30 in Bruges

Turning 30 turned out to be pretty great! It feels crazy to have entered into a new decade, but I'm so thankful for everything going on in my life right now.  It's also crazy to think that I'll be a mother this year, wow.  Here's how the bump is coming along:

I'm definitely starting to look more preggers now, which I'm enjoying. And I'm understanding why everyone says the second trimester is the best - I feel great!

My birthday weekend was a success.  On the actual day I had a lovely lunch with friends and then we hosted a dinner party at night.  It was a perfectly low key way to celebrate the day.  Then the next morning Todd and I set off for Bruges for the rest of the weekend.   We took along Jack, figuring it would be her last time to live the life of a Euro-dog (i.e. she can come into every restaurant and cafe).    We had only been to Bruges once before, so I was so glad we had a chance to get back to this beautiful city.

Our weekend revolved around walking and eating, as you'll see from our photos.   We started with lunch at a cute place near our hotel, with some pretty great opening hours (the place was owned by a British couple):

And it was very cute inside as well.

Afterwards, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around with Jack and exploring the city.  Jack was intrigued by all of the horse drawn carriages.  I wonder if she thought the horses were just extremely large dogs.

One of the many bridges in town.

Out and about, getting rather soggy, but not too bad.

Aren't they cute? 

Of course there were waffles to be eaten. So good. And not the only one of the weekend.  I'm eating for 2 after all.

Horse!

She was a very good girl.

The rain came on and off, but it was never too heavy, so we managed to walk around for hours.  After dropping (and drying) off Jack at the hotel, we proceeded to happy hour and then dinner.  Happy hour was at one of our favorite spots in town, a small bar down an even smaller alleyway called De Garre.  You may remember us going here with our visitors Jon and Christina last year.  They have one of the best beers I've ever had,  the De Garre tripel, served with some delicious cheese.  And although I couldn't drink the beer this time around, the cheese went mighty fine with my iced tea.

The entry to the alleyway.

Todd did enjoy the beer; actually he enjoyed a few during our time.  Here's your fix of Todd holding beers in his right hand for the week:

For dinner, we went to the Vlaamsche Pot, which makes traditional Flemish dishes.  We both got the house specialty, and it came in a massive pot that we got nowhere near to finishing.  But it was oh so good.

The next day, the weather had cleared up completely, allowing us to do more walking.  We started on the outskirts of the city center, where there are these beautiful old windmills.

We then proceeded to one of the city gates.

Jack was loving the blue sky.

The main market square was looking particularly lovely. I think it was the first time we had seen the belfry in the sunshine.

Can't beat that.

We stopped for a drink at the Halve Maan brewery, which we had toured last time.  They have a modern tasting room where Todd tasted beer and I tasted hot chocolate.

Jack did great under the table.

We then continued walking, stopping for lunch along the way, and trying to soak in the city as much as possible.

My favorite canal view.

The begijnhof, a nunnery.

What a fabulous weekend exploring one of my favorite smaller European towns.  On the way back to Eindhoven, we stopped at another beer locale, the trappist brewery Westmalle.  No visitors are allowed on the grounds of the abbey or in the brewery, so the closest we got was the cafe across the street called the Cafe Trappisten.  The cafe was totally packed, but we managed to grab a seat outside in the sun.  

I loved having one last weekend away just the 3 (and a half) of us in Europe. I am truly going to miss the ease of travel to awesome places here!

Amsterdam Finale

As the days and weeks continue to fly by, I can't believe we are hitting the one month to go mark at the end of this week.  In an effort to make the most of our remaining time here, I wanted to make sure to spend one more day in Amsterdam.   Every time I visit, I'm reminded that it really is one of my favorite cities anywhere.  And even though we've been up there quite a bit, I still feel like maybe we should have gone more.  Anyhow, we traveled to Amsterdam on Saturday, with the specific purpose of visiting the Rijksmuseum, which incredibly we hadn't yet visited.  The Rijks has been under construction for the past 10 years, just reopening last spring.

The exterior of the building is gorgeous.  It was designed by Pierre Cuypers and opened in 1885.   One fun feature is that you can bike through the museum, rather than needing to go around it.

The interior is also stunning, thanks to the millions of euros renovation. We didn't take many shots, but here are a couple.

The museum did not disappoint in terms of content either.   Many famous works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and other artists of the Dutch Golden Age are displayed.  It's amazing how prolific these artists were and how much of a world power the Netherlands was at that time as well.

The rest of our day was spent having a nice lunch in the Jordaan area, which is my favorite part of town, followed by a bit of shopping.  I spent some of my birthday gift money on a new purse and wallet at a shop called Smaak.

I admire these purses, bags, and wallets every time I've walked by the store, so it was a perfect birthday gift.

Last weekend, I also got the chance to catch up with an old friend from my time studying in France.  Blaire and I were on the same program together way back in 2004 (that makes me feel old).  She's now living in the Netherlands as well, so she popped down to Eindhoven for a visit. It was wonderful to see her and reminisce about our time in Aix! 

Blaire brought along photos of our shenanigans in Aix.

In baby updates, we had our 20 week ultrasound last week.  We managed to abstain from finding out the sex, so there's no turning back now.  We're excited.  The ultrasound went as well as it could have.  All is looking normal and average for Baby R, which is exactly what we like to hear.  Of course, getting to see our little one was emotional (and I'm no stranger to tears in normal life), and the part that got me the most was when we were shown the bottom of the feet.  They were so tiny and perfect and I can't wait to kiss them in 4.5 months.

