There is nothing cuter than seeing Pete seeing Rich come out of the customs doors after being gone for a whole week. His eyes lit up, and he ran over and gave him a big hug and kiss. Plus he just got a haircut- which makes him look more manly. Too cute - unless he's acting goofy.


Rich used to travel for a week at a time lots when we lived in MN - basically he was always going to DK. Now he's gone a lot less, but Pete is old enough to miss him more (I'm not very good at playing cars and things either).

And - we knew he was bringing gifts. I got decaf tea (for some odd reason decaf black tea is non-existent here), and the Star and Tribune from November 5th. Pete got a couple of new toys and some very cool spiderman socks. Much to his dismay he also got number flashcards.

But what made Pete dance (he was actually dancing) was a big old bottle of pancake syrup. Rich makes a batch of pancakes every Sunday. That way Pete can have two each weekday morning. The problem is that there is only ONE kind of syrup here. It comes in a cute little glass bottle and is called ahornsirup (a-horn? now why did you have to go and call me a name like that?), and it costs anywhere from $6.50 to $10.00 - and we go through it like - I don't know - American syrup.

Now, a friend of ours used to get us PURE maple syrup in a big tin from the Northeast and it was delicious! Well worth any price. But this stuff is just syrup. So, Rich picked up some aunt Jemimah for $2.59.


Writing this though, I'm realizing that he forgot a few key things that Peter and I were dreaming about - namely Skittles, Starbursts, and M&Ms. We'll see if Pete remembers; and with his sharp little brain, there an 85% chance that he will.