One of Those Days....

I've had several days here in Belgium that make me scratch my head, roll my eyes, and giggle a little. If you leave off the giggle part, you'll go nuts!  These are the totally random days that have a way of just getting worse as the day goes on.  Last Monday, we didn't have much on the agenda for the day, and that turned out to be a good thing because we would have been very disappointed by our lack of accomplishment.  

The day started out with a typical commute to school.  We live close, and it should take less than 10 minutes, but generally it takes 20-25 minutes instead due to traffic.  On Monday, we got to the roundabout, just two long blocks from school, and the traffic completely stopped.  Several minutes later, we pulled up to this....a tree had fallen from the ISB hill and completely blocked three lanes of traffic.  Two lanes were westbound and one was eastbound.  This would create significant problems anywhere, but in a traffic stricken country like Belgium, this creates total chaos!!  So, I was able to make it to school, and the kids were only a couple minutes late, but getting home was a different story.  Luckily, I know the back roads now. :)  But, one hour and seventeen minutes later I arrived back home.  

Since it was mid-morning already, M and M and myself got some things done around the house and decided to head to IKEA for lunch.  Their meatballs and fries are so tasty!

Well of course, it was raining, so we thought it would be a good idea to just shop for something for my mom's brother (my Uncle Joey).  We checked the distance to the store she wanted to stop at, and "Claire" (our know-it-all GPS voice) said the easiest route was straight across Brussels.  It was 25 minutes...no problem!  I don't know why I thought that would be a good idea, but I went with it, and 1 hour and 20 minutes later we arrived at the shop......and it was CLOSED!  Because it was Monday, and if a store is open on Sunday, then it is closed on Monday.  I know better than that!  Agh!!!!!!

The day wasn't a total loss.  We had a wonderful dinner at The Limit in Overijse with the Cundiff family. We had some good old Belgian cuisine, and the kids had dessert, so everyone was happy!

Little tidbits from a few other days....

Surprise Uncle Joey!  We made it back to the shop a few days later. :)  Hope this doesn't ruin the surprise too much.  Mom was very excited to get this for you!

Mike helped me install some screens on our windows.  These are the kind where you put velcro around the window and stick the screen to it.  Works great so far, and our bug problem has significantly decreased.  Who said there are no bugs in Belgium?  That is crazy talk!

Look at this little cutie that was at ISB for pick up.  The day before it was wearing a rain coat.  What a doll!  Cuties like this are not helping with our kids desire for a dog.

Here's the tree now...my luck...the rest of it will fall just as I go walking by to pick up the kids.  I wonder how long they will leave it that way???

My little one eats like a true Belgian now.  His fork is in his left hand and he never puts his knife down.  He's pretty good at it!

And finally, a few shots from our send off at the airport.  I didn't post any crying pictures because they are just too sad.  The kids were pretty excited about the stop at Starbucks...that made the sadness go away just a little.

Thanks for allowing me to reflect on "One of those days".  Sometimes I feel like they happen a little too frequently.  I just keep giggling!

Until next time,

Wendy