Europe, Part Two: Knokke, Belgium

After a busy day in Brussels on Saturday, we headed to Knokke on Sunday, where Jeremy's mom's family lives.

Even though we clearly wore him out on Saturday, Jacob was ready to go (and supporting TCU) at the train station on Sunday.

When we first arrived, we went to lunch here with Jeremy's mom and sister, who got to Belgium a day before us and stayed in Knokke.

After that, we headed to the beach.

Clearly, we again succeeded at wearing Jacob out. Searching for sea shells is a lot of work!

Then, we went on a house tour of Knokke.

This is Jeremy's Oma (grandmother) and Opa's (grandfather) house, which his Opa built himself. I only saw the downstairs, but was very impressed by what they can do with these long, skinny floorplans they tend to use in Europe.

 This is his Aunt Vera and Uncle Bernard's house, which was very nice. We spent most of our time the first time we went to Knokke here.

This is the home where Jeremy's dad's family lived when they lived in Knokke. I'm actually not sure how long they lived there - I know they lived in Africa when his dad was born and for part of his childhood and they've lived in Brussels for at least 20 years, but I'm positive they didn't live in Knokke that entire time between Africa and Brussels.

After the tour, we all went back to hang out at Vera and Bernard's. The boys even played a little soccer.

Jacob took a special interest in Uncle Bernard, as he apparently also did when he came to Belgium at 13 months. It wasn't long before he had his helmet on and his great uncle convinced to take him on a "motorcycle" (scooter) ride.

Unfortunately, Jeremy is headed back to Knokke this weekend as his Opa (who we scheduled this trip to visit in the first place) passed away on Sunday. All thoughts and prayers for the family is very much appreciated.

Tomorrow: Brugge

Europe, Part One: Brussels, Belgium

Let me begin this post first by telling you about our travel experience getting to Belgium.

It was not fun.

Fortunately for us, Jeremy's dad works for American Airlines, which makes traveling a lot easier on the budget. Unfortunately, our seats are not guaranteed.

In the past, this hasn't been a problem. Last year, I flew to Atlanta three separate times and never once didn't make my first choice flight.

The night before heading to Belgium, we checked the flights from DFW to Chicago to Brussels... there was no way we were getting to Chicago. Every single flight was overbooked. So, we rerouted to go to St. Louis, then Chicago and, finally, Brussels. These flights were wide open and it shouldn't have been a problem...

Except, somehow, during our flight from DFW to St. Louis, about 30 people boughts seats on the St. Louis to Chicago flight. There was no way we were getting on.

We missed two flights out of St. Louis, which means we also missed the one flight that goes to Brussels each day from Chicago. After about 934 phone calls and even more web checking, we decided we'd take the late flight from Chicago to London Heathrow. Then, we'd jump on a train to Brussels.

So, to London we went. Unfortunately for us, it was Friday afternoon, so the train to Brussels barely had room for us and we had to throw down $400 which we hadn't budgeted (just a reminder: this trip was very last-minute, so the budget was hardly there to begin with). Yuck.

Anyway, we FINALLY make it to Brussels, except - the train dropped us off in the absolute worst part of Brussels there is. There are few times in my life I have been as scared as I was in that train station, and I'm not scared too easily. I told Jeremy I wanted to come back to America immediately. Fortunately, he didn't let me.

Also, we had originally planned on arriving at Brussels airport and travelling to Jeremy's grandfather's place from there. We didn't know how to get there from a random train station, so we were using the pay phones and calling him over and over with no answer.

Finally, we just jumped in a taxi and were on our way.

So, we get there, and we knock on the door... no answer. We wait and wait and wait and knock again... no answer. The man is 90-years-old, we thought, where could he be?

Eventually, we run into a neighbor and they were gracious enough to allow us to use their cell phone to call another relative. Turns out, his grandfather (or Bompa, as he calls him) was in the hospital. (Mind you, we went to visit his sick grandfather from his mom's side, his Opa, yet this one ended up in the hospital while we were there, too.)

Eventually, we get into his grandfather's and get settled in for the night. We lost our first day to travel, but we weren't going to lose anymore, so we got some rest that night and then began exploring...

Day One: Brussels

This is the view from Bompa's apartment.

We started the day by walking down to the square near Bompa's apartment called Place Keym (pronounced plass-came).

Then, we enjoyed a nice lunch at this restaurant.

After lunch, Jeremy's cousin picked us up and took us to see Bompa in the hospital (pictured: Jacob flirting big time with Celine, Jeremy's cousin's girlfriend).

Then, he dropped us off in the main square of Brussels, called Grand Place. We walked around there for a couple of hours and enjoyed the scenery.

