Oostende, Belgium

Last week we took a small little family holiday to the waters of the North Sea. It was the perfect place to get away and relax. We rented an apartment right on the beachfront and made no plans for the week. But before we did our relaxing we had to check off one last Trappist monastery on our Belgian Beer list... Westmalle.

Westmalle is a small little town half way between us and the beach- perfect! We stopped and had a nice little lunch and a short walk of the area. J. and I have both had this beer before, and it is delicious, but we were surprised to see that this is the only trappist beer sold out of a keg... imagine having a keg of trappist beer at your house! (My pants would no longer fit!) Most Trappist beers are bottle fermented so this was a novelty for us as well as a nice little completion to our tour of Belgium Trappist beers- one left in the Netherlands to check off still!

And now for the fun: many a hour were spent on the sand and in the surf in Oostende with a few ventures inland and up the coast to see what was about. We did a lot of lounging and did our fair share of sampling the local cuisine and little of anything else. Although I did manage to fall into the ocean and kill my ipod. All in all it was a nice family trip that we will all look forward to repeating.

PHOTOS

First trip around the sun

I’m not sure about you, but this past year has flown by for me. I swear it was only last week I was in the hospital giving birth, and now my bouncing baby boy is one! I have previous knowledge of how fast time goes when you are enjoying your baby, but this last year must have set a speed record. I can barely remember any of it…


From a hefty 9.5lber a year ago to a 21.5lber today, I guess there have been some changes. Our little guy is right on track for all of the things a baby should be doing and has managed to worm his way so far into our hearts that we would be incomplete without him. He is not yet a walker, but he does know how to feel up a wall… he crawls like nobody’s business and can out-eat his sister. And it must be pretty cool to be able to have a BFF when you’re one, and when you’re four, it’s also pretty neat to know that your brother thinks you’ve hung the moon. Mom and Dad are pretty proud of the whole situation and are so happy to be able to be a part of these neat little lives growing up in front of us.

For the big day sissy was more excited than little brother. Presents were given right away and then the necessities of the morning could be taken care of. Having a big sister also ensures that all of the presents given to T. under go through testing to guarantee little brother will be safe when he finally gets the chance to play with them.

For T.’s first bite of sugar (cringe) he had a vegan vanilla cake with vegan butter cream frosting and strawberries. I think he liked it…

The following Saturday we had a small get together at the local Neiderbusch park to celebrate the occasion. A piñata was pulled and there was enough candy there to keep all of the kids abuzz for days. It was a good time had by all and a pleasant memory for me to tuck away…

It was hot! (he stole this water by the way)

He helped himself to cake...

And the link to all of the photos: Here