The Schmidgalls in Denmark

Last Night in Denmark

2010-04-29T00:03:00.000+02:00

Wow ...

Its crazy to think that this is my last night in Denmark.

That tomorrow night we will be back in the US.

That we have an 8 1/2 hour flight with 2 little kids.

And that life will change alot in the next day.

We have been BUSY the last few weeks. Of course we were packing, packing, packing. And Brad was gone all last week in Germany for work. They had to drive to Munich because of the volcano ash problem, but he was lucky enough to get a flight home. While he was gone I was trying to get the house as ready as I could to move. Of course the problem with moving is that some of the stuff you can't do until the last day or two ... like kitchen things, bedding, clothes.

And Anika didn't make it easy to get things done. She loved to climb into whatever suitcase or box I was working on and pull everything out. She thought she was so funny. =)

We did get everything packed up thanks to help from some good friends and tuesday morning we got the container packed in only a couple hours.

Brad was able to recruit some good friends from work to help us out. Thank you guys!

One last picture in front of our house. It was an emotional week, so many lasts, so many goodbyes, so many tears ... and so little sleep.

Our flight left for Copenhagen tuesday evening and we were EXHAUSTED!!! I haven't been this tired in a long time, but I think for the last couple weeks, I've been going, going, going and when we finally got it all done, my body crashed. So we slept good last night. And the hotel we are staying at gave us an extra room for the kids ... SO nice!

Today is Brad's birthday. 2 years ago on his birthday we were in Denmark for the first time and he moved here in June. Now we are celebrating our last day here on his birthday. Happy Birthday babe!!! We hope you had a great day. It was nice to have a day between shipping the container and making the trek home to catch our breath and catch up on sleep.

We had a relaxing day and visited Kronborg Castle north of Copenhagen. This is the castle from Hamlet, if any of you have read the book (probably way back in high school).

We had a simple dinner at an American restaurant near our hotel ... hey -we have to get back in the American mode, right?

Overall, this has been a great experience and we have made memories that we will never forget and have made friendships that will last a lifetime. We have learned a lot about ourselves and have definitely grown - having to get out of your comfort zone does that to you.

We will miss Denmark a lot and miss the people a ton, but as I sit here in our hotel room, I'm excited to come home. I'm excited to see everyone again, get settled into our new house, and start new again.

We are excited to see family and especially for the kids to be by cousins and grandparents. I am excited to be somewhere where everyone speaks English all the time. Brad is excited for more space ... you know everything is bigger in America! (I think he's mostly excited for bigger parking spaces for his car.)

I have tons of pictures and stories from the last few weeks, but I needed to keep this fairly breif. I need to get to bed so I'm rested for tomorrow. Pray for the kiddos on the flight ... in particular Anika. She's not known to be a fan of sitting still.

And next time you hear from me, we'll be stateside .... so look out, because here we come!

What we've been up to ...

2010-04-11T23:53:00.000+02:00

This is what we've been busy doing ...

Only 2.5 weeks until we are residents of the US once more. I can't believe how fast it is. We are busy these last few weeks, but so many people we want to see, and SO much we need to get done.

One last holiday

2010-04-11T23:52:00.000+02:00

Over Easter, we took one last holiday before we leave Europe. We took a flight to London and headed west to a great holiday center called Centerparc at Longleat Forest. It was a really great place with tons to do with the children. On the way, we passed Stonehenge, so of course we had to stop there.

The resort is like its own little village. Cars aren't allowed in there, so we had to walk or ride bikes everywhere we went. The kids loved riding behind the bikes and it was nice not having to worry about traffic and it gave us good exercise ... you would not believe the hills. Ouch!

I didn't get many pictures when we were there, too busy riding bikes and playing with the kiddos.

There were kid's clubs for the kids. Broderick loved it.

They had an Easter egg hunt also. Broderick was thrilled with the Easter bunny, and ran up to hold his hand when he saw him.

There were several different good restaurants within the village.

But when I order a fish, I prefer to not have the skin, head and eyeballs still attached. I wasn't even sure how to eat it. I had to cover up the eyeball, I couldn't handle that.

We visited Longleat Palace nearby our resort.

After we left Longleat, we had one day until our flight went back to Denmark. (There's only 2 flights perweek.) We stayed at a charming bed and breakfast. They had sheep there and Broderick loved chasing after them.

Our last day, we visited Salisbury Cathedral. It houses one of the original Magna Cartas, but you're not allowed ot take pictures. of it.

It also has the oldest working clock in the world, from the 1300s. It doesn't actually tell time, but chimes every hour. Brad the engineer was quite enthralled with figuring out how it worked.

And here's Broderick burning some energy before the trek back to the airport.

We love England. Its beautiful countryside, people are friendly, and they speak English. Can I just say I love the way they talk? Love it, can't always understand what they're saying (even though its English), but I love it!

Anika's 1st Birthday

2010-03-30T23:29:00.000+02:00

Happy Birthday to our little girl. Now I realize I'm a little late since her birthday was a couple of weeks ago, but I still wanted to share her celebration. Here she is on her big day....

She's come a long way in one year.

She is a fun little girl who we enjoy so much and lovingly refer to as Destructo.

Why?

Well, because she destroys everything. She likes to empty ever drawer or cabinet she can get into, which is quite a bit. She is a climber too. Amazing the things she is able to get on top of.

I know we should child proof things, but its not our house and we are leaving so soon. So right now she keeps me busy and gets me to exercise by chasing her around.

She's not walking yet, only a couple of steps at a time ... IF you can convince her to try.

Our drawers are no longer organized, things come out and we just toss back in.

She's obsessed with Brodrick's shoe basket. Pulls it out and throws every shoe out. She could do this all day.

And heaven forbid she gets a hold of a tissue or paper of any sort. She will shred it.

*sigh*

But, even with her destructive tendencies, we still love her to pieces and can't imagine life without her. She adores her big brother, even when he steals toys out of her hands and pushes her over. I guess that's what big brothers are for.

Since we didn't have any real family to celebrate with, we invited some of our Danish family over for a small party.

Here's Broderick and Sanne (our babysitter) helping with the cake. She ate it very ladylike, just a little piece at a time, not making a mess at all .... until she threw it on the floor.

Here's the cake, this is the first cake that I decorated and cut out myself. It was a lot of fun and you could even tell what it was supposed to be. What? You can't tell? Its a dog people!

Here's Anika's little cake:

The Danes liked the tradition of giving the 1 year old their own cake to destroy.

Our neighbors were at the party. Anika loved their baby and kept pulling out the pacifier and ~~gently~~ putting it back in.

Broderick was right there to help her with her gifts, and you can see Grandma and Grandpa Schmidgall made it to the party via skype (on the computer in the background).

Here she is with Kirstine (her danish Grandma).

She loves riding her wheely bug. Her legs aren't quite long enough, so we have to push her around on it.

(hey - more exercise)

She has had quite the first year...

Born in a foreign country, she has already been to 11 different countries. (What?????) She has been such a trooper with all the travel and strange beds, and it is such a tragedy she won't remember any of it.

She has been a healthy little girl too, she has never had to go to the doctor for an illness. (mommy is very thankful for this, since our doctor ~~doesn't~~ won't speak English to me).

Anika, we love you so much. We are so thankful God has given you to us. You brighten our days with all of your smiles and giggles and we can't imagine life without you.

A Difficult Language

2010-03-11T22:40:00.000+01:00

Since living here, I regret not learning the language better. I mean, I can survive when I'm forced to speak the language, but by no means am I fluent. Brad is WAY better than me, but even he has difficulty understanding when people speak. Broderick is doing well. He'll suprise us often with new phrases and words and his teachers say he understands everything they say to him.

Its not because we're slackers or we haven't tried .... this language is hard. They talk like they have potatoes in their mouth, and I'm not being mean when I say that. Even danes say they talk like that.

Its extremely difficult to pronounce and things that I think I'm saying perfect, they give you a blank stare. They correct me and I'm thinking ... yeah, that's what I said. Clearly (or unclearly), its not what I said.

Let me give you some examples:

In our phonetic English, we would say: Bron-der-slev ... exactly like its written

How its really said: Broin-er-sleu ... or something like that because apparently I still can't say this name.

This is a grocery store here.

Looks like: love-berg

Correction: Lyoo-bee-ya ... again - or something like that because I'm probably still saying that wrong.

This is where Brad works.

Looks like: PETER-shobb

Correction: Pellers-HOPE
... and the accent is on the hope - very important.

And as far as this street sign is concerned ...
we won't even go there.

See, so there are some difficulties - correction, there are a lot of difficulties. But - it has been fun learning a new language. And we have been so fortunate that so many danes speak great English.

Sadly, after all this work... in a matter of weeks, we won't need this language again.

I have fantasies of working in the hospital again and suddenly there will be a patient who only speaks danish --- then it will be Megan to the rescue. But lets be honest ... the chances are very slim. Like I said before, most of them speak great English.

So my danish friends ... you'll have to help us keep up our skills.

Grocery Shopping

2010-03-05T22:10:00.002+01:00

Before we leave here, I thought I would share a little about grocery shopping over here. In a lot of ways, its very similar and you can find many of the same things that we would have in the states.

In other ways, it is very different. Things are overall healthier here. Not nearly so many preservatives, not very many "convenience" foods, and things aren't as processed. What does this mean? Well, on the up side, it means we eat healthier overall. Obviously, things are more organic, less additives, this is better for you. On the down side ... you have to go grocery shopping every couple of days. Things just don't have the shelf life that they do back home. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. I mean, do you really want bread that is still soft and fresh after a week? When you think about it, its just not right. BUT, it is convenient, and its sometimes annoying when things go bad so fast.

I've had to learn to make a lot more things from scratch too. This has been really good for me. Simple things like cream soups they don't have, I never realized how many recipes have this in there. So I either make them from scratch or don't use the recipe (which usually aren't the healthiest anyways). Ranch dressing ... pumpkin pie ... cranberry sauce ... yellow birthday cake ... stuffing ... the list goes on. I've been forced to be more adventurous in my cooking which I may have never done if I wasn't forced too. But I've learned some things aren't that hard at all and like with the soups, you can control the sodium and things like that.

Let me introduce you to, what I think is the Danes' national food ...

This is rugbrød. A very heavy, dense, fiber-filled, earth tasting, ~~disgusting,~~ healthy rye bread. Danes live for this bread. I mean they really live for this bread. The love it, they defend it, and they are highly offended when us ~~white bread loving~~ americans aren't crazy about it. (Admit it danes, deep down, you are offended). They give you this look and pause and say, "BUT, its SO healthy." That may be, but I really do think you have to grow up on it to love it. I try to defend myself by explaining we like to eat something called whole wheat, but I don't think that counts. To them its either rugbrød or white bread.

Ok, Ok, maybe I shouldn't be so hard on it. When Oprah was in Copenhagen, she loved it. And my parents are crazy for it too. I will admit, If you get it fresh from the bakery, its a lot better than the regular stuff at the grocery store.

They have some produce here that we don't have (or at least where we're from). Here's a few examples ...

This is sharon fruit, it comes from Israel.

Honning melon - Broderick LOVES this.

We have a lot of produce from Cuba. I think this is strange for me to see since nothing from Cuba is allowed in the states.

I think one of the biggest differences would be the cereal aisle. There's not near the choices here.

Above, here is the cereal at one of our larger grocery stores.

Below, a portion of a typical cereal aisle in the USA.

And the majority are corn flakes. They only have a few sugared cereals. The equivalent of frosted flakes, Smacks, and cocoa pebbles.

Check out the difference in our snack food aisles.

Denmark:

USA:

And we wonder why americans are overweight. haha.

Groceries are a bit more expensive here as well. I would say we spend about double of what groceries cost back in Iowa. For example, when you're buying milk, you're lucky if you can get it on sale for about 1$ for a liter, that would be about 4$ for 1 gallon.

But its still much cheaper than going out to eat. If you want one of these:

You'll spend about 8-10$ and there's no free refills.(ahhh, we miss those.)

They want you to eat healthy, so they make you pay for unhealthy choices. But its not like, drink water, it's free. No, they charge you for water too. So we eat at home much more than we did in the states, also a much healthier option typically.

Just like they tax you for unhealthy eating choices, they tax you for non eco-friendly choices. You have to buy your grocery bags at the store, so (if I remember) I bring reusable bags to the store with me.

I hope I don't sound negative on Denmark. We love it ... but ...it is not an inexpensive place to live.

Valentine's Date ... a little late

2010-03-05T20:45:00.000+01:00

We finally got to have a date last night to celebrate Valentine's day. Brad was in the US on the actual holiday. Last week we had a babysitter lined up but there was a snowstorm, so we finally got to go out last night. It was so nice to have a night out with my sweetheart. I love you Brad!

Saying goodbye to the paci

2010-03-02T22:19:00.004+01:00

See this image?

This is no more.

We (and Broderick) finally decided to get rid of his sut (paci). He's 3 1/2 years old, so I think he's old enough. You know, before he's got buck teeth and needs years of orthodontal work. I never thought MY kid would still have a paci at this age. (I thought a lot of things about kids before I actually had them though.) He didn't use it a lot, only to sleep. But ... it was so convenient ... so I blame me as much as I do Broderick - he LOVED his sut. I loved knowing that no matter where we were - home, airplanes, hotels, etc - if he had it, he would fall asleep. Loved having that.

Here in Denmark when you stop using your pacifier, they have 2 traditions. Either you put it in an envelope and mail it to Santa Claus or you hang them from a sut trae (pacifier tree). They have real trees where they do this and they are covered in pacifiers, but our dentists office has a fake tree.

We went to the dentist's office today and hung his pacifiers on the "sut trae". You put all your pacis in a bag and they put your name and age on it and hang them on the tree. Then they let him pick a "prize" and gave him a diploma. Before we went there, I asked him if he wanted his sut one last time.

He said, "No mommy, I don't need it." I was so proud of him.

Then he bashed his head on the car door and starting bawling. And then he wanted his sut.

But only for a minute, and then he said again, "NO mommy, I'm all done with this." Hanging it on the "tree"in the office. What a big boy. His diploma for graduating from using a pacifier.

And he went to sleep tonight with no crying. He said he was sad, but that was it.

I think he'll be ok, he still has his blanket.

How Time Flies

2010-02-28T21:00:00.004+01:00

I can not believe it.

It is officially less then 2 months until we move home.

It has been been about 21 months since Brad has moved here.

