Just trying to get to the flea market

We made it to the flea market today. This was my second attempt to find the flea market -my first was last week - and although I thought I had cross referenced the metro map and my city map well, I ended up wandering in circles through the city and never found it. On my way back to the metro to go home I asked someone for directions to the flea market and they told me that I should have gotten off at a different stop. So, this week, armed with new knowledge, my interior decorating-flea market savvy friend and I loaded up our double strollers and headed out.

I usually avoid taking my double stroller on the metro unless Ryan is with me because often times the only way to get down into the station (or onto the platform once you have made it into the station) is by taking the stairs. There are NO elevators, but usually there are escalators that you can take. (Get this: there is even a sign that shows mothers with strollers how to properly use the escalator. Admittedly, it's a weird experience riding an escalator with a stroller and tons of people around and none of them looking at you like you are total sinner, or bad mother, or both.) Today though, I took the double because I knew I wanted Landon cooped up so that I could browse at the market. Well, heck of a day to take my double because literally 75% of the escalators were down for maintenance. As my friend and I took turns helping haul the others' stroller up and down the zillions of stairs (we had to switch trains 3 times each way), I felt myself literally out of breath. We joked that we felt like we were taking a cardio/weight lifting class - for free! Fringe benefit of city life baby.

Once we got to the "right" stop, we asked for directions to the actual market and found that we were still about 1.5km (roughly 1 mile) from the market. We started walking and found ourselves right in the middle of road construction, trying to navigate with our strollers. The road construction ended and as we looked around we realized we were in a sketchy part of town. Our eyes met as to say, "Ready for a little jog?" So, we upped our pace and when that particular street ended, there was the market. At this point, I wasn't quite sure if the market was just internet lore and map trickery since I felt like I had drug my children across the world to get there, so I was happy to finally see it.

Within a couple of minutes my friend had made her first purchase (a beautiful lamp for only 10€) as I slowly looked around. Admittedly I was a tad ADD about the whole thing, as I couldn't quite focus on just one "shop" at a time. I did find a perfect teal-ish buffet with red accents and a marble top that would be gorgeous in my new veranda for only 80€, and had I had a car with me, I would have bought it on the spot. We are going on vacation tomorrow (more on that later) but I'm planning to go to the market - with the car - first thing Monday morning. I figure if the buffet is still there, I should be able to score it for 50€. If not, I'm sure something else will pop up.

We eventually made it home, sore limbs and all. When we got in the elevator Brayden said,
"Whew mom, that was a hard day!" and I rapidly agreed.

In our "Aim to not be Lame" campaign, we are heading out on our first European trip since our arrival in Brussels. We are headed to Normandy and Paris for the weekend. Stay tuned for pictures...I am hoping to get quite a few!

I heart Brussels

I'm struggling a little bit with blogging lately. There are so many things going on everyday I could fill post after post with it all. At night when I sit down to blog, I immediately get writer's block. Should I talk about the amazing, plentiful farmer's markets? The fashionable women? The beautiful architecture? The crazy gypsys? The weather? My kids being naughty on the metro? My kids being well-behaved (for once) on the metro? There is just so much to process!

To throw a blanket over it all right now, we are doing wonderfully. Is it possible, having been here such a short time, to feel as changed as I feel? I love the city, and right now I am loving Brussels. Brussels has such diversity in both nationalities and languages. It's facinating. My mom always says that "change brings growth" and I am definitely feeling that, and it's empowering and wonderful.

Today, we took a bit of a break from our unable-to-understand-anything-anyone-says world and went to an English bookstore (as much as I like my life, I don't mind speaking English in a store once in a while :>). I have been wanting a new journal like this to record my experiences and a couple of wall maps to hang in our new house. We didn't find either, but we did buy a couple of books that the boys have been enjoying today. I would highly recommend this one in particular:

Very funny and a great way to answer one of Brayden's favorite questions, "How did the dinosaurs get extinct?"

Tomorrow I think we are headed to the flea market to see what I can find to furnish our new place here. I've been drifting off to sleep at night dreaming of finding the perfect kitchen table and chairs, dining room buffet and hutch, or dresser for the kids, ready for a little sand paper and new coat of paint. Wish me luck in my quest...I'll keep you posted on my finds!

Quote of the Day

Funniest Brussels quote of the day, thanks to the funny man in our house....

When talking to his Nana on the phone, "Remember when my dad used to have a black car? Now he has a blue one. But not my mom, she takes the bus."

Dos Donuts

Today marks day 14 - week 2! - since we arrived in Belgium. For whatever reason, I am feeling less "together" today than any day so far. Shouldn't I have everything figured out by now??? The days pass so quickly and leisurely, yet very little on my "to learn" or "to see" lists are being accomplished. And my french? How is that coming along you ask? My answer today would have to be Not. At. All.

