pushes her much higher than Momma. If you couldn't tell by the different outfits in the pictures below, we go to the park everyday. The weather has been a cool, breezy 70 degrees lately.

Alexis likes putting her hand in the sand. I can't tell you how much better this secluded park is. At the other parks the sand is full of crap. Literally, it can have dog poop in there, cigarette butts, and brace yourself....one time Scott saw a condom. AAGH! I'm so glad we found this one because I started feeling bad for Alexis since I wouldn't let her touch the sand at the other parks. We've only found sand, rocks and sticks in this sand so far!

Tight Left, Wide Right

2009-05-18T05:29:00.001-07:00

For my 30th Birthday we drove over to England. We had a great time. I had wanted to see the Windsor Castle before our time we left Europe so that's what I got for my birthday present. We drove over via the English Channel/Euro train. This is the train that you drive your car onto in France and it takes you under the water to England. It takes about 30 minutes to cross. Since they drive on the other side of the road in England Scott and I are always reminding ourselves: Tight left, Wide Right. That's so we don't drive on the wrong side of the road!

Our hotel: The Oakley Court Hotel in Windsor

Alexis walking in the courtyard of the hotel.

The hotel overlooked the Thames river.

The walls of the Windsor Castle.

Walking up to the gates of the castle.

I guess we could have fixed her hat. :)

People always ask what the euro train looks like: We drove into one of the open doors and then sat in our car for 30 minutes.

Sleeping for the last 1/2 of the trip.

Happy 1st Birthday, Alexis!

2009-05-15T04:49:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been 1 year already. It seems like just yesterday I was holding this tiny baby in my arms and now she's the one holding and cuddling with her stuffed animals. I'm still amazed at how fast she's grown. We've had an absolutely amazing year. I had planned on writing a blog about the day she was born but it ended up being 11 pages and who wants to read 11 pages of a birth story. I've saved it and put it in her baby book. Instead for the blog readers, here are pictures of how the birthday girl spent her day!

Alexis at her birthday breakfast, eating pancakes.

Playing peek-a-boo.

YAY!

Having playtime before our morning nap.

It's party time! Hats and all!

Let's open gifts!

Above is a video. Press play to watch.

What better present can you get than a stuffed animal cow?

Alexis' Birthday Cupcake!

We videoed her eating the cupcake on our other video camera and the battery went dead and we can't find the cord to plug it in. I'll upload it once we find it. It was really cute. She was really neat with it. She licked all of the frosting off and then asked for some water. Then I pulled the cupcake apart and she loved it. I'm sure she was on some sort of sugar high!

Family Photo!

Alexis talking to her Aunt Shannon on the phone!

Waiting on the school kids to come back from lunch. They all said "Happy Birthday" to her since her shirt said "Baby's first birthday". (Don't worry, Scott was within reach in case she fell. We just did it for a cute picture.)

More playtime!

Alexis thanks everyone for the Birthday wishes!

Proof.....

2009-05-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

that she's walking (for the grandparents).

Mother's Day

2009-05-13T04:38:00.001-07:00

I had a wonderful 1st Mother's Day. Scott and Alexis made my day very special. He made me pancakes and bacon, changed all of the diapers, did all of the dishes (by hand since we don't have a dishwasher), and did anything I asked for in between those.

At the park visiting our friends: the ducks.

Momma and Alexis

By the way, Alexis is walking. She took her first steps on April 29th but this week she's been walking to get things she wants.

Scott has a big week this week (a for years to come): Mother's Day, Alexis' 1st birthday on the 15th and my 30th birthday on the 16th.

Stay tuned for a fun week ahead for the Eichenberger Family!

The cow says moo....

2009-05-08T04:55:00.000-07:00

If I had a quarter for every time I said that the past 5 months, I'd be rich. On a daily basis Alexis and I walk into town to go see the horses and ducks and pass a few cats and dogs along the way too. Cows are still her favorite though. She's can moo on demand. Last Sunday we ventured out to find cows, which isn't that hard in Belgium.

Alexis' is in the process of "mooing" in this picture.

********

My cousin Shanell drove up to see us last weekend too. We had a great time touring around with her. Shanell and I took a Segway tour of Brugge while she was here. It was something I had been wanting to do before I left so it was the perfect opportunity. Shanell has the pictures on her camera but just click on the link above to see what it was like. It was awesome! I had the best time. I wasn't scared at all weaving through the traffic of people, buses, cars and horses. It was super easy too!

Alexis and Cousin Nell

Shanell and Scott walked the steps of the Belfort Tower....366 steps. Needless to say, they got their exercise for the day. I need to do it before we leave since we just found out we get all of the museums and touristy stuff free since we are residents.

The fair was also in town. Shanell and I went one night and ate cotton candy, played games and even rode the G-Force ride that Scott and I rode back in 2007. Again, Shanell has all the pics but not too much has changed from 2007 so click HERE to see the old pictures.

I guess it was a busy weekend for Brugge because there was also a concert in town. It appears we have a little hard rock princess in our house. She loves to dance. In this video she was perfecting her head banging. Sorry for the extremely poor video quality...it was a spur of the moment recording and I wasn't really paying attention to keeping the camera still.

DVD-Land

2009-04-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

Alexis couldn't decide which DVD she wanted to watch.

Momma intervened and chose a Baby Einstein video.

Only in Belgium....

2009-04-18T11:33:00.001-07:00

From a customer satisfaction standpoint, Americans are used to getting what they want. Not so much here in Belgium. It took me a while to understand this. Two years ago I used to argue with them trying to get my way but now I just say, "ok" and go on, not even thinking twice about being told no. Now, Scott and I just laugh (sometimes hysterically) at what they are telling us they can't do. If it goes against the norm they won't do it. If it causes more work, they won't do it. Here are a few examples of what have happened to us in less than a month:

1) We were at a restaurant where they serve hamburgers (hard to find in Belgium, by the way) and Scott ordered some bacon hamburger. He asked for cheese on the burger and was told...no. Nope, they couldn't add cheese to a hamburger. We figured it was because they didn't know how to ring it up as an extra charge. We laughed. In America we would have turned them into the BBB.

2) Jacke and I were at a restaurant and she asked for ketchup and they said they didn't have any. Jacke was speechless...I laughed. Mayo is the thing to put on your fries in Belgium. Ketchup comes in dead last. No ketchup in American is a sin.

3) We went to McDonald's for lunch (don't judge...if you didn't have American food for 3 years you'd eat there too!) and I ordered a 6 piece chicken nugget as well as Scott. When they asked what sauce we wanted I said, "BBQ" and Scott said, "ketchup." The lady said, " not ketchup...only BBQ or Sweet & Sour." Poor Scott didn't get ketchup for his nuggets. You don't get it free here, it's an extra euro or something ridiculous. He refused to pay b/c he thought he was justified a sauce. We laughed.

4) We ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut take out. We usually know how to order it correctly but we forgot since we hadn't been there in so long. Scott ordered his pepperoni lovers and then ordered me a mushroom pizza. They guy said, "mushroom pizza?" Scott's like, "yeah, pizza fungi." They guys told him they didn't have a mushroom pizza. We quickly realized that we needed to say a pizza margarita (cheese pizza) and add mushrooms. The guy understood then.

They just don't think outside of the box here. Laugh.

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T00:55:00.000-07:00

Alexis' 1st Easter!

We started our morning off with a quick photo shoot of Alexis in her "bunny bottom". Thanks Aunt Kelly for letting us borrow it. It made for some cute pictures.

Then we put on our Easter dress. Thank you Mommom and Grandpa for the dress.

After getting all pretty, we went down stairs to find her Easter basket. Belgium doesn't really have "Easter baskets" so we picked up a few cheap things back when we were in the U.S. last month. She enjoyed putting the eggs in and taking the eggs out of the basket as well as banging them together.

A day at the park

2009-04-11T07:55:00.001-07:00

Alexis got to see a real bunny for Easter.

Just a cute picture from the other day!

9 month pics

2009-04-09T05:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know...Alexis will be 11 months next week but I totally forgot to post her 9 month photos that we had taken when I was in Albany back in February. She changed so much since these photos but they are still cute! Enjoy!

Reims, Ribs & Rome

2009-04-09T04:37:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed our weekend visit to Reims, France. Reims is the Champagne capital of the world and the Champagne was yumm-o. We took a tour of a few Champagne houses and now know more about Champagne than we care to know.

In front of the Moet & Chandon Champagne house.

In Hautville, France where Dom Perginon was a monk.

Dom Perignon's grave in the abbey where he was a monk.

The Cathedral in Reims, France.

My best photo from the trip.

Inside the Moet & Chandon cellars.

There are 94,955 bottles of Dom Perignon again in this one part of the cellar.

Scott's mom, Jacke, celebrated her 60th birthday while she was in town. I baked her a birthday cake to celebrate. Then later for dinner we took her to our favorite Rib place, The Hobbit and surprised her with another birthday cake there. We hope she had a memorable birthday.

The next day, Scott and Jacke headed off to Rome for 4 days. I decided not to go since I had already been back in 2007. Here are a few of their pics.

In front of the Colosseum.

Scott channeling his inner gladiator.

In front of St. Peter's Basilica.

Part of the Roman Forum.

What's new with Alexis? Well, she stood up alone briefly this week. She was sitting down, got on her knees and stood all the way up. She also signed the word for "cookie" after I asked her if she wanted one. She melts my heart everyday.

My Little Tulip

2009-03-30T06:22:00.000-07:00

After picking Scott's mom up from the airport in Amsterdam we showed her around Amsterdam for the day. The next day we went to the Keukenhof to view the tulips. Enjoy the pics!

Alexis discovering grass for the first time.

Pretty flowers

Yes, we planned her tulip hat and outfit for this trip.

Where's Alexis?

The famed tulips at the Keukenhof.

A flower bed in the shape of a tulip.

A family in the shoe.

Alexis in front of the Anne Frank statue in front of her house. I hope she'll appreciate this when she's in school reading the book.

Walking the canals in Amsterdam.

Needless to say, she drew quite a crowd.

BOO!

2009-03-26T13:04:00.001-07:00

NOTE: The following events are 100% true, no exaggeration. I am NOT making this up.

I've had several blog posts about my ghost. Recently, I've gotten to know the ghost a little bit more.

Let's go back to when Shannon visited. I told Shannon that Alexis had been randomly waving at things. Smiling, waving...just as if she'd seen a live person. Shannon says, "you know, kids are more likely to see ghosts." I said that makes sense. Then she said, "We'll since you mentioned it, I heard foot steps and creaks in the floors upstairs last night when I was sleeping." Then she proceeds to add, "and it poked me in the eye twice. I jumped the first time because I didn't know what it was, then it happened again and I told it to leave me alone and I heard footsteps creaking away from the bed." Great Shannon, thanks for telling me that! After I recovered from shock we tried to make since about it. We decided it was a kid just playing (kids poke at this you know). Hence the stealing napkins, knife etc.

The rest of Shannon's visit nothing happened. Then it started back once I got back from my U.S. trip.

One night after Alexis had gone to bed I saw her hair bow laying in her play area. I told myself that I needed to pick it up so Alexis didn't eat it. I remember being too lazy to pick it up telling myself I'll pick it up the first thing in the morning. The next morning the first thing I did was to pick up the bow....but it wasn't there. I searched high and low and it was no where to be found. As the morning proceeded I walked to the kitchen and stopped in my tracks when I saw the bow on the kitchen floor....an entire story below the living room. Ummmm...how in the heck did it get there when it was the last thing I looked at that night?

I tried not to think about it during the day until.......

Alexis and I were playing in here room and then I had to go pee. I told her to crawl down the hallway and meet me in the bathroom. She made it to the bathroom ( I was able to pee...a luxury these days) and then I heard her piano toy starting to play notes. I thought that it had jammed or something so I went in there and nothing was jammed. I heard the piano keys...you had to press them to get them to play. Hummm.... Alexis and I quickly left her bedroom and went down to the living room and as we got to the bottom of the stairs it went off again. AAGGHH!!

That night I told Scott my stories. After I told him he said...and I quote, "I don't believe in GHO..." Before he got the word ghost out a toy sitting right next to him went off. We both looked at each other with our mouths hanging open. I asked him if Alexis had played with that toy in a while. He said she hadn't touched it. He looked at the toy and it played again. OH MY GOSH.....the ghost is right beside him. I waved....trying to keep peace in the house.

The past week I've heard a few creaking foot steps and Alexis still waves. I'm not brave enough to take Shannon's advice and take a picture in the direction that Alexis is waving in and see if any orb-like presence shows up.

So here's the latest. I put Alexis down for her nap today with two socks on.....when she woke up she only had one sock. WHAT????? I searched high and low for this sock. Where could it go. Jacke, Scott's mom is even here to attest to the fact that she had two socks on. I know you're thinking....oh, baby socks fall off. Not these, I specifically buy these socks b/c they stay put.

Seriously, I just want my sock back....along with my knife please. I've officially decided that it's a little girl that just wants to play, I just hope her parents stay away.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

Our Little O'Cutie.

This is the famous "we're sorry" present. Before we left for the U.S. vacation Alexis would just pull up on it and and bang on it until it played music. Now, WOW! She picks up the balls and puts them down the slide. She knows where they are going to come out from and looks for them to appear. She puts the balls into the hippo storage container and even puts the balls into the holes of the elephant ears. Basically, she uses all of the features of the toy correctly. I think this is a very large developmental step for her. I really like this toy and would recommend this for kids her age.

I can't believe she's already 10 months old!

Spring is in the air!

2009-03-16T03:20:00.000-07:00

We got back last week from my 4 weeks away from the Belgian winter. Winter is now gone and spring is in full swing. The flowers are blooming, the sun is shining and the temperature is in the 50's......finally!

Here's a brief re-cap the 4 weeks I was away.

Week 1:

Remember Shannon flew out for "Operation Visit America." We had planned on it being such an ordeal getting from Europe to America with a 9 month old that we thought we'd need a little pre-vaca to start our journey. The day after Shannon got in we flew to Nice, France (the South of France)

The Cote de Azure (The Blue Coast)

Sean Connery's House in Nice.

The Fruit, Flower and Herb Market in Nice.

We spent 3 days there touring around Nice and Monaco and enjoying the warm weather of southern France. I REALLY like the south of France. I can see why all of the Hollywood stars visit there during the summer. It was like you weren't even in France. I recently read an article that describes the South of France more like an Italian sea-side city and that's exactly right. Very relaxed, very friendly and very good food. Again I rarely say this about places I visit but, I would go back in a second.

Monaco

The Church where Princess Grace Kelly was married and then buried.

The tomb of Princess Grace.

The flag was up so the Prince was in the castle.

The famed Monaco Casino.

In the city of Eze

The Gardens of Eze

After finishing vacationing in the South of France (hee hee, I always wanted to say that) we flew back to Brussels where we met up with Scott for Valentine's Day. Alexis spent her first Valentine's Day touring around Brussels and then with a big Slumber Party with Momma, Daddy and Aunt Shannon. Alexis now refers to Shannon as Nannon. It's very cute to hear her say it in reference to Shannon. I'll take this moment to Thank Shannon for helping with Alexis and reading the Touch and Feel Farm book along with making animal sounds (sometimes in public) approximately 1000 times, each time with great energy. Alexis truly adores you!

I brought tons of teethers/toys on the plane with us and she ended up only playing with her favorite book.

Nannon and Alexis reading.

You know Shannon and I can't have an adventure without something funny happening.

True Story: We bought bathing suits so that we could take Alexis swimming in the indoor pool. We decided on something cheap...a tankini and skirt. We didn't try them on...we just bought them and went on our merry way. So, when I put mine on in the bathroom right before we went swimming, I let out a shriek and then a laugh. Shannon said "surely it doesn't look that bad" and I came out to show her. I showed off the bathing suit a little then I turned around, lifted up the skirt.....and flashed her! Yep, European bathing suits don't have built in bottoms in the skirts. *lol* Much laughter insued!!! Also, skirts billow up in the water...why are there no built in bottoms?

Getting ready for the pool!

Yes, the match!

Alexis' 1st time in the pool.

Splash, Splash

Camera timer!

Thank goodness we were the only ones in the pool that day because they would have got an eye full. Oh what we do for little Alexis.

The next day we left on our 10 hour flight. It was very uneventful! That's a good thing. We were able to get a seat for Alexis so she was happy in between both of us in her car seat. We had rude duds for flight attendants so Alexis had to smile and wave at the people near-by us. She was excellent as she always is on flights. Josh and Jookie met us at the airport in ATL and we all headed back to Albany.