It has been 18 months since Broderick and I have joined him.

And it has been over 11 months since Anika has joined our family.

I still can not believe how fast time has gone and I'm a little sad.

I'm sure these last 2 months will fly by. There's a few things we still want to do and so many people we want to make sure we spend time with before we leave. And of course we have lots of PACKING!!!!!

But I'm not going to start tonight ... I'm hoping to be able to watch the USA vs Canada hockey game. Go USA!!!!!!!

And here's a pic just because she's so cute.
I can't believe she's almost one.

Broderick's other Mommy

2010-02-26T23:01:00.003+01:00

One day while picking Broderick up from his school, he said, "I need to say goodbye to my mommy." And off he ran to this ... this picture ... of his mommy! ?????? !

He pretended to give it a hug and gave it a kiss and told it he loved it. I said, "Who is that? You think that looks like mommy?" (I was a bit perplexed and feeling slightly self-conscious.)

No mommy, its not you!!! Its my other mommy. Its my mommy at børnehave.

Oh. Ok. That answers all my questions. Thanks for clarifying.

I hope he thinks I'm the pretty one.

Snow, snow, and more Snow

2010-02-26T21:47:00.000+01:00

Like I had said in a previous post ... we have had A LOT of snow. The danes say they can't remember a winter that has been this bad. Lucky us. Now, I don't know if you can really tell from the picture, but that is our window ledge and the snow outside is about even with it.

Yes, you read that right, the snow is as high as our windows.

This was last week when the snow first started coming, we've gotten well over a foot since then.

But Broderick enjoys it.

At least someone does. =)

Today it warmed up to about 40 degrees, so we went outside and built a snowman before it all melted.

Joni

2010-02-25T23:10:00.001+01:00

I was so excited to have my sister come stay a week with me and the kids while Brad was in the US. I do ok when he travels, but 2 weeks is a long time. I knew that I would be getting tired and stressed at the end of the 2 weeks. Having Joni come made the time go by so much faster. It kept me busy, gave me adult conversation, and we had a lot of fun too. And although we both missed our hubbies very much, there was great sister bonding time that we don't get very often.

She was a great help with the kids too. Broderick was so excited to have her here and the whole way home from the airport after we dropped her off he was saying, "I'm REAL sad that Aunt Joni left us. REAL sad." "I'm really gonna miss her, i am."
Here's a few highlights from her time here

Thankfully she usually had her camera, because I took hardly any pictures.

I tried to show her some of the main sites around, but of course with everything covered in snow, we were limited in some of the places we could walk to or push a stroller.

The Atlantic in Lønstup. Actually very pretty with the snow.

At the ocean, on our way to the spa.

Now some quality girl time ...

The first full day she was here, we went to a spa on the sea. It was relaxing and the perfect thing for sisters to do. We got a treatment that massaged and treated your feet, hands, and scalp. Ahhh.....

One day we went to Copenhagen, I was initially planning on taking her there towards the end of the week after she had been here a few days but the weather forcast was not looking good other than wednesday. So we decided to go her 2nd day here since we weren't sure we would get another chance. And its a good thing because we got a lot of snow the rest of the week. Our neighbor picked Broderick up from school that day and he spend the rest of the day with them. He was very excited so it made it easier to leave him. Anika took the trip with us and she did awesome. I couldn't believe how good she did. I don't think she fussed all day.

I'm not going to lie ... it was cold. But ... it was worth it, and as long as you weren't getting blasted by the wind, it wasn't bad.

Really, it wasn't.

Ok, maybe I'm still trying to convince myself.

We went to Amalienborg Palace, where the Queen lives and they were doing the changing of the gaurds when we got there. That was exciting for Joni to be able to see. She especially loved the tall, furry hats the soldiers wear.
She also couldn't believe all the bikes. They are parked everywhere. This is just a small section of them at the train station.

Here's Anika all bundled up at The Marble Church

Inside the church.
Joni at nyhavn. This is one of my favorite parts in Copenhagen. Its great in the warm weather when there's outside seating along the harbor at the cafes but it was really pretty with all the snow too, so I'm glad I got to see it in the winter.

Joni outside the old opera house.
Here she is trying some good Danish food. She said she liked it. =)

Of course we did some walking and shopping along the strøget.

Walking towards "The Marble Church".

It was a fun day. It would have been nice to have one more day there and then I could have showed her a lot more, but she got to see the highlights and get a feel for the city. And the weather cooperated ... that was a main concern.

And I have to give some credit to my sis. She gets a little nervous when it comes to traveling, but she was doing great hopping on trains, buses, planes ... she never missed a beat.

We took a day off relaxing at home and then the next day, I took her down to Aalborg.It was snowing, but not too bad and it was warm enough that the roads were good. We were lucky and the weather didn't get bad until after we got home.

Here we are at an old monestary from 1431. It was also very pretty in the snow.
Joni had the hardest time taking a picture of these old buildings. Literally everytime she tried to take a picture for a solid 3-4 minutes, a new bus would pull up and block the shot. You don't think that sounds like a long time to wait, but right beyond those buildings is the fjord, so we were getting blasted by freezing cold, wet wind.

Now, here's some proof for anyone who has ever doubted ... 4 barnevøgns parked outside a restaurant with kids sleeping inside of them. Can you believe it? I love that Denmark is so safe.

Walking in Aalborg along a residential street.

We spent some time in our little town and we spent some time just hanging with the kids and relaxing at home. We made a couple of trips to the bakery, yes i admit, but we worked out too - so its ok.

We also spent a lot of time shoveling. Everyday she was here, it snowed. A couple of days it was just flurries, but we got a lot of snow while she was here. Ugh.

Thanks for keeping me company Joni! It was great to have you!

Broderick's School Party

2010-02-25T22:04:00.002+01:00

Just wanted to share a couple pictures of Broderick's fastelavn party at school.

There's my little clown with some of his classmates.

Hitting the barrel.

And then after I picked him up from school, we went to the airport to pick up my sister Joni. We were so excited she was coming for a week.

I knew Brad was going to be gone for one week this month, but when i found out he was going to be gone for 2, I called my sister and pleaded for company. I was so excited that she took me up on the invitation. I'll be including pics from her stay here soon.

Happy Valentine's Day and Fastelavn

2010-02-14T21:45:00.006+01:00

Today, we got to celebrate 2 holidays - Valentines Day and Fastelavn. The Valentine's day was a little anticlimatic as Brad is in the US for two weeks. We miss him a lot, but my sister Joni is coming tomorrow to stay with me, so that will help so much and I'm looking forward to some quality time with her.

I'll be honest, it was a rough day with the kids, so I'm not feeling all that romantic anyways. Our day started early with Broderick waking up just after 6 and promptly going into Anika's room, turning on her lights and waking her up. "But I wanted to play with her." he says.

I attempted to put them both back to bed for a little bit. I actually think Anika did sleep a little more, or at least she was quiet for an hour, but apparently Broderick was prowling the house shortly after I had put him back in bed.

I had bought them each a little valentine's gift - he found them and opened them.

He got into the cupboards and was eating cookies - who knows how many he consumed.

And he took stickers out of his art box and stuck a couple of sheets on his bedroom floor. (That was fun pulling all those up.)

I know, I know ... where was the mom while all this was going on??? Well, I was sleeping and didn't hear a thing. I know ... bad mom, but it was early!

So even though they drive me crazy sometimes, I do love these two SO much and glad to have them as my valentines.

We had a great surprise in the mail this week too! Grandma Jane sent us a valentine's package. We love mail! Broderick was more than willing to help Anika open her gifts. Trying on the new clothes from Grandma. Thanks grandma so much! Broderick (and Anika) were so excited to get a package.

And like I mentioned earlier, its fastelavn. Broderick will have a party tomorrow at school, but he also had a party at church today. I have to say ... he makes quite a cute clown. We didn't go door to door, but we did go to our friends Jørgen and Kirstine's. Broderick and KirstineAnika and Jørgen were in the kitchen. Broderick had to check out what they were doing. Here's Broderick at church hitting the "barrel". They have the tradition of hitting a wooden barrel, kind of like a pinata. They put candy in it now, but back when it started, they put a black cat in it and hit it to ward off evil spirits (or something like that).

Happily eating some candy.

Yesterday, I had my mother's group. Now that some of the girls are back to work (after their one year maternity leave), we are meeting on the weekends. It helps pass the time when Brad's gone to have things to do, so I was looking forward to seeing all of them.

One afternoon for fun, Broderick and I made cinnamon rolls too. The recipe made a ton, so I froze a lot of them, but Broderick had a lot of fun. He loves helping me in the kitchen. Many days, he pulls his chair over to the kitchen and helps me cook dinner.

Yes, they are kindof pathetic looking, but they tasted good. That's all that matters, right?

This last monday before Brad left, we had a conference with his teachers at børnehave to see how he's doing.

Our very first parent/teacher conference.

About this crazy guy ...

But, it was great. They had nothing but good things to say about him. Always quick with a smile (that's Broderick) and friendly. They also told us "when he's backed into a corner, he will hit" (ok, not so good), but they didn't seem concerned, "that's just boys", they said.

They also told us that he understands quite a lot of Danish. He doesn't speak it much, but understands most of it. Way to go buddy.

We also talked about his potty training ... or lack thereof . We have had many frustrations dealing with this for the last several months. But his teacher told us that its probably more than he can handle right now. She reminded us that the situation we put Broderick in every day ... in a new environment where people don't speak his native language ... is very mentally tiring for a kid. Other kids don't speak english. Many adults do, so we don't have that constant stress to communicate (only a sometimes stess), but Broderick doesn't get that break when he's dealing with his peers. This gives him one area where he can maintain control

I don't know if there's anything to it ... I think Broderick is a smart kid and I know he has the ability. But it made me realize what a tough kid he is and we probably don't give him enough credit. So, maybe I just need to relax a little and wait until he's ready.

Brad keeps saying he doesn't know a kid yet who went to kindergarten in diapers.

I really hope we're not the first!

Catching up

2010-02-09T22:50:00.007+01:00

The doctor is in ....
And its a good thing, because even though we are all healthy now, the last couple of weeks the husband and kids were sick. Somehow mom lucked out and stayed healthy. It started out with Broderick and dad not feeling good. He had high fevers and a bad cough. And just when he started to feel better, Anika started having high fevers and lots of snot! You have to love when their faces are crusted with snot most of the day. And this isn't because I never wiped it, but 2 seconds after I wiped it, there was more and she was wiping it everywhere. And when Broderick has a cough, he throws up ... a lot. So we were heavily motivated to keep the cough under control so we wouldn't have to deal with puke as well. Poor babies, I always hate seeing my kids sick.

Broderick took full advantage of people coughing or sneezing and was there with his doctor kit to fix you up. So I am very happy that everyone is back to normal, except Anika is working on 6 teeth.

That's right ... I said 6 teeth ... all at once. The poor baby ... I guess we might as well get it done all at once, right?

But I guess with teeth, comes more hair. It keeps growing. Now that she finally has enough that I can put a clip or something in, she has decided she wants nothing on her head and promptly pulls everything off. Broderick is actually more interested in wearing the clips she promptly pulls off her head.

Look at all that hair.
Fastelavn, the Danish holiday that marks the start of lent is this weekend. You celebrate by dressing up in costumes and going house to house (like our halloween), except you usually get money. You have to sing a song when you go to each house (not an easy phrase like trick or treat) and I still have no idea how to sing it or pronounce the words, so we won't do that part. But ... at church sunday they will have a little party and Monday at school they will have a party as well.
Broderick wants to be a clown this year, so that's what we got him. This is him making a silly face. (Actually all his faces look the same .... sad, silly, funny, mean .... they all look like this.)

This costume was too small when we tried it on at home, so we had to get a different one. I'll post pics of that after the weekend.
Broderick had to visit the dentist this past week. He was nervous, but he did so good. He laid there and did everything they asked of him. I was so proud.
Last week, our barnepige (babysitter) had the lead role in a musical at her school, so Brad and I went to watch her. She's 18 and goes to gymnasium ... which is like high school in the states.

It was so strange, at intermission ... at a high school function ... they were serving beer. Then after the show, some the the performers ... high school students ... were walking around drinking beer. Brad and I had to laugh, imagining functions at our high schools, and the consequences if the students were walking around drinking beers after the performance.

One small difference in culture, I guess.

Snow

2010-02-09T22:10:00.006+01:00

So, Denmark usually has mild winters. Maybe it will snow once or twice, but it usually melts within a day or two when it warms back up. Last winter while we were here, it was in the 30s most of the winter, rainy and gray, but not too cold.

Well, this winter ... mother nature thought we were missing the midwest or something, because she has sent us a lot of snow. The danes were all excited to have white Christmas this year, but I think even most of them are ready to have it quit snowing and warm up a little bit.

But, if it snows, you should make the most of it, right? And that's what Brad and Broderick did after one of our snows back in January. Broderick wanted to build a snowman, but the snow was to dry to do that, so Brad started the task of building a fort. Broderick was helping him and lasted about 1 hour, maybe. But Brad kept on building for hours.
The process may have gone faster, but because of how dry and powdery the snow was, Brad was actually having to add water to it to make the blocks.
Here he is working hard.
And the semi-finished product. Brad had intentions of building it up with a roof ... Broderick's own little igloo, but he has yet to complete the task. I don't think Broderick minds though. He's had a lot of fun with it.

Now I know those of you in the midwest don't feel that bad for us, because I realize you have had even MORE snow and its still coming.

And a picture of Broderick ... he wanted to wear my glasses.
Love this little guy, but he needs to quit growing. Pants that I bought him only a few months ago are already to small. I can't keep up with his growth spurts. I mean he's 3 and I have to buy clothes for 5 years old. Slow down buddy, I'm not ready for you to grow up this fast.

Are we British or American?

2010-01-22T20:27:00.002+01:00

In the area of Denmark where we live, there are very few Americans (we've met none). So people often assume we are from England and when I'm out shopping I will get comments about it.

Like when its rainy and overcast, someone will say, "...kindof like London weather, huh? hahaha."

Or the gentleman at the cheese shop, who I've told everytime I've been there that I'm American, still asks when we'll move back to England. (We converse in Danish though since he doesn't speak English, maybe that explains the discrepancy.)

When the Danes learn to speak english in school, they learn British english, not American. This isn't really a problem, except for a few words or phrases. Now Broderick, instead of asking for cookies or crackers, ask for biscuits or kiks.

And the other day, he asked if he could watch the tele.

