HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT!

We celebrated Scott's birthday Friday night. (Even though his b-day is today) I had the cake ready and his gifts all on the table and the camera in the kitchen. The gifts were open and the cake was already cut when I realized I didn't take any pictures. I am just horrible about having the camera nearby when it's needed.

Sunday afternoon we went to the hockey rink that is about 40 minutes away from us in Gullegem. (Pronounced Hula-hem) Check it out at www.finlandia.be. Much to Scott's surprise the ice was pretty bad, especially in the corners. AND...THERE WAS NO PLEXI-GLASS. NO GLASS AT ALL! Which explains why there were no bleachers/stands for the fans. There was a restaurant upstairs that over-looked the rink, like in Duluth, GA. (Much better than Duluth's) We can't wait to go watch the Gullegem Jets play in November. We're wondering if they check?Who are these cute little guys you ask - Noah is on the left and Adam is on the right. They are our "around the corner-down the street" neighbor's twins. Bob and Robin are from the U.S. and he works for Scientific Atlanta as well. Robin had to take their other son Ryan to his new pre-school and I had the honor of watching the little guys. The hour I watched them went by really fast. We played and they kind-of ate. At least one of them did. I'm not quite coordinated when it comes to feeding 2 at the same time. Plenty of time to learn, right! We visited the city of Ieper (Ee-Pur) on Sunday. This is a town that was heavily bombed and pretty much destroyed during WWI. It's amazing how they re-built it to it's gothic/medieval style. When we were driving out of the town looking at all of the corn fields we actually saw "holes" in the ground from where the bombs had landed.
This is the Menin Gate monument in Ieper that is dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of men who were never buried because they were never found or not able to be identified. Every night at 8pm they have a dedication ceremony to remember those who lost their lives during the war. This ceremony has been held every night since the war was over. Below is a picture of the main church in town: St. Martin's Cathedral. Destroyed during the war but also rebuilt.
Quick change of subject: Lacy's True Halloween Ghost Story

Some of you have heard this before but I'm sure it will still leave you laughing b/c of course it has to happen to me:

When we first moved into our house I was skeptical b/c it was supposedly built in the 1600's. I always say the 1800's b/c it sounds a little less scary. Of course, it has been recently renovated but we have no clue what it used to be. I've searched on-line and have come up unsuccessfully at what it used to be. To date, I have not had any "sightings" inside my house but across the street is a different story:
When we first moved in we ran into our neighbors across the street. They own this abnormally large house. It covers at least one entire block of two streets. They told us they live in the house with their 2 daughters. Scott and I walked away from that conversation - happy - that we'd met our neighbors and that they spoke English.
Then, one day, I was sitting in the living room and happened to look out our window (we have our curtains tied back so you can see out the window.) when all of a sudden "Dakota Fanning" appeared out of no where - she pulled back her curtains - waved - then disappeared. I call her "Dakota" because she looks exactly like Dakota Fanning. This was my first "sighting" of Dakota and I didn't think anything of it until I kept seeing a family of 3. I was absolutely sure they said they had 2 daughters under the age of 7. Week after week a family of 3 would go to church. One week the father and other daughter went to church while the mom waved to them from the front door...still no second daughter. (Wouldn't both daughters go to church?) The "Dakota" sightings only happen with me. The same thing every time. Same window. Same movements: curtains moves - she waves - disappears.
However, Scott was working in our home office one Saturday and yelled for me to look at the window and I did and the family of 4 was standing at the door waving. My first thought was of relief b/c she's not a ghost but then my mind quickly went into the movie - "The Others." Maybe she is a ghost trying to fit in to her old family?! I went on with life accepting the fact that "Dakota was real." Until last week:
This is a part that my "Dakota sighting fan club" hasn't heard:
It's starting to get dark very early here - around 6:30 - 7:00 and Scott doesn't get home until around 8:30 each night. Once again he wasn't here for this but here's what happened:
I saw the lights go on in the "sighting room" and the mom and dad and other daughter were cleaning. (No I'm not staring - our house is just really close to theirs) When they finished they turned out the lights and left the room and no less than 1 minute later, Dakota opened the curtains - waved - and shut them back. It makes it more scary now that I'm seeing her at night.

In case your wondering - I always wave back!

My friend Shannon sent me this e-card to make me think Dakota "knows" me. Click here to view it.

Happy Halloween!