WEEK 2 and WEEK 3

Just hanging out with the parents. My parents had a great time getting to know Alexis. It was nice to have a few days "off." I had date night with Shannon, Josh and Jookie one night. That was my big outing. We saw the movie TAKEN. I really liked it. Considering that this is the first movie I've seen at a movie theater in a year...it was excellent....the popcorn too! The last movie I saw was a year ago April in Amsterdam. Scott had a work trip and I tagged along (because I was 8 months preggo) so there I was 8 months preggo and sitting in the movie theater alone. Laugh!

Photo Shoot!

High-five

Alexis loved propping her feet up on my parents table.

Shannon's sister Adrianne is having a baby in April and I attended the baby shower. It was great to see old friends and have some "mommy only" time.

Me, Ashley, and Jookie

BFF's

Alexis got her first tooth while we were in Albany. We made it through the first tooth very smoothly. No fusing, no fever, no anything really. It just appeared. She a tough little cookie. I'm assuming the rest won't be as easy.

Anyhoo, it was great to be home and be spoiled. Thanks Mom and Dad. Alexis had fun too!

WEEK 4

I was meeting Scott in the airport to head out to Denver so Shannon drove us to ATL. We decided to overnight there to break the trip up for Alexis. We got our eye-brows waxed and took Alexis to the GA Aquarium. It was great watching her watch the fish. Her favorite was the alligator though. We have great pics from that but, Shannon has them and she's on a family vacation now so we'll get those next week.

I successfully made it through security by myself at the airport. They actually complimented me on my speed. We met up with Scott and headed off to Denver. Scott was upgraded to First Class so by "house rules" he got to take Alexis up there with him. There's much more room in first class than coach for Alexis. She slept the entire flight in Scott's arms and I read a book back in coach.

We continued on for our Anniversary Trip to Estes Park, Colorado. We'd been there before so it was great to just relax and forget about all of the touring stuff.

Our cabin

Alexis playing with her cousins - Chelsea and Hannah

Taking a walk.

Alexis got her 2nd tooth the first day we were in Estes Park. Back to back...wow! This is the best picture I could get!

I got sick on the back end of the trip. I must have been allergic to some tree or something b/c I was miserable. Luckily, I was better before the flight back to Belgium. Alexis got a seat for that flight too and again was an angel.

It only took her 3 days to get through her jet-lag and now she's back to normal enjoying all of her toys and exploring around the house. I tried to put up a baby gate that we borrowed but I quit after I discovered it had to be screwed into the walls instead of pressure mounted. I guess I'll just chase her around the house when she crawls out of the room.

I think that gets us caught up. Scott's Mom is coming out on Friday for 3 weeks. We're going to Amsterdam to pick her up and to see the tulips! Until then....

Happy Early Valentine's Day!

2009-02-08T13:07:00.000-08:00

Alexis and I will be traveling for the next few weeks. Back in the fall, Scott thought it would be best if Alexis and I went back to the U.S. sometime in the winter to get out of the cold. It's not that we can't handle the cold but it's more to get us out of the house. Remember, I don't have a car so if we want to go anywhere Mon.-Fri. we have to walk. With the cold wind and misty rain hitting you, it just isn't fun. Being couped up in the house all day gets old.

It didn't work out with Scott's work for him to come along with us for the first leg of my trip so, it will just be us girls. With "us girls" I mean...me, Alexis and Shannon. Shannon is the best friend a girl can have. She agreed to come out to Belgium, spend a few days here and then fly back with me so I wouldn't have to do the 10 hour flight by myself. I might have bribed her with European Twix...just kidding.

Of course when Shannon comes out we choose not to stay in Brugge. We're taking a side trip to the South of France before we head off over the water.

I'll be spending 2 weeks in south GA with my parents. It's weird to think this is the longest I will have been back home since I was 21! The 3rd week, Scott's flying out and we'll fly to Colorado together to spend a week nestled in a cabin in the Rocky Mountains. Happy Early Anniversary to us! This also ensures that I will have Scott flying back with me.

The only thing I have to do is go through ATL security by myself with Alexis when meeting up with Scott to go to Colorado. I hope the TSA people are nice as I hoist the stroller, car seat and hand luggage onto the belt. I should wish for patience for the people behind me too!

Until next time!

Oh, Alexis' lip has healed well and she appears to have no memory of the event. Whoo hoo!

Sunday Bloody Sunday

2009-02-07T06:55:00.000-08:00

Let's all sing the U2 song. But now let's say Saturday......Bloody....Saturday because that's how our Saturday started out.

Alexis was sooo excited to show Scott how fast she can crawl these days. This time she slipped (a combination of slippery socks and pants) and down she went. When she slipped she fell down hard onto a baseboard and split her lip open. We managed to compose ourselves and stopped the bleeding and attempted to ice it (impossible with a 8 3/4 month old). After lots of tears and screams on Alexis' part she's now all better....just a fat lip.

Scott and I however are scarred from the experience and feel like losers of parents...even though there was nothing we could have done to prevent it. We went to the grocery store later that morning and were surprised to find they were offering free shots of Jagermeister. Yes, that's right, our grocery store had a Jagermeister stand at 10AM on a Saturday morning. We couldn't help ourselves and each took one to numb our pain a little.

If this shows us anything it's that our first aid kit for babies is not probably equipped. We didn't have a syringe to clean the wound, no baby Neosporin like cream, etc. I'll be stocking up on that stuff when I'm back in the U.S. next week.

Still feeling guilty we went to the toy store and bought Alexis a new toy. We might have went overboard on our "We're sorry" present so we combined it with her Valentine's gift.

You know we feel bad if we buy stuff in Euro. We never buy anything over here.

This week besides her busted lip event she crawled up a flight of stairs. (With me directly behind her) It was the stairs that lead to the 4th floor which are the more American like stairs. She doesn't really fit on the European stairs so she doesn't want anything to do with those. She likes exploring around and pulling up on everything. I called it a few posts ago that she'd crawl up the stairs soon so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say she'll be walking soon too. This is such a fun age!

Hanging out the other day!

The ghost is back!

2009-02-02T06:56:00.000-08:00

Since we moved in I've always thought our house was haunted. I've written about it in other posts such as: things going missing, the stove being turned on and such. Then there was the time Shannon saw an orb-like presence in a secret room in our cellar. (I haven't been down there since) I like to think they are friendly ghosts that like to play tricks on us. They've laid low for a year but now they are back.

I have a missing Miracle Blade knife. No, really...I can't find it anywhere. I don't take the knifes out of the kitchen area. I've looked in every drawer and it's no where to be found. I'm open to the possibility that it was thrown away but I just can't imagine that. Now I live in fear that the ghost has my knife and is going to kill me. smirk.

Just this morning Scott called and said, "When I went to the car this morning all the windows we out." I said, "out...as in broken?" He responded with, "that's what I thought at first but they were just down...the front ones and the back ones." How does that happen. I'm nosey and am always looking out our windows onto the street. I specifically remember seeing are car on numerous occasions yesterday afternoon...WITH THE WINDOWS UP! Before Scott hung up he said...must be the ghost.....or a faulty key. I went on line and discovered that if you hold the LOCK button down long enough all of the windows go down. Remember, I drove yesterday so my key was sitting out on the counter all night. Mischievous ghosts.

At least it snowed after Scott got the windows up!

Being a Mom...

2009-02-01T13:29:00.001-08:00

There's a change that happens after you become a mom. It's deeper than the physical changes taking place with your body. It's an emotional change. Before my new title I could listen to headline news and not be phased. I'd just brush anything off. Now, things hit home more.

This past week a completely devastating event happened not too far from our home. I can't write too much about it because my heart can't handle it. I literally feel sick to my stomach.

A man walked into a daycare center about 35 minutes away from my house. He was dressed up as the joker. He walked in with a knife and killed 3 people and mutilated 12 babies. Babies Alexis' age. Click here for more details. We know more details that aren't told in that article and I shake as I think about those poor babies and their parents.

Never take a single moment for granted.

Driving - Attempt #24

2009-02-01T11:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right. I'm "learning" to drive the stick shift again. Before when I was trying to learn I was just too nervous and really didn't feel I needed to learn. I was fine on my own two feet. But, the moment Alexis was born I started telling Scott that I'm ready to drive. He's said, "Why now after 2 years?" I told him someone depends on me now. If I needed to go to the hospital, doctor or grocery store immediately I needed to be able to get in the car and go. A bus, taxi or my feet would take too long. Each month for 8 months now I've asked Scott if he wants to go driving today and he always avoided that question like I avoided 2 years ago. Being honest, I think he was scared for his new car and his new precious cargo, Alexis. But, this weekend he asked me if I wanted to go driving. I said "sure" with such confidence that he was kind taken by surprise. Here's a re-cap of what transpired next:

Lacy: "you ready?"
Scott: "what, now?" (I sensed through his tone he had regrets of asking.)

Lacy: "hey, look I have the car key on my key ring. Scott, I'll go warm up the car. How do I do that?"
Scott: (really worried tone) "ummm. unlock it, then put the car in neutral and hold the brake and put on the parking brake, then put the key in and press start."
Lacy: ok (I took off with such confidence...then I pressed what I thought was the unlock button and POP went the trunk..laugh. I followed Scott's instructions and back went rolling the car. I quickly pressed the brake and put the parking brake on. Close call!)

Scott: (after buckling Alexis' car seat in) "Umm, are you going to drive us out of the city?"
Lacy: "Yeah, hop in!"
Scott: " Are you sure you don't want a refresher course? You know you've never driven this car...it has a bigger engine and a different clutch."
Lacy: " I don't need a refresher, let's just go."
Scott: " Hold on. Put the clutch in and practice shifting through the gears first."
Lacy: "1st....2nd....3rd....4th....5th....hey this car has 6 gears."
Scott: "Now for reverse" (He put my hand on the gear shift and guided it to reverse)

Five minutes have past

Lacy: "ok, forget reverse....I just won't back up." (Apparently, BMW has a tricky reverse and I never really found it after trying by myself for sometime. Scott made me quit b/c he thought I was going to break it)
Scott: "sigh"

Scott: "Now rev the engine to 1500 rpms and slowly let out the clutch."
Lacy: "What, this thing that says 1.5?"
Scott" "deep sigh"

We make our way 1/2 way out of the city and I pulled over because there were too many pedestrians and too many bike riders out. My goal was to drive us to the gas station but hey, safety first right?

Scott safely pumped the gas (I pumped gas for the first time in three years a few weekends ago when we were going to see Shannon and Josh and that's a another blog...I'm on pumping restriction after that comical event.) and then he drove us to the back roads of Belgium where I take the wheel again.

Lacy: " Why do you always put me on these two lane roads but really only one car can fit."
Scott: "practice"
Lacy: " Look at this rude guy behind me. He's really on my tail."
Scott: " don't pay attention to him."
Lacy: "SCOTT, he just waved his hand in the air and mouthed something to me."
Scott: " Just watch the road..I'll take care of it."

Scott then imitates the guy and waved his hand at him. I have never seen Scott be that aggressive toward anything. It was really funny.

I'll stop there but we had a really successful driving lesson. I even put Alexis to sleep. Scott says I'm a slow, smooth driver. But, I need to get faster...and keep the smoothness.

His goal is for me to drive him to the airport in April but I'm thinking his work is a good goal.

January in Review!

2009-01-24T02:17:00.001-08:00

Yes, I've been a slacker lately with the blog. I promise to get back on track for February. Just so you don't think you missed anything, here's what we did in January.

Alexis in her snow suit!

Of course, the minute our plane touched down back in Belgium, the coldest few weeks of the year hit Belgium. I think the high was 20ish....record lows for Belgium. Anytime we went out we all were bundled up.

Soon after we got back to Belgium, Alexis realized she could pull herself up. We quickly found the instruction manual and lowered her crib. She can still pull up...just not fall out!

Alexis joining Scott after his training session for work.

Getting ready to go out and celebrate New Year's Eve.....we celebrated with Alexis at 7pm.

We went out on New Year's Eve and enjoyed a Belgian Waffle.

All bundled up.

Alexis discovering a whole new world now that she can move around.

Who's cute?

Crawling under the table.

Scott and Alexis trying out the backpack. She liked the view from way up high!

All smiles!

THE BLACK FOREST IN BADEN-BADEN, GERMANY

Shannon and Josh were in Switzerland over MLK weekend and we had planned to meet up with them. All of us had wanted to see the Black Forest so we met up Saturday morning and spent the weekend touring around.

Aunt Shannon and Uncle Josh!

Alexis touching snow for the first time. She really didn't care for it. She takes after me!

The guys throwing snowballs at Shannon.

Posing in the Black Forest.

Alexis hearts Aunt Shannon.

Big laughs!

Alexis high-fiving Uncle Josh. She learned to wave a while back and now waves at anyone and everyone and expects them to wave back. Scott taught her the high-fiving thing and she likes that too.

Thanks guys for meeting up with us. We had a great time!

INAUGURATION DAY

We brought out the pots and pans to bang on.

Alexis cruising around the furniture. She likes to hang on the furniture and walk around it.

She might look back one day and appreciate this picture..who knows?

PLAYTIME FUN!

Ummmm...things are moving a little more quickly than I thought they would. We were taking pictures in her track suit for Aunt Kelly and the next thing I know....

She crawled UP the suitcase. The stairs are any day now I just feel it!

Cruisin' the Caribbean

2008-12-31T15:14:00.000-08:00

We had a blast on our cruise a few weeks back. It was 80F or higher each day on our trip. It only rained for about 20 minutes one day (which we got caught in) and then it was clear skies with sun the rest of the trip. I'd much rather have heat than cold everyday.

After arriving into Atlanta with a VERY tight connection, we settled into our complimentary upgraded first class seats headed to Miami. They next day we sailed out on our way to Central America. As fra, fra as it may sound, we've pretty much seen a lot of Europe and wanted to see something different for a change. We thought the Mayan Ruins would be a good start. Don't get me wrong, there are a few places in Europe we still want to see but for this trip we wanted some fun in the sun!

We cruised on the Norwegian Pearl (yes, that's the same ship the lady jumped over board on the week after we sailed. Her balcony was down the hall from ours...scary....on another side note, someone actually died on our cruise...down the hall from us..how sad.) We've sailed Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian before but, for this trip we chose Norwegian again because kids under 2 cruise for free. Plus, they have a flexible eating schedule and that is great when it comes to an infant.

Alexis was the hit of the ship. We couldn't walk 5 feet without someone stopping us to talk to her. We had several "grandparents" ask us to babysit her. Even going as far as giving us a piece of paper with their name and room number on it. (No Mom, we didn't take them up on it. She was with us the entire time!) We were all dressed up one night and took her to get her picture taken and literally, (I'm not exaggerating here) the entire atrium shuffled over to watch her. Scott said one guy pulled out his camera and said, "I just have to capture this myself." We were on the boat to NCL's private island and the people next to us were talking to Alexis and out of the corner of my eye I saw a lady whip out her video camera and start videoing Alexis. Who does that? At the beginning of the trip Scott and I thought it was awesome that everyone was complimenting her. Only because Belgians never say anything to anyone so we've never experienced extroverted comments like that. Toward the end we felt like movie stars and just wanted to eat dinner without interruption.

Besides that fun stuff, we had a great vacation. Alexis had a couple milestones on the cruise:
1) She waved for the first time. I had been working on it with her and suddenly when we were going to our muster station, a table of about 10 Japanese tourists waved fanatically to her and she waved back. The entire section of the dining room (no lie) responded in a group AWWWWW! Again, I'm sure she'll love that story when she's older.

2) She started crawling for the first time. Alexis fully mastered that skill in Colorado and is now all over our living room. I guess it's time to baby proof. Do they have that kind of stuff in Belgium?

Scott and I marked two more countries off of our list with the cruise itinerary: Belize and Honduras. It also stopped in Cozumel and the Bahamas.

Now I say to Scott, where next? Oh, I forgot the economy is in a downward spiral. Forget I asked.

Click HERE to see pictures of our first family vacation!

Christmas in Colorado

2008-12-29T07:59:00.000-08:00

I was hoping for a blizzard in Colorado so we wouldn't have to come back to Belgium but, the bad weather was on the other side of the U.S. We arrived safe and sound back in Brugge yesterday. An 8 hour time difference from Colorado is making the jet-lag tough for Alexis. However, with Alexis napping the day away I've had time to upload pictures. Click HERE for our Colorado Christmas pics. We didn't go up to the mountains this time so it's pretty much family centered photos. Enjoy!

Still wondering where we went on vacation...I'm editing those photos right now so check back later this week!

We wish you a Merry Christmas....

2008-12-12T03:44:00.000-08:00

and a Happy New Year!

We leave tomorrow for the U.S. so there won't be a blog for a few weeks!

