April 19, 2016

Photo Diary: Bruges

April 19, 2016/ Meghan Oaks

Bruges is a gorgeous city. Everything about Bruges is so incredibly picturesque - from the architecture to the canals to the small details on just about every single building. A new photo is just begging to be taken every few steps. And we did. We completely indulged in the stunning details and sights we saw and took way too many pictures. If you're in Belgium, definitely make sure you visit this beautiful city. And, do yourself a HUGE favor and spend more than a day there.

April 14, 2016

6 Things to do in Bruges, Belgium

April 14, 2016/ Meghan Oaks

Bruges, a small, midevil city in Belgium, not far from the North Atlantic, is a charming little city to spend a weekend in. There are canals, reminiscent of the ones in Amsterdam, that run through the city, a stunning center square watched over by a giant clock tower, twisting and winding cobblestone streets lined with houses hundreds of years old, lots of old, beautiful churches. All of this is accented with hundreds of chocolate shops, small cafes serving waffles or french fries (or both!), and pubs where the bar is lined with taps pouring fresh, but strong, Belgian beer.

April 01, 2016

Applying for an Infant Passport

April 01, 2016/ Meghan Oaks

Less than 6 weeks after Evelyn was born, Aaron and I had a big trip back to the US scheduled. Tickets were bought months before she was born in order to take her back to meet her grandparents, aunts, and uncle for the first time, and to be baptized. But, in order for her to actually travel, she first needed a US passport. And, since she was born in Germany, we needed to first establish that she was a US citizen. Thankfully, it ended up being a fairly simple process, but as with anything involving the government, it didn't appear that way at first. Here, we will take you through the forms and process to apply for citizenship and a passport for a baby born outside of the US.

March 30, 2016

De Halve Maan Brewery Tour in Bruges

March 30, 2016/ Meghan Oaks

People often think of four things when they think of Belgium - waffles, fries, chocolate, and, of course, beer. We ate plenty of the first three while in Bruges, and toured a brewery to make sure we got the full experience for the latter. In Bruges, there is a 150 year old, family owned, brewery that offers multiple tours a day in multiple languages. It's called De Halve Maan, which means crescent moon in Dutch. We opted for their "XL" tour which lasts twice as long as their normal tour and includes a sampling of not one of their beers, but four. It was an easy decision :)

March 24, 2016

Walking Tours in Bruges

March 24, 2016/ Meghan Oaks

For the last weekend in February, a friend and sorority sister of mine visited us in Germany. After picking her up at the airport bright and early Friday morning, we drove directly to Bruges, Belgium. Our original plan was to spend a day in Bruges, and then a day in Ghent, but in researching things to do in Bruges, we decided there was too much to see and do and a one day visit would not do the city justice. So while I was bummed about having to cancel plans to visit Ghent, the silver lining is that we have at least one more trip to Belgium - one more chance to eat Belgian chocolate and waffles and drink Belgian beer. So really, not a problem at all.

March 04, 2016

Evelyn's Birth

March 04, 2016/ Meghan Oaks

Her due date was January 22. We had waited for months for our baby to make his or her arrival (we did not find out the gender, we wanted to be surprised!). Each day was spent in quiet anticipation, with my patience getting shorter and shorter each day. I couldn't wait to meet this tiny human....and not be pregnant anymore. Her due date came and went. I tried everything to coax her out - raspberry leaf tea, bouncing on an exercise ball, listening daily to a special hypnosis track that was supposed to make the baby come out, I went for walks, climbed stairs, and ate more pineapple than I care to admit. None of it worked.

February 24, 2016

Newest Addition

February 24, 2016/ Meghan Oaks

I know that it's been quiet here on the blog for the past couple of weeks, and I sai it was for a very good reason. On January 31, we welcomed our daughter and newest dive buddy into the world! Much to Mom's discomfort, she was 8 days late, but was perfect and healthy. We are slowly settling into our new normal where the nights are longer, but our days are fuller.