Switzerland to America to Belgium

No blog updates doesn't mean no adventures! The last few months have been full of new places, old friends, new friends, loving family and excitement!

Zurich, Switzerland 
In April, we drove four hours down to Zurich, Switzerland and spent the weekend with a good friend of ours from college. After her busy work week we were able to steal her away and do some sight seeing around the town. We hiked church towers, payed way too much for beers and brats, sat on the lake while we fed the swans, had the most expensive (but tastiest!) whiskey drink I've ever experienced from the Old Crow and played chess with pieces half of our body size.

U.S.A

Two weeks later we began our adventure to the States! We went for one of my best friends weddings but were fortunate enough to make a big trip out of it. We started in Frankfurt and flew 10 hours to Atlanta. From there we flew another 4 hours to Arizona to spend the week with my family. 

Our first week in Phoenix and Tucson were perfect. We did some pool days, enjoyed breweries while getting down on some American food, celebrated old-man-Taylor's 29th birthday and most importantly got to see so much of my family INCLUDING my 99 year old sassy great-grandmother.

After our week in Arizona was up we continued our journey to Utah.

The next two weeks were spent catching up with our close friends and spending time with Taylor's whole family. All his siblings were together and even recreated an old family photo that brought me to tears from laughter. 

We spent our time in Salt Lake City, Park City and even made a trip to Grand Junction, CO to see some of our favorite people, Emma and Frank! We did a fun drive around Colorado National Park and then ventured into Fruita where we did wine and whiskey tastings!

Our last weekend in Utah was spent celebrating Danielle and Dakotas wedding up at Deer Valley! I couldn't have imagined a more fun, beautiful, perfect wedding! The Utah soccer girls danced the night away to the dueling pianos while making rounds at the bar... just like old times. Can we do that again soon, please?!

Brugge/Ostend, Belgium
After our trip to the States we settled down for about a week before making our next move.

Taylor spent the weekend playing on the Baumholder soccer team in Wiesbaden. He had a great time getting the cob webs out of his keeper gloves and getting out on the field!

While Taylor was playing soccer I made my way to Belgium. My friend Amanda (who visited us last October) was back in Europe! Between her Paris-London-work-trip and Ireland-Wedding-bridesmaid-duty she booked a flight to Brussels so we could meet!

I drove three hours to the Brussels airport early in the morning and picked her up. From there we headed to Ostende which is on the Belgium coast and stayed there for a few days. We wandered around Ostende for the first two days, hitting up restaurants, walking along the beach, sitting on rocks  by the ocean, and of course drinking Maes beer!

Our third day was spent seeing the town of Bruges. We took a 20 minute train ride in and walked around the cute medieval, canal-filled, cobble-stoned town for the day. I also finally had my first Belgian Waffle! 

New Year, New Adventures!

2014 was filled with many adventures so we decided to keep the fun going by celebrating the New Year in a new country!

Brussels, Belgium
We decided on Brussels because we wanted a big celebration with firworks, people, bars, and the whole vibe! Plus, it is only three hours from us!

Shortly after arriving were eager to get some Belgian beer in our bellies so we walked the ten minutes to the city center and sat down at a bar outside and made our taste buds very happy!

Before our trip I got in contact with a friend of mine from college who currently lives in Brussels with her husband who plays professional basketball in the city. In fact, he played basketball at Utah and she was on the gymnastics team while I played soccer.  We of course met up with them that night to catch up and celebrate the New Year! We had some gyros for dinner and went to a few local bars where we drank belgian beer, popped champagne and danced the night away!

 Malaga, Spain
A few months ago my friend Dana told me that her and a bunch of wives had booked tickets to Malaga and that I should join. With little hesitation I booked it instantly for 50 euros round trip through RyanAir! The trip finally approached us at the end of January and it couldn't have come at a better time. The winters here in Germany are incredibly gloomy and cold so going to a beach in 65 degree weather sounded like heaven!

The night before our flight I stayed over at Dana's so that we could all pile into her car at 4am and drive to the Frankfurt Hahn airport. I was super impressed with flying RyanAir for my first time. They allow you to bring one free carryon within a certain weight and size. My GoLite backpack falls perfectly within that limit which is all I need for a weekend trip anyway! Check-in and security was a breeze and the staff on the plane were extremely friendly.

Our group consisted of nine wives all in need of a vacation, warm weather, wine and girl time! We found an incredible house through AirBNB that easily fit us all comfortably. It was located right on the beach with the view of downtown Malaga and of course the ocean. Wasting no time we jumped right into a bowl of Sangria and sat outside soaking in the sun.

Oh! In case you don't know where Malaga is... It is located on the southern coast of Spain touching the Mediterranean. In the distance and during the right time of day, you can see Morocco!

That night we all had bought tickets to a traditional flamenco show in downtown Malaga. The family band included a flute player, a drummer, a guitarist and a singer along with a dancing lady in a pretty dress. It was breathtaking and we all had a blast!

The beauty of this trip was that everyone got to do whatever they wanted. Some people did a workout on the beach while some people (me) sat on the back patio and watched them. Some girls did a tapas tour, a bike tour, and even a tour of the lounge chairs next to the pool. By the end of the trip we were all secretly planning how to get stuck in Spain and not return back to snowy cold Germany.

For every new city or town I visit, I want to see 100 more. My travel bug is itching even more than it did last year so I am excited for 2015 travels! Taylor and I already have some adventures up our sleeves for the next few months!