First on our journey we're going to have some fun in the sun. Back in April we booked this vacation because we both HATE the Belgian winters. The sun rarely comes out here and it's cold and rainy. It's suppose to be 80F where we're going . I'll give you a clue. It's not Hawaii and it's not in the United States. But, we're flying into the U.S. to get there.....where could it be?

After that vacation, we're headed to Colorado (yes, I know, snow and cold!) to spend Christmas with Scott's family. Should be fun!

The only downfall about all of this is that Alexis is on a PERFECT sleep and nap schedule and I'm about to ruin it all. I keep telling myself it will be ok. Boo Jetlag!

Looking forward to 2009, how about you?

Sinterklaas

2008-12-09T11:58:00.000-08:00

Getting ready to go see Sinterklass!

Check out her fake Ugg boots!

I'm not sure on the exact details here so bear with me. Sinterklaas is the Belgian Santa or St. Nick. Instead of elves to help him out he has Zwarte Pete. (Dutch to English translation: Black Pete) There are lots of stories of how Zwarte Pete hooked up with Santa and began to help him deliver the gifts. We've asked lots of Belgians and each family has their own story. Here are two of my favorites:

Disclaimer: I'm not making this up by the way....Belgians are seriously into their Zwarte Pete.

Sinterklaas needed help delivering gifts so when Santa was in Morocco/Africa he picked up a black guy named Pete to help him. Since he was Black (Zwarte in Dutch) his helpers were named Zwarte Pete.

Next story is that a white man named Pete was helping Sinterklaas deliver gifts and he fell down the chimney. When Santa helped him out he was all black, hence the name Zwarte Peter.

I personally like the Moroccan story the best and laugh out loud every time I hear it.

Alexis and Zwarte Pete! He made her a little pink balloon poodle.

Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Pete's. Yes, their Santa looks like the Pope.

Miss Alexis sitting up like a big girl in her chair.

Alexis got to see her first snow while we were waiting for Sinterklaas!

While we were at the party it snowed so much that we saw a snowman on the way home. Thankfully, since Scott grew up in snowy Minnesota he was a pro driving on the roads that hadn't been plowed.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-08T00:26:00.001-08:00

While we were in ATL Alexis had her 6 month and Christmas pictures taken. They didn't make it on our Christmas card because we had already ordered those so we could mail them in the U.S. So, here they are for everyone to enjoy.

I can't believe Alexis will be 7 months next Monday. Time really does fly when you're having fun.

Success

2008-12-03T05:59:00.000-08:00

We've had success with the sweet potatoes this week. She just eats them up. Not sure what the original hesitancy was but, I made a new batch and these seem to work. They were pureed a little smoother so maybe that was it. Practice makes perfect on my part. Up until this point I've only made margaritas in a blender. Laugh~

Tomorrow: CARROTS

Our First Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T13:32:00.000-08:00

As a family that is. Let's reminisce and see where we've been through the years:
2002: We started dating in June of that year and I think we spent Thanksgiving with Scott's brother and wife, John and Nicole.

2003: I think (I say think because I can't really remember) we spent that with my parents.

2004: With Jacke, Scott's mom in Arizona. We also zipped off to Las Vegas for a day and met up with our friends Damon and Danielle.

2005: We got married that year. Scott was in Belgium and I was at John and Nicole's.

2006: Our first year out in Belgium. Damon and Danielle came out to visit and we were in Paris!

2007: In Belgium and we spent it with our friends Bob and Robin Difrancisco.

2008: Still in Belgium and now as a family.

I've never really made a Thanksgiving meal but I gave it my best shot. We were stuffed afterwards so I guess it was a success!

My tiny/one rack European oven. I shoved as much as I could in there.

Our little turkey!

Playing away waiting for Daddy to come home from work so we could eat. Scott had to work since Thanksgiving isn't a holiday in Europe!

Gobble, Gobble

I'm just sayin'....

2008-11-29T12:46:00.000-08:00

I don't understand how things can be so different from country to country. There are too many things to count but here's the one that's frustrating me today. BABY FOOD! Everything I know about baby food I know from reading....U.S. books that is. I decided from the beginning of my pregnancy that I would make my own baby food. No particular reason...just because.

Rule number 1 with starting your baby on solids is to introduce one food at a time and don't introduce another new food for 3 to 4 days just to make sure there are no allergic reactions. Well, all jar baby food in Belgium is a mix of 3 to 4 different foods: apple, banana, peaches or potato, broccoli, cauliflower. I guess they aren't too worried about reactions.

Rule number 2 watch out for certain food that you aren't suppose to introduce to a baby until a year or two. Take honey for instance, the U.S. suggests you don't introduce it until after two years of age for fear of botulism. I was walking down the baby food aisle at our grocery store at there was an entire row of baby food with honey. WHAT???? Again, are they not worried about this. Your not suppose to give a baby chocolate until after 1 year and today at the Belgian store I saw a Chocolate cream dessert for baby. WHAT????

The health care is superb in Europe and I have been nothing but pleased but, this is such a huge difference in recommendations/standards. Crazy I say.

Below are some photos of our first day with sweet potatoes.

Ready to be defrosted and warmed

Voila!

I'm sure she's thinking: Ummmm, excuse me...this doesn't taste like my yummy pears!

We're still working on sweet potatoes. That's ok though....momma and daddy just started liking them last year. LAUGH!

Hello Georgia....Atlanta and Albany!

2008-11-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

Scott worked in ATL for a week and I spent too much time shopping.

Shannon met me at Phipps Plaza one day for lunch.

Alexis giving Aunt Shannon a "kiss"

Momma and Alexis

Alexis got to see her Uncle John, Aunt Nicole, Cousin Max and Cousin Alli while

we were in town. We only had a few hours together but not to worry....we'll have a full week

together at Christmas when we all meet in Colorado!

Max playing with Alexis!

Their subdivision had a Christmas festival with Santa while we were there.

We thought it was kind of early for Santa but at least Alexis got to sit in Santa's lap!

We also met up with our friends Damon, Danielle and Elliana. Elli is 2 1/2 months younger than

Alexis. Needless to say they'll be BFF's! We can't wait to move back so we can have play dates!

Alexis giving Elliana "kisses"

Alexis touching her first cat! Tamale was a good sport.

Next, we headed to Albany to spend a week with my family! Grandpa and Mommom were so excited to spend time with Alexis!

Everyone took turns feeding Miss Alexis!

She's got us all wrapped around her little finger and from this smirk she knows it!

Mommom getting her turn!

We had a little party for Alexis so everyone could stop by and see her! She was quite a doll in her little dress!

Mrs. Beck and Alexis

Alexis' Great Aunt Pam gave her an octopus that she loves to laugh at.

Thanks to all of the family and friends who stopped by to see Alexis!

Alexis playing with one of her gifts!

The next day Shannon picked me up to take me to the salon for a much needed hair cut and highlights. Scott and the grandparents took care of Alexis. The 6 hours I was gone (not all at the salon) was the longest I'd ever been away from Alexis. Above Mommom is feeding Alexis a pumped bottle.

We made time to see Ms. Judy (Shannon's mom) who is a dedicated blog reader. We saw Uncle Josh too. He was in the kitchen serving up some yummy pumpkin dish. Josh, I still want the recipe!

Alexis terrorizing Bucky, Shannon's cat!

Alexis got to spend some time with her Great Grandparents too.

Here she is sitting in her Great Papa Spurlin's lap.

Great Grandma Spurlin just loved Alexis up!

Grandpa playing with Alexis.

Alexis LOVED taking a bath in her ducky tub!

It's never to early to learn right?

Alexis got to meet her Great Grandpa James and her Great Aunt Audrey too!

What a great family photo. Thanks Mom for taking it.

We survived the flight back to Belgium and now we get to do it all over again in two weeks when we head back to the U.S. for Christmas.

Hello Minnesota!

2008-11-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

I hope you don't mind that the re-cap of our trip back to the U.S. will be in pictures. It may take me a few days but I'll have it all up eventually.

Here's the Minnesota leg of our journey!

Alexis was PERFECT on the 11 hour plane ride to ATL. Everything was pure enjoyment once that stress was out of the way.

Looking good on the airplane. Thanks Ashley Greene for the adorable outfit!

This is jet-lag: it's 3 am Minnesota time and Alexis is wide awake playing. It was 9am Belgium time. Scott and I were up for over 30 hours at this point. It only took her one night to get used to the time change. It took 3 days when we got back to Belgium!

HAPPY 31st BIRTHDAY SCOTT! Yes, Scott had the privilege of celebrating his birthday on the 11 hour plane ride. We also celebrated the next day when his mom came into town.

Scott's Mom came in from Colorado to babysit. THANKS NANA! Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Mike also stopped in to see us.

Just a guess but Alexis will probably hate us later on in life for her 1st costume. Thanks Joe, Libby and Clara for letting us spend Halloween with you guys!

It was the University of Minnesota's Homecoming! Go Gophers!

Our little gopher!

We went back to where Scott lived in college - the EVANS HOUSE. It was their 50th anniversary as well!

Thanks Tasha and Noah for joining us. I know Noah has his eyes shut in this photo but his grin is just too cute!

Grandpa Dan and Nanny Pam had their house all decorated for Fall!

Alexis enjoyed Nanny's horses!

She even wanted to eat her hair!

And touch her nose!

Alexis just couldn't get enough of the horses!

Alexis even liked the dogs too. It was very sweet watching her pet a dog for the first time!

Thanks to everyone who came to see us in Minnesota. We had a great time!

Off to Atlanta next!

Good Intentions

2008-11-17T03:32:00.000-08:00

We just got back from 3 weeks in the USA and my intentions were to blog about our trip right away. As my luck would have it I've caught some sort of cold/sinus infection/flu type virus and can't find the energy to type. All of my energy is dedicated to Miss Alexis who is working her way through jet lag.

Keep checking back!

Roll Baby Roll

2008-10-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Alexis rolled over for the first time today. She rolled from her tummy to her back. It completely caught me off guard. She's not a big fan of tummy time but we do it anyways. Yesterday, I was just telling Scott that she seemed a bit more into it than normal. We actually got 5 whole minutes of tummy time. Today while I was talking to Shannon on the phone I put Alexis on her tummy. I got up to look for something and when I walked back she was on her back. I screamed...Shannon screamed and Alexis screamed. Rolling came out of no where. I'm such the proud momma! She did it a couple more times and then I realized I should record it for Scott and the grandparents. Here's a brief clip with a very happy momma in the background!

Happy Birthday to Alexis who turned 5 months yesterday!

Brugge, Belgium

2008-10-12T03:35:00.000-07:00

We might have gone a little video crazy with two videos within two days, but we've figured out how to use the movie maker program on my laptop.

This time we thought we'd give people a tour of our city. Get ready to step back in time. Brugge is really stuck in a time warp but the tourist love it. On this particular day there were 1000's (no lie) of tourists enjoying the cobblestone streets, architecture from the 14th century and the beautiful weather.

Yummy in Alexis' Tummy!

2008-10-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

It was a big day for Alexis today. She had rice cereal for the first time! We put our new video camera to use and documented the experience. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: It was 7:30am so please excuse my hair!

Life's an adventure

2008-10-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

At least my life is an adventure. Nothing I do can ever be done easily. There's always some kind of story.

For instance, I went to the Wednesday outdoor market today and it was suppose to be a nice stroller ride for Alexis. Just something to get us out of the house since the sun was shining.

Our first stop was the bank. Our bank is in the city center and they were doing some construction to the building attached to our bank. I guess we got there around the same time all of the construction workers and their trucks did because as we exited our bank (that's another story) I noticed that we were blocked in by the trucks and the trailers. (Not tractor trailers more like small Chevy truck with trailers attached and box vans.) I thought, surely they wouldn't block the entrance of the bank. So, I walked to the front of the truck and he had parked so closely to the other truck that I couldn't get through there either with the stroller. It was enough space for me to fit through but not me and the stroller. Picture this: straight ahead, left and right, are trucks blocking me. Directly left is a large metal garbage bin and directly right is a patio to a restaurant. I am completely blocked in from all sides. So, I find someone who looks like a construction worker and gave him the "hi, I'm blocked in smile and can you move, please hand movements. I'm not quite up on those words in Dutch. He went to talk to someone (whom I thought was the owner of the vehicle) but then never came back over. Well long story short, finally some man saw I was stuck and helped me lift the stroller over one of the smaller trailers and we were on our way. That would only happen to me!

Wanna here my side story on entering and exiting the bank. The door to our bank weighs about 150 pounds so I can barely push the door open and manage to get the stroller in the door without it crashing into me or the stroller. Rarely will you find a nice Belgian to open the door for you. They just stand and look. (The guy who helped me lift the stroller: British tourist) On this day, I've found a way to click the door open, hold 150 pounds of door open with my butt and start to back the stroller in when some lady coming out decides she should go first and scurries on by me leaving me left outside again...with the door shut. Where's the hospitality I ask? We made it on the 2nd attempt in. Exiting took 2 tries as well. Alexis is such a good sport!

After all of that adventure I thought surely nothing else could happen. I try and be all smiles to keep a positive atmosphere around Alexis but my patience is wearing thin at this point. (Note: I normally have no patience to begin with so the fact I've had this much to this point is huge.) I decided to treat myself to a pastry from the market going on. I hate the outside Wednesday markets because I get treated like an outsider because I'm not Belgian. They'll serve the Belgians before they will serve someone looking like a tourist. Also, there are no standing in lines, waiting patiently, in an orderly fashion here. It's every man for himself. With that being said, I walked to the pastry area and positioned the stroller so no one can skip in front of me. (Yes, I do what's necessary if that means Alexis helping out!) There are 2 people ahead of me. The lady waits on one, then waits on the other. You would think she would wait on me next. NOPE! She went to the other side and waited on a Belgian. Without thinking I said out loud, "Ik bin de volgende." (Dutch to English translation: I'm next!) She never came to wait on me but another lady did. I might have caused a small scene. HA HA to the bakery workers! I speak Dutch! My chocolate eclair was yummy if you were wondering.

All that just for an innocent stroll on a Wednesday morning.

Alexis playing with her new toy.

I made a slide show of Alexis playing around today but for some reason it won't upload to the blog. Click here to check it out!

All about Alexis!

2008-09-30T12:44:00.001-07:00

Apparently I upset more than a handful of people when Alexis was not in any of the pictures of our Germany/Austria trip. I can assure you she was with us at all times.

So, for those missing Alexis, here you go!

Alexis posing with the German pretzel at the Haufbrauhaus in Germany! No, she didn't eat any.

She found her toes!Big Stretch!

Rocking out with her "Girls with Guitars" shirt.Watching Daddy type on the computer.Laughing at Daddy making silly faces.Trying on her new winter hat and mittens.Alexis likes her new high chair.
What a pretty hair bow. Sadly, it got thrown out in the trash. We're not used to tiny things around the house.

A beautiful fall day in Brugge.

The Hills Are Alive..........

2008-09-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

with the sound of music.......aaahhh ahhh aaa ahhh. Doe a deer a female deer...ray a drop of golden sun. High on a hill was a lonely goat herd...lady odel lady odel lay hee hoo. Edelweiss, Edelweiss bless my homeland forever.

Ok, I'll stop before you start to think I'm a little obsessed with the Sound of Music. Every since I found we were moving to Europe in 2006 there were two things on my list of things to see: Paris and Salzburg, Austria where The Sound of Music was filmed. (How naive of Europe was I to only want to see these two things!) If your a regular blog reader you know I've been to Paris too many times to count so only Austria was left.

We finally made it there two weekends ago. My cousin Shanell joined us for our road trip too! When I say road trip....I mean serious road trip. We were in the car for a total of 32 hours over our 6 day holiday.

Here's a recap in pictures!

Our first stop was Dachau concentration camp just north of Munich, Germany. It was very, very sad to step foot into the gas chambers that so many people were killed in. What's more sad is the fact that they thought they were being taken to shower. Instead of water coming out, gas fumes quickly filled the room. Terribly sad.

The entrance to the Dachau concentration camp.

The gas chamber

The room after the gas chamber

Munich was our next stop. Scott was there about 10 years ago and the only place he didn't go to was the famed Hofbrauhaus. (www.hofbraeuhaus.de/en/index_en.html) He's waited over 10 years to visit this place so we stopped there first. We just missed the German oompa band but Alexis provided great entertainment for us. We all indulged in a German Beer and a pretzel. Yum. The Hofbrauhaus is behind us.

Cheers!

After stuffing ourselves we headed into the city center to watch a large cuckoo clock chime but, we missed it by 15 minutes. It sings on the hour and we got there at 15 after. We probably should have waited around for the next hour but we didn't. Munich was a surprisingly nice city. Very Gothic yet baroque. Very old (not Brugge old, but old) I'd definitely go back and spend more time there. I rarely say that about places but this whole trip I'd do over if we had more time to spend at each stop. We were go, go, go the entire time. It was a big site seeing trip.

