Thanksgiving

I used six pounds of butter in 3 days. It was a good weekend.

Vacations

David and I have been pondering an existensial question for several years now: When does a vacation really begin? Does it begin when you finally shut off your computer, empty the last dish from the dishwasher, or close your schoolbook? Does it begin when the car is loaded with bags and snacks? When the vehicle has pulled out of the driveway or the wheels are up? Or does it really begin when you have arrived at your destination, be that Grandma's, Gran Canaria, or the couch? We have wondered because sometimes vacations seem an awful lot like work. However, I think we have finally come up with an answer...and a picture to illustrate.

The vacation begins when the raisinettes begin to fly. (Left corner of the mouth. Artfully pelted by me from the front seat. Reaction time: approximately 7 minutes.) I just love roadtrips.

Passeys and the Henge

Fall Break--did we every need it! November in Brussels means dark, cold, rain, and the irresistable urge to hibernate. Since we can't succumb, we had to get away. And where did we go? ENGLAND! Darker, colder, pretty rainy, but great TV, comprehensible conversations, and big rocks. We started our adventure on the Salisbury plane and Stonehenge. Matthew's comment: "Wow, that is big."

We learned some new vocabulary too. "Henge" means hanging. Those big tall rocks standing upright and weighing about 24 tons are called Sarcen stones and nobody knows exactly how the highly intelligent inhabitants of the British Isle in 3000BC got them to stand up like that. And then got the blue stone lintels on top. They are heavy too.
The rebellious irregularity of the fallen stones only adds to the appeal. Too bad Anna's room doesn't look that good when the towering piles of laundry collapse off her bed...

We learned lots from our handy audioguides. Matthew searched for the Tardis...

We had some impromptu Passey love...

Jubes posed beautifully...

And we decided that some interpretive art was definitely in order.

I was there too.
We miss you Sarah!