This week is a big one for me, since I'm turning 30 on Friday.   We've got a fun weekend planned, and of course I'll be back with the details next week.

A Sweet Farewell

As I wrote about last year, I have been volunteering as a teacher for an English conversation course.  I just finished up my last class, and I couldn't help but share how great of an experience this ended up being.  I taught for 2 and half "semesters", with many of the same students returning each session.  Whereas at first I was apprehensive and a bit nervous before each class, by the end, I felt very comfortable.  I suppose as you get to know people, regardless of their culture, age, etc., you can't help but get close.  And my students were a special group.

I snapped a couple of photos of our classroom on my last day:

My students organized a going away lunch for me recently, and it was a very nice way to say goodbye.  The lunch was held at the beautiful home of the only male student in the class, Hans.  Hans and Marja cooked an amazing three (!) course lunch for us. Super lekker!

Here's a group pic at lunch:

So lovely! Hans, Marja, Ilse, Dineke, Jacintha, Riet, and Marianne.

Following a very sweet speech, they even were so thoughtful to present me with some gifts for Baby R!

Needless to say, it was all more than I deserved.  Teaching this class was a definite highlight of my time in Eindhoven.

This past weekend, Todd got his first experience in Delft. We were meeting up with friends there later, so we went a bit early and walked around the town. It's just too cute for Todd to miss out on seeing it.

Fresh stroopwafel from a street vendor. Still warm.

Following our jaunt around town, we headed over to a place called Race Planet.  It's an indoor go-kart racing track, but it was much more intense than go-karts I've seen before.  We met up with the group of expats and partners from EY.  Here's the group before the race:

From the reports following the race, I think it was a good thing this pregnant lady sat it out.  But it was still fun to watch everyone.  Afterwards, we all went to dinner in Rotterdam at a delicious satay bar.  It's always fun to get together with this group, and I've been impressed how often we've done it since we are scattered all around the Netherlands.

Good Times, Bad Carbonara

Last week, my parents concluded their 4th trip to see us in the Netherlands.  I have to admit it's pretty nice to have a dad who's a pilot and therefore able to come over the ocean so often.  This time around, we were committed to staying close to Eindhoven and just enjoying being here.  We took Jack on long walks, did a few excursions, had some great lunches and dinners, and did plenty of shopping.  The weather was also a delight, since we had only one day of rain and mostly sunshine and temps in the 40s.  My parents felt like it was spring break for them since Michigan has been getting absolutely pounded this year with snow and cold temps.

One day, we ventured to a windmill in a neighboring town that is home to a great restaurant and bakery.  Our sandwiches were delicious, and it is pretty cool to eat inside of a windmill.

One of our day trips was to Utrecht, where I've share pictures before.  We spent the day having a great lunch and then walking around the city.  On our way out of town, we went to check out a bonafide castle in the Netherlands, call the Kasteel de Haar.  The castle standing now was rebuilt in the late 19th century, but a castle has stood on that site since 1391.  The estate was owned by a family that spent a lot of their year in France and then one month at this castle near Utrecht.  We took a guided tour of the grounds and the interior.

Entering the gate.

Castle moat.

Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed inside, but the rooms were immaculately decorated.  The dining room table was even set with original menus.   It was a fun glimpse into the lives of Dutch/French aristocrats in the early 20th century.

Another fun day was one we spent shopping in Eindhoven.  My shopping goals were slightly different this time around since I am starting to need items that are a tad bigger in the belly region.  One of our stops that day was a baby store, called, wait for it, Baby Dump.

Any angle I tried to think of about why the store was called that wasn't good (are they referring to leaving your baby there or perhaps the action that babies do multiple times in a day?).   At least the store was nice.  They had a lot of everything, so I found some nice things to keep me going through this awkward stage where I'm still mostly fitting in my regular clothes.  It's mainly pants' buttons that are causing an issue.  Here's a little peek at the bump from Week 16 (18 starts tomorrow!):

Not a whole lot to see yet, but something's definitely happening there.  The weekend with my parents continued along the same vein as the week, but now Todd was able to join us.  Our favorite lunch was at Restaurant Piet Hein Eek, which I've mentioned before. I just can't get enough of the interior of this place.

The spread.

On Saturday we also went to a comedy show at the Park Theater in town.  The show was 2 American guys discussing (and acting out) the 7 Deadly Dutch Sins.  Most of their material was spot on regarding Dutch culture and people (albeit exaggerated); I'd recommend their show to other expats in the NL since it was pretty funny.

Sunday, we were given another beautiful day, and took advantage by going on a long walk out in the woods.  The area was really great and very dog friendly.  Jack was in doggy heaven.

Lovely lake to walk around.

Monday was the last day of the trip, and we wanted to end it with a nice meal at one of our favorite places to eat.  Well, things didn't go exactly to plan.  The meal was delicious, but then all 4 of us got hit with food poisoning (we're blaming the pasta carbonara since we each had some of it).  It hit my mom first while we were still in the restaurant, and then the rest of us at various points throughout the night.  Not the best way to end an otherwise great trip.  My parents amazingly still got on a plane for the US the next day. They made it in one piece, but I'm sure they wouldn't want to relive that flight. Todd and I stayed in bed for most of the day.  All parties involved are now feeling normal again, so we survived!

So, other than the crazy last night, the 4th trip was a success.  Thanks again to my mom and dad for coming!