Easter holidays
We travelled to Luxembourg over the Easter holidays. Not a typical holiday destination, I'd agree, but we have friends who live in Echternach, Luxembourg's second city.
My wife had to work for the best part of the week, so I journeyed to the Continent alone with the boys.
We caught the DFDS ferry Princess of Scandinavia from the Tyne and sailed over to Amsterdam. From there we drove for five hours, through Holland, Belgium, a bit of Germany and then into tiny Luxembourg.
The boys were as good as gold. We've completed the ferry crossing several times before and they enjoy this mode of transport.
Isaac loves the food, for once, and can always find something to spend his money on in the shops. Gabriel also enjoyed the fantastic buffet spread and was more than happy to hole-up in our comfortable cabin with a good book.
Isaac, being more adventurous, wanted to explore every inch of the ship. He was keen to go to the onboard cinema, but I managed to dissuade him as I didn't want to leave Gabriel alone for too long.
Anyway we woke up the following morning fresh as daisies ready for the long drive ahead. Gabriel was my navigator, and very well he did too. Isaac managed to keep himself occupied without disturbing us too much.
Once we reached out destination we had a great few days with our friends. Gabriel refused to try out his German while Isaac ran himself into the ground keeping our friends' children amused.
What we hadn't told the boys was that my wife was going to meet us in Amsterdam on our return journey. I'll never forget their faces when they saw her sitting on a bench just outside of an Amsterdam car park.
"What are you doing here?" they asked in bemused unison, before smothering her with hugs and kisses.
It was only at that point that I realised how much they'd missed her – and her them.
We decided that the only way to keep our garage tidy was to buy a garden shed.
Helping make the decision was virtually everything I had to do with the initiative.
Regular readers will know I am not handy round the house. Or anywhere else. I struggle to change lightbulbs.
So my wife put the shed together, with occasional help from Isaac, Gabriel and my dad.
My next involvement was when my wife decided it was in the wrong place and it had to be moved. It's quite a large shed and the only way it would shift was for the four of us to lift from the inside.
The four of us staggered blindly round our garden, powering what must have looked like a large armoured tortoise.
It was like something from a Benny Hill sketch and it took some considerable time for us to carry the shed from one end of the garden to the other. Gabriel was deadly serious, trying to work out a solution to the problem. Meanwhile Isaac was helpless with the giggles.
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Weather for Sunderland
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: East
