chocolate brownie cafe

when we moved from our mansion to our bungalow, i excitedly told the children how from our new house, we would be able to walk to school (instead of having to get in the car) and to the 'chocolate brownie cafe' (a spanish tapas bar that happens to sell scrumptious chocolate brownies). the latter totally convinced them. the house move was the best thing that had ever happened to them in their lives. this morning, the kids crawled into bed with me. feeling slightly guilty about my record unpacking expedition yesterday, i told them i wanted to create a really lovely day with them and asked what they would like to do. 'please may we walk to the chocolate brownie cafe?' was the response, in stereo. OK - fair enough, we haven't done that yet. so after a morning of rehearsing on the double bass, guitar & piano - yes, they are going a bit music-mad - in the pouring rain, each under their own umbrella, off we went, singing 'onder moeders paraplu'. arrived at the cafe to find there was live entertainment -what a treat!- in the form of a lady singing 'it might as well be spring' - how appropriate, as i warmed myself on a latte and then another one (still haven't managed to identify my coffee machine in the unpacking!) and the kids devoured their chocolate treats and put in their special requests with the jazz lady. we climbed back up the hill, loudly singing 'the girl from ipanema' alternated with 'hop paardje hop', picked up the sunday papers on the way & then went into town to meet up with our ski holiday friends. only 28 more boxes to go. who cares. i have papers to read.