A weekend in the east

Third week of September is one of the last weekends that are potentially "free" of other appointments: as of the end of September/start October there is weekly scouting activities in the agenda and potentially judo tournaments.  So we had a "free weekend" and I insisted to spend as much as possible together in the east of Belgium as a family.

Unfortunately Jan had already an appointment on Friday evening and Beertje also had a birthday party to attend.  (Gosh, the stream of birthday parties at that age is daunting!).  

But I insisted. I really like slow mornings without packing & drives and if we only left on Saturday morning, we'd arrive around noon and in my opinion I had lost too much time already. So I insisted and drove up with the children and Rodin on Friday evening just before bedtime. It has the advantage that all traffic jams around Liege are gone by then.  

We arrived and simply got into our pyjama's and were ready for bed. 

The next morning we had to drive to Eupen to pick-up Jan who came behind by train.  So I did lose a big portion of my morning by driving anyhow.  But mentally I was already "on the weekend". 

It really was nice weather out on Saturday and I enjoyed reading a book to finish in the garden while Rodin kept me company. The boys were busy inside and didn't seem to realise the nice weather opportunity they were missing.  But I profited to the fullest and managed to get a sunburn as I did underestimate the strength of the late September sun. 

Rodin had a stand-off meeting with the neighbourhood maine coone and at the end of the afternoon I managed to kick the boys outside after all for some soccer. 

2 giant Maine Coones looking into one's eyes.

Chilling in the evening in front of the tv with my red burnt cheeks. 

Unfortunately the weather took a turn on Sunday. We had kept the pool's little heating pump on all night in an attempt to warm up the water to a comfortable temperature despite the colder temperatures outside, but that miserably failed.  At noon I decided it was hopeless and realised we'd not be splashing in the water anymore.

(the weekend afterwards I did exactly the same and then the pump nearly froze at night! Woops, clearly we are abusing the thing as a heater when it hasn't that capacity at all. We must take into account the cold night temperatures much better. So then pool season was officially over). 

While the weather was more whimsical, I profited to go for another walk around the town and I enjoyed to spot some wildlife (a Red Kite in the air and a little cute squirrel in a town garden. )

By the end of the Sunday it was time to pack-up and return to Leuven but I enjoyed my time in the east of Belgium, knowing we'd go much less in the coming weekends.