Maybe he'll move back with a British accent ... you never know.

Gran Canaria

2010-01-22T17:40:00.001+01:00

After Christmas, Brad had off work until January 4. (I love Denmark.) So we decided to go somewhere warm and fun since we weren't with family and had no plans. We decided on the Canary Islands. They are about the only place part of the EU that is warm this time of year. They are Spanish islands off the coast of Morocco. We went to Grand Canary and it is a beautiful place.
They have mountains ....

beaches ...

and the Dunes of Maspalomas. They have rain forest and a volcano too. I would have loved to go to the volcano, but it would have been an all day adventure and we thought it was too much for the kids.

Here's Daddy and Anika at the dunes.

The weather was perfect, about 75-80 during the day and at night it would cool down to the 60s.

Little known fact ... Grand Canary is where Christopher Columbus was from. His house is a major tourist attraction in a town in the northern part of the island.

What's this my husband is looking at in the distance?

I'm sure he was just looking for the toilet. =)

One of Broderick's favorite things to do was to find rocks and throw them in the water ... not always caring if there were people nearby. We had to watch him closely.

Pool time:

Broderick loved the pool. The water was a little cold, but once you got in, you did get use to it ... really ... like, once you went numb.

Anika loves the water too.

Anika has also discovedered french fries .... she is a big fan.

While we were walking around, we had seen a Hard Rock Cafe, we had to go. We really miss American food over here. Now I don't know if Hard Rock normally has good food, but it tasted really good to us here.

We took the kids to a wildlife park nearby our resort. We went to a birds of prey show, or as Broderick would call them "fierce birds". They had bald Eagles that they let fly around, but they had a little problem ... the birds didn't come back. They had to cancel the rest of the show and were trying different things to get the birds back. After about a half hour, finally 2 of the 3 birds returned. Not sure if the 3rd decided to stay free or not. It made it rather interesting to watch.

This orangutan made a big impression on Broderick and he is actually still talking about him 3 weeks later. He calls him his good friend and is very concerned that the store abe (big monkey) is sad that Broderick is not there with him. Its pretty cute.

We also went to Aqualand.

It was a really nice water park and I'm not sure who enjoyed it more ... Broderick or Brad. Brad was lamenting there wasn't other adults to go on the rides with.

And ... HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!!!

Our resort had a very nice candlelight meal that evening. It would have been very enjoyable if it wasn't after Anika's bedtime, but we survived it. I'm not sure if we should take it personally, but they put us in the corner of the restaurant ... away from everyone else.

They gave us bags of party favors and treats to bring in the new year, but we didn't stay at the party. We took the kids up to bed, but Broderick snuggled with us on the balcony for a little watching the fireworks.

I was up for the new year, but I can't lie. I went to bed for an hour and then Brad woke me up at 11:30 to see the beginning of 2010. What can I say? I'm getting old.

Here's Anika ready to go out ...

Coming back from dinner.

We were there during the Christmas season and there were decorations set up for it, but it just didn't seem right. I guess the midwest is a part of us, because when its sunny and 80 degrees, it just doesn't seem like Christmas.

We really enjoyed getting away to some nicer weather and this is a vacation that we could just relax instead of trying to see so many sights. There are some negatives to travelling with two youngsters though .... like sharing a hotel room. Broderick is a deep sleeper, but Anika wakes up with a pindrop. So once she was sleeping, we had to make almost no noise. I don't think Brad and I have ever got so much sleep. We were going to bed early, but that's a good thing ... because the kids were waking up before 6.

What???

Don't they know we're on vacation???

Danish Christmas

2010-01-05T22:25:00.009+01:00

We had a great Christmas here in Denmark. We were sad to miss all the festivities back home, but since we will be moving home in a matter of months, we did not want to deal with the jet lag again. The last time we made the trip was rough with the two youngsters. It was very relaxing and we were so excited to celebrate with our friends and neighbors (who were back from the US) and experience a traditional danish Christmas. I think having that to look forward to helped us not being so sad that we were away from our family.

They celebrate on Christmas Eve here and that is pretty much it. They don't go to multiple Christmas celebrations like we do in the states. We went to church with them that afternoon and it was packed! It seems everyone in Denmark goes to church on Christmas eve, then we went to Brian and Janni's house shortly after. It was a great evening, we had a wonderful time.

Lets start with the food ...
It was awesome! This is the traditional Christmas meal here and we love it.
Rødkål (red cabbage)

Medister (sausage - mainly for the children) and flæskesteg (pork roast with crispy skin)

Brun kartofler (potatoes carmalized in butter and sugar) and regular potatoes.

Enjoying the meal. Brian's parents were with us too. The food is SO good. We also had roasted duck and of course ... ris a lamande for dessert. Mmmmm .... yummy. Seriously, those brun kartoffler are to die for. I love them, but I'm not great at making them yet - trying to perfect them. When you eat ris a lamande, there is a whole almond in there. Whoever gets the almond, gets a gift. Its called a mandelgave. Here's Broderick holding his almond and his gift. (All the kids had an almond in their portion. Brian's mom was nice enough to get them all a mandelgave. )

Here's me and Janni doing dishes.
I guess there's things the Danes miss while in the USA too. Before Brian and Janni moved to the US, Janni asked if we had dish brushes like the ones she's holding. I said of course! I guess we don't... her's is a special one made from horse hair. So when we visited last fall, I brought her one her mom bought for her. I think its funny the little things we miss from home.

Relaxing before gift opening ...

Broderick was so excited to play with Krister. Every day since they've been here, Broderick asks if he can go to their house. I think he'll be sad when they go back to Iowa.

Brian, Brad with Anika, and Erik (Brian's father)

The Christmas tree ..... Its tradition here before you open gifts that you sing Christmas carols while dancing around the tree. So of course we had to partake in such a fun tradition. You wouldn't wanted to have heard us (Brad and I) since we were singing danish songs, but hey - we tried.

I was a little disappointed when I realize the dance is more like a walk, I was hoping to see some sweet dance moves. =)

And the part Broderick had been waiting for all night .... PRESENTS!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, I know socks aren't that exciting, but that's what he asked for.

Anika was more interested in tearing the paper then what was inside, but eventually she'll enjoy the toys.

And even though we had an awesome danish celebration, we still did the American tradition of stockings and few gifts on Christmas morning.

Thank you so much Brian and Janni for including us in your celebration. We had a wonderful time and will always remember the year we had a white Christmas in Denmark!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and took time to focus on Jesus' birth and the real reason for all the celebrations!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Denmark!!!!!!!! (a few weeks late)

Visiting Julemand

2009-12-19T11:28:00.004+01:00

Friday night, we went to Aalborg to visit a small Christmas village they have set up near the shopping district. There is a skating rink, some small rides, and small huts set up that are selling various things. Santa Claus is usually walking around visiting too. It was cold, but I think maybe we are forgetting how bad winters can be. Its about -5 degrees celsius, which is about 23 degrees fahrenheit. That's a typical winter day back in Iowa, but that is really cold for here.
We bundled the kids up, but Brad and I were wishing we had warmer clothers on. We were freezing, but Broderick didn't want to leave.

Broderick was very excited to see Julemand (Santa). When we saw him, we told Broderick to go say hi to him. So Broderick, although 30 feet away, whispers hi. Sudden shyness. Ummm ... you may need to get a little closer and talk just a little louder. He got over his shyness quickly and was more than happy to have Santa hold him and talk to him.

We stopped at one of the little huts to get some fresh waffles, aebleskiver, and some warm drinks. Broderick ran back to Santa to show him he was eating a waffle.

A nisse is like an elf in English and they are an important part of Christmas tradition here. Broderick is shaking hands with a nisse puppet.
Anika was perfect while we were there. Not sure if that's because she liked all the lights and people or she was too cold to even make a sound. =)
Mommy and Broderick on a train ride.
Even though it was cold, it was fun to take the kids there and enjoy the Christmas atmosphere. Very hyggelig.

Fun in the Snow

2009-12-18T22:14:00.004+01:00

We actually got a little snow here this past week and Broderick LOVES it. Everyday at school he gets to play in it and when he's home he likes to play too. Its not a lot, only a couple of inches, but its enough to have some fun. We got snow tires put on our car this week too. Everyone does that over here, even though their winters are very mild. It seems crazy to us that no one does this in the US, where we have horrible winters.

Making a snow angel.

Today was Broderick's last day of børnehave before Christmas break. He had a great time playing games, listening to Christmas stories, and dancing around the Christmas tree. They also fed them a delicious food called risengrød. Its kindof like a rice pudding with butter, cinnamon, and sugar on top. Mmmmm .... and then they had some christmas cookies. too.

After I picked him up and was asking him about his day, he told me that he ate risengrød and put kanin (rabbit) on top. I asked him if he meant kanel (cinnamon). We kindof got in an argument about what he meant and he finally told me, "Mom, its danish ... you don't understand it."

Ok, he's right, I'm not that great with my danish. BUT ... I think I was right this time. I really do think he was putting kanel on his risengrød and not kanin.

He wasn't very happy to leave today, he was having SO much fun.

Here he is with a few of his buddies in his class.

Anika is (almost) 9 months

2009-12-16T23:32:00.004+01:00

Next week Anika will be 9 months old. I can't believe it. We had her appointment with the home nurse (sundhedsplejerske) this week and got to see how big she is. She is now 9300 grams and 74 cm long.

Hey - if I have to deal with the metric system then you do too. Ok, ok, I'll convert it for you. She is almost 20 1/2 lbs and is just over 29 inches.

This was her last visit from the nurse. She checked her hearing and vision too, and everything looked great. This is one area that Denmark has better than the US. It has been so great to have Else-Marie come to our house and check on Anika. This was great, especially when she was a newborn and there are so many questions and you aren't up to leaving the house quite yet. I mean, I know it is fun to bundle up your kid in the car seat and go to the doctor office ... ok, maybe not so much. It was so nice to have someone to call with questions, other than the doctor, who knew my child and was always willing to help. Plus, she has been doing this for years, so you just felt safe having her check out your baby. She was really great and I'm so thankful for the good care she took of Anika.

Getting Ready for Christmas

2009-12-12T23:43:00.008+01:00

Friday afternoon we decided to make cut out sugar cookies. I wasn't planning on doing this since we don't have quite as many Christmas activities to go to and I didn't think we needed them (not so healthy). But then they started sounding so good and I was feeling like a bad mom not doing this traditional activity with my kids, so I borrowed my neighbors rolling pin (I didn't bring mine over here) and we made some cookies. Broderick actually loves helping in the kitchen and almost every time I'm making a meal, he scoots his chair over and is there to help me.Here he is cutting out the shapes. I bought a Christmas collection of cookie cutters. It included the usual shapes .... a star, angel, tree, heart, and ..... a pig. What ??????
Given Broderick's age, I didn't mess with the different color frostings, and got sprinkles instead. Can you see how Broderick put them on? Basically, a mountain of them all in one area.
Oh well, at least he had fun with it, right? And they tasted yummy.

Anika wasn't into the baking yet, but she wanted to show how she's pulling herself up on furniture. She will go all the way to her feet everynow and then, but most of the time she is on her knees.
Saturday morning, Brad took Broderick out to pick our a Christmas tree and cut it down. We couldn't all go because all of us and the tree wouldn't have fit in the car. This is the first year either of us have had a real tree, so we don't really know what we are doing and are hoping we can keep it alive .... at least until Christmas. The top is a little sparse. We need to get something to put up there, I think. Unfortunately, I hear one of the best things about having a real tree is the smell, but I'm congested right now, so I'm anxiously waiting until I can actually enjoy it. Broderick helping mommy put on the decorations. He took this job seriously and didn't really let me do to much. I asked him to put some tinsel on the tree. Well, he did .... all in one spot. Here are the kiddos in front of the tree. Amazingly neither of them mess with the presents too much. He'll point and ask who each present is for, but I figured he would have attempted to open at least a few of them. Good job Broderick and good job Anika for not pulling the tree over or breaking all the ornaments.

I love doing these kind of things. It makes me excited for the holidays. I cannot believe its less than 2 weeks until Christmas. Wow, where has this year gone?????

Julefrokosts and Visitors

2009-12-10T23:24:00.008+01:00

Have you ever seen such a precious picture? Love these guys!

We have been staying busy here getting ready for the holidays. Its a bit different this year since we're not coming home. Last year I was busy shopping for everyone before we left and trying to pack it all in suitcases. This year, although sad we're not going home, is definitely more relaxing. I'm pretty well done shopping, just a couple more things to look for. I realize kids are easy, I know they'll like anything and this this year all my husband has on his list is socks .... and he wants a new car, but I think we'll wait on the latter.
Poor Anika took a tumble off the couch right onto the coffee table. Brad was actually holding her, but she's a fast little thing. She got a big bruise on her cheek -poor girl.

She's fun right now and usually in pretty good spirits. Getting around everywhere in a multitude of different ways. Sometimes she scoots .... sometimes she rolls .... and sometimes she actually crawls.

The first of December we gave Broderick the coolest Advent calender I have ever seen. Its playmobil and everyday he gets part of a police collection. He's not a big fan of chocolate, so we thought he would enjoy this calender better. The hard part is keeping track of all the parts. On the first day, he got a robber. A few days later we couldn't find the robber anywhere and we searched everywhere. We kept asking Broderick if he could remember where he put it. Nope. He had no clue. Well, two days later I was putting on my boot and there was the robber ... in the bottom of it. I told Broderick that I had found his robber in the bottome of my shoe and he says, "No Mommy, I put it in your boot, not your shoe." hmmmm.... that bit of information would have been helpful ..... 2 days ago!!!!!!!!!!!! Silly kid.

We went to a Christas Party (Julefrokost) at Broderick's school a couple weeks ago. We all brought food and had a buffet. It was fun to watch Broderick in his element with all his buddies and it was good to meet some of the other parents.

Here's some pictures of Broderick playing with his buddies.

Here he is in front of the Christmas tree. All the kids made ornaments. Brdoerick made the tree hanging right behind him.

I had a Julefrokost with the ladies in my mother's group too. Anika playing with her little friend.

They made many of the traditional foods of a Danish Julefrokost. Sorry to my Danish friends, but a few of the things they eat, well ... they're not my favorite foods ..... especially the sild (pickled herring).

Here it is: Karry dressing on the left and pickled herring with onions on the right. You eat it on their traditional rugbrød (rye bread).

Here's my ladies.