The large cuckoo clock in the city center.

The city center

We stayed in picturesque Garmisch at the military lodge. It was on the military base and was only for military. This was the highlight of my trip. It was like a 4 star rustic mountain lodge. AND everything was in U.S. dollars AND they had 3 restaurants that only served American food AND they had a spa AND they had real American Coke & Diet Coke (yes, they taste different in Europe) AND everyone there was American (which means they spoke English!) You will never understand how nice it is to have these little perks unless you've stayed outside of the U.S for an extended period of time.

On a side note, Shanell watched Alexis for us one night so Scott and I could go have a drink down stairs at the sports bar. We went to the sports bar and ordered our drinks and then started taking in our American surroundings. Apparently quite some time had past because we both looked at each other and laughed. We were so enthralled with the conversations going on around us we forgot to talk. In Belgium (or Europe in general for that matter) we never understand conversations that go on around us.

But, back to the road trip:

Next up was Salzburg....my Sound of Music city. Scott previously warned me that a lot of the movie was filmed in Hollywood but I didn't listen to him and preceded to ignore him and sing more songs from the movie. (Before we left I downloaded the soundtrack to my ipod so I could force everyone in the car to sing along on the 2 hour trip there. Luckily, everyone particpated without me having to twist any arms.) Well, he was right...I think the 3/4ths of the movie was filmed in Hollywood. We did see quite a few things from the movie which I was excited about. But sadly, there were no hills that I could sing and dance on. All the hills I saw had tons of trees on them...there were no trees on the hills in the movie. I'm sure the rolling hills were somewhere but we just didn't see any.

The gazebo that they sang "I am sixteen going on seventeen" in.

They keep the gazabo locked so I was unable to hop the benches and sing like in the movie.

This is the lake and the back of the house used for Sound of Music. You'll remember the lake because that's where they all fell out of the boat when they were waving at their father. Oddly enough, the front of the house that was used for the movie is not the front of this house. They only used the back. Hollywood I tell ya.

This is the cemetary where they hid behind the graves to hide until Rolf found them.

And Mirabelle Gardens where Maria taught the kids to sing.

Salzburg the city was really nice. Quite different than I imagined but surprisingly beautiful. I think Austria ranks as one of my favorite countries. (No laughing Shannon! In Vienna....) The people are very nice, the scenery is beautiful, and the food is good.

The Salzburg Castle that sits above the city.

I had no clue that a river separated Salzburg. Silly me.

Shanell and the Sound of Music cow.

Did you know Mozart was born in Salzburg? This is his house...right smack in the city center.

The next day we headed off to Berteschgaden. Hitler had a summer home called Eagles Nest there and there was one of the largest salt mines in this city. Shanell and I took the salt mine tour while Scott had some quality Alexis time. We didn't go to the Eagles Nest but we saw pictures of it. Good enough for me.

They made us wear glow in the dark outfits in order to take the tour. It was dark down in the salt mine!

On the way back to Garmisch we stopped by the little town of Ramsau. It had a little stream going through the center and a little church on the hill. It made for great pictures.

Hope everyone enjoyed the pictures of our trip through the Bavaria region of Germany and Salzburg, Austria.

Love it!

2008-09-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

I so love the new video baby monitor (or babyphone as they call it in Belgium). Here's a picture of Alexis just falling asleep. We know she's asleep when her hands are up by her head. She's slept like that everyday since she's been born. Too cute.

Alexis has a couple new friends that she loves to hang out with: Dolly and Rosie.

Alexis loves her new doll, Dolly. We try and keep it simple. It's adorable when she hugs it and gives it kisses. Ok really she's trying to eat it but it looks like she's kissing it.

I didn't set this photo up I just happened to have the camera in hand when she was hugging her kitty cat, Rosie (named after Aunt Shannon who gave her this webkinz)

Let's back track a second

2008-08-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

With everything going on lately I forgot to blog about what we did to celebrate Alexis' 3 month birthday on August 15. Every few years Brussels has what they call a flower carpet. It's basically self explanatory: a carpet of flowers. It was one of the things I was hoping to catch to mark of my list of things to do before we leave. If you want more of an explanation of this flower tapestry check out the website at http://www.flowercarpet.be/. It has better photos than what we got from standing so close. The flowers were assorted colors of beautiful begonias. Up close it looked like bunched up tissue paper (in a good way). After viewing the flower carpet we headed off to lunch at Subway.

Alexis is laughing out loud now. Here's a video below. It may sound like she's choking/upset but it's really a laugh. She's likes it when Scott tickles her.

Scott likes this picture. Alexis and I were getting bundled up to walk to the grocery store. Sadly, we had to bring out our winter wear in August.

Enjoying Life

2008-08-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

There has been some concern about my homesickness and I just thought I'd post that things are back to normal here. It appears all I needed was a road trip/vacation. Who would have guessed?

Thanks Aunt Shannon for coming to see us. We had a blast.

On a previous post I mentioned that Shannon and I went to have Alexis' 3 month pictures taken. Here's a sneak peek. The photo process is a little odd here. First you take the pictures then you come back a week later and look at the pictures and finally they mail you what you purchased in the specific sizes you wanted. I'm assuming things are much more stream-lined in the U.S. Here are a few I purchased when looking at them in step 2 of the process. I couldn't walk out of there without pictures.

Scott arrived safely back home with lots of gifts (necessities) for us. He went to Babies R Us while he was in the U.S. and said he was just overwhelmed. We've never really looked around Babies R Us (never having the need before) we've just picked up gift certificates and left. Scott says I would have gone crazy shopping in there. I can't wait to shop there in November.

The best thing he bought was a video baby monitor. Every time we put Alexis to bed I always tell Scott, "I wish I could see her. I wonder what she's doing." Now we know. After debating how we were going to convert the 120 wattage to 220 wattage without blowing up our new purchase (Yes, I've blown up many items trying to convert power....and I almost burned down an old chateau in Southampton, England when my straightener ignited into sparks.) we successfully viewed little Alexis' putting herself to sleep. It was adorable to say the least. If anyone reading this is preparing for the arrival of their baby, I'd say this item is well worth the money. It rates on the top 3 list of best baby things we've used.

Girls just wanna have fun highlights

2008-08-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Here are the highlights from our trip in the order of which they happened:

(as written by Shannon)

1. Traveling by taxi to the toy store for Alexis' 3 month pictures and then changing her outfit 3 times (which is definitely not the norm for Belgium) causing a crowd to form to see what the crazy Americans were doing...and then having to wait outside for a taxi to come pick us up *laugh*

2.. While outside loading up our rental car at the Hertz place, somehow Lacy got spewed with wet gravel that stuck to her hoodie and turned into cement causing us to have to go all the way back to her house for her to change...we still have no idea how it happened *laugh*

3. When purchasing our tickets at the Musee d'Orsay, the museum person asked us our ages (keep in mind Lacy was wearing the baby bjorn with Alexis in it) and didn't believe us when we told her our age (29)...and gave us the student price. Yep, we apparently look so young that even with a baby she thought we were under 21.

4. While eating dinner at a restaurant in Paris, the sun was shining so brightly in Lacy's face that she asked the maitre'd (cause he was just wandering around) if he could lower the shades. After a 3 minute conversation complete with hand gestures, the maitre'd said that he would indeed let down the shades b/c the sun was very bright and then he left to do so...or so we thought. 5 minutes later we looked around and found the maitre'd sitting at the restaurant's bar...talking to his staff. Apparently, he had a 3 minute conversation with Lacy...and didn't understand a word she said *laugh*

5. Let's not forget the breast feeding incident of 08'...funniest thing...EVER. I'm sure by now you've read about the whole incident ...I still can't think about it without laughing out loud!

6. While still learning how to drive my rented car correctly, I may have accidentally squealed out of a toll plaza offending many a Frenchman...and was thus rewarded with some interesting hand gestures from the cars around me *LOL*

7. During dinner at the Chateau de Fere (which was a 5 star restaurant by the way), Alexis dropped her pacifier on the ground and the water steward quickly grabbed it off of the floor and took it to the kitchen to rinse it off. He then proceeded to bring it on a silver platter (not joking) and used silver tongs to hand it back to Lacy.

8. The train to Knokke dropping us off in the middle of a cow pasture...the look on our faces when we realized that we were in the middle of nowhere with a stroller and a 3 month old baby...priceless :)

9. Alexis' Grandmother sent her some packages made out to Alexis...not a problem in the U.S. but certainly a problem in Brugge. We went to the post office to pick up the packages...and they wanted Alexis to show i.d. and sign for them. Have I mentioned that Alexis is 3 months old? The post person got a good look at her and asked if she could sign for them...seriously. We offered to put the pen in Alexis' hand and help her, but the postal worker said it was okay this once. *LOL*

10. Just to make an even 10, I will now revert to a previously untold story from mine and Lacy's trip to Cyprus last August. We decided to take a water excursion on a trampoline sized inter tube attached to a boat in the Mediterranean Sea. They said it was a leisurely ride around the island and it probably usually is...but not when we are involved. The driver of the boat was not paying attention and began to draw close to a giant buoy (no really, it was the biggest buoy we had ever seen). Lacy said "Are we going to hit that?" I responded with "Surely not. Is that safe?". Sure enough, the next thing you know we hit the buoy and our inter tube went flying into the air (while the boat driver obliviously kept speeding along). I looked over at Lacy and she was completely upside down at a 90 degree angle (so was I) barely holding on to the rope handle with one hand and flailing around and screaming (which, by the way, finally got the boat driver's attention)...Luckily we didn't die but the boat immediately went to shore and people came running up to make sure we were okay...we didn't really know how much danger we were in at the time...which was probablya good thing *laugh*

Also, that night at dinner, Lacy went to sit in her chair and while I was walking to my chair I heard..."A little help please"...I turned around and Lacy had fallen through her chair and was wedged in with her legs sticking out next to her head....I couldn't help her out b/c she was really stuck...and because I was laughing so hard. The waiter had to help me pull her out....actually that may be the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Anyways, those are some of the highlights that we've encountered...ask us sometime if you'd like to hear more...we have a million of them!

Girls still having fun!

2008-08-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

I will say one thing about our trip...we are having the most fun! We are constantly laughing which has been great for Alexis who is totally in a mimicking stage and because of this apparently has traded in her silent laugh for her new "laugh out loud" laugh! She also has amused us to no end with her observational skills. Alexis absolutely adores Shan ...unless she has a single hair out of place (and me as well but to a lesser degree)! *LOL* If her hair is wet or in a ponytail or even if she's wearing sunglasses...Alexis doesn't know who she is and doesn't want anything to do with her...as soon as she takes her sunglasses off, however, Alexis is all smiles again. It's really funny...until I have a bad hair day!

Yesterday we played it low key by traveling back from France to Belgium and ordering takeout Chinese...yes, there are a few (and I do mean few) takeout places here in Brugge.

Today we decided to go to Knokke to the beach...and to visit Louis of course. I decided Shan needed the full experience of riding the bus (she wasn't a fan) to the train station to ride the train to Knokke. The train dropped us off in a cow pasture...no, I'm not kidding...and we looked warily around trying to discern where the heck we were and where we were supposed to be going. While I looked around she proceeded to say to me "Let's go to the beach, you said.... We can visit Louis Vuitton, you said...I think you actually took me out to the middle of nowhere to kill me!" After we finally stopped laughing, we made our way into the city ( by way of the sounds of seagulls qwah-qwah-ing off in the distance) and onto the North Sea. Let me just say that it was cold and windy at the beach and yet these crazy Europeans were prancing about in their bathing suits! Crazy, I say!Waiting for the train. This was Alexis' first train ride.

Cow pastures!The chilly North Sea.

After a few quick pics, we headed over to the richy-rich part of the city and did a little shoppping before we had dinner at a delicious Belgian restaraunt. Alexis was well behaved throughout the day and amused us greatly in her little bear jacket! We decided to get first class tickets on the train ride back for Alexis' sake....that's our story and we're sticking to it and then hopped in a cab at the train station to go back to my house...Shan can only do the bus thing infrequently *laugh* Anyways, all in all it was a great trip! My next blog will illustrate the highlights of our trip!

Girls just wanna have fun!

2008-08-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

As most of you already know, my BFF and I love to travel together. We began our tradition of journeying many years ago when we were in high school...a simple shopping trip to Tallahassee, Florida turned into a 3 day vacation at Disney World *laugh* Thus began our journey through 7 states and 11 countries (many of them more than once) together. Although we have sometimes invited others on our adventures, we have decided to travel solo through many of them...until this trip. We decided that it was time to initiate a new member into our gypsy band of travelers...and that new member is...Alexis Michelle Eichenberger!

Because Scott was sent back to America for a week of work, Shannon decided to drop in on me and see what Alexis and I were up too. We decided to just play it low key and enjoy a quiet week in Brugge. Okay, anyone that knows us just laughed at that last sentence. Clearly, we must go somewhere...anywhere...we just want to explore the world!

Shannon and Alexis relaxing by the canal in Brugge

Deciding Paris was just as good a choice as any, we rented a car, loaded up our stuff (and a giant amount of baby stuff) and off we went! Shan was a little nervous about driving having always had Josh around to drive her...especially in foreign countries! (Although I can't really say anything b/c I usually have Scott to drive me around!) But she did what needed to be done and got us to Paris in one piece...even though there were some truly nerve racking moments at the Arc de Triomphe (if you've ever been there you know what I mean)!

After checking into our hotel next to the Eiffel Tower, we visited the Louvre (which had just closed) and then ate dinner at the Hard Rock...we decided to turn in early b/c we were still having flashbacks from the Arc de Triomphe and Alexis was getting a little sleepy *haha*

A view of the Eiffel Tower from our balcony

The Louvre

The Eiffel Tower at night is beautiful.

Let me just insert here what an angel Alexis has been so far. Really...she might be the most well behaved child in the history of the universe...of course, I could be biased but Shan agrees with me...I swear...she really does!

But I digress...

Anyhoodles, this morning we visited the Musee D'Orsay and viewed some truly stunning pieces by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, and one of my faves, Toulouse-Lautrec. Alexis viewed the first half and then napped through the rest. We are clearly trying to get a head start with Alexis' art appreciation education!

Baby Bjorning it at the museum

Shannon and Vincent Van Gogh

A view of a Monet

Isn't my little sleepy head adorable?

From there we moved onto the Eiffel Tower where we snapped quite a few pics and then we headed on to the Champ Elysees to visit our good friend Louis (Vuitton, that is) and to purchase a few necessities from Sephora.

We rounded out our day by another leisurely stroll through the Eiffel Tower's promenade before we had a leisurely dinner and headed up to bed. Might I also add that Shan and I have enjoyed watching the Olympics (in French) every day...but not nearly as much as Alexis has *LOL*

Alexis doesn't get to watch TV in Belgium so she was enjoying her vacation treat.

Before I forget, let me just state this simple fact...the French don't like Americans...unless they have a baby with them! They love us! Seriously! They go out of their way to make sure that we are accommodated at all times. We have decided that we will now only travel if we have a baby to accompany us! *laugh*

Wednesday did not start off on a very good note....We weren't able to find our parking ticket for the parking garage in Paris. This is a very serious offense in Europe...anyone that has ever been there can testify to this *laugh* After Shan filed a claims report (no, I'm not kidding) and the little man followed her over to the car to make sure that we weren't stealing the car that we rented (yes, it is a BMW but that really isn't a big thing in Europe) and she filled out numerous paper work, we were finally off to our next destination...Disneyland Paris!

Yay...we finally got the ticket to exit out of the parking garage!

Alexis and I had never been before (and Shan lost her pics from when she was there last month) so we decided a trip to the Magic Kingdom was in order! We had an enjoyable afternoon there (lunch and slushies included) but the funniest thing that we have encountered yet on this trip was when I decided to breast feed Alexis in a secluded spot near a cast member area. All of the sudden Mickey, Tigger, and some other weird character came out for a photo-op. Which would have been fine had I not been indisposed when 100 people came running over to get their pic taken with me and my boob...I mean the Disney characters. I took it in stride however and quickly pulled down my shirt and pushed people aside so that Alexis could have her turn with the characters...funniest...thing...ever! Sadly though, we had to leave a man behind...my delicious slushy...b/c it got lost in the fray.*sigh*

Me innocently feeding Alexis

You see my nursing bra Alexis is hanging onto?

You think she'll appreciate these pics when she's older?

The masses that joined me in breastfeeding!

