The Exotic Birds of Brussels

Every decade or so some people think of Brussels.  Usually the thought of beer, chocolate, and waffles instantly come to mind because those are the three things Belgium is famous for.  I admit that I had run into a few generalizations after living here a few months.  One of them is, this is a very dreary, rainy place that never gets hot and is void of tropical birds.

I was wrong on that one, not the dreary or rainy part but the bird part.

When I had my first sighting at Malou Park I was sure it was a fluke.  A pet escaped from a window, surely there is not an entire population of tropical birds living in a city that hit 80 degrees only once in an entire year.  

Then I went three miles away to Cinquantenaire Parc and sure enough there were more tropical birds.  Big green birds with orange beaks.  If I didn't know better I would say they were parakeets or parrots.

Turns out, they are parakeets, Monk Parakeets.

Here is the back story of how they came to Brussels.  Apparently in 1975 an amusement park manager let 50 Monk Parakeets go.  The population didn't increase right away but around 2007 there were finally enough of them to have an explosion and now they are everywhere.  The local peeps say they might have to get rid of some because they are a threat to the local bird population.

Somehow the tropical birds have adapted to the cold and are thriving in Brussels.  Maybe there is hope for me after all.

Sunny vs. Rainy

Junior high Sunny would be so annoyed if she saw that title.  I always hated weather jokes as a kid but when your name is Sunny you just have to get over a few things and weather jokes is included.  The assumption that you are blonde and happy (although I am blonde and generally happy so perhaps expectations are everything).  

This weekend I was dead set on seeing Hallebos.  I heard about this place before I even came to Brussels.  Apparently every year for about a week there is this forest Southwest of Brussels that blooms in bluebells.  

Yesterday after a five hour trek to the commissary to stock up on American processed foods, I dragged my family out to see this forest since this will be the last weekend the bluebells are around.  

I knew we were gambling when we went out.  This is what my phone told me about the weather for the next ten days.  

Boo.  Rain every day.  

We decided to risk it anyway.  When we left our house there was sunshine but as we got closer to Waterloo it started looking ominous.  By the time we got to Hallebos it was pouring.  I was not deterred.  I got out of the car in hopes of snapping a photo but as I did lightening lit up the sky.  I folded.  

Rain 1 Sunny 0

Today after church we decided to make another run for it.  We planned with rain boots and warm coats but I was once again confident today would be our day.  This time within two minutes of driving the skies descended upon us and it was pouring.  We kept driving.  By the time we got to Waterloo I could see a sliver of light.  

When we finally arrived it was the only piece of sky in all of metro Brussels that had sun.  We took the chance and went to the forest.  

It was gorgeous.  

The kids ran around, were confused at this carpet that was like grass, threw rocks in streams, pointed out bugs, and had a blast.  Seth and I basked in the European-ness of the entire day.  Walks in the woods, walk in the woods with carpets of bluebells, our children frolicking politely while we enjoy each other's company.  It was nice.  

After an hour or so I noticed the sky was being less kind and a black looming presence was coming (think The Never Ending Story nothing).  We started to make our way back.  Right as we got to the road where we parked our car it started hailing.  We ran.  We ran.  Somehow I got hail in my ears.  It was funny, a little scary, and a lot of fun.  

If you are in Brussels in April try to see Hallerbos the third week in April.  It is worth the trip.

Rain 2 Sunny 1

Stella sitting on the green carpet she discovered called moss.  

The bluebells have maybe a day or two left.  They were gorgeous.

They were fascinated by the moss.

The Rain in Spain stays Mainly in the Belgian Plain

I have been a terrible terrible blogger lately.  I attribute this mainly to my Doogie Howser MD title credit music getting destroyed.  Plus, I have been happy and busy and when Sunny is happy and busy it means less stories that HAVE TO GET OUT NOW OR I WILL EXPLODE.  It means I need less bloggy therapy, so if I am quiet it's probably a good thing.  

For Easter we decided to say good bye to Belgium and say hello to Spain.  It was amazing.  We didn't do much but we did one thing: relax, relax, and soaked up as much 68 degree sun as we could.  

There was sand and water

Playgrounds and top optional sunbathing.

Lots of sand

Visit to old town Marbella and a jumping in the air.

We pretty much slept in every morning, ate croissants for breakfast, went swimming, at a leisurely lunch in our furnished apartment, relaxed, went to the beach, played a game, ate dinner and did it all over again.  It was FABULOUS.

What we didn't do:

• Go to Seville
• Go to Granada and see the Alhambra
• Drive anywhere that was farther than an hour.  

And really I don't regret it.  It was nice to just relax and enjoy each other.  No, I didn't see all of Southern Spain and who knows when I will ever be back but I have no regrets.  I actually enjoyed myself instead of felt desperate to catch a glimpse of everything.  

We did break our relaxing week to go to Gibraltar.  Gibraltar is owned by the UK and right when you drive in you can tell you are in wee Britain.  We took the tram up the rock and saw the native monkeys.  They were a little gross, super aggressive, but the kids loved them.

Barbary Ape. Plotting to take over the world.

Sunny on top of the Rock.

We loved our time in Spain.  It was beautiful, warm, and I can see a light at the end of the frantic baby mode of vacations.  Hooray!

Easter x4

This year we celebrated Easter no less than four times.

First there was the Embassy Easter Egg hunt.  In anticipation of the party and after reading this book, Stella got clever.

Its the story of a little girl who gets a plain hat from her parents and then a bird makes a nest in it so she takes an old hat and makes it fancy so she can be the queen of Easter.  The book works well with little girls and drag queens.

Point is Stella ended up making this, on her own, no prodding, helping, or informing her parents what she was up to (which made it that much cuter).

Stella's Easter Hat.  Note the rainbow pom poms.

Tiger was not about to let his sister be regal alone and then begged me to help him with a hat.  So we made more Easter hats.  This time a little less queen and more bunny.

The Embassy Egg Hunt was beautiful and chilly in typical Belgian fashion.  The kids had a great time.

But why only celebrate once? I decided we needed more so we had an Easter Brunch and small egg hunt in our backyard. Since we have nothing but grass it was definitely a less-exciting egg hunt.

Then our cute neighbors had a brunch.  And what Easter brunch is complete without an egg hunt.  This time we went all the to the park (if you look closely in the picture above you can see the park behind our house.  Our neighbors are the boring lot to the right.  We both have the most boring yards on the block and we are both American).

The kids got a lot of eggs.

Then we decided to go to Spain.  More on that in a separate post.

The egg hunt at our place.  Nothing challenging about it, other than the stinging nettle infestation.

We were unable to find a church service to go to on Easter Sunday itself so we spent the day quietly thinking about Easter and it's importance.  And of course we had to have a fourth Easter brunch.  This time we brought Flat Stanley.

Flat Stanley was digging Marbella, Spain

When we came home we had a post-Easter potluck and a fifth egg hunt.  We have enough candy to give an army diabetes.  I think we might send it off to Seth's work and hope that they eat it all.