The last couple of weeks we've had visitors from the US. The first week Brad's brother Aaron stayed with us. The day he left Brad's brother Curt arrived and stayed with us for part of that next week.

Brad hanging out with Paul and Iggy. (They came with Aaron).

Eating out with Aaron and Paul.

Uncle Curt with the kiddos.

They were both here for work, and we were so excited to have them. They also provided great carriers for Christmas gifts both ways. Some coming to us from the USA and some going back to the USA from us. That worked out good. Saved us a lot of postage.

Thanksgiving & Another Nephew

2009-12-06T21:32:00.005+01:00

In the same week, I got two I got two new nephews. I showed you the pictures of little William and this is Nicolas Todd. He is my brother Todd and Paula's 2nd child.

He was born 5 weeks early and weighed only 4lbs 7 oz. I wish I could hold the little guy. He is so tiny.

We had a great Thanksgiving over here. We had our friends Jørgen and Kirstine over. I always get nervous cooking an entire meal for other people, but I think it went much better this year than last. I had things a little more under control. It is great experience for me learning to make everything from scratch and not relying on the conveniences back home. Although I did bring pumpkin back with me my last trip home for the pie. =) But I still used the hokkaidos here to substitute for sweet potatoes and they were really good. Unfortunately when I got my turkey .... my $70 turkey .... it still had some of the feathers in it.

All I can say is YUCK! I don't like to pluck feathers. I don't like to think of the animal being so recently alive. But, it did end up tasting quite good.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Its a great time with loved ones. Great food. And not the stress of gift buying and so many things to be at and running around. And I love the focus .... to focus on how we are blessed and how fortunate we are. It puts things in perspective and helps to minimize the unimportant things in life.

Jørgen was helping Brad carve the turkey.

Here they are enjoying the meal.

And Anika loved it too. Her first taste of turkey was a successful one. She ate a lot of it ... well, a lot for an 8 month old.

This past week, we had Brad's brother Aaron here for work. He left today and tonight Brad's brother Curt arrived and will be here most of the week for work. Its so nice to have family here for a little while. We just wish the rest of their families could have joined them.

Babies, Babies, Babies!

2009-11-23T12:17:00.008+01:00

I have to introduce my new little nephew....

William Robert Witzig

Nov 19th at 4:26pm

6'15", 19"long

Here's the proud parents, my sister Stacia and her husband Marshall.

He looks so precious. Too bad they live in Arizona so it may be awhile before I get to meet the little guy. They were so excited to have a boy. This is their 6th baby - yes you heard me right- and they only had one boy so far. So Dylan is excited to finally have a brother. And I'm glad they had a boy because I borrowed a lot of their girl clothes for Anika, so now I don't have to send them back so soon.

Since I can't hold him, its a good thing my neighbors just had a baby too - and I did get to hold her. I can't believe how fast they grow up. Anika looked like a giant next to her.

Little Tilde, she looks just like her dad.

Big brother Victor takes good care of her.

Here's Søren holding Anika. Pretty soon his little girl will be just as big.
Broderick playing with our neighbor boys, Markus and Victor. They had a lot of fun together.

I have 2 more sister in laws who are expecting too. All these babies makes me want another one, I love that newborn stage.

Honey..?
Brad..?
Where are you going?
Why are you running away?

Come back honey!
Come back!
We need to talk about this!

Well, maybe not today. He doesn't seem very open to the idea. =)

Jeff, Terrean, and Marie Visit!

2009-11-19T20:40:00.000+01:00

I have some catching up to do, so I'm going to travel back in time a little ways. Yes, I still have things from August that I never posted. Yes, I am way behind ... but better late than never, right?

Back in August we were SO excited to have Brad's cousin Jeff and Terrean and their two girls, Raelan and Brooklan come to visit. Brad's cousin, Marie (Jeff's sister) came too. Broderick was overjoyed that some kids were coming to play with him.

Unfortunately their trip over was a little rough, Brooklan didn't sleep at all on the flight ... but the girls slept great the rest of time here. I was jealous. My kids were waking up at the crack of dawn. After my kids horrible adjustments with jetlag this last trip home, I have a whole new respect for Jeff and Terrean bringing their kids over here. Thanks so much guys.

Originally when we talked to them about coming we were planning on taking the ferry to Norway and driving north to see some fjords. With the kids and time it would take to get to Stavanger, we opted to stay in Denmark, and I have to say of all our holidays this summer, this was probably the most relaxing we had. We didn't have to deal with major travel, we didn't have 100 sites we wanted to see every day, and we weren't staying in a hotel room - also it was more focused on the kids, which of course helps keep them happier.

We spent a couple of days at our house and then went to a resort on the coast for 4 days. They got here on Friday and Brad wisked Jeff off to play golf. Poor Jeff was probably playing half asleep. On Saturday, Jeff and Terrean drove down to Aarhus, where they met a girl who had been an exchange student at Terrean's high school. That night we had a coworker of Brad and Jeff over for dinner.

Marie was super with all the kids, Broderick liked her alot and everynight when we put him to bed asked if she could come say Goodnight to him.
Terrean comes from a Norweigan family and it must be in her blood, because she's reading a book in Danish to Raelan here.

Jeff and Anika meeting each other.

We had Brian Munck and his family over. Brian is a sales guy at Pedershaab, so he and Jeff have worked together quite a bit.

Raelan and Broderick having fun in the bathtub.

Raelan swinging. We had some nice days while they were here.

Teaching Terrean how to play guitar hero.

Jeff rockin' it out!

The next day we got ready and headed to Skallerup Klit.

Time at the Coast

2009-11-19T07:23:00.000+01:00

On Sunday morning, we were able to leisurely get ready and packed and head to Skallerup Klit, the resort on the western coast. This is only about a 40 minute drive from our house. We had done so much traveling this summer and we had loved all of it, but this was probably our most relaxing holiday. This place is great for families. There was so much for the kids to do, and if the kids are happy, it makes the parents happy.

The resort had an outdoor excercise area. Marie and Terrean are trying out the elliptical machines.

Terrean and Marie at the ocean.

We went to the town of Lokken one night to eat and Broderick and Raelan got a ride in a train.

We visited the water park there one day. Raelan was quite excited as you can see.

Brooklan was still crawling while she was here, so this pool was perfect for her.

There is a farm right by the resort as well, so we walked there one day and Broderick and Raelan got pony rides. Broderick's pony was interested in one thing ... eating grass and was quite difficult to control.
Raelan had an accident in her pants, so Jeff and Terrean fashioned a dress out of Terrean's sweatshirt. Quite creative! Look at her smile, she was so excited!

Making some crepes over a fire.

There was a playland at the resort as well that the kids loved. It was a perfect place to let them run around and have fun.

And of course Daddy Jeff got involved in the fun!

Raelan and Broderick riding on a monkey!

Love this picture of them.

Brad and Jeff giving rides to Broderick and Raelan on the way back to our cabin.

It was a great time there. When we left the resort, we spent some time showing them some of the sites in our area of Denmark.

Showing them some sites ...

2009-11-19T07:13:00.000+01:00

We took them up to Skagen one day (the northern tip of Denmark where the 2 seas meet) and ... well ... we could have had better weather. I mean, this was August, but it definitely wasn't feeling like summer. Such is the weather in Denmark.
Here they are ... I was proud of them. They actually got in the water.

Marie, with one foot in each sea.
div> Here's the group (except Marie, she's the photographer) eating in Skagen.

They were impressed with the playroom in the restaurant. Denmark caters to children in many ways, this would be one of them.

Terrean and Raelan walking up a steep sand dune.

The family in front of the lighthouse.

Jeff and Terrean in front of an area where the coast is eroding away at a rapid pace. The week prior to them coming, about 10 feet had fallen into the ocean. Terrean was an earth science teacher so she took a special interest in this.

Terrean and Raelan on top of the Dune with Denmark landscape behind them.

Jeff, Marie, and Brooklan with the North sea behind them.

The last evening they were here, we went to dinner at another coworker of theirs in Aalborg. He also works in sales, so him and Jeff work together frequently. He had stayed with Jeff and Terrean once while he was in the US. Thanks Torben and Maiken.

I didn't get hardly any pictures that night, but here's the kids at their own little table.

Jeff and Marie both work at Hawkeye, Pedershaab's American counterpart. So Jeff and Marie rode their bikes there one day to meet faces they had only talked to on the phone and see the operation here.

It really was so great to have all of them here. Even though I would have considered them all my friends, I got to know them in a whole new way and became even better friends. It seems sometimes you can spend a lot of "quantity" time with a person and maybe not have much "quality" -- where you're actually able to learn who they really are. So thank you for coming and spending some quality time with us. Broderick talked about Raelan for a long time after their visit and still does sometimes. He even taught her some Danish words while they were here. Not sure if she remembers any of it ... maybe they have to come back and learn it again.

Legoland

2009-11-14T16:22:00.006+01:00

A couple of weekends ago, we drove south to the town of Billund. This is the town that Legos come from. That's right .... the Lego toy comes from Denmark. The original Legoland is here and we thought we better visit it while we're living here. We went on a day that was cool, but not too bad. With our jackets and mittens, we stayed pretty warm.

The rides weren't that great, as far as an amusement park is concerned, but ... the things made out of Legos are amazing!!!! Really, I mean AMAZING!!!!!!!
Brad and Broderick at the entrance to the park.

On a boat ride.

Broderick was excited to get in the pirate's chest. (Of course made out of legos.)

Broderick riding the froggy ride.

Brad and Broderick on a spinning ride. (Yeah, mommy doesn't do those.)

Mommy and Broderick on a train ride.

And a safari ride.

Anika was all bundled up.

This pirate was at the entrance to the locker room of the water park. I thought it was pretty funny.

They have a part of the park called miniland, where they have recreated numerous sites from around the world all out of Legos. Millions of Lego blocks were used to create these sites. Like I said before ... amazing! Here's a few of the things they had built...

This is Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen where the Queen of Denmark resides.

Mt. Rushmore

Broderick with Bob the Builder

A man mowing the lawn (can you believe all these legos?)

This is a re-creation of the Billund Airport. Those little yellow trucks by the plane were driving around actually spraying liquid, de-icing the wings.

Nyhavn - a popular street/canal in Copenhagen.

Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany
Kennedy Space Center
Some ostriches along the safari ride.
The Statue of Liberty
The Capital Building

We had a fun day and was so glad we got to see this Danish landmark. It made Brad really excited to build things with Legos - and was a little sad that Broderick is still in the Duplo stage. And the Lego store there had 30% off of everything, so we were able to pick up some Christmas presents for Broderick.

Anika is growing up

2009-11-13T11:14:00.000+01:00

Anika is growing up so fast. She is almost 8 months old already and she is a lot of fun right now. She is sleeping about 12 hours straight at night (LOVE her for that.). She loves attention and eagerly bounces until someone looks at her at which point she will gleefully smile and laugh, especially when Broderick is around. He could entertain her all day. She cannot get enough of him. She is moving, but not in a trational way. She sits on her butt, reaches her hands forward and then scoots on her butt. She's not fast and its hardly noticable, but you'll look at her and realize she's 3 feet away from the spot she was the last time you looked at her.

She is spending more and more time on her stomach and rolling around, so maybe she'll start crawling soon.

And her hair keeps growing. There is actually some hanging over her ears and I can actually comb it a little bit. Here she is doing one of her favorite activities. We'll set her on the floor and the next thing we know, she has scooted over to the magazine rack and is destroying one magazine at a time. It entertains her for long periods of time.

We went to my friend Tina's the other day and got to meet her friend Åshild and her boy Thomas. Åshild and her husband just adopted him from South Africa a few months back and he is adorable.

Anika is getting some help from Christoffer with her pacifier and here's Thomas charming the camera.

Anika and Christoffer playing together. Christoffer is over 1 year old and he was so sweet with Anika.

Accidental Day at the Zoo

2009-11-11T23:22:00.005+01:00

This past sunday, we woke up and in frantic mode (as mornings are in our house) got ready and went to church. Unbelievably, we actually got there early. And by early I mean 3 minutes early. And who knew that when you get to church 3 minutes early, there are so many empty parking spots so close to the front door. So we go to the church and we realized we are still not getting all the announcements in church - I blame Brad, he's better with Danish, he should be catching those important things. =)

That's right ... church wasn't until 2pm that day. They were having some other sort of activity that morning so church was switched until that afternoon. Ok, now some things were making sense ... like why there were so many spots in the parking lot and also our plans for the day.

Let me explain. See, the previous sunday we had been invited to go to one of the pastor's houses after church this week. He had asked us to come over directly after church (which gets over about noon) and then we would have coffee at 4 and pizza at 6. That whole week we were a little nervous about spending like 7 hours at someone's house who we barely knew. Hopefully we would have a lot to talk about and hopefully we get along. Ok, so now that we realize church is getting over at 3:30, the invitation makes so much more sense.

So, what to do? Do we drive back to Brønderslev or find something to do in Aalborg? We decided to go to the zoo. We weren't really prepared for this, it was a bit cold and didn't have all our winter gear and I had heels on. Brad didn't think that was a problem (easy for him to say). But ... it was actually a fun relaxing way to pass the time and Broderick was very excited for a surprise visit to the zoo.

Like I said, it was a little cold. The poor monkeys were just huddled together by a rock hugging each other. I felt so bad for them. Broderick kept calling the big gray haired baboon the grandma monkey. Grandmas ... I'm not sure if you should be offended or not. HaHa.
As we were walking along, outside one of the buildings we see these buckets with pieces of meat sitting there with labels for which animal they go to. By meat, I mean limbs and heads of animals. It was disgusting. Double click on the picture and you can see it in better detail. These are for the male and female lion.
Daddy and Broderick with the giraffes.
Since it was cold out, many of the animals were inside the houses. Broderick hated going in them though because of the smell. Here he is plugging his nose in disgust. We wanted to go in them to warm up a little, but the whole time Broderick was crying to leave. Its "yucky"!
This is a "sut træ" or a pacifier tree. One tradition here is when your child gets rid of their sut, you take them to a sut træ and they hang it there. We have been talking to Broderick about visiting the tree and we found one at the zoo. Yes, yes, I know my boy is 3 and still has his paci (mainly for sleeping) - BUT in my defense with all the traveling and airplane rides, having something that I knew would help him sleep was so nice to have. Anyways, that is a discussion for a different time. Broderick was not so excited to hang his there and we didn't have it with us, but I thought you might be interested in seeing one.

