Welcome to our summer 2007 photo album! We really took advantage of our first summer in Europe - and our last summer as a couple unencumbered with kids - to discover some places we've never been to. Our summer started with a business/pleasure trip to Madeira and Lisbon in Portugal. You can view these pictures separately by accessing this link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=igxhtzf.6xk489nf&x=0&y=-tv771j
After Portugal, I visited my brother and his family in Finland. Here he is with his wife Sylvie. The weather was beautiful when I was there - sunny and warm - and it was light from 3am until midnight every day!
My niece and nephew, on a ferry that's taking us to some of the outer islands on the baltic sea.
A viking boat - how cool is that?!
Visiting a viking village...did you know that the vikings used greenroofs?
Here we are approaching the southern most inhabited island in the Baltic sea. The tower is a magnificent lighthouse built in the early 20th century. The kids went swimming here - the sea was a balmy 60 degrees F (15 degrees C) that day! I took one for the team and stayed on shore with everyone's clothes. :-)
After Finland we received a nice visit from our friends Geoff and Nic, who were on their honeymoon. We arranged from some sunny weather and a romantic sunset dinner on our apartment balcony. In the background you see the view we have from our apartment in Brussels.
Next up was a visit from Alex's sister, mother, 3-year old nephew, and 4-week old niece. Do you see the family resemblance?
Alex multi-tasking as always. And getting some practice in before our own little guy is born in November.
In between rain showers, we would go to the nearby playground.
And when it rained too much, we just lounged about at home.
We introduced Alex's nephew to the delicious belgian waffle. He loved it!
Here's a picture of a mexican fiesta we hosted at our apartment in June. We all pretended to be wearing sombreros. Around the table you'll see some of our new friends. We have (from left to right) a portugese, a french, an irish, me, a brit, a belgian, and another brit (not shown), and the token american: Alex (also not shown). We're very much living in an expat community!
After a very rainy month of June, we seeked out the sun and beach in Croatia. We LOVED it there! Here's a view of the city of Dubrovnik, with the magnificent Adriatic sea in front of it. We couldn't get enough of the sea and the sun. We stayed in the southern portion of Croatia, called the Dalmatian Coast.
A close-up of the city of Dubrovnik. Hard to imagine that it was bombed to the ground only 10 years ago.
Quick snapshot before having the most delicious seafood in Ston, Croatia.
Besides lounging on the beach, we also did a little bit of hiking in the mountains of Croatia. This is also our first "family" picture. I'm about 4.5 months pregnant here.
In July, our friend Kerry Soo visited us from California. We took her to the Belgian coast where we rented bikes and discovered the Belgian and Dutch coastline.
Alex and I opted for a tandem bike. We're biking for three after all! I'm starting to really show here, at about 5 months pregnant.
Taking a rest while Kerry Soo is off taking pictures in the dunes.
There are lots of storks in Belgium. We put in an order for a baby boy - to be delivered in November.
At the beginning of August, I went to the European Ultimate Frisbee Championships in Southampton, England, with the Belgian National Women's team. It was the first time that the Belgian women sent a team. I didn't play of course, but I did coach the team (apparently not very well since we ended up in last place). We had a great time being there and we did win the sportmanship (spirit of the game) award - a coveted award amongst the european teams.
Next up was a visit from Alex's dad and his wife An Ping. We took them to Antwerp where we had an excellent tour guide (my mother). I'm about 6 months pregnant in this picture.
In august I headed to the US for my friend Nurit's wedding. That's her in the middle - doesn't she look great? The other pregant lady is our friend Julie. She's due on the same day as me! We're both about 7 months pregnant here.
That's Nurit getting married to Ali. They had a wonderful sunset jewish ceremony in the Berkshires.
Visiting friends in Amherst, MA...
...still in amherst...
...and in DC...
...some more friends in DC... Unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to take pictures of all the people I visited in the US!
While I was in the US partying at my friend's wedding, alex was on a business trip to Afghanistan. This was his party attire. His trip was a success, and he can share many more pictures if you're interested.
Well - that was our summer! We hope you enjoyed those pictures. I'm done traveling now - I have to take it easy until the baby is born in November. But alex is continuing his busy travel schedule. He's currently in Georgia (the country, not the state!), then he'll be in iceland and germany. We're expecting a couple more visitors from the states before the baby is born, and we hope to see YOU very soon as well! Much love, Anouk and Alex.