From there we headed on over to Fere-en-Tardenois, France to the Chateau de Fere where we had previously decided to spend the night. The chateau was built in the 16th century right next to a castle that had been built in the 11th century but has since become ruins. It is absolutely beautiful...pictures to come later. We were a little nervous about getting there, however, b/c the directions said that we should go "through the village and then an additional 3 kilometers"...we were confused about what constitutes a village...as opposed to a city! Anyway, we found it and enjoyed wandering aimlessly around it and the ruins!

For dinner we ate at the chateau's 5 star restaurant (not that we had a choice...we're in the middle of nowhere) and had some kind of asparagus jelly thing with a poached egg on top and some shrimp mousse...they just gave it to us...we don't know why. Since we were in the champagne region of France we also ordered a bottle of champagne! We chose the demi-sec as opposed to the brut and found it to have the perfect amount of sweetness. They also kept bringing us the tops of everyone's champagne bottles. We didn't know why so we asked and they said it was a tradition. We decided it must be the tradition of giving the prettiest people in the restaurant everyone else's champagne tops...it works for us!

Alexis joined us for dinner...in her jammies.

Our French cuisine

Because Alexis had been so good today we decided not to push it and had dessert delivered to our room while Shan went outside to take some night shots of the ruins! All in all we had a very busy and super fun day!

Waiting on dessert.

Alexis has had such a big week (besides her road trip) developmentally. She's now mimicking others, laughing louder, grabbing at toys and enjoying her tummy time. Shannon and I went to have her 3 month pictures this past weekend and she was too cute. I can't wait to pick the pictures up on Tuesday.

Until next time!

Home Sick

2008-08-13T00:37:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's almost been one month since I last posted. That's crazy! Every Monday I think about things I want to post and then Alexis and I get busy and before I know it it's the next Monday.

Alexis had her first trip to the Netherlands. We went to a new grocery store there. It's funny how different the selection can be just by going across the border. In Belgium nothing is pre-packaged. In the Netherlands there is a lot of stuff pre-packaged. I know, the Belgian way is fresher and healthier, but with a 3 month old any kind of easy convenience is a life saver.

Speaking of conveniences, I've been a little home sick lately. Just missing everything America has to offer. After being here a little over 2 years it's finally hit me. I don't think it has anything to do with Alexis. She's a perfect little doll and makes me excited to wake up every morning. I think it's more so that (don't shoot me for saying this...I'm just being honest) I'm over Europe. I'm ready to come back to the U.S. where I can sit in my air conditioned home, order take-out when I don't feel like cooking, shop at a large grocery store, use American dollars instead of the ever increasing euro, walk on a carpeted floor instead of my creaky hardwoods, use a normal size washer where I can do 2 loads instead of 10, go to the dry cleaners instead of finding the time to iron, be able to drive myself around....I should stop before it starts to sound like I'm complaining.

I think my home sick feelings also have to do with me not being back to the U.S. since December. That's a really long time for me considering the last two years I was home at least every four months. Also, our expat friends Bob and Robin just left at the beginning of August. We're going to miss them. Granted I am jealous that they got to move back, but I'm extremely excited for them. That's the sad thing about being an expat....you always have to say good-bye because expats always come and go. To top off my home sick feelings. Scott leaves for the U.S on Saturday (without Alexis and I). The flights were just too expensive for us to tag along for a week and they are now charging some astronomical fee for skymiles leaving out of select cities and Brussels just happens to be one of them. Boo Delta.

So, what better way to try get rid of my homesickness? Go visit family! We went to Germany this past weekend to visit my cousin Shanell. It was her first time seeing Alexis. Alexis did great on the 4 hour car ride and sleeping in a strange house. We're keeping our fingers crossed that she'll continue to be a good traveller. We just had a nice and relaxing weekend topped off with lunch at Chili's on the base. Thanks again for letting us stay for the weekend Shanell and for all the gifts for Alexis!

Shanell, Alexis and me

Shanell's table was my grandmother's that we ate on as kids. What memories it brings back.

Alexis just loves this little yellow lion hanging on her gym. We've named him Chipper because he whistles these chippy cheery songs. She just laughs, stares and smiles at him. He's her new buddy.

The newest Minnesota Gopher fan.

My BFF has rescued me from having to stay by myself while Scott's gone. Shannon comes on Saturday. What a relief! We're taking a girls only road trip. Wish us luck.

Did you miss us?

2008-07-23T02:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks. We've been busy with more visitors. Here's a short recap of the past few weeks.

Scott headed off to Denmark for work and Alexis and I stayed behind. I hate staying by myself. Even in the U.S. I hated it. I'm getting better at sucking it up but this time was different. Usually when I'm by myself I stay up really late so I'll fall right asleep. I'll always but a baseball bat under the bed and put a plastic cup full of coins in front of the shut door. That way if someone opens the door I'll hear the coins tip over when they open the door and that will prompt me to get the bat. Ok, in all actuality I'd probably scream bloody murder but having the coin security system helps me sleep. I never,ever get up in the middle of the night by myself. The bedroom is my safe haven. This time I had to leave my door open to hear Alexis. Talk about panic. AND I had to get up in the middle of the night to feed her. AND sit in her dark bedroom while she feeds and let my mind wonder and think about the boogie monster or ghosts. I sucked it up and dug deep down and slept with the door open and Alexis only woke up once those nights (at 4:30am so it was light out! yay!)

I'll be honest with you...had my best friends, Shannon and Josh not been a few blocks away at the Crown Plaza hotel I might not have slept at all. Funny how knowing someone is close provides security and calmness for you. Sorry Scott, Denmark was a little too far away for comfort.

Shannon, Josh, and their friend David stopped by Brugge during their European road trip. They were here everyday Scott was gone so I was in good hands. We all toured Brugge together and ate dinners and lunches together. Alexis had her first visit to Antwerp and was an absolute angel after she provided us entertainment for a few minutes with her "cat cry" in the car. Thanks for everything guys. It was perfect timing for a BFF visit!

The BFF's left on Friday morning and Scott got back Friday afternoon. Just enough time to clean the house for Scott's sister, Kelly who arrived Saturday morning. Kelly, stayed for a week and we had a nice and relaxing time. Kelly is a mom to two little girls so it was great to get all kinds of mom advice from her. Alexis had a blast with her new buddy, Aunt Kelly, the entire time.

Kelly was lucky enough to be at the doctors appointment for Alexis' first vaccinations. Alexis was a trouper and cried briefly after the second shot. The lady took forever to put the band-aids on and all I wanted to do was to pick Alexis up and comfort her. I think it was harder for me than it was her. I compare it to girls going to the OBGYN for their yearly...you just have to mentally prepare for that stuff. All week I prepped myself for her shots. I didn't cry, but it's hard to watch your tiny baby have pain that you approved them to have. Oh well, we have to do it all over again next month for round 2.

While we're on the subject of Alexis. Guess what? SHE'S SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT. It happened right about the 2 month mark. A week before that she starting sleeping right through her 10pm and 1am feedings and just keeping the 4am. Then all of a sudden she slept through that. We're going on week 2 of sleeping all night from 8p.m. to 6ish a.m. and then going back to sleep until 8ish a.m. after she feeds. Hooray for momma getting a full nights rest!

While Kelly was here we went to Paris for 2 days. We had a great time in Paris. Sometimes Paris is a hit or miss on the fun scale but this time we loved it. We saw the Eiffel Tower, took a Seine River Boat tour, ate at the Hard Rock and shopped along Champs Elysees by the Arc de Triomphe. Alexis was great for her first hotel stay. If only we could have said the same for the adults. All of us caught a cold along the way. We were up coughing, blowing our noses, sneezing, and snoring all night. We're all feeling better now and crossing our fingers that Alexis doesn't get sick!

Thanks again for coming out Aunt Kelly. It was wonderful to spend time with you. Thanks too for all of the great gifts and hair bows!

Speaking of gifts, I just wanted to thank everyone that has sent something out to us. I tear up every time I open a gift from someone. It really means a lot that everyone took time and extra money to mail us something out here. Scott and I figured we wouldn't be getting gifts since we were so far away and since we didn't have a baby shower. It's extra special to receive gifts we weren't expecting. Thanks again!

Enough sappy stuff right! Now I think we're up to the current week. Scott's super busy with work. Alexis is growing like a weed and developing new skills each day. This week she's holding toys in her hand. She hates tummy time though so we have to work on that. Oh well, at least she's sleeping through the night, right! Scott got a video camera for Father's Day. We've been taking lots of videos I just haven't had the time to upload them to the computer and figure out what to do next. But, this is a video that I emailed out about 3 weeks ago and it's been requested to be put on the blog for more people to see. I've labeled the video "Morning Toot."

I was innocently video'ing Alexis finding her thumb and sucking it and all of a sudden she let out toot . The toot is toward the end so turn the volume up. It's pretty funny so enjoy!

What's new with me....nothing really. I'm still managing to do all of the things I did pre-Alexis - some things just take a little longer. For instance, I love to read. I've read 2 books since she's been born. Usually, I could finish them in a day or two...now it takes me a week. I did throw my back out about a month ago. Probably had to do with lifting Alexis and walking up our stairs with her. I told Scott I'd kill for a massage so we started researching how to get a massage in Beligum. They don't have spas around here. After weeks of research we found out that you need to be referred to a kiniestherapist (physical therapist type person) and schedule it with them. My doctor prescribed me a massage (funny they had to prescribe a massage) and exercise for 20 weeks at 2x/week. It's not all it's cracked up to be but my back is feeling much better. The therapist lady told me my lower abs aren't strong enough to support my back yet so that's what we're working on. It's actually nice to have someone do ab exercises with you. Otherwise, I wouldn't have the time. I go today at 7:30pm so Scott's got Alexis a little tonight.

I think we're all caught up now. Have a great week!

Celebrating the 4th!

2008-07-07T04:16:00.000-07:00

Red, White and Blue (not particularly in that order)

My contribution to the BBQ - Flag Jello
Alexis' day outfit before she put on her party dress

First Video

2008-07-03T06:02:00.000-07:00

I know, 3 posts in one week. I'm becoming more productive during Alexis' nap time.

Alexis is starting to smile and coo and all the relatives want to see. She's usually cooing more but I think she was distracted by the camera. Enjoy!

It was really hot here yesterday so she wore this adorable dress.....for about an hour. After the picture we had to take it off because of a diaper mishap!

YAY!

2008-07-02T05:06:00.000-07:00

Everyone's first question is always...are you getting enough sleep? Well, the answer is probably not, but my body has adjusted and is used to waking up every 3 hours for a feed. Everyone's next question is...are you able to nap? Well, I could but I have other things I need to do. Shower, eat, clean, iron, laundry, etc. It's not easy to just "nap" when getting 15 or 20 minutes here or there makes me more tired. It's more relaxing to me to just sit on the couch and watch some TV!

So getting up every 3 hours in the middle of the night has been my routine for the past 42 days...until last night. Little Miss Alexis slept from 11pm until 4:45!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I woke up in a panic at 4am and ran in to check to make sure she was breathing. I came back to bed and couldn't go back to sleep because I was wondering when she was going to get up. After her feeding she was awake so I held her until about 5:30 when I was about to fall back asleep. I put her back in her crib to play alone and she put her own self back to sleep (HUGE!) and slept until 8am!

I'm sure it was just a fluke and she'll return back to her normal routine but it was great to get some good REM sleep!

Is it a girl?

2008-07-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how many times we've had this question asked to us. We don't get offended, we actually laugh. Here's the thing: she's wearing GIRLY clothes. I'm not sure what they are not seeing. You would think the pink blanket, pink outfits, cute purple outfits, hair bows, girly socks, pink pacifier would give them a clue. At least they are asking, right? We think the reason they are asking is because here boys wear pink and purple. Kind of funny!

Here are a few of this weeks pics!

What's been going on...

2008-06-25T07:56:00.000-07:00

Let's see..where to begin to catch up. First thing on our agenda once we got out of the hospital was to get little Alexis a passport. Yes, she (as small as she is) has to have a passport in order to travel. Most people once they are released from the hospital go straight home. Not us. When went to the photo store to get Alexis passport photos. Just try and imagine getting a head shot of a 5 day old without any adult hands in the picture (passport regulations). Her eyes are shut in the photo and she looks like a butterball. A few days later we had our embassy appointment and applied for the passport, U.S. birth certificate and social security card. Scott and I both had extra pages put in our passports because we managed to fill it up the last two years. I only had a few spaces left and wouldn't have made it through the end of the year. Perfect timing for an embassy visit. Now our passports are big and bulky. It was our first time to any embassy. I though it would be more grand but it was just a super secured office building that we were in. We received Alexis' passport so now we were able to book a trip to England to show my parents the Cliffs of Dover. England gives you a stamp as you enter in so Alexis had her first passport stamp at 3 weeks old. I had mine at age 25. Let's hope she won't need extra pages anytime soon!

We took the ferry cruise ship over to England with our car. This is the one we've taken before that we drive our car on and then go up top and hang out for 2 hours. It's all enclosed (like a cruise ship) with restaurants, casino and shops. My mom had never been to England so it was the perfect day trip. We did a mini tour of Dover and then went to Canterbury. I was thrilled to see that Canterbury had a GAP. After wearing maternity clothes for 9 months I was excited to get a new pair jeans. (In case your wondering...I've lost all of my pregnancy pounds and am back to normal. Just have to tighten up the abs now!) We didn't make it to London because we didn't have enough time and I wasn't quite ready to take Alexis on the TUBE touring around all day. She was great for Dover and Canterbury so we didn't want to push our luck with London. Plus, we were squished in our Audi. 4 adults and one baby with a large car seat.

Scott and Alexis on the ship to Dover, England

Thankfully, the next week we were able to trade in company cars and get a larger one. Scott is now the proud driver of his BMW 3 series wagon. Happy Father's Day to him, right! More room, lots of gadgets, smoother ride and a navigation system we've named Bonnie. Bonnie the Beamer. So long to our previous nav system, Friedel.

My parents were here for a little over two weeks. It was great to have them help out with Alexis. Especially when they took the middle of the night shifts. Alexis had a great time with them too. She especially liked looking at my dad's mustache and my mom's glasses. Too cute! We can't wait to see them again in November! Thanks again mom and dad for everything!

Scott and I are officially on our own now. The house isn't as clean, dinner isn't always on time, the tivo is full, and the ironing is building up but Miss Alexis is a joy to have. We're working on getting her on a schedule. We've had her on a mini routine but with all of the company wanting to hold her (and who wouldn't...she's such a doll.) she's gotten used to falling asleep in some one's arms. We're working on her falling asleep on her own. It's day 2 and things are improving. The book says this particular technique promotes better sleep habits and independence. Who knows...but it's worth a try!

Happy 1st Father's Day to Scott!

Photo of the day!

We were getting ready to go to the Wednesday market and took time out for a photo shoot!

Tick Tock

2008-06-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

I haven't forgotten about the blog! It just seems that my day goes by so fast. Actually, I do have time to do things - but they rank a little higher than the blog: eat, shower, and rest. Most days I'm choosing between is more important out of those three.

I hope to re-cap what has been going on the previous two weeks soon. Stay tuned.

Until then here are the latest pictures of Alexis!

Visitors!

2008-06-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

Aunt Shannon and Uncle Josh stopped by last Friday for a visit. They were finishing up a family vacation so the timing was perfect! Little Alexis was an angel for their visit. Scott had a work function over lunch so Shannon, Josh, Alexis and myself headed off to McDonald's. Alexis loved her first McDonald's drive though experience. *laugh* She especially loved Uncle Josh's driving. She was out for a few hours! This was Josh's first time in Brugge so we strolled comfortably *laugh* around Brugge giving Josh a mini tour. We managed dinner that night with a content Alexis. What a big day we all had. Thanks Shannon and Josh (Mark, Judy, Adrianne and Paul too) for all the great gifts. See you both in July!

Scott's mom leaves tomorrow after a 3 1/2 week European vacation. Thanks Jacke for everything. I can't tell you how great it was not to touch a dinner dish or the iron for the entire time you were here. Now I'm spoiled! Alexis enjoyed her Nana time too! See you this winter!

Who's up next: my parents! They arrive Thursday for a 2 week visit. Yay!

Week 2 with Alexis

2008-05-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

Little Alexis is getting used to her new home. She sleeps in her own bed at night and only wakes up to feed at midnight, 3am, and 6am. (I know it could change any day now but I'm enjoying getting 3 hours straight sleep at a time.) I won't lie, the first ten days were rough. But, Scott and I have enjoyed every minute with her so far...good and bad.