And we had a good time with our pastor and his wife. They made some great homemade pizza and we had plenty to talk about. Still not sure I would have wanted to be there for 7 hours +, but the day turned out great.

Recent Happenings

2009-11-11T22:53:00.005+01:00

Here are some of the things we have been up to the last few weeks ...

I got a ladies night out and was so excited to go. Brad willingly watched the kids and put them to bed ... all by himself. These are woman from our church here and they meet together every 3 weeks. They usually take turns hosting but we went out to a cafe this evening.

We went to visit Hanne, Broderick's dagpleje mor, again. We had brought her back some treats from the USA to give her a "taste" of some of the things that we miss and are popular back home. Broderick was very excited to see her and the other kids again. He wasted no time going right for the toys.
Broderick and his friend Sofie.
Broderick showing me how he took naps when he was there.
Here's Hanne with Broderick, Anika, Sofie and Emilie.

This past Saturday we were invited to go to Jerry's with the Munck family again and then to their house for coffee and tea after. It was a very hyggelig evening. With the days starting to get very short, this is when the Danes turn inside their homes .... lighting candles, spending time with friends and family..... and creating this thing they call hygge. There's not a good translation for it in English but a very important part of their culture here and we like it. You can have hygge all year, but especially during the holidays and winter season.

And since it looks like we are going to be spending the holidays here, we need to get this hygge thing down.

Legos with Daddy

2009-10-29T10:45:00.001+01:00

Back in September, when Broderick left dagpleje, Hanne gave him a lego set as a gift. So that next night Broderick and Brad got to work putting it together. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't work .... they BOTH love playing with Legos.

The instructions that come with Lego or Duplo sets, Broderick calls a map. So here's Brad and Broderick looking at the map.

My Mother's Group

2009-10-29T10:40:00.000+01:00

Here in Denmark, when you have a baby, you get almost a year off of work - paid! I know, that would be nice, right. The sundhedsplyerske (home nurse) that you work with puts you in a group with other ladies in your area that have had children about the same time. My sundhedsplyerske was nice enough to put me in a group .... with ladies who all speak great English. So although a lot of Danish is spoken (which is good for me), I can still communicate with everyone and know whats going on. We meet every 3 weeks and take turns hosting it.
Here are the moms I meet up with: Jane, Nina, Jeanette, and Tina. They are all so nice and its so good to spend some time with other ladies.

Anika, Jeppe and Julia playing together.

Little Levi (Nina's daughter)

Jeanette's girl, Sofie takes amazing naps and is usually sleeping - outside of course- eveytime we meet, so we made her wake up Sofie this time so we could actually see her.

I can tell I'm still not very Danish. When we met last week, it was a bit misty out and I wasn't exactly sure where I was going - so of course, I drove. When I pulled up to the address, I didn't see any other cars and I was wondering if I had the address wrong.

Then I saw it ..... 4 barnevogns lined up outside with their kids in them. =)

They had all walked in the misty rain and their kids were sleeping outside in that. Yeah, I felt like a spoiled American wimp.

Hosting isn't difficult either because you just serve a traditional Danish lunch.
This would include:
*Rundstykker (hard rolls)
*Cold cuts
*Cheeses
*Sliced red peppers and cucumbers
*Chocolate wafers (you put on the bread) or nutella
*Coffee and tea

Sometimes there is some sort of pastry too, maybe some fruit and you may have other slight variations, but essentially that is what you eat. It makes it so simple and its quite good.

Of course when I hosted I tried to bring some American flavor to it and served an egg casserole.

Next time I host is right around Thanksgiving, so I have promised them some pumpkin pie. They are all excited to try that.

Carving Pumpkins

2009-10-29T10:27:00.001+01:00

Halloween isn't a Danish holidy, but it is becoming more and more popular each year. There are some who get dressed up and go trick-or-treating, but not a huge amount. They have a similar holiday in February called Fastelaven (You may remember I wrote about it back in February) that is a much bigger celebration.

You do see many jack-o-lanterns and pumpkins around town though and Broderick was very excited to make one. We have never done this since Broderick has been born and sadly, I learned this year that Brad had never made a jack-o-lantern!!!! I'm going to have to talk to his mom about this .... Jane?
The plan was to make two faces ... a happy face on one side and a scary face on the other.
We tried to convince Broderick to reach in and scoop out the insides, but he would only use a spoon. The kid does not like to get his hands dirty! While scooping, he would announce to no one in particular ... "I'm doing a REAL good job .... I am .... I'm doing REALLY good." Way to encourage yourself buddy!

Even mommy got involved to make sure we had everything scraped out!

All done! Here's Broderick with the happy face.

Here's the scary face!

We had a ton of seeds in this pumpkin, so I roasted the pumpkin seeds. Mmmmm .... they turned out so good.

Reunion with Fiona

2009-10-25T21:46:00.001+01:00

We were so happy to be able to see Fiona while we were in the states. She happened to have a weekend free of cross country meets, so she came home from college to visit her family and us!

Broderick was in bed napping when she got there and so she went up to his room and came in and he squealed loudly, "ITS YOU!!!!!!!!!!" I think he was pretty excited to see her.

We were finally able to meet Bobby too, Fiona's boyfriend. I'm not sure he was a big fan of us since we stole her for the whole summer. Broderick recognized him from talking to him on skype. Technology is amazing.
I think Anika had changed quite a bit since Fiona had left in August.

Broderick still talks about Fiona quite abit. And when he says his bedtime prayers at night, he always says, ".... thanks God for mommy, daddy, Fiona, and Anika .... "

Yeah, he loves her! We miss you Fiona!

Time with Friends

2009-10-25T00:08:00.000+02:00

Its always good to see friends while we're in town. Our schedules are a bit crazy while we're back trying to see everyone, still get naps in, and trying not to get too exhausted. But ... we wouldn't have it any other way. Seeing everyone is the highlight of our trips. (That... and all the food.)

We went to Jeff and Terrean's one day and while Broderick was playing with Raelan he came out with this hat on and announced, "I'm a cowboy." Hmmm .... ok.

Luann had an openhouse for me at her house one morning for all the cousins and aunts to stop by so we would have a chance to see everyone and they could meet Anika. That was so great.

Aunt Joanne with Anika and Kim with Abigail.
Luann was busy making lattes for everyone. That's the other Megan Schmidgall behind her. This causes many problems when I go places in town. I have to clarify which Megan Schmidgall I am ... I actually found out they were expecting baby #2 before they had told anyone because of a mix up at the doctor's office. Whoops ... a little HIPPA violation there.
Brad's cousin Randy's wife, Shayla with their two adorable girls.

More of the cousins.
And more ..... yes, we have a few relatives!

Then one evening I was able to get together with a lot of my girlfriends from Iowa. Tricia had us all over and it was a great time. Many of these girls had been in a Bible Study group with me.

Love all of them!!!!!

Terrean, Ann-Louise (Danish friend), Stacey, Me, Michele, Anna, Tricia (with Anika), and Natalie (with her new baby boy).
Stacey, Tricia, and Ann-Louise. Ann-Louise is one of the Danes who moved to Iowa for a time. I'm so sad that she left Denmark, but how great that I get to see her when we visit home.
Anna, Terrean and Natalie

Michele, Anika, and Megan

Tricia makes these adorable flower headbands (her daugher is bald like Anika is and so she got creative). She is actually making them now as a business. I had to try them on Anika.

Lynette and her two girls stopped over one day too. They've grown up so much.

Of course one night we HAD to go to Martinis to eat in Burlington. Brad loves and misses the chicken lips they have there SO much. Here's Ben and Amanda with Anika. They had come to visit us here when Anika was only 6 weeks old.
Here's Brad with Iggy and Carly and Michele and Chad.
Anika and I hung out with Sarah one day for lunch for some yummy Italian! Mmmm.... It was so good - both the food and the company!

I have to say a huge thanks to our parents (both in Iowa and Illinois) who helped SO much with the kids. They were so willing to babysit so I could do things and meet people.

Well, at least they acted willing.

I hope they were.

Actually, they're probably both thanking God we've gone back to Denmark so they could get their lives back!

Some time in Iowa

2009-10-24T23:43:00.000+02:00

We made it out to Iowa and the last week, Brad was able to join us since he was coming to town for business.
We were able to be with Grandpa Schmidgall one night.

Sammy was so nice to little Anika.

Precious Anika. She loves watching people. So she was pretty good with all the commotion going on.

Lorenia put Anika to sleep with Gabe helping nearby. Naomi and Broderick are best buds when they're together.

Great Grandma Lois and Anika.

Grandpa Joe reading books with Broderick.

Great Grandpa was so sweet with little Anika ... patting and rubbing her head.

Broderick ALWAYS has Grandma read Frosty the Snowman to him. He always remembers.

All the Schmidgall girls.

All the cousins watching a movie together.

While I was there, there was a run/walk that our church puts on to raise money for water units for countries without pure water. So .... I attempted to run 10km.
Aunt Luann was nice enough to watch Broderick and Anika so I could run.
Broderick was there to greet me when I crossed the finish line. What a supportive little guy.

Jane and Rosie walked the 5k.

Jared ran the 10k too and won 1st in his age division. Ron, my father in law, also ran the 10k and got 3rd in his age division. Sorry to let you all down, but I didn't win anything. I was just glad to run it all and not die at the end. =)

It was so good to see our family and spend some quality time with them. It was good to see our house back in Iowa too. Ron and Jane take great care of it while we're away.

Fishing with Bop-Pop

2009-10-24T23:15:00.001+02:00

While we were with my family, we went fishing with my parents. This was Broderick's first time fishing. He was quite excited at first and enjoyed reeling in the fish, but refused to touch the fish or the worm. I'm the same way though so I really can't blame him.
They caught a fish!

Helping Bop-pop

Broderick teaching Anika how its done.

Even I got involved .... and I caught a fish. No, its not very big, but I hadn't been fishing in years. Probably like 15 years since I've been fishing. Everyone else wanted to go, but I refused to leave until I caught one! I was pumped when I finally got his little guy.

Friends in Illinois

2009-10-24T22:57:00.001+02:00

We were so happy to spend time with friends while we were in Illinois. It was so great. These are my girlfriends for years and even though its a long time between visits, we pick up right where we left off. We weren't able to see everyone we would have liked to see in our short time, but at least were able to reconnect with a few.
My friend Kristin has a little boy Dillon about a year younger than Broderick.

Kristin with Anika and Annie holding Kylie (Kristin's new baby). Annie has a daughter just a couple weeks older than Anika, but she was a little sick this evening. Hopefully we'll get to see her next time we go home, right Annie?

Broderick at the McDonald's playland. We met my friend Kristi there with her two little boys, Hunter and Henry. She is expecting another baby too.

Henry and Broderick playing.

Kristi and Anika

Me, Anika, Jamie and Keegan

Arian's beautiful daugher Jaqueline.

Jillian, Me, Anik, Arian and Jaqueline.

I love my girlfriends and its something I miss the most being over here!

Visiting Family in Illinois

2009-10-24T22:18:00.000+02:00

Its always great to be back in the states. As much as we love Denmark, there are some things that we miss about America. Here are a few .... in no particular order ....

-free refills on drinks
-drinks are cheap too! Soft drinks are VERY expensive in Denmark, about 6-8$
-Dairy Queen (ok, I really missed it this summer)
-everything is a bit cheaper
-Pizza!!!! especially Chicago style
-Things are open past 5:00pm
-Over the counter cold medicine
-mexican food
-Target (my favorite store ever)

We went to my family first to visit. It was so good to see everyone again. I can't believe it had been 9 months since we had seen them. I was so glad they got to meet Anika finally and Broderick was SO excited to see his cousins.
Broderick with Grandma and Grandpa.
Anika and Lauren

Uncle Greg and Anika

Christian and Broderick watching a movie. They are only a few months apart and play well together.

Christian really liked Anika. He'll have a new baby brother or sister soon, so he was practicing.

Broderick got some face paint for his birthday, so I had fun painting Joseph and Kaelin.

Anika meeting Great Grandpa Schambach

Cousin Jesse ready for ... well, I'm not sure exactly what he's ready for, but he's ready for something.

Uncle Clint, Aunt Lori and Broderick ... pretty soon we'll have a new cousin from them.

New cousin John

Anika loved Great Grandma Schock

Superstar Anika

Darren giving Christian and Broderick a ride behind the tractor.

We spent about a week and a half there, but it went fast. The first few days were a bit of a fog dealing with the jet lag with the kids, but once they adjusted, we were able to do a little bit more during the day.

Anika Stylin'

2009-10-17T23:58:00.004+02:00

Here's Anika stylin' in her boots. She thought she was pretty cool.
But just because she's already a diva doesn't mean she doesn't like wrestling with Daddy and big brother. Anything Broderick is doing, Anika wants to be a part of.

Love capturing these moments!

These last few days we've been huddled in our house. Its been cool, but extremely windy and rainy. Yuck, but such is the weather in Denmark sometimes. And Brad has been under the weather so he hasn't been up for a whole lot. Obviously things are looking up given the wrestling tonight.

And maybe, just maybe Anika is over the jet lag. She has been going to sleep between midnight and 2 am all week! That's right, I said all week! She's wide awake until then, so I've been watching a lot of late night Danish television. Tonight she's sleeping at 10:00 ..... let's hope she stays sleeping.

Please!!!!!!

Do they look alike?

2009-10-15T23:10:00.002+02:00

Here's Broderick when he was about 6 months old.
Here's Anika in the same outfit at about 7 months.

Do you think there's any similarities?

Brad never liked this outfit on Broderick, he thought it was "girly", so I thought I could wear it on Anika then. hee hee.

Happy Birthday x3

2009-10-02T07:35:00.007+02:00

Broderick turned 3 on September 20th. I can not believe its been 3 years since he came into our lives. We have been so blessed with him as our son. He is such a funny little guy who has loved to smile since he's been born. He is always making us laugh and suprising us with the things he learns. We have been so proud of him since we've moved here. He has been so brave and strong with all the new things he has encountered.

I was feeling guilty that we would be in the states for his birthday, away from his daddy, and wouldn't be able to give him a party. But he really scored .... instead of 1 party, he got 3. We had a little celebration in Denmark before we left. That way Brad would be able to celebrate with him.

CELEBRATION #1

He was lucky enough to have Grandpa Ron and Grandma Jane here to celebrate with him.
We gave him presents here so we wouldn't have to transport them on the airplane to get back to Denmark.