Jacob found some random statue just outside of Grand Place which looks just like a cone: right up his alley.

This is the inside of Grand Place. The buildings are faced in gold and very old. It was absolutely beautiful.

This is the statue of the Brussels Hero (in Grand Place), which Jacob and Jeremy are rubbing for good luck.

This is the renowned statue entitled Manneken Pis. Yes, it is a statue of a young boy peeing.

Jeremy told me the story behind it: Apparently, long ago, a small prince ran away from home. The king sent guards searching for him, and when they found him, he was peeing against a wall. As a result, this statue was made. I have no idea how true this is, but it's funny.

Clearly, we succeeded at exhausting Jacob (you'll notice a trend throughout the pictures from this trip that include Jacob sleeping in random places).

That's all for today. Tomorrow, I'll tell you about Knokke, the town where Jeremy's mom's side of the family lives.

Honey, I'm home!

Well, we're home... a day early and a lot of dollars short.

 I have SO much to blog about and so many photos to share! I'm thinking I'll do one city at a time (Brussels, Knokke, Bruge, London and Paris).

The trip was so many things:

hectic

stressful

chaotic

exciting

sad

happy

depressing

fabulous

wonderful

In the future blog posts talking about each city, I'll let ya know why there is such a plethora of emotions.

Until then, here's some photos to tide you over:

We explored Grand Place in Brussels.

We searched for sea shells and shark teeth on the beach in Knokke.

We walked the streets of [and fell in love with] Brugge.

We took a picture in a toll booth in London (and explored tons of sights).

 We got engaged in Paris.

Be back soon with more!

New Toys & Pancakes

Friends, I sincerely apologize for the lack of blogging here lately. This weekend was chaos. This week has been chaos. We leave in like 36 hours.

Chaos. Chaos. Chaos.

And I have been neglectful to my blog. And I do apologize.

But, the truth is, I shouldn't be blogging right now. I should be making packing list or crossing one of the other 997 things off of my to-do list.

Alas, blogging is more fun. So that's what I'll do!

First, I have a little story for you all: Last week, Jeremy went grocery shopping with me. We were in the always lovely Kroger going down the aisle with all of my beloved baking supplies when I spotted out of the corner of my eye an electric griddle. Actually, I think I spotted the big "SALE" price tag, and then the electric griddle.

Regardless of the order, it was exciting. It was marked down about 50% and was less than $20!

(In case you're wondering why I needed one, I have an electric stove, which doesn't heat my pans evenly, which means I can only cook one pancake at a time, which is a super slow process.)

Anyway, I saw it, it was on sale, and I had to have it.

So I can make deliciousness like this!

I've been using the Better Homes & Gardens Buttermilk Pancakes recipe, but substituting like it says for regular pancakes, or "Panpakes," as Jacob would call them.

I've been playing with lots of combinations. Here, I used pecans and bananas. I've also done bananas with chocolate chips.

Both were delicious.

I made Jeremy breakfast for lunch the other day. Pancakes + strawberries = fabulous lunch!

I doubt I'll get another blog in between now and heading to Europe and I haven't a clue if I'll be online at all there, so this is goodbye for now! I'll be back soon with lots of fun pictures!

Vegan Cookies

Over this last weekend, I was feeling very grateful. I'm blessed in a lot of ways that, sometimes, I get overwhelmed and forget about. Things may be stressful a lot of the time and there may not be enough hours in most of my days, but I've got what matter most:

A whole lot of love.

I've got a man that loves me unconditionally.

I've also got a family that would do anything to ensure my success.

And, sometimes, I forget to remind them just how grateful I am.

I decided a great way to show them would be to send a little note with some treats. The problem: My Gramma went vegan about six months ago. She can't eat my treats.

What to do?

I know another vegan, I remembered. She also happens to blog about the vegan dishes she makes... perfect! So, I went through Elizabeth's blog to find the recipe which required me to buy the least amount of weird vegan stuff: Peanut Butter Cup Cookies.

The only special thing I had to buy was a half-gallon of soymilk.

So, I mixed up the cocoa concoction.

And the peanut butter concoction (Jeremy cleaned these dishes for me and politely asked that I never bake with peanut butter again - yeah right).

Then, with the peanut butter mixture, I made these little balls.

And took about a tablespoon of the cocoa and flattened it on my palm.

And set the peanut butter ball inside.

 Wrapped it up.

 Smashed them a little.

 Baked!

The verbatim text I received when my Gramma got them: OMG the cookies are wonderful!!!!!

 And guess what: they were delicious. Jeremy, Jacob and I each tried one and we liked them!