Sarah's 31st Birthday

I just had to document how awesome Richard was during my birthday. He knows I like birthdays to be special, and he worked really hard to make me feel special this year. In the weeks surrounding my birthday, Richard had to be in Germany for work. He was coming home on the weekends for a short time, then turning around to do another week in Germany. My birthday fell on a Friday, and he made sure he was home at a decent time on Friday night, just so he could get up Saturday morning and start doing things for my birthday.

We started with pancakes, then Richard invited some friends over to hang out for a few hours, and he made some pizza for everyone. After this, he got started on the long process of making my requested cake. A banana cake with white chocolate ganache and candied pecans! He spent all of the kids nap time working on it, then had them help when they woke up.

Just look at how pretty this cake is! And it tasted delicious.

He then proceeded to make a wonderful chicken dinner for the family. He must have spent at least 8 hours in the kitchen that day, while I spent time lounging on the couch and feeling pampered.

Thank you, to the best husband ever! I love you, sweetie!

Heidelberg and Luxembourg

Richard has been spending a lot of time in Germany these past couple of months. So much, that we probably could have justified moving there for a time before coming to Belgium. Fortunately, the kids and I were able to tag along for a week on one of his business trips. We stayed in Heidelberg, Germany the whole week. Then on the drive home we spent one night in Vianden, Luxembourg, because... well, we were near by so why not?

When daddy is away, the kids will play. Wait, that doesn't work... When Daddy travels, the kids go too. Not so catchy. Well anyway, here's what we did while Richard worked some long hard hours, God bless him.

Heidelberg has a fairly large castle that sits on a hill overlooking the city. Much of the castle is not what it was originally, and some parts are missing, but you can still go in and look around and get an idea of what it must have been like a long time ago... you know, when people lived in castles. Here I am with the kids with the city behind us. This was taken right before we entered the castle.

There is a long entrance with a gateway into the castle courtyard. It reminds me of Cinderellaesque carriages pulling important people up to the castle.

View of a beautiful part of the castle from the courtyard.

We couldn't go inside most of the castle without a guided tour, which didn't fit into our day, but we were able to go see the world's largest wine barrel. It was built in 1751, and holds more than 58,000 gallons of wine! This is me attempting to get a picture with my kids, who are more interested in goofing off than smiling for the camera.

After the castle, we took the funicular tram up the hill a bit more to a lookout spot. It was a beautiful day, but I must say, having kids run around near the edge of a steep hill does not make a mama feel safe. I corralled them with a shared cup of hot chocolate and we headed back down on the tram.

In the historic center of the city, there's a pretty church to visit. Its crisp white interior was much different than all the stone we saw in the many churches of Italy.

I have become interested in, and hence have read several books about, the life of Martin Luther, the amazing man who played a huge role in the Protestant Reformation of Europe. He is very well known for nailing his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg in 1517. Luther came to Heidelberg in 1518 to give a disputation regarding his 95 theses upon request of the Augustinian order. Today, there is a plaque dedicated to Luther's visit to Heidelberg. It's not actually well known, and it was a bit of a treasure hunt to find it (which my kids thought was fun). We ended up finding it in the ground in the square of the old University.

Another popular site in Heidelberg is the bridge called "Alte Bruecke" (Old Bridge).

From the center of this bridge you can get a nice view of the castle.

And there's a fancy gateway of one side of the bridge, which doesn't seem to fit into the rest of the architecture, but it's pretty to look at.

Another highlight for the kids was this odd monkey next to the gate of the bridge. I told them to rub the plate he is holding for good luck, but for some reason that scared my kids. Haha! So while Hope held onto my leg, to get away from the monkey, Gabriel at least was brave enough to pose for a picture.

The rest of our time in Heidelberg we spent shopping, going to the zoo and swimming in the hotel pool.

Once the week was over, we traveled to Vianden, Luxembourg and spent the night there. We chose Vianden, because the castle there has been renovated/restored and you can really get a good feel for the whole place. What we didn't realize, was how charming the little town is that sits on the river directly below the castle.

We stayed at a wonderful little hotel overlooking the water. I kept thinking I smelled sausage, and just assumed it was being served at the hotel's restaurant. But I later found out there was a shop connected to the hotel which sold delicious fresh sausage and meats. How cool!

The castle, like I said, sits on a hill above the town.

It definitely towers over everything.

Some of the rooms inside the castle had pieces of armor and weaponry on display.

As well as a pillory, which we had fun with.

It was difficult to get a nice picture of the inside of the castle, but it was what you would expect from the movies... many different rooms with many passages, plus large rooms for entertaining, etc. In fact, this castle has been in several films throughout the years. We also loved the view from the balcony of the castle.

After the castle, we headed home. It was a lovely trip, and I'm so glad we got to tag along with Richard to make it happen!

Disneyland Paris

We took the kids to Disneyland Paris for a couple days in September. I turn into a little kid at Disneyland with all the excitement and characters. It really is a magical place. I want our kids to experience the same magic. And I think we achieved that goal!

