I seem to have adopted this mega laid-back attitude since arriving in Lux - most unlike me but I guess instead of trying to fight against the frustrations and slow pace of life here.......I would join it instead!!!!!! Anyway - good friends should be happy to turn up whatever state we're in that's what I say!!!!!
Anyway I thought I needed some element of prep so out came the cook books which seem to have been a distant memory of recent time!! With the menu roughly sorted and feeling much more relaxed we all head off to Auchan shopping centre (one of those dreadful places with a hypermarket style supermarket and shops/restaurants to boot - all under one roof with underground parking to negotiate!!!) to get haircuts for everyone (except me!) might be doing millies myself from now on - an outrageous 32 euros later she was done......I suppose she did get it washed and dried nicely......although not sure to what benefit as she had a swimming party that same afternoon - I didn't think she'd take kindly to being asked to keep her head out of the water and hair dry at 6 years old!!!!! C'est la vie!
So the Thraves arrived with only Ruby and I here......Shaun desperately trying to cope with the logistics of only 1 car trying to be in 2 places at the same time!!! Anyway - after getting stuck in a load of traffic and being a good half hour late to pick Millie up, everyone arrived back safe and well.........Conor winning his water-logged footy match 9-1 and Millie full of sugar from after-swimming treats!!!
After quick drinks and treats (and gratefully receiving more english treats from Louise!) it is time to get dressed up for Halloween night......yes strange given it is only October 23rd!!! Being such an influx of Americans here in Luxembourg and obviously the huge celebration they have in America for Halloween - this is a full-on organised event with tickets and the lot!! So this is how it works...................
The American Womans Club (an organisation set up in the late 1950s by a small group of women who lived here and wanted to be able to meet fellow english speakers etc.........this has now grown to hundreds of members of all nationalities moving to Luxembourg and wanting a quick/easy way of meeting people in similar situations/nationalities! They organise coffee mornings, walks, kids activities, nights out....you name it....even quilting and scrap-booking (hmmm....I'm not quite there yet!....but apparently huge with some of the yanks!). Anyway, every year they organise a big Halloween event where a neighbourhood in Luxembourg is chosen.........and a group of streets is chosen where all the inhabitants (foreign and local) buy into the concept of Halloween and are prepared to answer the door a million times between 6pm and 8pm on a particular SAturday night to hand out "candy"!!!!!
So 5.45pm....kids all dressed and ready to go (see pic....yes even Ruby got into the spirit in her pumpkin!!!!) off we set for Sandweiler, one of the suburbs of Lux.....thankfully more on our side of town than not!!). Chaotic parking when we arrive which I suppose was expected as we all invade this small neighbourhood temporarily!!! With all the kids equipped with some kind of bag/container for their sweets it's time to hit the streets! All a bit surreal for me.....given it's daylight for one....and all these hundreds of kids going from 1 house to the next in swarms.........residents hardly had time to close the door in between so no need for the kids to even say "trick or treat" as a lady/gent/child was already standing there with their box of sweets to give out.............not quite the same eh as creeping around West Way in the dark with scary pumpkins lighting the way and knocking on doors to unexpecting residents??!!!!!!
Anyway......we bumped into plenty of people we knew and kids thought it was great to have a boatload of sweets and chocolate to take home with not much effort involved!!!!! Having purchased a trendy new high-gloss dining table since we arrived here (having always wanted something high-gloss to be part of the trend!!!!!!), all 9 of us then fitted beautifully around the table for dinner (which i did manage to mostly prepare beforehand :-)) We then slumped in front of the TV with wine/beer and X-factor.....bliss!!!!!
The rest of the weekend passed beautifully with kids all playing together and keeping themselves out of our way! Plans to visit Parc Mervielleux were binned when we found out it closed at the end of September for the year!!!!! so headed to another park which was fun for the kids and we spent an hour looking for animals my book mentioned and I was then determined to find! Thankfully on route we discovered some caravan park where we could stop for refreshments (some smoke-filled bar anyway........yes you can still smoke in all public places!) and hit the centre of lux for moules frites!
Tour of the city (and me trying to remember all my historical facts from my guided tour of the city a few weeks previous) finished the weekend with us all going to Strassen swimming pool....great pool we have found here with slides, wave pool, toys, diving boards the lot! Fab.........of course I just laid in the cosy warmth of the baby pool with Ruby :-)
As the Thraves waved their goodbyes on Tuesday morning.......I could put it off no longer.......time to think about packing for hols tomorrow!!!!
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