What's our biggest challenge so far you ask - She can sleep through loud city buses coming down the road, alarm clocks going off, phones ringing, loud tv's, sirens, and people talking. However, if you take one step on our hardwood floors from the 1800's and they creak...she's awake and they entire sleep process has to start all over. Scott and I don't think about it during the day b/c we can put her back to sleep but at night it's funny to watch Scott and I creep around the house attempting not to make the floors creak. (Almost impossible since they are sooo old)

What's another thing we didn't expect: LAUNDRY. I can do 1 or 2 loads of laundry for her per day. Spitting up and diaper mishaps usually cause the daily loads. We were on outfit #2 by 2:00 in the afternoon today. Laundry isn't such a big deal in the U.S. when you can regulate the time but the shortest load for laundry on my wash is around 71 minutes. Gotta love the European washers.

Aunt Shannon and Uncle Josh are coming to visit her on Friday so more pics next week!

Until then....

Welcome Alexis Michelle!

2008-05-23T07:42:00.001-07:00

Little Alexis joined us on May 15, 2008 at 10:05 PM. (A few hours short of being born on momma's birthday.) She weighed 8 lbs 10 ounces and was

20 inches long. She's such a doll.

Not sure when the next post will be but I'll try and keep the pics coming!

Procession of the Holy Blood

2008-05-04T04:49:00.000-07:00

Every year on the Catholic holiday for the Assumption of Mary, Brugge celebrates with a parade. The parade is officially called the Procession of the Holy Blood. Basically, thousands of citizens of Brugge dress in historical costumes and act out biblical scenes and reenact the arrival of the Count of Flanders, who brought the holy relic to Brugge.

To recap the Holy Blood quickly, when Jesus arose from the tomb, someone (said to be Joseph of Arimathea) kept a piece of cloth with Jesus' blood on it. Then, it is said, that Count Diederik van den Elzas brought the relic containing the blood of Christ from Jerusalem to Brugge after the second crusade.

He's holding the real vial of the Holy Blood.

It was quite an interesting parade. We arrived at 2:30 for the 3:00 start and set up our chairs. We quickly realized that no one else was bringing their own chairs. They rent the chairs for 5 euro ($7.50ish U.S Dollars) Oh well, I'm pretty sure we were much more comfortable than they were. We had cup holders! AMERICANS!

Our chairs

Their rented chairs

Then it decided to rain...more like storm...but we were prepared. We had our gigantic golf umbrella with us. AMERICANS! It kept us and our chairs dry. Finally, after a few more rain episodes the parade finally started at 4:30! Yes, we had been waiting for 2 hours for this thing to start.

Me and baby still waiting

Below are a few photos from the parade. We didn't buy the parade guide book but figured out it began with Adam and Eve and went through ever major Biblical story until Jesus arose from the dead. Yes, in case your wondering...that is a lot of stories. Luckily, being raised Baptist, I have every Bible story engraved in my brain and was able to tell what story was which and what was coming next. The parade ended shortly before 6pm. I'm glad we experienced the parade but I'm not sure we'd do such a set-up next year.

Umm..yeah...I'm not really sure where they got the camels (maybe Morocco) but there were about 5 of them!

And then there were sheep.

We knew the parade was close to an end when we saw this scene.

Below is a video of the re-enactment of Palm Sunday. It's all in Dutch but you'll get the drift.

The vial of the Holy Blood is housed in the Basilica of the Holy Blood located in the Burg in Brugge. I've seen it several times and it's actually a very moving experience to see it. Whether or not you believe that it is actually the blood of Christ it is still worth seeing if you're here. A few times a week they have a mass for the Blood. During the mass you can actually go up and view the vial and the cloth inside.

When we were in Pisa we went to a church that claimed to have part of the crown of thorns that Jesus wore. It's amazing that all of these sacred articles are still around today!

It's the final countdown

2008-04-30T04:14:00.001-07:00

We keep hearing that song on the radio here and thought it was appropriate seeing we only have 18 more days to go...maybe! Just when I think my belly can't possibly grow any more....it does. We had our dr.'s appt. last week and the baby is still growing like a weed. She weighs 7lbs. Thankfully, I only gained 1 pound last time so I'm still on track to keep my goal of only gaining 28 pounds. Your only suppose to gain 1 to 2 pounds in your last month (or none at all.)

I was craving cupcakes the other day so we decided to celebrate my birthday early (it's on May 16th). This way I could justify eating a batch of cupcakes. They were yummy and are already gone! Oh well if I'm a little over my weight gain goal, right?

Scott and I have experienced a lot of cultural ordeals while we've lived in Europe. We usually just laugh them off or complain briefly but accept that fact that things are different here. That being said, last night we headed off to the hospital for a labor and delivery seminar and tour. We knew ahead of time that the entire seminar and tour would be in Dutch (seeing that Dutch is their first language) but we just figured we would look at the pictures, see the rooms, and translate as much as we could. We were actually proud of ourselves because we understood the basics of everything that was said, not so much the details, but enough to get the point across. For example: "this is the bath" is what we were able to understand. She talked about it for about 5 minutes probably discussing when and why you would use it...but we didn't get that part. Another example was "you will have contractions" is what we got. But I'm sure she went on to describe how they feel and how long they should be, but again...we didn't get that. Don't worry, we've read up on everything and are educated on everything labor, delivery and baby!

It was really funny when Scott and I would understand something that we didn't think the each other knew. We'd smile at each other and whisper the translation. I was so proud when I figured out hoofpijn (headache) and he was proud of arbeid (labor) and bevalling (delivery).

Seems like will be on the move while we're in labor. First we'll start out in a labor room where we'll....labor. Then we'll move on to the delivery room for...you guessed it...delivery. Scott and I now refer to the actual delivery room as the Darma room now because it reminds us of the Darma laboratory on Lost. Very creepy with one table with leg stir-ups, a few medical carts, and two bright industrial lights aimed right over the table. We're hoping Juliet will be our nurse. For those who don't watch Lost, I've attached one picture of their lab. I swear it looks just like this. Kind of bland and kind of old. Don't worry...even though the room is a little outdated the medical staff is wonderful and the medical technology is up to date!
Until next week!

Scott's Back!

2008-04-13T11:59:00.001-07:00

Scott got back from Shanghai, China on Saturday after a week of being gone. It was a work trip so needless to say he worked A LOT but did have time to see a bit of the city. This was my favorite pics of all the ones he took. I just liked the Chinese flags in the background.

He's off to Amsterdam tomorrow for a couple days for work and I'm tagging along (again). This time to keep him company on the car ride and to have a milkshake. Sadly, the only place that we know to find an authentic "American" milkshake is at the Burger King's in the Netherlands. Belgium doesn't have Burger King's. I guess you could call this a craving. I really haven't had too many cravings. The only other one I remember is cinnamon rolls. That craving was cured back in March when we went to the American Base Food Court in Germany and they had a Cinnabon stand. What better place to get a cinnamon roll! The funny thing about the milkshake is the size of the cup that it will come in. It's literally the size of one of the disposable Dixie bathroom cups. That's the only size available. I hope that's enough to fill my craving!

Taking after Daddy

2008-04-01T03:42:00.000-07:00

When I was in my second trimester I looked at Scott's birth certificate to see how much he weighed at birth. I was astounded to find out he weighed 9 lbs and 6 ounces. I was much smaller when I was born weighing in at 5 lbs and 11 ounces. Let's just say Baby Eichenberger is leaning more toward Daddy's birth weight than Mommy's. At 33 weeks she weighs approx. ( again all approx. b/c they are just basing it off of a head measurement) Drum Roll please:

2.839 kilograms or 6 pounds 4 ounces! That's with 7 more weeks to go...if she stays in the entire 40 weeks.

We couldn't help but giggle when the doctor told us.

I'll go ahead and address it before people secretly think it : NO, I'm not a fat cow. They recommend that you gain between 25-35 pounds over your pregnancy and I just hit 25 lbs this week.

We go back to the doctor at 36 weeks....we'll keep you updated then. Oh, and the doctor is sure the baby won't be coming next week when Scott is gone so that's a plus!

48 days to go

2008-03-31T06:06:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Baby Eichenberger's due date is in 48 days. Everything is all ready for her. We have our 33 week check up tomorrow so we'll get to see her again and make sure everything is still progressing accordingly. At 28 weeks she weighed 3 lbs 11 ounces so it will be interesting to see what they approximate her weight to be now.

Below are pictures of her half of her room. She shares a room with our 4 closets. It was either that or put her one floor up...all by herself. We decided against that and put her on our floor. It's actually a pretty big room so there's plenty of space. Europe in the springtime brings out the best flowers. We're hoping to drive to Holland to see the tulips fields sometime in April but it seems as though our April is going to fly by. Scott is going to Shanghai, China next week (yes, I know...I'll be 34 weeks then so we'll pray baby will stay put until he gets home!) and then he might be going to Hungary the next. I've requested no more overnight traveling after April 18th so hopefully he and Scientific ATL will agree. So until then I'll just buy tulips at the market!

Something To Ponder

2008-03-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

3rd Anniversary Trip

2008-03-11T10:49:00.001-07:00

Interlaken, Switzerland A view of the Swiss Alps behind us.
The famed Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland
Interlaken lies between two lakes. This is one of them.
A snowy and deserted Gimmenwald, Switzerland
Happy Anniversary, Scott!

Random huh? A Hooters in Switzerland.

Scott and I always take vacation around our anniversary each year. This year we wanted somewhere we could drive to that neither of us had been to yet. We chose Switzerland b/c it's winter here and what better time to see Switzerland.

After an 8 hour drive we arrived in Interlaken and settled into our quaint hotel. This little 3 star hotel was a hidden gem in Interlaken. We woke up every morning with spectacular views of the Alps from our windows.

We traveled to Zermatt one day to see the Matterhorn and then to a tiny town called Gimmenwald the next. All great adventures that fall under the category " adventures of scott and lacy!" Ask us about them sometime!

A few days in Amsterdam

2008-03-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

Scott had a work trip to Amsterdam a few weeks back and I tagged along. He did his work stuff during the day and at night and I hung out at the hotel and wondered around Amsterdam.

With the baby joining our lives soon I figured I should see the museums that I want to see before she arrives. One museum being the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam. The Rijks holds quite a few Rembrandt paintings. All in all it was an ok museum. The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam ranked higher on my list b/c I liked that period of art work better. Nothing tops the Louvre in Paris though. I have one last museum to check out and that one is in Paris - the Musee de Orsay - it houses a few Monet's. We're hoping to make one last road trip to Paris this spring and then it's all things baby here!

It's NASCAR season - even in Belgium

2008-02-23T09:58:00.000-08:00

Back in December Scott went "karting" with work. We didn't even know go-karts existed in Belgium. Scott had a good time but was bummed he only took 2nd place. He said he was a little bored going "round and round" by himself so he slowed down for some friendly competition. A little competition turned into Scott taking home the 2nd place trophy instead of the 1st.

It was a real "you got 2nd place" trophy. Turns out this is serious "karting." I didn't ask too many questions the first time because I just figured it was your normal go-karts. You know - red, yellow, green, go. Boy was I in for a laugh. Apparently, there's a pre-race safety instruction, sizing for uniforms and helmets, a 12-lap time trial, the big race of 18 laps, and the winner's circle. No wonder he was bummed about 2nd. They had to stand on a podium and go through the trophy presentation. 1st place probably got their national anthem played. Just kidding about the anthem.

Scott is here while I'm writing this and he just informed me *laugh* that the race suits and helmets were not made for Americans. He had to get the largest suit which was still too short and too tight. (please see pics below for additional laughs) He also had the largest helmet and b/c the helmet was larger than the rest he didn't have a shield.

This past Tuesday Scott had the opportunity to try karting again. Despite the tight suit and shield-less helmet he was out for #1. As you can see by the pics below he was successful. Even in his work shoes. *giggle*

Love the winner's circle motto: If you can win...you can be a champion!
Scott's number 7 (if you couldn't tell already with the short suit)

Congrats Scott on a job well done!

Beautiful Weather

2008-02-13T07:56:00.000-08:00

We took advantage of the sunny weather this past weekend. We just took a stroll around town taking a few pictures. We purchased a "baby book" a while back and opened it the other day and there are a few pages that require pictures of me while pregnant. We missed the first few months of documenting so we're trying to catch up here.

A few people have been asking how far along I am: I'll be 27 weeks on Monday. Some books say the 27th week starts the third trimester and 7th month. Other books say the 28th week starts it. Either way, hopefully that answers your questions. I'm still feeling great and enjoying the pregnancy. Minnewater in Brugge
Minnewater is also called the "Lake of Love"

On Sunday we left for a road trip to Southampton, England where Scott had a work meeting on Monday. Stonehenge was only 30 minutes away so we programmed it in the GPS, parked and pondered the rock formations. Amazing that it dates back to 3100 B.C. Stonehenge

24 weeks along

2008-01-31T06:04:00.000-08:00

Everyone seems interested in what I look like these days so here are a few photos. Not the best, but sure to give everyone a good laugh. They were taken at the end of the day...hence the bad hair. Maybe this weekend we'll take a few more.
Cute story:
This morning I was lying in bed...awake (getting up to pee every two hours messes up the REM sleep) and the alarm went off at 6:15am. It must have startled the baby (yes, she can hear outside noises now) and she started kicking and going crazy for Scott to turn the loud thing off. As soon as he turned it off she calmed back down and was quiet. 10 minutes later....beep..beep...beep (apparently he pressed snooze) and she went crazy again. She quickly calmed back down and went back to sleep...just like mom. It's just amazing that she could hear the noise and react to it in that way. Our next doctor's appointment is Tuesday so maybe we'll have more photos of her.

All things baby!

2008-01-15T07:32:00.000-08:00

I was looking back at some of the blogs from last year and last January was kind-of boring here. Well, it's the same this year. Not too much going on.....which means....not too much to write about. European winters are insanely depressing. Most days are cold and rainy. We probably won't see the sun again until May. You think I'm lying don't you. Ask around...it's true.

This past weekend we borrowed a mini-van, took out all of the back seats and headed to Germany to shop on the base. The dollar to the euro is horrible these days so we thought since we have to purchase baby things we should go to the military base where you can pay in dollars. Some people have called us cheap, but why spend more money than you have to. Not to mention we were able to get American things instead of European things. Yes, there's a huge difference from clothes to cribs. Here are a few price comparisons for you:

One onesie in Belgium: 7.50 euro (add on 50% due to the exchange rate and your total is $11.25 for one)

5-pack of onesies in the U.S.: $8.00

Pack and Play in Belgium: 169.00 euro (add on 50% due to the exchange rate and your total is : $253.50)

Pack and Play in the U.S.: $119.00 (upgraded version from what Belgium has)

Crazy, huh? We were just glad that we were able to get everything we needed this weekend and she's good to go for at least 6 months or so. A big thanks to my cousin Shanell for once again hosting us and getting us on the base!

Stay tuned for next week...we're putting together the crib. Geez, we're boring aren't we!

Aloha from Hawaii

2008-01-07T22:18:00.001-08:00

Yes, we did travel half way around the world to ring in the New Year in Hawaii but you should expect that from us by now! Here's how we spent our holidays:

Our first stop was in Albany, GA to spend Christmas with my family this year. It's always nice to be home especially during the holidays. We didn't do much just visited with family, shopped for the baby, and ate way too much.

We spent about 4 days in Albany and then we headed on to Hawaii for vacation. Thanks again mom and dad for taking us to the airport bright and early!

We had this vacation planned for about 10 months so it wasn't a spur of the moment thing. It actually happened at a good time because from what we've been hearing once you have kids you can never really "vacation" for the next 10 years. So we thought we'd enjoy our childless days while we could.

Scott and I really enjoyed vacationing in the U.S. Sure we are always traveling in Europe, but it's always a rush of sightseeing adventures that we never really have time to relax. It's nice to sit down at a restaurant and know the food and the service are going to be exactly what you're looking for.

It's funny how living in Europe has changed our outlook on things. For instance, we didn't rent a car (because we don't have U.S. car insurance and to take it out would be more expensive than renting the car) but we didn't get upset about it we just said, "oh, we'll take the bus if we need to go somewhere". Scott and I both laughed because who would have thought we would ever say that in a million years.

It turned out perfect because we joined a shore excursion for a day trip to the North Shore, Pearl Harbor, and the Dole Pineapple Plantation and took a bus to the mall one time until we realized that it was only a mile and a half each way - we walked it the next time. (Again, walking a few miles to something is what we do all the time in Europe if we need something so we didn't think twice about it.) We hung out at the beach a few days....drank Pina Colada's (virgin for me!) and floated on our rafts. The weather was beautiful 85% of the time. It sprinkled a few times but that's Hawaii for you and we really didn't mind because we're used to the rain in Belgium. Below is a small recap of our trip. We had a great time and can't wait to go back...whenever that will be. ;)

Sunset on Waikiki Beach

Celebrating Christmas and the New Year with 80 degree weather!

Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

Dole Pineapple Plantation where we had yummy pineapple ice cream.

The famed North Shore where we saw 10-12 ft. waves.

A view of Diamond Head from Waikiki Beach.

Going out to dinner on New Year's Eve.

Welcome 2008!

It's a..................

2007-12-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

Baby Eichenberger was fully awake (probably because of all the sugar and caffeine I had before the appointment) for the big day. The doctor kept us in suspense until the very end and then gave us great news. IT'S A GIRL! Scott had thought it was a girl all along so he was glad to win the bet. She's doing great and weighs 245 grams at 18 weeks. She's measuring 5 days ahead of schedule per the doctor but we all know that doesn't really mean anything. She'll come when she wants to. I'm starting get a little pot belly now. I'm still in the in between stage where you wouldn't ask me if I'm pregnant for fear of me telling you I've just gained weight. We leave for the U.S. on Saturday and I can't wait to pig out on all of the American food I've been missing out on. So I'm sure I'll start looking more pregnant after our trip.

Below is a video of the ultrasound. I put it on here because all of our family members want to see the baby and this is an easy way to view it. Technology is pretty cool these days to take a 4D video from on top of my stomach. Although still not enough to take the alien-look away. Basically that's my warning for you to proceed with caution if your a little skeptical or just grossed out. The clip is really short so for those brave enough for the challenge quickly look at the beginning and you'll see she's already sucking her thumb. Enjoy!

We'll be spending Christmas with my family this year in Albany, GA. The best part is it's suppose to be in the 70's on Christmas. Finally some warm weather. It's been below freezing here for the last week!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. We'll be back after the New Year so check for the regularly scheduled blogs then. What an exciting 2008 we're going to have!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

2007-12-10T12:08:00.000-08:00

Christmas Market in Cologne, Germany
A bad picture of Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, Germany
The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
Part of what is left of the Berlin Wall

What a busy two weeks we've had. Scott's mom, Jacke, came in for a visit after Thanksgiving and left yesterday. We've spent the last two weekends going to Christmas markets in Belgium and Germany. It seemed to rain everywhere we traveled to, but we kept trucking on. Our first stop was to Cologne, Germany and then we headed on to Berlin, Germany. Berlin was great. After the war, the city of Berlin took a vote whether or not to rebuild in the old style or rebuild the city in a modern style. The vote for modern won and now the city is a stylish metropolis. In certain areas you still feel the old Berlin (Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, pieces of the Berlin Wall.) Scott and I really enjoyed Berlin and would definitely return one day. It was nice to visit a modern city since Brugge overwhelmingly historic. This past weekend we visited the Brussels Christmas market and we didn't see too much because, once again, it rained. That's northern Europe in the winter for you!

Our big news of the week was our doctor's appointment to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. Unfortunately, Baby Eichenberger wasn't used to getting up that early and decided to take a nap during the ultrasound.....with his/her legs crossed. The baby is healthy and we'll try again on the 17th for the sex. Scott and I are such planners that we figured something like this would happen to us! We leave for the U.S. on the 22nd and our doctor is very supportive of fitting us in for another ultrasound. This will be my last trip to the U.S. before the baby is born so I'm hoping to be able to do some major shopping for baby clothes. Enjoy the ultrasound pics and wish us luck for the 17th.

Ik ben zwanger!

2007-11-18T12:28:00.000-08:00

That's Dutch for.......I'm pregnant! I officially start my 2nd trimester (14th week) today. Scott and I are thrilled for our new addition. Baby Eichenberger is "due" on May 18th. Everyone we tell seems to have lots of questions for us so I'll attempt to answer a few below.

Will your child have dual citizenship? Nope. Belgium doesn't welcome everyone freely. Scott or I would have to be a Belgian citizen in order for the child to have dual citizenship. Baby Eichenberger will just be an American citizen. I can only imagine the paperwork ahead for us!

Will you be coming back to the U.S to have the baby? Nope, again. The medical care is excellent in Europe, nothing to worry about. I have a great doctor who speaks English. The hospital is about 10 minutes away by car so it's really close. Plus, in Belgium, it is mandatory that you stay in the hospital 5 days for a normal birth and 7 for a c-section. I'm a newbie at this stuff so I'll need all the help I can get!

Are you ok with having a baby in a foreign country? Yes. You have to remember that we've been here a year and a half so it's not so foreign to us anymore. I'm sure there are a few American conveniences that we will miss but we'll make do.

Can your child be President? Yes! A previous co-worker of Scott's did the leg work on this for us and found out that even though he/she will be born in a foreign country because both parents are U.S. citizens then they are still eligible. We all can breathe easy now.

Are you going to find out if it's a boy or girl? Yes. We find out December 4th. Our doctor even scheduled another appointment for us on Dec. 17th just to re-confirm before we come home to the U.S. for Christmas.

Did you have morning sickness? Yes, it was horrible and I'm glad it's over!

- - - - -

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Household Duties

2007-11-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

Scott and I aren't much of "handymen" when it comes to household problems. But, we had a recent plumbing problem in our shower and were left with no choice but to figure it out. Basically, we had a clogged drain and the Belgian version of Draino was not working. It had been clogged for about two months and finally it would not drain anymore. With confidence we decided we would unscrew the drain cap. Right when we took out the last screw the entire pipe fell underneath the shower, out of reach. We took some needle-nose pliers and pulled the drain back up and quickly screwed it back in so that wouldn't happen again. Talk about panic!Scott then started fiddling around with a side pipe and found a secret catch-all and tada...our problem solved. We were so proud of ourselves that we solved a plumbing issue! We were all smiles that day.

Barcelona, Spain

2007-11-11T03:38:00.001-08:00

Sorry the blog is little late. My computer is on its last mega-bit. It lasts about an hour a day and then crashes. So instead of risking a lost blog I use my hour wisely and watch Days of our Lives or check emails.

The pictures below our from our Barcelona trip. We had a good time in Barcelona. Much to our surprise it was a booming European city. We were expecting it to be like southern Spain which we compare to Mexico City. We saw lots of great architecture (modern, old and weird) along our hop-on/hop-off tour. Barcelona is a major cruise port city so there were a lot of people in town to catch the cruise but because it was a European holiday lots of Italians, French, Belgians, Spaniards and other non-cruise folks came into the city for the weekend. It was extremely crowded. Not to worry though, we took shelter in the Hard Rock Cafe to get away from the crowds. Gaudi's famed house
Walking the boardwalk
It was windy on top of the hop-on/hop-off bus
The Barcelona version of the Arc de Triomphe
Row boating in a lake. Scott was rowing and I was snapping pictures instead of guiding.

Happy 30th Birthday Scott!

2007-10-30T04:09:00.001-07:00

It appears to be a tradition in Belgium that if it's your birthday, you bring in some sort of treat for your group. We didn't realize that was the case last year so this year we planned ahead. I brought back two cake mixes and two icings from the U.S. and made about 40 cupcakes yesterday. Cupcakes are a normal birthday treat in the U.S. but they don't have them here. They have muffins but no cupcakes. Even if they did put the batter into a muffin tin, Belgians would never, ever frosting the top with icing for fear of too much sugar. Scott took his cupcakes to work and I just called and he said they were a big hit. They liked the chocolate frosting better than the vanilla. Go figure!

Scott, I hope you have a wonderful 30th birthday!

It's a holiday here on Thursday and Friday so we are headed to Barcelona, Spain to celebrate Scott's birthday. We weren't to impressed with southern Spain so I hope Barcelona is better. They have a Hard Rock Cafe...so at least we'll eat well!

Random (really random) thoughts:

I like soft toilet paper and I'm not afraid to admit that I have a slight Charmin addiction. We recently used our last role from our commissary visit in January. (Yes, I stock up) So, that meant I had to breakdown and shop for toilet paper here for the first time. After reviewing my 5 choices I went with the Scottex DOUBLE roll brand. I put the new roll on and glanced back at the package to make sure it said DOUBLE roll. It was the same size as a U.S normal roll. I'd hate to see what a non-double roll is here. Gotta have everything bigger in the U.S I guess! If your wondering....the Scottex brand wasn't soft. 4 more brands to try or I'm headed back to the commissary!

Halloween has become a bigger to-do here this year. Lots more decorations and costumes. Last night our door bell rang while we were making dinner and 4 teenage boys dressed in their "Scream attire" came to the door. Scott is telling them that Halloween is Wednesday not Monday and they told him they'd be out of town so they are trick or treating now. Scott says, oh well nothing here and I didn't want our house to get egged so I found the emergency stash of starburst and grabbed some for him to give them. They all just looked at the candy like what is this? Scott and I went on and laughed about the fact that we gave out American candy. Then, about 30 minutes later it hits Scott that he thinks they give out money here instead of candy. No wonder they looked at us weird. MONEY? Who gives out money? Scott's suppose to ask people at work today what the tradition is for Halloween. Our lights are off if it's the money!

Back in the good ol' USA

2007-10-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

This week Scott needed to be in the U.S. for work and used sky miles for me to go too. While Scott worked I was able to spend some time with my parents and get my typical shopping and errands done. Shannon and Josh came up on Friday night and we all went to Dave and Busters. We had yummy IHOP the next morning. We stayed over the weekend so on Saturday drove out to see John, Nicole and family. Saturday night we took Scott out to a steak house to celebrate his upcoming 30th birthday (the end of Oct). But the most exciting part of the weekend was taking our nephew (who is a little over 3 1/2 years old) to the ice rink. Scott and John were both out there with him while I watched and took pictures from the sidelines. Here are some of the pics.

Paris / Belgium / Cologne / Amsterdam

2007-10-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

Yes it was a very busy week. Scott and I flew back from Spain on Saturday night and got to bed around 1am to wake up at 8am and drive to Paris. We picked up Dan and Pam (Scott's dad and stepmom) in Paris and brought them back to Brugge for the week. They flew to Paris Saturday morning from Dublin. I was hit with some bad migranes this week and couldn't do my usual tours. However, they did excellent finding their way on the bus and train to Brussels and Gent. Pam owns and boards horses in Minnesota so a carriage ride through Brugge was a must.
On Saturday Scott drove us three hours to Cologne, Germany. This is a very tourist friendly city on the water but known most for the Dom Cathedral. The Dom cathedral is the world's largest Gothic church and has a shrine to the three wise men (it is believed to hold the bones and remains of them in the gold chest pictured below). The Dom was the world's tallest structure until the Washington monument was built back in the 1884. In WWII it was hit by 14 air bombs but never collapsed. As beautiful as this church is it still dosen't compare to the Duomo in Milan. Below are some pretty good night photos of the cathedral.

So the week wouldn't be complete with some wierd story. Well can you believe we had another flat tire (that's two in less then a week)! This time it was with our car so we did have a spare and Scott was able to swap them out. With a twenty minute delay we were on our way to Amsterdam.

Sunday morning we drove to Amsterdam and gave our standard tour of the Anne Frank House, Dam Square, the Red Light District and the flower market. This time we did find a great Chinese and Noodle place which we will definately return to. After a day of touring we said goodbye to Dan and Pam and dropped them off at the airport in Amsterdam. We hope they had a great Euro Trip and we see them again next year.

Dan and Pam arrive in Europe

2007-10-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

This week we were entertaining once again. but instead of sticking to somewhere we knew, we decided to meet Scott's dad and stepmom in the Southern coast of Spain. We all met up in Malaga Spain for the first half of the week; then on Wednesday Dan and Pam flew to Ireland for a couple of days while Scott and I stayed in Malaga. As with many of our trips this one was full of mis-adventures. It started out that Dan and Pam almost didn't make it to Malaga. Their flight was never comfirmed by Travelocity so when they arrived at the airport in London (after an over night flight from the US) there was no seat for them. They scrambled to find a flight but did not arrive at the condo in Malaga until around midnight. Even though they were jet-lagged we headed to Gibralter the next morning. Gibralter is an island owned by the UK which is famous for it's apes. Ever heard of the "rock of Gibralter"? One other thing, to get to the island you literally have to walk over a live runway!

We took a cable car up to the top of the rock where the ape habitat was. When we got there I was thinking to see some cute monkeys in a cage but oh no, they were all running around free! They were very friendly and photogenic though.

The next day trip was to Granada were we went to the Alhambra. The Alhambra is a huge palace and fortress built by the Moorish Monarchs of Granada. This was lived in by the Muslim kings and their court. Since we didn't book ahead (who knew?) we could only walk through the grounds and not the palace. Below is a picture of the grounds.

The next day we decided to hit the beach and tour Malaga. It was a day full of mis-adventures. First off in the water (which felt like 60 degrees) I was hit by a jelly fish which stung my knee, then it also hit and stung Scott's leg. We had lunch on the beach where no one spoke English and we all ordered something without knowing what we would actually get. Later that day as we were driving back from Malaga Scott blew a back tire on the highway. We pulled off and called Avis. Scott was all set to replace the tire until he opened the trunk and found there was not spare. When the highway helper came he wouldn't do anything because we didn't have a tire. After an hour of arguing through a translater the car was towed back to Avis for a new one.

Later in the week we only made one more road trip which was to Sierra Blanco. It is a small town filled with your typical white pueblos. Although the weather was nice and it was great to be at a beach, both Scott and I rank this at the bottom of all the cities we have seen in Europe so far. It was a nice relaxing week but a place we don't need to see again.

2007-10-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

I haven't forgotten about the blog. I've just been a little under the weather today and don't have enough energy to put out a decent blog. Check back later this week!

Who's Bored?

2007-09-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

Scott and I had nothing going on this weekend. At one point Saturday morning we looked at each other and laughed because we were both bored with sitting at home. We're used to being on the go. We ended up relaxing most of the weekend by watching season 1 of Prison Break and Sunday football.

Thank goodness Scott's Dad and step-mom are coming out on Saturday for two weeks. They are actually meeting us in Spain for a few days and then they will head on to Ireland and Paris. We'll pick them up in Paris and then they'll have a week in Brugge. The final weekend they are here we are all going to Cologne, Germany and then Amsterdam. We're excited about our Spain trip and seeing Cologne. Checking a few more things off of our lists.

All of our Baltic pictures our uploaded and there are over 500 pictures. I have separate albums for each city so if you want to see a certain city or all of them just shoot me an email or message and I'll forward them to you.

Check back on the Sept 24th or Oct. 1st for more adventures of Lacy and Scott!
Here are a few more cruise pics:

Scott's Russian Souvie

I have no clue when we will actually wear these!

Scott swears people will know it was windy outside but I still am not a big fan of this pic!

Scott found another mermaid in Copenhagen that wasn't so little.

It was a little chilly in Sweden so I got a Swedish hat and scarf!

Our Summer Vacation

2007-09-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, Scott and I found a great deal on a 12-day Scandinavian/Baltic cruise. Scott had been wanting to see the Baltic countries and both of us wanted to see Russia. After going back and forth on it for a few days we decided to book it...and boy are we glad we did. This was by far our BEST vacation ever!

Here's how we spent our last 12 days:

Our cruise left from Dover, England so we drove to the port in Dunquerke, France and drove our car on a ferry and cruised an hour and 45 minutes to Dover. We've previously taken the Eurotunnel (the train that goes under the Channel) but b/c of price and time we took the ferry this time. We've been to Dover but this time was completely different b/c we were able to see the famed white cliffs of Dover from the water. Absolutely breathtaking! Blah, Blah, Blah...parked the car...boarded the ship and away we went!

A few days into the cruise we traveled through the Kiel Canal. It's a tiny canal separating the northern part of Germany with the the other side of Germany. The ship we were on is the largest vessel that goes through it. Our ship actually had to take down its bow and the engine stacks had to unfold. It's a big ordeal for the Germany people. Everyone was out and waving and playing music for us. I can only imagine being on the other side and seeing this huge cruise-liner go through a tiny canal. It took about 8 hours to do the entire canal.

Our first stop was Warnemunde, Germany. To be honest I didn't expect much from this town so I really didn't plan much. Walk around..get back on the boat. But, much to my surprise I loved this city. It was a port city so lots a boats (big and small) and a pier/boardwalk leading to the beach. The weather was wonderful this day so we decided to take a stroll along the beach.

Funny story: All of a sudden we stopped in our tracks and our jaws dropped....it was a nude beach. Yes, we've been to a nude beach before...but not at 5 o'clock when everyone was packing to go home (and drying off) in the nude...men and women!

Earlier that day, we took the city train 15 minutes away to a city called Rostock. We took in a few Churches, a museum, a few pretzels (Germany has the best pretzels..ever!) and then headed back to Warnemunde. All in all we were please with northern Germany. Very different than eastern and southern Germany.

