Weekend round-up

Monday, again!

The puppies left on Friday. Needless to say both kids want to know why we couldn't keep them. I considered telling them that if we kept all 5 of the remaining puppies it would bring the total number of dogs up to 8. Having 8 dogs would mean that mommy would leave.

Don't worry I only considered telling them that, I didn't actually do it. I just told them that it was time for the puppies to go to their own wonderful new homes. Because if everyone kept their puppies then we never would have gotten Lulu & Duke. And as much as the puppies are all cute and cuddly I have to admit that I will not miss their mess.

The kids slept over at my mother's on Friday night so Himself & I went out for dinner with some friends. Good food & good company, no kids ... what is not to enjoy. No, really as much as I love our kids it was nice to have a grown-up's night out. It's been ages since we both went out together.

On a very frustrating note we finally found out on Saturday morning that we would only be getting our home internet connection fixed some time during the day on the 10th of October. Don't know how we are going to survive another month without internet at home but I guess we just don't have a choice.

On Saturday night we went to Duffel. Yes, it's the home of the Duffel coat. Friends of ours live there and their eldest daughter took part in the 'Ballonnekensstoet' . Traditionally everyone would have carried hollowed out pumpkins or beets with a light inside. (But it has nothing to do with Halloween). Today however it a parade in which all the schools & sports associations have children riding on beautifully decorated & lit floats.

The 4 brothers riding the horse - this is only done where there is a family in the town who has 4 boys.

School kids on one of the floats

At the end of the parade there is a fireworks display but the girls were too tired to hang around & wait for it so we started walking home. We did managed to see most of it from the bridge (½ way home).

Tiger who had opted to go home with the dad's was very put out when he heard that the girls had had ice-cream so Himself promised to stop at MacDonalds on the way home. I think Tiger had about 3 bites of his ice-cream before falling asleep.

The best part of the weekend was the weather. We had such good weather this weekend it felt like it was summer. In fact it was better than most of the past summer. And, when the weather is that good there is only one thing to do. BBQ! So the friends came round & we ate & drank and laughed and sat outside till after 10 last night, it was bliss.

O my, I nearly forgot to tell you .... I nearly died on Friday!

So I just walked through the door when my phone rings. It's Himself, wanting to know where I am. Just walked in the door. Well he's sitting outside of Antwerp and it's grid lock. There is no way he's going to make it to the school on time to pick up the kids. Therefore, I need to cycle to the school to get the kids before 6. Why? Because for every minute after 6 you pay 1Euro per child. Ok then, it's only about 8.7 km (5.4 miles).

Well I thought I was going to die! It's uphill most of the way (something you never really notice when you fly by in the car. Not to mention the fact that I'm am SUPER unfit.

What a sight I must have been when I got there I don't even want to imagine.

If I looked this good I would have felt so much better. On the other hand it's a very good thing that nobody was taking pictures of me cause I think their camera might just have broke

But what counts is the fact that I got there, with time to spare!