It is quite late already and I actually should be sleeping. I just wanted to write a little note about last Saturday, March 15th. P's colleague Martin, his wife and a friend of them came and picked us up to go to the city. It was Saint Patrick's day. F sat on my lap - very illegally -. I told her to duck when we see a police car. Of course she asked why. Well, that's what she's been doing the whole time, asking why. I think it is very normal for her age, but it is quite tyring for mama's. I explained very bravely that we could get a big fine if the police saw us. She was ducking for all the taxi's, she thought those were the police cars.

Downtown, we went to the river to see it painted green and saw a bit of the parade. I had a great time with our new friends and the kids enjoyed themselves a lot. It was a bit cold, but we were better prepared than the Americans who walked around in t-shirts.

What really funny to see was that the people on the streets didn't really have a party. It was nothing like the Brazilian Carnaval (Martin and the crew are from South America) and most probably nothing like Saint Patric's day in Ireland - (I read that the celebrations in New York are spectacular: 'the parade down Fifth Avenue is the largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the world, with about a quarter of a million marchers and several million spectators.'). The reason: nobody was drinking alcohol. People walked around with their fancy cola bottles and that extra sugar is just not enough to make a big party! At the parade, next to some nicely prepared parade cars and acts, there were big trucks with a text on them, and even a truck that mixes cement - why on earth?? - . One of the biggest attractions was the MCDonalds shoe en clown, F loved it. One thing is sure, the whole event was child friendly and when we left in the afternoon the streets were still very clean. Maybe later that evening the real party began, but we missed it.



I will write a last thing about today, 16th of March. We were first at the playground in a nature preserve. The kids enjoyed it a lot. It was the bribe before we went to the shopping mall to buy presents for P who's b-day is approaching. Shopping was not very successful, F and A went running around and I just could't look around to find the stuff I was looking for. At the end we managed to buy some stuff but I was fed up with the mall! We came back home tired, way too late than I was planning. After a quick pizza I brought the kids to bed and F said the this was the nicest day till now. She liked most the carousel at the mall, but actually everything was nice. Why do I ever worry that the kids will get bored here, there is a mall in every corner!