Alaaf!

This morning Jackson gave us the best surprise ever - he slept in until 8:00 a.m.! He had one minor bump in the road, waking up around 1:00, but who would have thought he would sleep so late! So, we did what most parents would do. We threw a parade in his honor:



OK, well, the parade wasn't to celebrate our sleep. We went to Sittard today for the Children's Carnaval Parade. It was pretty amazing. The town was decked out in red, yellow, and green streamers, flags, balloons, confetti, and a whole array of other things. Children were dressed in all kinds of different costumes, as were their parents and grandparents.

We made our way to the market square where there were food booths and the parade route set up. Being that we came straight from church, we got some soup from a vendor for lunch. A Dutch man came up to us, laughing, and said, "Oh, you went straight for the soup!" We stared at him quizzically, and he said, "Well, you should start with beer!"

At the children's parade?

We really had a good time watching the colorful floats and bands walking by. It's a great start to Carnaval! Alaaf! [Don't know what that means, but I'm assuming it's similar to the Greek "Opa"!]