Jorgen and Kirstine came over too and gave Broderick a little Danish songbook. He loves to sing songs and knows a few in Danish. This will help me sing them with him .... if only I could pronounce the words. =)

This is Broderick blowing out the candles on the traditional Danish cake : Kagemand which literally means "cakeman". Its shaped like a gingerbread man and tastes like a cinnamon roll. It is tradition that before you eat the cake someone cuts the kagemand's head off while everyone screams. This means that he is really dead and he is ok to eat. Brad cut with such enthusiasm that he cut through the cake, the cardboard underneath, and also my coffee table!!!! Then it was my turn to scream!

CELEBRATION #2

The first weekend we got to the states was his actual birthday. My mom had the whole family over to celebrate with him.

His face was priceless when everyone started to sing to him, he LOVED it.

He had fun with ALL his cousins. (He just has a few.)

CELEBRATION #3

When we were in Iowa, we also celebrated with his Schmidgall cousins and Brad was also back for this party.

Jared's birthday and Broderick's birthday are only a few days apart, so we celebrated their birthdays together.

He LOVES it when people sing to him.

Sam, Gabe, and Naomi helping Broderick with his gifts.

So needless to say, I think Broderick had a great 3rd birthday. How many parties does a kid need? Thanks to our families for making his day(s) special!

Grandma's Dress

2009-10-02T07:26:00.002+02:00

Anika is wearing the same dress Grandma Jane wore as a little girl.

Help from the In-laws

2009-10-02T06:15:00.004+02:00

We were so lucky to have Brad's parents stop in Denmark at the end of a little vacation in Europe. We were all so excited to see them - especially the grandkids.
Here's Grandma Jane with Broderick and Anika at the airport.

Grandpa Ron entertaining Anika.

Enjoying a nice evening out with the parents

Having them visit gave me a great opportunity to fly back to the US since I would have someone to help me with the kids on the flight. I was excited to go so I could see everyone, but also so people could meet Anika. Most of our family had not met her yet.

They were a HUGE help to me on the flight. I'm glad I did not attempt this on my own because I probably would have had a meltdown early on in the trip. You just never know when there may be a problem. The kids may be great .... or you may have 2 kids screaming at once.

For example ... on the short little flight from Aalborg to Copenhagen .... a flight that is only 30 minutes .... one that we have done countless times with Broderick ..... he decided to have a complete meltdown. A COMPLETE meltdown.

He decided he wanted a particular window seat. I'm sorry Broderick there are already people sitting in those seats ... meltdown begins. This not only is embarressing, but causing quite the traffic jam as people are trying to get on the plane. The nice flight attendant comes to our rescue and gives us another window seat. This should make him happy, but the flight attendant didn't realize that the window the girl is sitting by is clearly better than the one offered to Broderick.

Meltdown continues.

So I am dragging a screaming almost 3 year old down this little aisle while holding my content, but still requiring my hands, infant and the carryon bags.

Now you see why there was a need for extra hands. As I passed Ron and Jane's row I handed Anika over to them and was able to focus my attention on Broderick. Eventually, after I pulled out his pacifier and blanket and monkey and the flight attendant gave him juice and toys and other bribes ... Broderick was fine and was actually fine the rest of the way to America.

Maybe it was better that we got it out of the way early.

We were lucky enough to get a bassinet seat for Anika on the way there. Even though Anika is not a great sleeper and likes to be held most of the time, this was great. It allowed us to have free hands part of the time. SO nice!

Broderick sat by Grandpa Ron most of the time and Grandpa did great. He entertained him in many different ways and then finally asked for the DVD player. This is a crucial way to pass time on a 9 hour flight. So, we get it out and the battery is dead! Completely dead! I'm not sure what happened, but it was not good. Poor Ron - he was probably wondering if he was ever going to get a break.

We landed in Chicago and my parents picked me and the kids and we went home with them to spend some time before heading out to Iowa. The flight actually went better than expected, but unfortunately the kids don't understand what a time change is and enjoyed waking up at 2 or 3 in the morning for the next few nights. Everyone is well adjusted now though and we are having a great time.

More to follow ....

From Dagpleje to Børnehave

2009-09-02T09:41:00.006+02:00

Here's our big boy Broderick on his first day of børnehave. Børnehave is kindergarten here in Denmark. And while 3 seems very young to start it, it is mainly play. There isn't much, if any, structured education going on yet.

His first day was September 1, which meant his last day of dagpleje with Hanne. This was bittersweet for me. I think Broderick will have a lot of fun with the older children, kids more his size, but ... he loves Hanne and I trust her and am comfortable with him there.

Here he is saying goodbye to Hanne with his best buddy, Sofie standing next to them.

Giving Sofie a BIG hug. He is going to miss her a lot. They played so good together.

Broderick and Sofie in the playroom.

Broderick, Sofie and Emilia. The other little boy Mikkel wasn't here this day.

This is them with Hanne's husband, Just. Broderick LOVED him too. He talked about things he did with Just quite a bit. He's retired, so he sometimes would join them in their activities.

Hanne had me come in that day and have coffee and dessert with them. She had made a little photo album for Broderick and got him a gift too .... Legos!!! Very Danish, Broderick was quite excited.

Broderick loved it there and has asked each day.... not dagpleje today? But I'm not 3 yet mommy, I'm not old enough for børnehave. We have always told him when he's 3 then he will go, so he's a little confused why he's going already.

Here he is, ready to go on his first day. Of course he brought his "abe" (monkey) with him.

This was on the board outside his room. Its says Welcome Broderick. And then the lower line says "We are outside". In case you were wondering. =D

Broderick rushed right out to the playground. He wasted no time. I told him the first day that I could stay there for a while with him until he was ok. After we were there about 2 minutes, he informed me that I could go. Sniff .... that's me wiping a tear.

Venice

2009-09-01T22:33:00.005+02:00

We disembarked in Venice and had a couple days until our flight back to Denmark. Venice was also beautiful. Its really unlike any other city I've seen. Zero cars!!! Everywhere you turned was another photo opportunity ... the old building, the canals, the bridges. But what made this city beautiful also made it a nightmare for children. All the bridges had stairs, there was water ... everywhere, and there was zero parks in the town. So not the best place for young children, especially if you're trying to push them in a stroller. =) Not fun to have to carry it over every bridge you came too.
Gondolas floating by the canal by our hotel.
Broderick being adorable! =D
Anika and I in Saint Mark's Square.
St Marks Cathedral ... they claim to have the remains of the apostle Mark inside.
Fiona and Broderick by a canal.
Walking through the town. We were very lost at this point, but that was ok.
On Accademia Bridge over the Grand Canal.
Brad, Anika and myself inside the Doge Palace.
Broderick had a lot of fun chasing the pigeons with Fiona. Venice had millions of pigeons! And they weren't scared of humans!
The 4 of us in St Marks Square ... the end of a great vacation!

We were heading back to Denmark and a week later we were to have Aaron and Luann join us. We were so excited to have visitors again!

Dubrovnik

2009-08-31T11:34:00.005+02:00

Our last stop of the cruise was a stop in the mideaval city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. It was a relaxing day as we just strolled through the streets of the old city behind the huge walls. It was beautiful.

Pillars of Rector's Palace.

Brad in front of Church of St. Blasius. In this church is a very detailed statue of Jesus hanging on the cross. Broderick was very concerned about Jesus and all his "owies".

Fiona, myself and the kids standing on the main street through town, Placa.
Broderick was excited to see an old fishing boat, of course he thought it was a pirate's ship.

A picture from on top of the old city wall looking over the Placa. The town is known for its red tile roofs.

There's Fiona watching the kids while we were walking on top of the wall. They're sitting by Onofrio's fountain, which is a 16 sided water fountain from the 14oos. You can still drink out of it.

This was the end of the cruise for us. The next morning we would be back in Venice and off the boat. It really was a great time and a relaxing way to travel to different sites. And ... it gave me some of the hot weather that I was missing back in the midwest.

Olympia

2009-08-31T11:11:00.004+02:00

We docked at Katakolon, Greece one day and Brad and I took a taxi in to ancient Olympia while Fiona stayed back on the boat with Broderick. What a cool place to see. The ruins were a huge site. It was neat to see where the original olympics were held. They have been around since the 8th century BC.

Here's Brad holding up pillars from the gymnasium, where athletes would practice.

Here I am to the entrance of the stadium.

Here is the stadium. On the right side you can see a square formation where there was chairs for the judges, but the rest of the people sat on the grass. There was room for 45,000 spectators. I thought it was interesting the track wasn't one like we see now, but just a straight shot.

Brad crossing the finish line with Anika on his chest. They still have the original start and finish lines.
On my mark, get set, GO .....

There were many races going on between people there. The lenth was just over 192 meters long. People were pretty tired by the time they got to the finish line! That is a long way to sprint if you haven't been training. And it was VERY hot that day.

This is Hera's Alter where the olympic flame is lit for the olympic games. It is lit by women playing the role of "priestesses". They would light the flame using the sunlight and a mirror.

Next stop ... Croatia!

Athens

2009-08-31T11:00:00.003+02:00

When we came to Athens, we actually docked in Piraeus and took a short drive to the ancient Acropolis. What do you even say about such an amazing city such as Athens? The birthplace of democracy, the cradle of western civilization, home to amazing philosophers. I couldn't believe we were actually standing there.

Here we are in front of the Parthenon. Interesting bit of history, the Parthenon was completely intact until the 1600s. It was under turkish control and had been turned into a mosque. They were storying their munitions in there and a canon from the Venetians hit the parthenon and it was destroyed.

The Temple of Athena.

Mars Hill is located right at the base of the Acropolis in Athens and it has Pauls Unknown God sermon from Acts 17 inscribed in Greek there. I love being places with Biblical history. Imagining these great men of God standing there, exactly where we were standing. Amazing!!!

Here's Brad standing on top of Mars Hill with the Acropolis in the background.

Athens was so cool, not just because of the amazing buildings, but the amount of history that has taken place there over the last 3,000 years.

Santorini

2009-08-31T10:22:00.005+02:00

Ahhhh .... Santorini. Absolutely stunning. Simply gorgeous! The island is the result of one of the largest volcanic eruptions ever recorded. You approach it in a lagoon, surrounded on 3 sides by tall cliffs. These cliffs are just beautiful with the cities build into the sides of it. In the picture above, you can see the white buildings of Fira, the capital.

Another view of the cliffs.
The 4 of us with the town of Fira behind us.

There is a major problem with all the cliffs when you come to the island. It makes it very difficult to get to the top. So ... they have one cable car running up and down.

Ok, this poses a problem. We arrived on a cruise ship .... that means a couple thousand people ... plus we weren't the only ship. And ... we were on an Italian cruise line. Now I love Italians, their food, their language and many other things about their culture ... BUT there is one thing that drove us all crazy on our trip. They don't know how to stand in line. People were cutting in line like crazy! Crowds of people! That made it take even longer to get on a car.

Needless to say, coming down the mountain, we decided to take a little burro path that zigzags steeply down the side. It was packed with people and covered in slick donkey "waste". I slipped and fell on more than one occasion. Yes, my ego was a little bruised. Yes, going up and down made our short visit there quite stressful - especially with 2 little ones.

But ... look at this picture! It truelly is gorgeous. I really am so glad I saw it and hope to make it back to this island some day. They have beautiful red and black sand beaches and some other amazing cities. Next time I want to arrive without thousands of other people ... waiting for a cable car.

Corfu & Mykonos

2009-08-31T01:04:00.005+02:00

Our first stop was Corfu. This was our first view or Greece as we sailed there. It was beautiful. It is located very close to Albania and has a very old history, from before the 7th century BC.

In the Corfu landmark of Liston.

Palaio Frourio which literally means old fortress

There was beautiful old crumbling buildings.

Fiona and Broderick at the base of the old fortress by the water.

The next evening we went to the Island of Mykonos. This island is well known for its night life. It was crazy being there at 10:30 at night and everything was open. We're use to Denmark, where things close at 5. =)
Beautiful flowers forming a canopy over the streets.

There was this enormous bird roaming the streets. I was half scared of it with that enourmous beak.

Now on to Santorini ... one of the beautiful places I have ever seen.

Our Mediterranean Cruise

2009-08-30T21:57:00.002+02:00

Bear with me as I do a little bit of backtracking...
At the end of July we took a Mediterranean Cruise. We left from Venice, then sailed on to Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Athens, and Olympia in Greece, spent our last day in Dubrovnik, Croatia and then came back to Venice. That is our ship above and it was beautiful! Very clean, very nice and many things to do.

Here is the family on the 2nd formal night. Every night they had a meal and a show afterwards. Broderick especially loved the shows.

There was a kids zone area. One night they had a disco. Broderick was very timid but decided to participate for a few moments. Here he is busting his moves.

They also had a small mini golf course. Broderick LOVES golf.
He also enjoyed swimming. Our pools on the boat were salt water pools though. We weren't big fans of this. The first time Broderick got in, he got some water in his mouth and promptly threw up. Yes, that's right ... right in the pool. Fiona quickly wisked him away from the pool. We weren't quite sure what else to do.

We were so lucky, we had awesome weather. No rain and yes it was hot, but not unbearable. No one got sunburns and no one fell off the boat.

Ok, I'm usually not much of a worrier. But on this boat different scenarios were always going through my mind of possibilities Broderick or Anika could fall over and could I jump off in time to save them. I did not like them anywhere near the sides. Maybe it would be better when they are a little older and I won't have to worry so much. I know, I know. I was being paranoid, but I couldn't help it, I'm a mom.

So I will take you to each of the places that we visited. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Greece was BEAUTIFUL!

Updates from our everday life

2009-08-19T12:34:00.003+02:00

I just wanted to give you an update of our everyday life here, because in between our travels and visitors we do still live our normal life.

In 2 weeks, Broderick starts kindergarten. They call it børnehave here. This is hard on me. He is not quite 3 years old. When we moved here I dealt with sending him to dagpleje, but he has loved it there and I am so comfortable with Hanne, the lady who watches him. So its hard to change to something new, something unknown. There are many kids, compared to just 4. He's the little guy there too, as there are 3-6 year olds in the børnehave. I'm also a little worried about the language. His dagpleje mor understands english well, so he gets away with not speaking a lot of Danish, he may be forced to step up his language skills.

But ... I don't know why I'm so worried. Broderick is SO excited. We went to visit last week and he loved it. Everywhere we toured he wanted to stop and play and he wasn't happy when we left. Also, one of the boys who was in his dagpleje is also in his new class.