On the beach in Warnemunde, Germany

Our next stop was Tallinn, Estonia. Again, I wasn't expecting much from this city either...and again I was amazed! I would definitely recommend this city to anyone who is in the area. What history this city has! We toured around on our own and found the city very safe. We both had reservations on if we should do a shore excursion here or not but in the end toured ourselves. This city is very Russian influenced (seeing that it used to be part of Russia) but still had a very old feel to it. The downtown area was all cobblestone. (the worst cobblestone I've ever seen.) Everywhere you look it was one great view after another. Very clean city as well. In beautiful Tallinn, Estonia

Our favorite stop of the entire trip was....ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA. This cruise gave us the ability to go into Russia without a Visa. We had to do shore excursions here instead of wondering around on our own (the non-visa cruise ship rule) but it was great. We took a canal tour one day, a city tour w/ photo stops one day and then a church tour which went into several churches the other day. Our pictures do not the city justice. The colors are very vibrant and the Russian architect is very detailed. We stopped at several markets and stores along the way and we were able to get great souvies - Russian doll everything and Russian hats. Scott got a black one and I got a white one. I'll post pics of them once I've uploaded them to Kodak later on this week. We have 100's of pictures from the city but the one below is from our favorite church, the Church on Spilled Blood.

Our next stop was Helsinki, Finland. I'm not quite sure what I pictured Helsinki to be before we got there, but it was completely different than I pictured. Very clean, very metropolitan, very chic, very trendy. Lots of restaurants, shopping and young people. There wasn't too many touristy things to do but we still enjoyed the city. Scott even found a Mountain Dew.

Below is the famous Lutheran Cathedral in Helsinki.

Stockholm, Sweden was very beautiful as well. We decided to walk the city instead of public transportation this day (I'm not sure what we were thinking but after 5 miles we were exhausted! ) Stockholm is a lot of islands, some connected some not. We walked to one island that held the Vasa museum. The Vasa is a ship from the 1600's that sank a few minutes after it left the dock for the first time. It was rediscovered in the 1950's and put back together with most of the original pieces. Then we headed back to the old town. Lots of Swedish shops. We saw lots of candy shops as we were walking and then it hit us...Swedish fish candies. We passed the Royal Palace (the largest working palace in the world) saw the guards and then made it back to the ship and passed out from walking too much on uneven cobblestone. Gotta love Europe and the cobblestone!

The Vasa ship in Stockholm

Our final stop was Copenhagen, Denmark. We were only here for a few hours one night and then a few hours the next day so we did everything the first night. We saw the Little Mermaid Statue that was from Hans Christian Anderson's, Little Mermaid. Next we saw their Royal Palace and guards, and then on to there pedestrian shopping street. We ended the night at Tivoli Amusement Park. Mr. Walt Disney traveled here and went to the amusement park and decided the U.S. needed one..hence...Disney World. I had the tallest cotton candy ever! We listened to live jazz (jazz festival was going on) and then we went on the scariest ride ever. Ask me about it sometime.

Below: Copenhagen and the Little Mermaid Statue in Copenhagen

We had a great time in the short period we were in each city. We wouldn't hesitate to go back to any of them!

We took the cruise knowing we'd be the youngest couple on the cruise but we decided to make the most of it. We participated in karaoke, open mic comedy, ping pong tournaments, and magic lessons. We did all of the shows every night. I was actually called up on stage for the magic act...twice.

I hope to have all of our pics up on kodak later on during the week. I'll post them next week.

Amsterdam with Shan

2007-08-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

Shannon had never been to Amsterdam so Scott drove us there early Saturday morning so we could go to the Anne Frank House. The line was too long when we arrived so we went back later on in the day. It's a very moving experience to visit her house. We toured the Red Light District and the usual Amsterdam things. Below are a few highlights. Everyone wants their picture taken in a wooden shoe!
Proof that Scott went with us on this trip.
Shan and the canal.
This is a statue that reads:

Respect your local sex worker

A concert on the canal in front of the famed Pulitzer hotel.

Scott and I leave for vacation tomorrow so my next post will be September 3rd.
Until next time!

Milan and Lake Como, Italy

2007-08-20T03:23:00.000-07:00

The fabulous Duomo in Milan
On the roof top of the Duomo

(gotta love the camera timer)

Lake Como, Italy

(where we saw George Clooney's house)
We finally found someone to take our picture
Our new Finnish friend who lived in South Carolina for a while.

We really couldn't decide where we wanted to spend Wednesday through Friday so we picked our all time favorite, Milan. The pictures really don't do it justice. Milan has beautiful architecture and wonderful shopping. However, this time we were only able to embrace the architecture. All of the stores were closed for the holiday (aka: vacation in Europe) Most of the stores opened up the day we left. We still had a wonderful time. Milan never gets old. We'll always return!

Athens, Greece

2007-08-20T03:14:00.000-07:00

On our way back from Cyprus, we had a layover in Athens, Greece for 5 hours. Shannon and I had previously been to Athens for her wedding so we were familiar with the city. So we thought why not tour it again. It beat sitting in an airport and staring at each other for 5 hours. We hailed a cab and our first stop was the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. The funny thing was the cab driver didn't really know where it was and we were the ones showing him. We walked around the city a little more and then we hailed another cab to take us to the Acropolis and back to the airport. We got some great photos from our little stop over. The Acropolis

(It was way too hot to climb up to the top.)

The Temple of Zeus
Olympic Stadium

Larnaca, Cyprus

2007-08-20T02:37:00.000-07:00

So, when I said Shannon and I were going to the beach....I actually meant we were going to Cyprus (60 miles away from Syria...yes almost the Middle East.) All the European tour books say that Cyprus has the best beaches so we were game. Not to worry though, Shannon and I researched the trip thoroughly and had it all planned out so we wouldn't be 2 American girls wondering around a strange country. Ok, we wondered a bit but Shannon's saying is "not all who wonder are lost."

Just a little background on Cyprus: it entered into the European Union in 2004, the southern part of the country is owned by Greece and the northern part is owned by Turkey. (We stayed on the southern part.)

On our first day there we had "beach day" and just hung out on the beach all day. The weather was HOT! Luckily, the water was cool so we kept hopping in there. The water was crystal clear and beautiful. We took a water tubing excursion which was the highlight of our entire trip. Ask me about it sometime...it's pretty funny. The next day we taxied into the city of Larnaca and visited the church of Lazarus. (Remember him from the Bible- he was the one who rose from the dead.) Anyway, we were able to see his tomb in the crypts of the church. The weather was even HOTTER this day but we kept trucking...into a TJIFridays that had air conditioning. We eventually cooled off long enough to see a museum, a castle, and a few souvie shops.

All in all we had a great 2 days in Cyprus. We like to describe Cyprus as Mexico Mediterranean with the Caribbean Ocean. We felt very safe there. They are trying to build up their tourism and welcome visitors!

On the rocks outside our hotel

Beach Day
Church of St. Lazarus in Larnaca
Pretty Sunset

Summer Fun

2007-08-05T22:48:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday and Monday we visited the city of Chartres, France. It's a little city about an hour west of Paris. The European tour book I use said this city is a must see while in Paris....but I'd say it was nothing special. They are famous for there church in the picture above but it was really just like any other church here. My recommendation would be to travel to Versailles for great scenery or Rouen for a better church in the same category/level. Or just stick to Notre Dame in Paris.

The weather has been wonderful all week. In the high 70's to the low 80's yesterday. We've tried to stay out of the house as much as possible and enjoy the summer b/c we know it will quickly fade away. That be the reason my blog wasn't updated last week!

We had a great weekend this past weekend. Just strolling the back roads, sitting by the canals getting some sun, eating dinner on the outside terraces at great restaurants, being tour guide to an SA employee in town....just relaxing.

Shannon comes in town on Saturday and we're (Shannon and I) going to take off to the beach for a few days and come back and visit Amsterdam. The back half of our trip really isn't planned yet so we might end up somewhere besides Amsterdam, who knows? Then on the 21st, Scott and I leave on our summer vacation. So, I'll go ahead and warn you....the next blog post might not be until September.

I'm not telling you where Shannon and I are going nor where Scott and I are going just so you'll check back...believe me..it's going to be awesome!

Out of Town

2007-07-29T01:42:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Scott has a work trip on the outskirts of Paris on Monday 7/30 and I'm tagging along. We're headed off to wonder around Paris today (Sudnay 7/29) and will be back Monday night. I'll blog later on in the week!

Geentse Feesten ( Gent Festival)

2007-07-23T02:43:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, Belgium celebrated its Independence Day. The city of Gent has one of the largest festivals so we headed off to Gent Saturday afternoon. We biked to the train station and parked our bikes with the thousands of other bikes and took the 30 minute train ride to Gent. We took the local tram/bus into the city center and toured on from there. Gent has a very beautiful castle that I've always wanted to go in but didn't want to pay the entry fee. On Saturday, it was free. We took the tour, walked up a few hundred spiral stairs to the top and had wonderful views of the city. Next, we took a canal boat tour through the canals of Gent. I learned a lot more useful information for the guided tour that I give to all of our visitors. After our touristy stuff, we moved on to find the 5 or so stages to see what music was playing. I'd describe this as a free music midtown like Atlanta has. One stage was built across the water. We wanted to stay until the fireworks but they were at 11:30 and our last train was at 11:35 so we headed back early. We arrived back in Brugge and realized that we didn't have any mandatory lights on our bikes. It's kind of like a car, without lights, you really can't see in the dark. We eventually made it home after hopping off and walking our bikes every time we saw a cop. Just another Scott and Lacy adventure for you!

Click HERE to see all of our Gent pictures.

Luxembourg

2007-07-23T02:05:00.000-07:00

Cough, Cough. I was a little under the weather last week so I'm behind in posts. All year I've waited for the weather to warm up. Last weekend it did - 80ish! But, I got a sinus infection and felt like crapola and couldn't even enjoy it. I'm feeling much better now and it's in the 70's for a few more weeks.

Anyway, last Saturday we got up bright and early and drove three hours south to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Luxembourg is right below Belgium on the map. If you scan too fast you'll miss it b/c it is pretty small. It's surrounded by France, Germany and Belgium.

Much to our surprise Luxembourg City was a very cosmopolitan city. Much more with the times than the entire country of Belgium. It was the week before Jazz festival there was everyone was gearing up for that. We had lunch outside (at another Chi-chi's we found) and listened to jazz music, strolled through an antique fair, saw the Royal Palace, and the main church for the city. We really enjoyed the city and wouldn't hesitate to come back.

Click HERE to see our Luxembourg pics.

Our hotel had a swimming pool which we were more excited about than the actual touring of the city. The bathing suite of choice for men in Europe is a speedo. Most pools require men to wear a speedo but thankfully the Hilton didn't. You know how in the U.S if you see a man wearing a speedo you usually do a double take? Well, that's what everyone did for Scott as he made his big splash into the pool with his long Hawaiian patterned shorts. He was the odd man out!

The next morning we drove over to the U.S Military Cemetery and saw General Patton's grave. Scott, who randomly knows more about General Patton than I knew, said that he didn't die in the war, he died in a car accident back in the U.S a few months after the war ended. His request was to be buried with his troops.

Oh, I forgot: We saw Die Hard 4 at the movies in Luxembourg. I had a Die Hard marathon previous week and saw 1 through 3. This last one was my favorite by far. I was talking about the movie two days later!

On Monday morning, I woke up to the sound of gun shots. I ran to the window and was in shock for a few seconds....then I saw the cameras and director....they were filming a local TV show on my street. They were here all week and filmed each scene 10 times so I got to hear a lot of tires screeching and gun shots over and over all week!

2007-07-09T01:14:00.000-07:00

Not too much going on here in Brugge again this week. The weather is slowly creeping up out of the 50's and 60's and into the 70's.....and hopefully the rain we leave as well.

We went to the Cactus Festival with our friends Bob and Robin on Friday night to see CAKE. Always nice to see a band you can sing along too!

On Saturday, we drove to the Belgian city of MONS and toured around there for an hour or so. As we were driving through their city center I told Scott to look at the TexMex restaurant on the corner. He shouted, "CHI-CHI's!"

I'd never heard of it but, apparently it's a chain Mexican restaurant from back in the U.S. We had a yummy lunch there, sitting outside, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. After a year of us being here, we discover the most authentic Mexican restaurant that's comparable to back home and learn that they have 3 other locations in Belgium. Lucky us!

On Sunday, we had a "going away" get-together for our friends Doug and Kristin at our house. They are moving to The Hague, Netherlands on Saturday. We wish them the best of luck in their future!

(I did forget my camera all weekend so I apologize for the lack of pictures!)

Off to Luxembourg next weekend for a short weekend trip! I promise I'll have the camera!

Delta SiteSeer Challenge

2007-07-02T09:48:00.001-07:00

Shannon and I are up to it again....even if we are 4000 miles apart. We submitted our audition tape to Amazing Race a few years back and this time were trying something different. Delta is having a challenge where 5 teams of 2 go to predetermined cities and tour around while being video taped. Delta.com cutomers go on and vote who's the best and the winner gets 1 million skymiles. Its a really big deal with Delta so our audition video is probably one of thousands. Who knows....maybe we'll make it to the top 5.

I jinxed myself

2007-06-26T03:16:00.000-07:00

A package I was expecting from FEDEX was stolen (along w/ several others, they say) two stops before it was set to be delivered to me. Honestly, who steals from FEDEX?

The world still is a safe place...at least in Brugge

2007-06-24T03:12:00.000-07:00

Since we've been in Brugge, Scott and I both have this horrible habit of leaving our keys in the door and shutting the door leaving our keys on the outside. It happened once and we remembered right away and went to get them and they were still there. The next time it happened, we left them outside over night...and amazingly, they were still there. This time when it happened, I had gotten caught in a huge down pour and was soaking wet from coming back from the bank that I guess I was too focused on my umbrella and wet shoes to grab my keys. About five hours later I was reading a book on our 2nd floor and all of a sudden I heard our door open. I thought it was Scott coming home early so I went to the top of the stairs and looked down and saw a hand placing my keys on the floor. The hand quickly shut the door. I loooked out the mail slot and didn't see anyone. The funny thing is my first thought was....what happened if they made a copy of my keys. (Growing up in the hood of Albany, GA will make you think worst case scenario) I called Scott and he reminded me that it's been one year and we've yet to find a place to make keys in Brugge. So, we're going with the theory of a nice person trying to help someone out. Still weird though!

Still finding new things to do

2007-06-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

We went pub hopping on Saturday night and had a great time. After being here one year, we found another Irish Pub called, Druid's Cellar. It's actually better than our regular hang-out, Celtic Ireland. We like our Irish hang-outs because the menus and signs are all in English.

Our New Year's resolution was not to go into a bar or resturant that we'd been to the previous year. So, keeping true to our New Year's resolution, earlier this year we entered into what we'd like to call Brugge's hidden treasure....Lucifernium. Scott and I didn't have enough kahuna's to enter in alone so we enlisted our friend, Doug (who had previously been there) to "get" us in. It's actually right around the corner from our house. The signs are all in Spanish and from what we gather it's only open on Saturdays from 9 until 2am. We were so interested from our first experience that broke our resolution and we went back a second time on Saturday. Here's a recap:

In order to get into the place you have to "ring the bell." (Scary I know, but we did it anyways) As we were waiting for them to open the door a party of about 25 women wearing devils horns and crosses showed up) A few minutes later someone opened the locked door and we all entered in. We found a seat and ordered from their RUM based menu. I ordered a mojito and Scott ordered the Coco. Scott quickly learned that the Coco was a glass full of plain Malibu. As we scanned the crowd, we noticed the devil-horned woman were placing women's panties on men's heads. So we deducted they we selling the underwear....I guess to keep their club going. Sure, devil-horned wearing women with crosses on their clothing, selling underwear. After being here one year, you learn just to go with it....instead of questioning it. It didn't look like Hankie Panky (the best brand of underwear in the world) to me so we past on the opportunity to purchase. The last time we visited we remembered an old "grandpa" like man playing the piano...and he was there again this time. He played "only you" and "i will survive" during our stay there. We've seen the owner of the bar around our side of town driving a huge van with graffiti-like content of doctor-healing powers. To be honest, we were really scared of the van when it parked in front of our house. Last weekend we saw him biking around town. The rumor goes that his wives are the waitresses. (There were at least 6 waitresses in the place...all of Spanish decent) We talked to him while we were there and told him we were neighbors. We managed to speak in Spanish while we were there (the "house" language). Just brushing up for our trip to Spain in September, I guess. On our way out, he informed us that he has to keep the door locked so the noise doesn't bother his neighbors. Anyways, come visit us and stay over a Saturday and we'll show you the weirdest bar you've ever seen!

HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY JOE!!!!