Easy to please

I'm so proud of my kids today. We planned a trip to a theme park today, the "Efteling" in Holland, and the kids were soooo excited. We overslept (of course) and departed a bit behind schedule, but still in time to make it before 11am, which isn't too bad, because the park doesn't open until 10am anyway. At about 10.30am, only 15km away from our destination, we got stuck in a traffic jam. At 11.30am, we still hadn't arrived and we were moving oh so slowly if at all. We have been to the Efteling many times before, even during the summer holidays, and we had never experienced something like this. So Kurt and I started talking ... we still had to buy our tickets (almost €30.00 a piece times 5!!!), so we wouldn't make it into the park before 12 o'clock at best ... Kurt wanted to leave a bit before closing time too (which is 6pm), because he has the night shift this evening, and he still wanted to get two precious hours of sleep before going to work. And this is what did it for us ... with that much people, the waiting time for all the attractions would have been close to an hour, so that meant we could maybe ride on 5 attractions ... a lot of money wasted and not very amusing neither for us or the kids ... so, with the Efteling almost in sight, we decided to turn around and get back home.

We of course did this consulting our kids beforehand, and they were surprisingly understanding. The two eldest were disappointed, but then again so were we, but understood. We did promise to take them again before the summer holiday, which they thought was a good deal. Christina, our youngest, cried a bit, but settled down when we promised to drive to the nearest McDonalds ... that girl sure loves her food LOL. I also promised to take them on a little bike ride this afternoon.

So, we spend almost 4 hours in the car for nothing. Once back home, Kurt got into bed and I took the kids out for a bike ride. We stopped at a little cafe, got some sodas and some chips, and they were happy as can be. They even thanked me for wanting to take them to the Efteling (???!!!) and for going for a bike ride in stead, which they perceived as cosy and fun. Aren't they precious and easy to please? Really, I'm so proud of them. When I was their age and something like that had happened to me, I would have cried my eyes out and had probably given my best tantrum performance, but then again, I was a spoiled little brad LOL.

Blog candy
Something else entirely ... Oddbjorg is giving away some delicious blog candy, you can find it here. While your there, check out her blog, I think you'll like what you'll see ...

Question
I wonder if anyone can help me. I've been looking for some papers I really like, like the Rose Moka's, Lilly Bee's, ... The (belgian) online shop I usually use doesn't carry these lines, so I'm forced to look for shops who ship internationally. And of course, the problem here is that the shipping costs are huge!!!! I have the same problems with kits. There are some kits I really adore, like Scarlet Lime, Studio Calico, and some others, but the shipping costs are just too much.

Does anyone know of a shop who has justifiable (in my husband's eyes mainly, I probably wouldn't care all that much LOL) shipping rates? Or does anyone know any good kits or online shops available in Belgium or the Netherlands? I would sure love to hear from you if you do. Thanks in advance for your help.

Finally I would like to thank Cathy for giving me a little push to write some personal stuff/stories on my blog. I like reading this sort of things in other people's blog, and I hope you enjoyed mine.

Love xxx Peggy