I'll have to pack his lunch when he goes to børnehave, so I asked Hanne his dagpleje mor what he has been eating in dagpleje. She informs me he likes liver puree, cold makrel and pickled herring!!!! What? Are you sure? Broderick - the boy I can't get to drink milk or eat a green bean? He eats cold fish on grainy rye bread .... and he likes it? I still am not sure I believe it!!!

These are pictures of Broderick walking with this dagpleje group. Usually 2-4 times per week, they walk somewhere to town to meet up with other groups or play in a park. The little kids sit in the barnevogn and the bigger kids walk along the side holding on. They walk far, almost a mile to some places. You will see groups like this all over town during the week going to their different destinations. They don't move at a very fast pace, but they get there!

One of the places Broderick goes to during the week is called legestue. It means "play room" and their dagpleje group meets with a few others. He loves it and it is the highlight of the week for him. Yesterday was his last time going.

Here he is ready to go to legestue.

Anika is getting so big too. She's almost 5 months old. She's eating cereal now ... she makes a huge mess.... but she enjoys it! Things are very expensive in Denmark, but one thing is constant throughout the world and that's IKEA. Its cheap even here, but its 1 1/2 hours away. I drove there yesterday to get a highchair for Anika (only 100 kroners - that's less than 20$). I get there and all they had were blue! So Anika gets a boy highchair. Oh well, I don't think she cares. She loves sitting in it. She loves to look around and see what is going on, so this puts her at our level and she likes that.

The other day we walked downtown. Here's Brad with the kids on one of the many walking paths and below is Broderick and I in our park. They have a ton of hydrangeas blooming right now. Very pretty!

In two days, Brad's cousin Jeff and Terrean and their two kids and his sister Marie are coming to visit. We are SO excited to see them. We are going to Skallerup Klit, a resort on the coast near here for 4 days. It will be perfect for the kids as there is so much to do there. We're looking forward to a little relaxation and Broderick can't wait for his cousins to come!

Farvel Fiona

2009-08-17T10:27:00.004+02:00

For 3 months, I've lived the good life!

I had a nanny!

She was awesome!

And ... we miss her already. One week ago we took Fiona to the airport to say goodbye after 3 months of being together. Brad and I were able to sleep in (Broderick was dragging her to parks at 7 am sometimes), we were able to date (she would keep both kids in the evening), and we were able to travel places and see things that would not have been possible if we always had Broderick with us. Some places aren't the best to take kids (like museums) and they need naps. She helped around the house too ... cleaning, dishes, laundry! What more could I have asked for?

Broderick ADORED her! From the moment we met her in the airport and Broderick went up to her and told her, "I'm looking for a yady Fona" to the day she left, Broderick couldn't get enough. He had a constant playmate. Someone who would sing songs, play in the park, and build sandcastles all day long. He was a bit possessive at times and didn't always like it when Fiona would hold Anika, "Put her down Fiona!" He would frequently give her such commands.

The poor girl has put up with a lot more than she bargained for though. She has been puked on (by both kids), pooped on, hit, and has heard more crying than she probably thought she could handle. Even dealing with all that, somehow she still loved my kids. And she even learned a little Danish.

She was a fun person to have around, interesting to talk to, a good friend. She runs cross country at college too, so she was an inspiration for me to start exercising. Of course I didn't do as well as I should have in that area, but it was a start. =)

It was quite emotional at the airport with tears all around. Poor Broderick was crying, "You can't leave me. You have to stay with me." over and over. Poor Fiona, I don't think that made it any easier for her. I know she was missing her family and friends a ton though, so I'm sure she was excited to get back and see them.

Thanks Fiona for all your hard work and help. We all loved having you! Good luck at your last year of school. We hope you loved it too! God Bless You!!!!!!!!!

Here's a few memories of her time here...

The 3 of them at our house
Broderick and Fiona in Ireland

Painting with Broderick (she did lots of crafts with him)

Saeby, Denmark on the coast

Skagen, Denmark

Eating gelato

In Corfu

Museum in Paris

Cuddles with Anika

Saying Goodbye to the Witzigs!

2009-08-15T14:58:00.003+02:00

After we got back from our trip to Bavaria, we had a couple days before Marshall and Stacia headed back to the US of A, so we showed them a few more places near us.
The Skagen lighthouse.

Marshall and Stacia standing in the water where the 2 seas meet in Skagen. It was cold that day, Stacia is freezing in this picture.

We went to medieval days at Voergaard Slot (castle) near our place in Denmark. This is a well preserved renaissance castle. At medieval days, they have jousting, musicians, and soldiers. I thought Broderick would really enjoy the horses and jousting, but we got there after they had already finished for the day.

Marshall and Stacia in front of the castle.

Broderick was learning how to carve wood on a medieval tool.

Fiona trying out some stilts.

Fiona and Broderick going to walk the log.

Aunt Stacia cuddling with Anika.

The largest moving sand dune in Northern Europe is located in Northern Denmark near Skagen. It is called the Råbjerg Mile. We also walked out there a little to look around. It actually is moving east as much as 18 meters per year.

On the desert.

Of course we had to stop for some of the best ice cream in Denmark. =)

Broderick and Anika

Marshall and Stacia were getting ready to leave. And when Broderick went over to take a picture with them, he stubbed his toe and wasn't happy about it as you can see from the picture. Oh well.

It was so good to have family come and visit. When you rarely see family, its such a treat to be able to spend some time with them and show them our corner of the world.

Thanks so much for coming Marshall and Stacia. We loved having you and hope you had a great time.

The rest of our trip with Stacia and Marshall ...

2009-08-14T21:56:00.006+02:00

Finally, the rest or our trip with Stacia and Marshall. I'm a little behind but slowly getting caught up. After our day in Rothenburg, we drove down towards Austria and stopped in the area of Fussen, Germany. We saw both Hohenschwangau Castle and Neuschwanstein Castle. Both beautiful, but different. Neuschwanstein was built by King Ludwig (he grew up in Hohenschwangau) whom they think was crazy and he actually bankrupted Bavaria and the castle was never finished after he mysteriously died.
Hohenschwangau Castle

The weather was great that day! =)

Neuschwanstein Castle - we walked up to a bridge that gives the best view of the castle and were so disappointed to see that whole side of the castle covered in scaffolding. Oh well, it was still beautiful.

Neuschwanstein Castle

After visiting the castles, we drove down into Austria and stayed in Insbrook that evening. The next morning we drove to the Eagle's Nest - Hitler's retreat in the Alps. This retreat was given to Hitler as a birthday gift from the Nazi party. Unfortunately Hitler is seriously afraid of heights and was there only about 10 times. You had to take a very narrow road and then take an elevator up through the mountain to reach it.

Here's the Eagle's Nest, it actually had no bedrooms. It wasn't meant as a house but just a place to entertain. Hitler's house was farther down the mountain.

It offered spectacular views, the Alps were absolutely breathtaking!

After visiting the Eagles Nest (which we all agreed was the highlight of the trip), we visited the salt mines of Salzburg. This mine has been around for 7,000 years with celtic tribes mining there. It is what developed Salzburg into a wealthy and powerful city. They call salt white gold.

The make you get in traditional mining outfits to go in. You then rode trains deep into the mountains and to go down to the lower levels they have huge wooden slides (42 meters long). Those were very fun!

The next morning, we drove back towards Munich and went to Dachau Concentration Camp. What a horrifying place, unbelievable the conditions that these poor people were subjected too. The barracks which were built to house 5,000 had 32,000 people living there when the Americans liberated the camp.

The gate to the camp. The door says "Work makes Free" in English. Its too bad this wasn't true for the prisoners who were worked to death.

The crematorium.

You could have spent a lot of time here reading and learning, but we only had limited time as we had to go back to the airport and head back to Denmark. It was a lot of fun seeing these sights. Part of the enjoyment was driving from place to place as we got to see a lot of the Bavarian countryside. Well ... at least Marshall and Brad did. Stacia, Anika, and I were usually sleeping in the backseat. We saw a city 1000 years old and then things as recent as our grandparents generation. So much history, simply amazing!

10 Years Together!

2009-08-09T00:28:00.003+02:00

Wow, its been a while since I've updated, but we've been busy! We went our cruise through Greece and then spent a couple of days in Venice, came home for a few days and then we had Brad's brother Aaron and his wife Luann come to visit. We spent 4 days with them in Paris and then have been back in Denmark these last few days. It has been wonderful having visitors and traveling, but it hasn't left me much time to get things updated here. So I'll work on updating with some of our travels and pictures soon.

Today is our 10th wedding anniversary! I can not believe how fast the time has gone. It has been wonderful growing and changing together over these years. Looking back, its amazing how much we have been through and it makes us excited for the future. Who would have thought when we walked down the aisle 10 years ago, we would be living in Denmark today? We still remember our reception in our parents back yard and our honeymoon in Florida like it was yesterday.

We are so thankful to God for giving us each other. Brad is my best friend, an amazing husband and a wonderful father. I don't know why I was blessed in this way, but I am so thankful. Aaron and Luann are still here, and they offered to watch our kids with Fiona so we could go out. We took them up on the offer and went to Utzon's Cafe in Aalborg.

Little known fact ... the architect of the Sydney Opera house is from Aalborg and his name is Utzon. The cafe is located in a building that he designed. He grew up along the fjord in Aalborg, his father worked on ships, so much of inspiration comes from ships. You can tell that by looking at his work I think. My doctor over here actually recommended this place, so we have been looking for an excuse to try it.
Enjoying our meal.
The cafe ... interesting architecture.

So 10 years has come and gone. I'm sure the next 10 will go even faster. Talking with Brad tonight we were discussing what the future would hold. Of course none of us know, but its always fun to dream. We anticipate a big focus on parenting, with tee ball games, PTA, and whatever else kids that age will require.

Thank you Brad for all that you do for me. You are a gift from God!!! Of course we are so lucky to have wonderful parents who have given us an example to follow to see what a Christian marriage looks like.

I'll update again soon!

Packing Again

2009-07-18T08:58:00.002+02:00

We're up this morning packing again. We are leaving for a Grecian cruise today for one week. Do you think we'll be sick of traveling by the end of the summer? Possibly, but for now we are loving it. So, we'll see you all in about a week.

Off to Germany ...

2009-07-17T22:20:00.006+02:00

Sunday morning, we got up bright and early to catch a 6:40 AM flight to Munich. We were able to spend most of Sunday exploring the city, its too bad we were SO tired. At least Stacia and I were, for some reason our husbands seem to do fine with only about 4 hours of sleep a night. The trip started out rough for me though .... my luggage didn't make it to Munich.

Marshall and Stacia in Munich.

Glockenspeil

We climbed up the tower at St Peter's to get a great view of the city. It was a lot of steps. I think my poor pregnant sister was ready to look for an elevator.

At the Hofbrauhaus, of course there was a traditional German band playing.

Marshall and Stacia hanging out. At our table, we happened to be sitting by a girl from Phoenix ... what are the chances?

We ate at the Haxnbauer for dinner and we HAD to eat some schweinshaxn. This is a gigantic pork knuckle that can't be good for anybody's arteries. And you know we had some spaetzle with them. mmm. It is a traditional bavarian dish and quite tasty. But after a meal like that, we were definitely ready to head back to our hotel and not move!

The next morning we headed to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a beautifully preserved medieval city. My luggage still hadn't come, so we had to let the airport where we were moving to and hope it made it to our new address. I was not happy! They had given me an "emergency" overnight kit, which included an XL white t-shirt, but no underwear! I was missing my clean clothes.

It was a beautiful city with the first castle being built about 950 AD.

Walking from our little bed and breakfast to the town.

We visited a Prison Museum there, which included many forms of torture they used back then. I wouldn't want to sit in this chair.

This was at the city gate. The face that you see was used to pour hot tar on enemies when they tried to get in the door.

We went on the Night Watchman's tour that evening. We learned a lot about the city, and who knew there was so many Americans there. Our tour was full of them.

The old city square.

This is a little man door. It was in the big door and at night after the gates were closed, if a man came through, he had to come through this door which was only big enough for one man.

The next morning we headed south to see some castles and then on to Austria. The men of course loved driving on the Autobahn. Thankfully us ladies were sleeping in the backseat. Sometimes its better not to know.....

More to follow! Oh and good news, my luggage made it to Rothenburg.

Birthday Parties ... Danish style!

2009-07-17T21:12:00.003+02:00

The weekend of the 4th of July, our good friend Jørgen turned 50. So, we spent the 4th of July at his birthday party. Marshall and Stacia joined us. I have to say it was one of the most diverse and fun parties I have ever been too. They had amazing food that never stopped coming and all sorts of fun games and competitions to play.
Broderick had fun playing badmitton.

You don't want to know how long Marshall and Brad were tied together trying to figure out how to get seperated.

Go-Kart Rides!!!!

Learning to play the original Viking game of Kubb, we're bringing this one home with us.

One of the funnest games was this harness connected to a big piece of rubber tied around a tree, you had to try to get the farthest out and mark your spot with a flag. It was fun!

Marshall trying to go a little farther ...

Marshall and his buddy, Georg. Marshall makes friends wherever he goes.

Jørgen explaining the rules to this game. They shot pop cans way up in the air and you tried to catch them.

There were a few other games we played there, all very fun. One you had to ride a bike on a 2x4 across a shallow pond without falling in. Brad was the first across and he did it without a hitch.

Happy 50th Birthday Jørgen. Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day!

Marshall and Stacia Visit!

2009-07-15T23:39:00.000+02:00

After driving from Phoenix to Chicago and dropping their 5 kids off at my parents (thanks mom and dad), my sister Stacia and her husband Marshall flew to Copenhagen. I met them there by myself (Brad was working) and spent a day with them there showing them the town before flying on to Aalborg. I left little Anika for a little more than 24 hours, it was difficult, but she did so good taking a bottle and Fiona said there were no problems.
Marshall and Stacia in Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen.
We stayed in the Cabinn! The room they gave us had bunk beds with a trundle and our bathroom was tiny. Also, there are few places with air conditioning over here and it was 80 degrees when they came and we couldn't open our window more than an inch. It was HOT! Marshall was nice enough to figure out how to open the window all the way, about an hour before we left ... that didn't help much. Thanks anyway Marshall.
While walking through Copenhagen, Marshall got pulled into a street show to help. What a coincidence that the man putting on the show was called "Arizona Jones". I have great video of Marshall flitting around like a bird and doing some dance moves, but I was forbidden to post them. We had a nice time in Copenhagen and then headed back to Aalborg. Unfortunately Stacia was coming down with a bad cold/sinus infection so she wasn't feeling great.