We went for a walk this afternoon in search of a bakery as I was craving sumputous buttery crossiants to go with my large batch of homemade chicken salad I made this morning. I had no idea where to go, but figured that since I am in the city, a bakery couldn't be too far away. So we headed out and sure enough about 15 minutes into our aimless city walk, there was a bakery. We all jumped with delight (at this point I had talked up croissants so much to the boys that we might has well been in search of Disneyland). I mentally practiced what I would say to the store clerk..."Je voudrais sis crossaint" (I would like 6 crossaints) - not that hard, right? But instead we walked in and I stared stupidly at the clerk and said, "Uhhhhhh, crossaint?" To which she shook her head and pointed to the tray where they USED to be. AGH! At this point I was already mad at myself for not using "my french" therefore reviewing what I should have said in my mind all the while zoning off into my own little world until I realized the clerk was still staring at me as to say, "Is that all?" and the boys were begging for a chocolate donut. Chocolate donut? Sure, why not. Maybe it will help my memory. So I turn to the clerk and say, "Dos donuts." Yes, that's right folks, "DOS DONUTS." Since when do I know spanish?! I have NEVER taken spanish! The clerk gave me an even weirder look than before when I asked for "Uhhhhh crossaint" but thankfully she must have known a little spanish because sure enough we ended up with 2, "Dos" yummy chocolate donuts. Spanish lessons anyone? Apparently I know a bit...

Home Sweet Home

I am so happy to be connected to the internet again (and so much sooner than I thought!) We have been keeping quite busy these last couple of days and some of the euphoria of being in a new exciting place is wearing off and in it's place is the stark realization that someday I'm going to have to figure out what everything at the grocery store is and learn how to talk to people around here. I did ask for directions the other day and was very pleased with myself, even though my American accent was thicker than I would have liked. However, the woman that I asked for directions did not seem too impressed by my ability to spew out a few french words, but rather annoyed that I had obviously butchered her beautiful language.

The biggest thing that has happened recently though is that we have found our permanent resting place here! We will be in our temporary corporate housing for another 3 weeks and then we will move into our new home. It's perfect, and nothing short of a miracle that we randomly stumbled across it. It's a cute red brick townhouse, oozing with all of the charm you would expect from a European home. It's small and cozy, yet very open and spacious all at the same time. It has a little backyard - another small miracle - that will be perfect for the kids. Since we've been here we have struggled a little trying to decide city vs. suburbs, but in the end we couldn't get over the fact that we came here for a true, city-life, minimalistic, European experience and all that goes along with that. This limbo period that we are in now is a little weird, and I can't wait to get settled into our life here and our cute little European maison (not to be confused with its big brother "mansion").

More pictures

Here are some more picture from our outings the last couple of days. These first pictures are the Grand Place in downtown Brussels. It is gorgeous! Being around such pictureque settings makes me want to become a photographer like some of my talentented friends. Who knows, along with learning 2 languages I may just have to add photography to my "things to learn in Europe" list.

Putting on my big girl underpants

Ryan has a funny phrase that he says everytime someone needs to buck up and get something done. He says, "Well, it's time for him/her to put their big boy/girl underpants on." Today was that day for me.

Ryan started work here today, signaling the entrance into my new world of figuring out Brussels by myself with 3 kids in tow. I wish I had lots of fun horror stories for you, but we actually had a really mellow day. We spent a whopping 4 hours at the park with some new friends, so that took a mighty chunk out of our day. I also tried cooking something other than pasta tonight in my wholly un-equipped kitchen which took another chunk of time (and just in case you're ever wondering like I was today, chicken breasts DO cook in a toaster oven - quite quickly in fact!) Throw in a couple of random French cartoons and a little cleaning up and you've got yourself a full day.

The park we went to today was gorgeous. It was lush and green and had these wonderful walking paths and little animals running around, and swans in the lake - even a little donkey with his own little house to go to when he's in need of "me" time. It will definitely be one of our favorite spots and whenever I find myself in need of a break from my "big girl underpants" you'll find us there collecting sticks, running down the tree-lined paths, waving to the donkey.

(note: I tried uploading more pictures but my computer was having issues, so if it corrects itself I will upload the rest of my pics from today!)

Best day yet!

I knew today was going to be a good day before I went to bed last night. I have been looking forward to today with anticipation since the day we arrived. Why all of the excitement? We went to church today!

I feel really fortunate that there is an English-speaking ward here in Brussels because at this point it feels like my only connection to home and other American families. A lot of the people in the ward are American expats, either with the military or professional, while others are long-time residents that are English speakers. I just can't even express how thrilled I am to have this church connection. The immediate support network that it provides is invaluable to me at this point and I am excited to be a part of such a great ward. As silly as this is going to sound, even the "trip" to church was fun. It is about a 25 minute tram ride to church, with a 10-15 minute walk both to the tram station from our apartment and to the church from the tram, making the whole trip to get to church about 45 minutes. It was so leisurely and calm, as opposed to our usual running around, grabbing things last minute, yelling at kids to "get in the car - we're going to be late!", etc. etc. So, today was a good day, and I figure that everyday has to get a little better, so my spirits are high. Oh and to top it off, everyone finally slept normal hours last night, so that may be a contributor to my high spirits as well. :)

How many Americans does it take to....