One of our first stops was joining a Frozen sing-along. Since Hope was dressed in her Princess Anna costume, she and I got to sit in special "Princess" seating with cushions and a view of center stage.

Hope was focused the entire time, and had fun singing along. Between songs she looked quite serious as she listened to the characters talk. Then, when her favorite character Olaf came on stage, she lit up like a Christmas tree! "It Olaf! Mommy, it's OLAF"

We met a lot of characters. Gabriel often got curious about the costumes. Here he is testing how sharp Pluto's whiskers are.

The carousel was a big hit.

And  of course we had to say hello to Micky!

Then I had to get the kids some Mickey shaped lollipops, because I remember getting them as a kid.

We also paid a high price (didn't know it would be quite so pricey until we got there!) to have lunch at Cinderella's castle. As we ate, we had visits from many of the princesses. Bell, Ariel, Cinderella and Prince Charming, and then outside was Princess Aurora. The lady playing Ariel did a fantastic job engaging a very shy little 2-year-old Hope. Both kids loved her.

But is wasn't all girly stuff. Gabriel enjoyed meeting Buzz Lightyear, and learning how to shoot webs out of his wrist from Spiderman!

And we had several rides on Dumbo, as I was trying to re-create a picture I have with my dad on the very same ride.

Then, of course, is the tea cup ride...

And a big serving of cotton candy to add some more sugar to all the fun.

What a wonderful trip! Now Gabriel can't wait until he's big enough to ride on Thunder Mountain, and is asking when we can go again. Sounds like we will need a trip to Disney World when we move back to the States!

Our Apartment in Historic Downtown Milan

For those who have asked about our place in Milan, but never got a chance to come visit...

It was a beautiful apartment. The exterior and interior still have the charm and design from when it was built. Although the interior of the apartment has been remodeled, the owner kept the original windows, door knobs, etc. which give it a special feel.

This is the building our apartment was in. Located along the path of the historic tram line 1, and conveniently just one block away from the metro. I never drove while living in Milan. Metro, tram and walking were the best way to get around.

The setup for this building is very common in Italy. The big door you see in the middle is wide enough for a car to drive through. If you want to spend 500 Euros per month (yikes!) to park in the courtyard, you can drive through there. The ground floor has businesses, and the floors above that are either apartments or office space. Our apartment was on the fourth floor (counting the ground floor as zero, not one), so our windows are actually just above this picture.

Once inside the large main door, you'll find the doorman, who my kids always had to say "Buon Giorno!" at the top of their lungs to. Past the doorman is a large courtyard that is surrounded on all sides by the triangle shaped building. Fortunately, our building had a modern elevator which took us to our floor.

The entryway to our apartment had two doors. The outer door...

...and the inner door. Between these two doors is a ~1.5 foot space which is the width of the walls.

You can notice the thick walls throughout the interior or the apartment as well.

The window knobs, door knobs, etc were all kept as part of the original building. I love the charm they bring.

And anyone who visited us in Milan, probably got my tour of the windows. Yes, the windows are quite interesting! In this picture I closed the left shutter, but there is also one on the right. These would have been on the outside of the building, and they actually slide away into a hole in the wall that's just big enough for them to fit. Each time you slide them in and out, tiny bits of the wall crumble away (not enough to be worried about but you need to brush off your hands when you're done). Our windows have a newer/nicer sound proof window that was added on the outside of the shutters. On the inside of the shutters is what would have been the main window. It's not sound proof or water proof really. The two sides fit together and are locked closed when the vertical bar in the middle slides into a hole in the wall, keeping them secure.

Lastly, there are wooden panels which close over the interior window. These will almost black out a room, which is nice for a sleeping toddler! When folded up, they are conveniently stored into a groove in the window frame.

And I was intrigued by the locks and keys. Now that I have traveled more and live in a second location in Europe, I realize these aren't so cool, but rather just the norm. I now know they can be found in older American homes too. But when I first saw these key holes, it reminded me of the old Tom and Jerry cartoon looking through key holes to spy on each other. And that's just what my kids did when I tried to get some privacy.... even in the bathroom. Sigh... life of a mom with littles!

Even the keys are pretty!

That's my brief overview of the unique parts of our Italian apartment. The rest is somewhat typical. bedrooms and living room, etc. My favorite part was poking my head out the window to see the busy street of the city down below.

Moving to Antwerp

It's time to move again! Our short one-year stay in Italy has been wonderful, but we are also looking forward to living in Antwerp. We are planning to move the last week of July, and we will be moving into our new home on August 3.

I don't know too much about Antwerp yet, but here's what I do know. They are known for diamonds, chocolate, waffles and beer, they still have a King and Queen (I told Hope it was kind of like Elsa and Anna from Disney's Frozen), and our house will have a big backyard for the kids! Have I gotten anyone excited for a visit? I hope to see many of you while we are in Antwerp!