Well, I've deleted the calendar - I've given up on seeing any more 
visitors.  Folks at home are either worried about terrorists or their 
jobs.  We're going ahead and planning out the rest of Lee Ann's 
vacation time.  It looks like Lee Ann will be extended through April.  
The kids are thrilled with that and so am I.

We'll be visiting the Canary Islands next week. Technically, it is a  
Spanish territory, but the islands are right off the coast of Africa - 
just offshore of the Saraha Desert.   We are going with a couple other 
families who are old friends from  Berlin.  The constant wind and 
rain in Antwerp has made the idea of  laying on a sunny beach 
appealing, even to me!  If you look for it on the map, we'll be on the 
largest island - Gran Canaria.

Michelle's birthday was fun.  We had both kids and adults 
participate.  Michelle found all kinds of 'happy birthday' songs on the 
internet and we used them for her party.  I mixed them in with her 
party soundtrack.  During the party, when Michelle heard a 'happy 
birthday' song, we would stop what we were doing and she would 
open one present. We heard happy birthday from Elvis, the Beatles, 
Marilyn Monroe, Sesame Street, and other more unusual ones...
For games, we did 'engineering problems' using only paper and tape.

Graham and I learned a bit about rugby last week.  We played touch 
rugby with some British friends.  It is hard to get the hang of how to 
play.  It is like constantly running the option in (american) football.  
It is hard to get three rookies to spontaneously space out and run an 
option sweep.  Unlike football, the guy with the ball is out in front in 
rugby!  The British guys killed us...

Lynn