They're here

Finally. It was Thursday, Nov. 21. The day that Tijl and Ineke were arriving and one I've been looking forward to for a really, REALLY long time.

 

I woke up super early to make sure everything was clean, organized and in place. 

Welcome sign - check. Belgian flag fastened to the balcony - check. Sand pails filled with goodies - check.

 

Then I whiped-up a batch of mojitos for their arrival.

 

Here's a few shots of the prep work:

 

 

Byron was ready too.  

 

 

Here's a close up of Ineke's sand pail and their Thanksgiving card. I also picked out some quarters from different states, including Alabama and Georgia.

 

And Tijl's. Their gifts included apple pie moonshine, sweet tea vodka, cigars and Hershey's chocolate. I also put several items I picked up in Key West.

 

As far as the pick up plan, I was aiming to leave around 1:30 p.m. to go to the airport. I knew they weren't touching down until 2:30 p.m. because I was tracking them ...

But you never know how long it takes you to get places here. I was originally planning to go alone, since J didn't think he would be able to get off ... but at the last minute he showed up. Yay. He ran through the door at like. 1:20 p.m.

We loaded up and off we went.

 

Josh loves any signage/boards/maps.

 

It took the kids a while to get through customs but they made it (a part that Ineke was dreading. I kept telling her she'd be fine) We scooped them up and headed home. We gave them their gifts and they had surprises for us too. First of all, 8 pounds (seriously POUNDS) of candy.

 

 

White Cote d'Or and Chokotoff plus lots of sour candy that I FRIGGIN LOVE.

 

They also brought us a bottle of REAL champagne from Paris. Whaaaaa whaaa.

 

 

We saved it for Thanksgiving

 

Ineke also gave me a gift she got when she went to London with friends in September. OMG it was SO perfect.

 

 

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE

 

She knows me too well!

 

Anywhoo, we got them settled ... in our bedroom. (Our apartment is so tiny that's really the only option. We slept on the couch so we could easily take the dogs out and give them a little bit of privacy. It works out really well.) Then we showed them around the apartment building.

From there, we hit up happy hour at Baru Urbano in the Village.  

 

Can you tell I'm excited?

  

Josh was excited too. So much so that he left my effing debit card at the bar.

A fact I didn't discover until we tried to get lunch the next day.

Damn it, Josh.

After that, we went over to El Vato for a bite. But the poor kids were EXHAUSTED (had been up for nearly 24 hours) so we had an appetizer and headed home. We put them to bed and cooked up a quick dinner for us. Then we hit the hay. Josh had to work Friday but was taking the entire week of Thanksgiving off so plenty of time for fun.