Saturdays are always busy here in Lagos, but yesterday was especially so. The schedule for the day was:

8:00 Daniel football match (Italy vs. India)
9:00 Erik football match (USA vs. Nigeria)
10:30 Erik Cub Scout Den meting
13:00 Barbecue at Sven & Lisbeth's house
15:00 Erik birthday party at Omar's house (Omar's brother turned 9)
19:30 104th (combined) birthday party for Statoil's MD and her husband.
... and then collapse, exhausted into bed.

Daniel is enjoying football more now, but he still has to come off the pitch every 5 mins or so to complain he is tired and have some water. It is starting to get hotter now (even this early in the morning), but people us that it is nothing compared to the temperature it will get during the next few months.

Erik's team (Nigeria) had their first victory of the season (2-0 against USA). Erik was the goalie. It was nice to see their confidence get boosted after the firt goal and then again after the next goal.

While Erik and I did scouts, Inger-Lise went shopping with Daniel and Mathilde. Erik got his cub scout uniform and his first (Bobcat) badge. For the den meeting today, we took the boys out onto the basketball field to practice their ball skills (the first step towards their "Wolf" badge). Next weekend we will have a pack meeting with all the scouts together, which is always fun, and a "Genius night". More on that next week!

After a short stop at "Base" (the driver's radio code for our compound) we went straight to Sven and Lisbeth's house, though we were a bit early. Here the day took a more leisurely tone as I spent the next few hours cradling my beer at the edge of the shallow end. Several more families arrived and Erik was having a nice time with the other children, so it was tough for him to leave and go to Omar's house for a birthday party. Omar's family is from Syria and his father is the MD for the biggest generator manufacterer in Nigeria (Mekani). It was a very different party, with lots more older boys. Erik soon adapted, though and had a good time and in the meantime, Joy had joined Inger-Lise at the BBQ.

When Erik and I drove back to pick everyone up from the BBQ, we heard that Daniel had suddenly learnt to swim. He holds his nose when he goes under and keeps his head underwater as he swims along, but we were all very impressed with him.

By the evening Inger-Lise and I were bothe pretty exhausted, but thankfully the party was only 2 floors up and the champagne they served got us going again....