"There's a Monkey in my Bed"

Ryan had already put the kids to bed, Kherington came running out of her room saying, "There's a monkey in my bed!"  We peeked in and found this:

Kevin is a pretty good climber.  Naturally we took him down, grabbed the camera and recorded how he was able to get his tiny self up onto the top bunk...then rearranged the room so it was no longer possible :).

Kevin also got his last set of shots until he turns 5!  We were about 15 minutes late to the appointment (I forgot about it until it was actually the appointment time).  We walked into the waiting room just as the doctor was walking out to get us.  Whew!  I got Kevin stripped down and was not happy.  He just clung to me (like Kherington did a while ago).  It made it extra difficult to get accurate stats, but here's what the doctor said:

17 months old
Weight: 10 kilos
Height: 81cm (31.9 inches)
Head: 48cm (18.9 inches)
*the weight is very rough - he wouldn't let go of me and stay on the scale, so I would think he actually weighs a tiny bit more

Brussels Comic Book Balloon Festival

The beautiful weather has continued into September.  I could really get used to this.  We didn't make plans this weekend since we thought Ryan would have to work (it's his busy season through Sept 15th).  We were pleasantly surprised that he wouldn't need to (instead next week will be all late hours).  With no plans, Ryan jumped online to see what was going on around here.  Lucky for us it was the comic book balloon festival!  After a let down at the hot air balloon festival (we didn't see any hot air balloons there) this one was great!

We jumped on the bus and took it downtown.  Both kids fell asleep on the bus, so when we got to our stop both Ryan and I were thinking, 'why are we doing this?'  We found some grass in Brussels downtown park and chilled for a bit.  Kherington woke up when we sat down and chowed down on Cheetos (she loves them just as much as I do).

We started our wandering by going through the comic book tents.  We found Smurfs, Tin Tin, and a bunch of other ones that I wasn't very familiar with.

Walking out of the tents as the first time the kids could see the huge balloons and we were standing right under them!  Kherington had been begging for ice cream, but instead we found that they were handing out free pudding cups. Perfect!  Then the marching bands started marching right under the balloons next to us through the crowd plans songs like the JAG theme song.  I also was able to snap this sweet picture of them filling up the balloon on the truck.  Kinda interesting.

Before the parade started, we found one more sample, a coloring wall, free balloons for both kids and free face painting.  Kherington has never been into the face painting, but this time she requested to paint her arm.  She got a smurf print.  If was fun to watch all the kids squeeze up around her as she was getting it done.  She liked it for about 20 minutes then wanted to wash it off.

With just a little more time to kill, we found some more grass...and both kids loved having their daddy there to sit on.  Better yet, I loved having their daddy there so I didn't get sat on :).

We found a wall to climb up behind for the actual parade so it was like having front row seats.  The parade was the perfect length for the kids (short).  The loved the music and the balloons...oh and look closely...do you see a balloon you definitely would not see in a parade in the US?  Yeah, the Manneken Pis in gigantic balloon form.

We walk a little bit to get on a different less crowed bus home.  Then made a pit stop at the park near our house to finish off the day.  Just a nice relaxing fun day :).

Ryan's 29th

Ryan's birthday was on a Tuesday this year.  Kherington and I made breakfast in bed for him (we had to send him back to bed though).  Aside from that, we decided to celebrate on Friday instead because Tuesday night he plays basketball.

For dinner he requested bacon hamburgers (tough guy to please...well, come to think of it I did burn the first half of the bacon).  The kids helped me do a quick decorating job.  Kherington is pretty good at the noise makes, but Kevin, uh, not so much.  I think he tore apart 3 of them.  He would see Kherington blow on hers and it would make noise and blow out.  So he'd try to do the same, but didn't get any noise and it would blow out.  So instead he'd pull at the bottom to make it straight...pull too hard and it breaks :).  They also really enjoy the balloon sticks (kinda like swords).  Anyways, back to Ryan. 

For dessert we had a failed attempt at a marshmallow fluff shake.  I couldn't get the cream to set up into stiff peaks and we only have a food processor (no blender).  They looked nothing like the picture online, but they tasted decent...until they got knocked onto the floor.  Kids.  It'll be a good day when we're back in the land of blizzards. 

After our failed attempt at dessert, we broke out the stuff to make Caramel Apple Spice (we bought the syrup from at Starbucks).  Well, I didn't realize how low I was on spray cream.  Yet another fail.  The rest of the drink tasted good though.

Even with all the failed attempts we had a fun time celebrating.  Ryan is an awesome daddy (and probably Kherington's favorite person on this planet).  He always takes time to roughhouse with the kids, read them stories and jump on the trampoline PLUS he does tons of household chores.  He's a keeper :).

First Day of School 2012

Kherington started school again today!  She is still going half day (8:15am - 12:05pm) each day.

She woke up this morning not so happy.  She was having a dream and kept saying 'I want to go back.'  Which usually means she wants to go back to the park.  I had just finished my workout and was sweaty, but she wanted mom not dad.  So we cuddle for a little, then got some breakfast ready.  She went for mandarin oranges, the rest of her cinnamon roll the night before, a bran muffin and the juice from the canned oranges (with  a pink straw).  Of that, she only ate the oranges and a nibble of the bran muffin.