This phrase has been uttered quite a few times the last couple of days and I'm sure it will be uttered many more times. Allow me to share a few examples...

Run the dryer...The laundry is piling up. The washer and dryer are so small that I can hardly fit one outfit for everyone in the wash at one time, which means that I am doing laundry often. The first time I went to use the dryer there was a light that kept coming on that had water drops and an "x" through it. It took about 15 minutes to figure out what that light meant and why the dryer wouldn't start. Turns out there is a plastic container inside the dryer that fills with water when it is used. That plastic container needs to be emptied after each dryer cycle and when it isn't emptied the dryer lets you know.

Figure out the bus schedule...Maybe we just haven't used the bus system enough times in our lives, but this looks complicated to me. We took our first big outing today using public transportation and it took the both of us plus one really old French guy that didn't speak any English to figure out the schedule.

Ok so this picture doesn't really fit the theme, but I just had to share because Charlotte is turning from baby to little girl and I just can't get enough. It's weird to think when this whole adventure is over Charlotte will have become a full-fledged preschooler.

Excitability may occur.

I really wanted to write a goodbye blog before we left Oregon, talking about the last 6 years in Oregon and all of the things and people I will miss, but with everything going on I never got the chance. So much has happened in the last 48 hours that I hardly feel like I can reproduce those goodbyes, so I won't, but rather will shout out a big thank you to Oregon for treating us well and an even bigger thank you to our friends for loving us and being there for us. We appreciate you all! Now onto the present....

We arrived in Brussels about 30 hours ago. In case you're wondering, the trip here was everything I thought it would be and more. And not in a good way. :> Our plane trip and airport experiences alone are enough for 6 or 7 really good blogs and someday if I'm lacking in blog material I will share some of them. My only notes here are to say that Benadryl DOES work to knock your kids out. On the back of the bottle it gave two separate warnings: "May cause drowsiness" and "Excitability may occur." The first was true for my kids; however, a warning should also include "may cause such deep sleep that your children may not be able to control their bodily functions," which was also true for my kids.

Another note for you future travelers is that you should only take the bare minimum luggage as carry-on with you to Europe. Both the Amsterdam and Brussels airports were so large that we literally walked miles through corridors, up and down stairs, through narrow walkways, all the while hauling our massive amounts of carry-ons. I'm sure we looked like an overpacked American family, and we were!

We are slowly adjusting to the time change. Everyone, including Charlotte, only got about 3 hours of sleep on the trip over and then we were able to keep the kids up all day yesterday. Charlotte zonked out about 5:30pm last night and the rest of us went to sleep about 7pm. The boys were up by midnight, hyped up and ready to play. It took the combined efforts of both Ryan and me and the next 4 hours to get the boys back to sleep and then they slept until noon. Charlotte on the other hand slept un-interrupted from 5:30pm until 11:30am the next morning. If I ever thought it was impossible to sleep 18 hours straight, Charlotte proved me wrong. We are planning on keeping everyone up until 10 or 11 tonight and hoping the boys (and us!) sleep through the night tonight. If we get everyone up at a normal wake-up time in the morning hopefully we will be back on track.

With as many different experiences as we have been having, I'm hoping to blog everyday. I definitely have the material, it will be a matter of time - which at this point I have plenty. Thanks for tuning in! Au revior!

The Blue Screen of Death

Last week I was minding my own business, checking my email, when all of the sudden my computer shut down on me. I didn't think too much about it until I tried to restart it and got "The Blue Screen of Death." Most (if not all) of you have probably encountered this screen at one time or another in your computer-using life, and it's never fun. Things have been so busy around my house that Mr. Fix Anything (aka Ryan) hasn't really had time to look at it until today. Well, the prognosis isn't looking good and it seems as though we have lost everything since the last time we backed up (which was 6 months ago!) So, I will send out a thank you to my blog, for the pictures on my blog are the only pictures I have now from the last 6 months...sniff, sniff.

However, in other news - other GOOD news - we sold our house again. Yes that's right, 1 week and many many prayers later and our house is officially off the market again. This whole experience has just been one big Faith 101 class. I swear I have taken the class before, but for whatever reason I can never remember the curriculum I so diligently studied. I guess that's why I have to keep taking it.....

In even more good news, my parents are taking Brayden and Landon for the rest of the week. Ryan's parents have been visiting this past weekend and they are dropping the boys off in Boise on their way back to Salt Lake. I think it will be so fun for the boys to party and will definitely be amazing for me and Ryan to have this last week before we go to get things done. The thought of starting a "project" and being able to finish without child interruptions is almost more than my brain can process. I'll let you know if I survive.