Long winding road

We came back to Cologne yesterday after a wonderful holiday in England. We travelled by car, via the Eurotunnel. The trip was eventful:

1. April threw up half an hour after departure. We had to continue the rest of the journey (9 and a half hours) surrounded by the putrid smell of warm vomit . On a more positive note, April was much more content - perhaps even euphoric - after she'd purged herself of her breakfast of Shreddies and toast.

2. More purging, this time from little man: Alexander did a massive poo, five minutes after we'd changed him at the services near Stansted airport.

3. At a services in Belgium I picked up a balloon for April to play with while we had some coffee. She insisted on bringing it (why didn't I anticipate this?). For the rest of the journey we were interrupted with cries of 'boon' (which means 'balloon' in April-ese) every time she dropped it down the side of her car seat and was unable to retrieve it.

4. We enjoyed a wonderfully relaxing half hour traffic jam on the southern part of the Brussels ring road.

5. April escaped from her car seat by means of persistent wriggling. I only noticed when she raised both arms to the roof of the car for a good stretch. I noticed while we were driving at a reasonable speed along the motorway.

6. I had a little 'moment' at a services in the Netherlands. We were only an hour from home, but if you'd sat in a car with two crying kids, the smell of sick and a balloon bouncing around, your patience would be tried too.

We were very, very relieved to get home.

That is, until Simon opened a letter from the tax office claiming we owed 16,000 Euros!

Luckily all is well today. We have recovered from our tortuous journey and are enjoying being back in our house. Even better, having enquired after the tax bill we found it was an error. (Boy, what an error!)