Well, not exactly, it was more like Weekend with Bunny... Friday afternoon was so gorgeous and both girls were up in time so we decided we simply had to walk to school and pick up Nathan. We have walked several times since the first disaster and have figured out that going the "long way" in the double stroller is so much more pleasant than the "short cut" with Mommy pulling an overloaded wagon. We were greeted by tons of moms and dads waiting to pick up their little guys and girls and enjoy the afternoon. Once we were allowed to squeeze our giant stroller through the tiny gate and walk up to the classroom, I overheard Nathan's teacher saying, "Oh, he's going home with Nathan today..." I had a brief moment of panic as I frantically tried to remember promising to pick up another child, before I looked up and saw what appeared to be my son, almost completely covered by the class pet, Robbie Rabbit. We parents had the pleasure of meeting Robbie last Wednesday night at Back to School Night. Nathan's teachers told us all about how Robbie knocked on the door one afternoon and has come to live in the classroom ever since. Because the students were concerned that Robbie might get lonely over weekends and holidays, Robbie will be going home with one lucky student each Friday afternoon. Guess who's name came out of the hat first? So there was Nathan barely able to stand up while holding Robbie and his suitcase. We were in charge of caring for Robbie over the weekend and our first task was to get Robbie home on foot along with the four of us.
Several kind parents with cars offered to give Robbie a ride home, but Nathan would not have it. He wanted Robbie with him. I informed him that if he insisted on having us bring Robbie home on the stroller that he would have to walk home without complaint. After giving Mommy some of that oh so fun kindergarten attitude ("If you had just brought the car..."), he agreed and we headed home. Because we always stay and play on the school playground if the weather is nice, we didn't start heading home until almost 5 PM. We also left rather abruptly because Mommy was a bit frustrated with the aforementioned attitude. However, the attitude was left on the school playground and the walk home was rather pleasant with Nathan filling us in on his day.
Once we arrived home, we buckled Robbie into his seat belt and headed to McDonald's for dinner. We did get a few looks from pedestrians for having a large child sized rabbit buckled in our front seat, but Mommy was focused on getting dinner and home for baths and bedtime since Daddy was going to be late, so didn't really notice the looks. The kids decided Robbie could have the carrot sticks from their happy meals as long as Hannah was still able to have some. Robbie didn't seem to mind the chaos of the evening and fit right in with the family.
Because we found Robbie to be rather filthy, we thought it best for him to sleep away from all of us on Nathan's top bunk. I suppose we could have given him a bath in the washing machine, but I have enough laundry thank you very much.
Saturday was another beautiful day and our day began bright and early with the 9 AM soccer game. Robbie had to be dressed and loaded into the car with everyone else, but this time he rode in the backseat without a seat belt. We looked like we were going on a weekend trip rather than a 15 minute drive to an 1 1/2 hour soccer game. Soccer was fun, but the kids are already a bit distracted with the 45 minute practice followed by a 45 minute game. One of the boys left in the middle to get some juice.
The International School of Brussels was having homecoming on Saturday. They have an American football team and so there were activities planned all around the football game and other sporting events. We enjoyed a pancake breakfast and lots of great snacks. We also watched some of the football game before we were lured away by Nathan to watch some of his friends playing soccer. We saw lots of friends from Nathan's school, church and Daddy's work and realized what a small world our little expat community can be. The weather was perfect again and we enjoyed an afternoon of sunshine before heading home.
Sunday was Dimanche Sans Voiture (No Car Sunday) and therefore our church had service late Saturday evening in lieu of Sunday morning service. In an effort to encourage more people to take public transportation, the city of Brussels doesn't allow any driving in the city and the roads are all closed to cars. We considered taking the train into the city to enjoy some of the fun activities going on, but decided it would be stressful and chaotic with the kids and a giant rabbit so we opted to go to one of our favorite parks. We weren't very supportive of the No Drive Sunday since we drove 30 minutes to this park, but we were entertaining so we couldn't very well stay home! We needed some fun pictures to put in Robbie's diary. We had a great afternoon at the park and even took Robbie on a paddle boat. The weather couldn't have been better, especially considering the contrast today. It is incredibly windy and raining off and on which wouldn't have encouraged many to be out enjoying the car free streets and free public transportation.
Nathan worked on his homework yesterday after we got home and helped Daddy put the pictures in Robbie's diary. He then wrote a special message to Robbie. We then put three very tired children and one tired rabbit to bed.
This morning Robbie and his suitcase (hopefully not missing anything: he had a teddy bear, a toothbrush for himself and his bear, pajamas and the diary) went back to school. I must say I was happy to turn him over and not have to think about him coming home with us. Last year's class pet was much more manageable. If we had gotten him before Christmas break, he would have needed his own plane ticket!
This afternoon Daddy is planning to meet us after school and pick up Nathan. He'll be gone the next two weeks to South America so we are trying to make this evening special for the kids. We're planning on having either Chinese food or pizza and of course, lots of play time with Daddy. We really miss our Daddy when he goes "out to town" as Hannah says.
1 comment:
I had to laugh when I read this originally. That same weekend we had custody of Carl the Coyote (Garrett's school mascot). I thought Carl was a bit of a nuisance since he had to come along with us everywhere...in my purse more often than not. Carl, his sleeping bag & his backpack hung out with us all weekend. Now I'm just thankful he fit in my purse & wasn't like having a third child! Really?! What were they thinking? Obviously someone who wasn't a parent came up with the concept of Robbie/Bunny & his big ole self!
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