We had a few days in Brønderslev and then we headed to Munich with them. The weather was beautiful while they were here, so we were able to spend time outside and show them our little area of the world.
Marshall and Stacia at the beach in Lønstrup.

At the lighthouse that is slowly getting buried by sand.

The beautiful lighthouse and the sea!

Marshall and Fiona climbed to the top of the lighthouse. If you look at the picture below, you can see the tiny hole you have to crawl through to get to the top. Since Stacia is pregnant and I had Anika on my chest, we opted not to do it. =)
I think at one time they tried to close off the lighthouse, but people broke the bricks out and still go to the top.
Saturday, Marshall and Brad went golfing with our friend Brian while us ladies hung out at home. We had a little shopping to do and introduced Broderick to the sprinkler. (He was scared of it). That evening we took them to Aalborg to eat dinner at Duus Vinkjaelder, which is in an old building that was a favorite hang out for German soldiers after they had occupied Denmark during WWII. After dinner, Fiona took the kids home and we walked around town for a little bit. I think they got sick of all the walking they had to do while they were here. =)

We didn't want to stay out too late since we had to catch a 6:40 flight the next morning to Munich. Stay tuned for more of adventures ...

2009-07-15T00:13:00.003+02:00

Its been a while since I've posted. We're doing good over here. My sister and her husband, Marshall and Stacia just left yesterday. We had a great time with them while they were here. We spent some time in Denmark, but also went to Bavaria and Austria. So I will post some pictures and stories soon.

A day in Skagen!

2009-06-27T22:26:00.003+02:00

Saturday was a gorgeous day in Denmark, the weather was perfect ... maybe even a little hot! We went to Skagen for the day which is the northern most town in Denmark and from there went to Grenen, which means "branch" in English. Grenem is the northern most point of Denmark and is where the North Sea and the Kattegat Sea meet. You can see it on the map below. On the picture above you can see how the waves are coming from both directions and hitting each other.

We went to the actual town of Skagen and had lunch and walked around first. Broderick likes to "walk on water". Skagen has been popular with artists for centuries, it is thought to have a special light.

At Grenen This is a famous pose people do here, they have one foot in each sea.

Be careful walking barefoot ... there were a lot of jelly fish on the beach. Broderick wasn't worried about these at all, but was quite concerned about the sharks.

Broderick loves the beach and loves running in the water!

On the way home, we stopped in Tversted to have some icecream We were told this little blue hut has the best ice cream in all of Denmark, so we had to give it a try. It was good!

We have loved having this great weather here, but I forgot one important detail when wishing for this warm weather ... we don't have air conditioning here. Thankfully there's not as many bugs here because we have our windows wide open, but our house is still HOT!

Sankt Hans Aften

2009-06-26T22:45:00.007+02:00

Tuesday evening, we celebrated the holiday of Sankt Hans Aften, or St. John's Eve. It is historically both a pagan and Christian celebration. It is a combination of the summer solstice and the birth of John the Baptist. They burn a large bonfire which it thought to ward of evil spirits. A tradition of putting a witch made of straw and cloth on the bonfire emerged as a remembrance of the church's witch burnings in medievel times. This burning sends the "witch" away to Bloksbjerg, a mountain in Germany where the great witch gathering was thought to be held on this day. After lighting the fire they sing traditional hymns around the fire.

Broderick was quite excited to go to this bonfire on the beach and "burn a witch". Hmmm dad... maybe not the best thing to tell our 2 year old. We had dinner at our friends Morten and Lizbeth's house and then went to the beach to see the bonfire. They had a great BBQ and just when we thought we couldn't put any more food in us, they brought out hotdogs. I guess any BBQ in Denmark ends with hotdogs, it doesn't matter how much you've already eaten. In America, that's our main course! Here's the bonfire. It was huge! Unfortunately we got there a little late, so the witch was already gone and her ashes on the way to Germany. Oh well.
Here we are with Fiona, Caroline, Christian, and Niels-Ole.

Morten and Lizbeth have a little beach house. They are these tiny white cabins that are brought out each summer and taken away each fall. Its a place you can store things, change clothes or have some cake and coffee, which is what we did after the bonfire.
Broderick was kept busy digging holes on the beach with Niels-Ole and another friend. This is at about 10:30 at night. I still cannot get use to the fact that its still light out past midnight and if Anika wakes up at 3AM to eat, its already light out. Crazy!!!

It was a little cool that evening, but since then it really has warmed up. Its been around 25 degrees celsius which is the upper 70s. We spent the last 2 days at the beach, unfortunately it is always more windy there so we come home covered in a layer of fine sand.

Brad was in Norway this week for business and just got home. I'm not sure what we'll do this weekend, but I'm sure we'll be outside enjoying the nice weather while we have it! Next week my sister Stacia and her husband Marshall are coming to visit! So excited to see them!!!!!!

Glædelig Farsdag!

2009-06-21T21:08:00.005+02:00

Happy Father's Day or Glædelig Farsdag! We had a beautiful day here. I've been complaining about the weather, but today was about 70 degrees, sunny, and no wind. Perfect day to be outside. They do celebrate father's day here, but it was a couple weeks ago.

We started out the day by Brdoerick and I going to the bakery and getting some danishes for breakfast. Yummmm! Our pastor from our home church is doing a series on the family, so we watched a sermon of his from the internet. With the weather so perfect, we were able to enjoy lunch outside. I made Brad some chicken lip dip - much easier than the actual chicken lips and he still loves it.

For dinner, it was dad's choice and he wanted a hamburger from Jerry's. Brad thinks this burger is one thing that is better here than back home.

Here's Daddy with his kids and father's day gifts. Fiona and I thought it would be fun to do plaster casts of their hand/foot prints. It was not all that fun. We had to scrap the first ones we did. Let's just say Broderick does not like to get his hands dirty, we had to do a lot of bribing to get his hand in there. Anika had the problem that as soon as her foot or hand would touch the plaster, she would curl them up. Broderick was excited to decorate with the beads, unfortunately he enjoyed dumping the beads on the floor as well - the whole bowl. Finally ... we finished and they actually turned out pretty cute.

The best gift a father can give his children is the knowledge of Jesus. Every night Brad prays with Broderick and talks to him. A couple of nights ago, Brad said it seemed to click with Broderick ... who God is ... who Jesus is! Its so precious to see your child begin to understand God and what that means for his life.

To our Dads and Grandpas... we love you so much. Thank you for giving us such love and support in our lives. We miss you all very much! Hope you all have a great Father's day!!!

Summer is coming ...

2009-06-18T23:33:00.009+02:00

So I've been a bit depressed lately about the weather. Nice spring weather, but no hot summer days yet. Brad was discussing this with his coworkers at a meeting this week and they told him, "Oh, she'll regret saying that next week, its going to be HOT." Excited as I was to hear this, I eagerly looked at the weather forecast to see what was ahead. They were right ... its going to be in the 70s. What a heat wave. =)

I should be happy that I'm not dealing with the tornados like those back home, but we actually did have a thunderstorm the other morning. That's not very common here.

Here's a few of our recent happenings...
This is how Broderick eats his raspberries. He refused to eat them until we showed him how to put them on his fingers. Then he thought he was so cool "eating his fingers."

Anika in her dress from Aunt Luann. She is 3 months this weekend. I can't believe it.

She likes to smile and giggle now!

Broderick likes to ride the horse in Aalborg with "that man".

Summer fun (even though we're not having summer weather) ... Fiona and Broderick made popsicles. Broderick loves all the fun projects Fiona does with him.

Last Sunday they had a fair in the park in Brønderslev. Different musicians, some artwork and food.

We saw Jørgen and Kirstine there. Great friends. There was jazz music being played in this section.

Mideaval Reenactments. Too bad Broderick was napping. He would have liked this.

Traditional Danish clothes and dancing.
Some traditional music, gotta love the accordians.

A lazy day here. Brad is golfing in a work tournament and Fiona and Broderick headed to Summerland, so Anika is helping me get some stuff done around the house. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Fårup Sommerland

2009-06-13T22:33:00.009+02:00

Today it was in the upper 60s and sunny so we went to an amusement park about 15 minutes away from our house called Fårup Sommerland. They had so many fun things for children to do. Broderick amazed us with his lack of fear on some of the faster rides.

Riding an airplane.

"This will make your tummy tickle Broderick."

"That's ok, I like it Mommy."

A spinning ride - not my idea of fun.

There are a some differences between the amusement parks here and back in the USA. Here's a few of them ...

They are very pet friendly and have water bowls throughout the park for the dogs.

This is a fresh vegetable stand at the park. Selling all sorts of fruits and vegetables for people to snack on. Maybe that's a reason obesity isn't quite the problem over here as in the states. =)
Ready for bed! Broderick was worn out and very tired, but I think he loved it!

Ireland

2009-06-11T22:49:00.001+02:00

This past weekend was another holiday in Denmark, so we had a long weekend and decided to take advantage of this. We found inexpensive tickets to Ireland on Ryan Air ... of course after our experience with them and all the penalties we received, our trip was not all that inexpensive. I would recommend NOT asking Brad about this. =) But ... aside from Ryan Air, our trip was great. Ireland is a beautiful country and we are so glad we were able to see it. Fiona's family is from Ireland. She was actually born there and moved to the states when she was 1, so she made a good tour guide.

We flew into Dublin and rented a car. Of course they drive on the other side of road. After a few near accidents in the parking garage and dealing with horrible traffic in Dublin, Brad started to get the hang of it. I was quick to let him know if he was too close to the left side since I was inches from stone walls at times.

We stayed near the west coast in County Limerick at Adare Manor. It was a beautiful old manor house with beautiful gardens and grounds to explore. Bill Clinton actually stayed here when he was president.
Here's the manor house. Broderick was so excited to be staying in a "castle".

Kids have a way of keeping you humble. We visited the Cliffs of Moher on our first day there. Broderick got into a coughing fit while we were trying to pose for a picture and started throwing up ... and throwing up ... and throwing up. We got him cleaned up the best we could, but then sheepishly snuck away from the pile left on the ground. On the way back down, we saw many wet footprints near the pile and one frustrated man step in it and then go to the grass to try to get his shoe clean. We quickly walked by ... laughing. Ok, I know that is mean, but the whole situation really was funny.

At the Cliffs of Moher, Broderick thought he was the "King of the Castle". He recovered quickly from his "incident". Don't get too close to the edge.

The Cliffs of Moher ... gorgeous!!!!

After the cliffs, we visited Bunratty Castle nearby. It is a well preserved castle, and many of the rooms inside have been restored to give you an idea of what life would have been like there.

They had very narrow, steep, spiral staircases which caused a problem with people trying to go up and down at the same time. A little closterphobic at times.

The 2nd day, Brad and I took Anika and drove around the Ring of Kerry. This is a scenic drive through Kerry County in southwest Ireland. It was beautiful. Anika did good and slept most of the way. We didn't think Broderick would enjoy a several hour scenic drive, so him and Fiona hung out back in Adere.

She arises - for a little bit anyways.

The roads were a bit narrow. You didn't want to meet a tour bus coming the other direction. You would often have lines of traffic having to back up and go off the road for these buses to get by.

After the Ring Of Kerry, we stopped by the Muckross House. It was beautiful, but a big mistake because driving back to our hotel after this was the same time a big Gaelic Football game was finished and we hit horrible traffic. I never thought we would have such traffic problems in this small country.

Broderick giving Anika a piggy back ride.

In our hotel gardens.

While we went to the Ring of Kerry, Broderick and Fiona stayed back near our hotel and town. They went to visit some castle ruins and a church nearby our hotel. Broderick loved it.

Fiona and Broderick

Visiting the castle, the tour guide let Broderick help open the door. He thought he was pretty cool.

Broderick wearing a King's robe, we called him King Broderick on this trip. He had no objections. Of course most of the time he was kept busy looking for leprechauns.

An Irish cottage Fiona and Broderick visited. Broderick liked to see the cottages.

Daddy and Broderick

A family portrait in the hotel gardens.

There was a Cedar Of Lebanon tree by our hotel from the 1640s. It is the oldest in all of Great Britian and Ireland.

On the way back to Dublin to go to the airport, we were able to stop and visit a friend, Nate Anderson, from my high school who lives about 15 minutes from the airport. We didn't have much time, but it was good to see him again and meet his wife and 2 little girls. I forgot to take a picture though - ugh!

Driving home from the airport, Broderick was chillin' in the backseat. He got in the car and wanted his hat and sunglasses. Yes it was 10 at night, but as you can see in the picture, its still very light out at this time of night.

So ... Ireland was beautiful. We loved all the fish and chips we ate and everything is so green. But... now I am ready for some hot summer weather and I'm not sure I'm ever going to get it. Its been pleasent and so was Ireland, but its like we're stuck in a perpetual spring with frequent wind and rain. I know that doesn't sound too rough, spring is great but I love hot summers - and I'm close to a beach and ocean. So bring on the hot sunny days ... please!? These long days are great though, it doesn't get dark until after 11 right now.

Tonight Brad and I are going to a Gris Fest ... literally translated as a Pig Party. It would be like a hog roast in the states. Its for Brad's work, the factory workers are putting it on. Its raining now... again .... so I hope that clears up before tonight.

Megan is 30 ... boo hoo!

2009-06-09T19:29:00.003+02:00

On June 4th, 1979 my parents were blessed with a baby girl ... that baby girl of course was me. At least I hope they feel it was a blessing. I can't believe its been 30 years since that happened. I'm a little sad by this, as it makes me feel a little bit OLD! We were able to celebrate by Brad and I going out ... by ourselves! What a treat! Thanks Fiona!
I'm so lucky to have such a great little boy.

Going out on our date!

I was so lucky to get a couple of packages in the mail too!!!! My mom sent me a "Birthday Party in a Box". With the #30 all over the package so everyone would know how old I was turning. Thanks a lot mom. There were all sorts of goodies from back home, for everyone - even Fiona! Thanks so much mom!

I've had a great 30 years so far. I know everyone says it, but it is so true how fast time goes. It still feels like I'm just out of high school. I hope I have many more years with my family and I hope the remaining are as good as the first 30 have been. Thanks to all my family and friends for the great years you've given me! I wish I was closer to celebrate with all of you!