We set her clothes out the night before so when she finished her small breakfast we went and got her clothes to put on.  We were getting a little short on time but she really really really wanted her nails pained too.  So I told her if we could brush and put her hair up quickly I would do them.  Good thing it only takes a minute to painted her nails.

The drop off went awesome!  We all went (since I had planned on walking to the grocery store after).  She has the same teacher as last year (Madame Sandy).  When we got there she went right in, hung up her jacket, put her backpack in the cubbie, gave us all 'bisous' and went on in.  No tears, just happy as could be.

Kevin was super excited when we picked her up from school.  After they buzzed us in the gate, he ran to the door and got the biggest smile on his face when he found his sister.  We had some chocolate crecents on our walk home.  Pretty awesome first day of school!  Oh, and it look like all her English speaking friends from last year are gone, but there are a couple new Indian kids who speak English so  I'm pretty excited about that.

After school we had lunch (crepes and corn), Kevin went down for nap, I did some blogging and Kherington had quite move.  And the best part of it is that quite movie has returned to nap time!  I love that school totally wipes her out.  That way both kids nap together then can play the rest of the afternoon.  Pretty sweet deal :).

Evergem Half Marathon

I ran my first official half marathon (2nd time running 13.1 miles).

I decided Friday that I was for sure going to do it.  It was up near Gent, but we had to leave early to pick-up Kherington's new bike (see separate post).  In the end we ended up arriving about 1.5 hours before I could even register and that was with a pit stop at a playground to let the kids get some wiggles out.

It was funny when I did register.  I paid my 10 Euros and then they handed me a slip of paper to fill out.  I then had to take it to a separate counter to get my number.  Well, I tried going 5 minutes early since the guys was just sitting there with everything already set up.  He pointed to the sign saying it would open at 1:15pm then sat there doing nothing until the time came.  Really?  Yes, that is typical Belgium customer service.

Well, I got my number and changed into my running clothes.  We watch the kid 1k run...kids have the funniest faces when they run.  As more and more people arrived, I kinda started second guessing myself.  Everyone seemed to be dressed down in hard core running gear.  A little intimidating. Here I am ready to go:

I put myself in the middle of the pack to start.  I wouldn't do that again.  More towards the front would have been nice.  The first mile or two I felt like I was going pretty slow moving in and out of people trying to get to a comfortable pace.  The run was out on country roads which was nice, however some roads really stunk of manure.  More motivation to run faster.  The roads were closed down so every now and again I'd end up with a car on my tail.  I wasn't a huge fan of that either.  AND there were a lot of bicyclist out for joy rides.  If I didn't have to run around them it would have been pretty cool...I mean how often do you see an old grandpa on a cruiser in a button up shirt and sweater tied around his neck.  Pretty awesome.

Back to the run.  I learned a couple other things: (1) I don't know how to drink water/Gatorade from a cup while running - the first drink stop I ended up with Gatorade splashed all over my face...very sticky, and (2) almonds are not a very good mid run snack - I usually eat a date ball but I didn't have any so I grabbed some almonds instead.  Well, they stuck to my teeth so I ended up trying to pick them out.

I felt fine during the run, but didn't think I'd break the 2h mark which was my goal.  The last 300m loop around and with 100m left I would see the clock was at 1h 57m.  Pretty exciting!  BUT the guy in front of my stopped running as soon as he crossed under the arch and the finish line was 100 feet or so ahead and were in the shoot so I couldn't comfortably go around him.  That made for an anticlimactic ending.  But I still finished in 1h 57m 43s.  That's a 9 minute mile pace for 13.1 miles and since the first 2 were slow I must have been running a good pace.

After the race you are supposed to turn in your number (they are made of rubber so they can reuse them year to year) they give you a treat back complete with sausage and beer (pretty sure it's not like that in the US).

Pretty n' Pink/Purple Wheels

Kherington loved riding the bike at Grandma's house and riding her friend's bike here so I decided to try and find a used one.  I put in a bid on ebay for 1.99 Euros not really expecting to get it and I WON!  It was an hour drive away so we grabbed it before heading to the half marathon.  Pretty sweet deal.  Now I need to find some training wheels.

While we waited for my race to start, she got to ride it around with a little steadying help from her daddy.  Then I had the bright idea to pump up the tires.  Well, I lost all the air in the front tire and learned that my bike pump won't work for her bike.  We had to put it away for then.

When we got back home while I took a bath, Ryan took the kiddos and filled it with air from the gas station.  When she got her helmet, Kevin really wanted on too, but we only have one so I got him one of his winter hats and he was good to go. Here they are having some fun in the backyard.

Freedom / Sibling Time

We took the side of the crib off of Kevin's bed. We wanted to do it before started climbing out. When they go to bed they play and fight then fall asleep. So far so good. The first night he didn't make it back to his bed...I was hoping he would since Kherington always did. I like that they have their own sibling play time.