That's right, a homemade funfetti cake and a sweet little chat for the camera. That's my baby girl! Happy birthday Brooklyn!
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| The Cake is going... |
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| Going... |
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| Still going. We eventually took it away so she wouldn't get sick from all of the sugar |
Monday, April 30, 2012
Brooklyn's Birthday
Well for those of you who missed it here's what happened on Brooklyn's Birthday.
Amsterdam
I've got to give Dan and Jan (Ben's parents) credit for picking Amsterdam, Netherlands as a city to visit. I always figured that people want to see London, Paris, and Rome when they visit us here but I never figured Amsterdam as a highlight. Luckily for me though Jan really wanted to go because of the Van Gogh Museum and the Rembrandt house and so our little family went with them. And I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of fun we had.
We took a bus there which Brooklyn rocked then spent the first day touring the Anne Frank house. I can now say that I have seen the Anne Frank diary. The whole apartment was much bigger than I imagined but what hit me the most while I was there was a picture of Otto Frank, the sole survivor from the group. He came back to the Annex after the war and in the picture you could just see the loneliness in his eyes.
The highlight of my trip had to be at dinner that night though. Ben has this habit of ordering extra spicy food at restaurants. He loves to cry when eating don't ask me why. Anyway so that night we went to an Indian food place and as usual Ben ordered the spiciest thing on the menu thinking "this is Europe it can't be that bad". Well, not to be shown up, his dad orders the same thing because he also likes spicy food which is proved by his delicious homemade salsa. Well to say the least it was authentic Indian food with authentic Indian spices and boy it burned. To give you an idea I ordered something marked "hot/mild" and I couldn't eat it because it was too hot (sorry dad I fail as a New Mexican descent). Theirs was marked "Extra Very Hot"...yeah it was bad. Dan was sweating and red faced and Ben got the heat hiccups. Thank heavens for Jan who ordered the only edible thing on the menu so that I could eat while laughing at the boys as they choked in their spicy food. They both had to take acid medicine afterwards but Ben would want me to assure you that he finished his whole dish :)
All in all Amsterdam was much more fun than I thought it would be. I loved the art at the Van Gogh museum, the time with Dan and Jan, even the 4 hour bus ride with Brooklyn who, as you can see, did just fine on the ride.
We took a bus there which Brooklyn rocked then spent the first day touring the Anne Frank house. I can now say that I have seen the Anne Frank diary. The whole apartment was much bigger than I imagined but what hit me the most while I was there was a picture of Otto Frank, the sole survivor from the group. He came back to the Annex after the war and in the picture you could just see the loneliness in his eyes.
The highlight of my trip had to be at dinner that night though. Ben has this habit of ordering extra spicy food at restaurants. He loves to cry when eating don't ask me why. Anyway so that night we went to an Indian food place and as usual Ben ordered the spiciest thing on the menu thinking "this is Europe it can't be that bad". Well, not to be shown up, his dad orders the same thing because he also likes spicy food which is proved by his delicious homemade salsa. Well to say the least it was authentic Indian food with authentic Indian spices and boy it burned. To give you an idea I ordered something marked "hot/mild" and I couldn't eat it because it was too hot (sorry dad I fail as a New Mexican descent). Theirs was marked "Extra Very Hot"...yeah it was bad. Dan was sweating and red faced and Ben got the heat hiccups. Thank heavens for Jan who ordered the only edible thing on the menu so that I could eat while laughing at the boys as they choked in their spicy food. They both had to take acid medicine afterwards but Ben would want me to assure you that he finished his whole dish :)
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| Brooklyn and Ben in line at Anne Frank's house. |
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| Brooklyn's busing strategy. |
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Family
Wow it's been a party here in Belgium! My sister Melissa and Jacob her husband flew out to visit us and time just flew by! They were here for two weeks and it was non-stop adventure! We went to Brugges, London, and Fussen (Germany) and still managed to spend time just relaxing at home.
It made me realize how much I love my family. I've wanted to travel to Europe since I was a sophomore in high school and have always thought that when Ben and I finish school we'll live outside of Utah but now I'm having second thoughts. It's fun to be in Belgium and I am still excited to live here for the next year but I have missed having family around especially Melissa. She's always been my best friend and the person to call when I need to talk to someone so having her here was the best.
We gave her and Jacob the full Belgium experience (well full LDS Belgium experience). Waffles, frites, chocolate everything! We spent a day in Brugges where we toured a Belgium chocolate factory (free sample included :) and walked around the town. We went to our favorite frites place in Place Flagey and we bought waffles twice at the Grand Place. They also enjoyed our favorite pizza place, Mama Romas, and ate Ben's favorite meal BLT's. Then of course we watched movies and played card games and stayed up way too late talking.
It works out perfectly because Jacob and Ben love to talk about engineering stuff that I don't really get and Melissa and I love to talk about mom stuff so we end up talking for hours without realizing it. Needless to say I loved having them here to visit. Yay Coats family!
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| Hot Chocolate Party in Brugges! |
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