Megan is 30 ... boo hoo!

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!

A day at the beach!

We have one official girl book. It was a gift to Anika from Brad's cousin Laura. Broderick likes to read it to Anika.

What a good big brother.

We went to the beach Monday, it was a holiday here so Brad had off work and the weather was perfect. Broderick loved it. He ran up to us once and announced, "I am having SO much fun!!!" Then he quickly ran away to continue playing. Here he is proudly by the sand castle him and Fiona built.

Here is Broderick bringing back water for his moat. Behind him you can see a couple of friends he made ... minus clothing.

Hey ... we are in Europe!

Underdoggies

Broderick has discovered underdogs or underdoggies as he calls them. Fiona introduced him to them. It took me a while to figure out what he was asking for. I thought he was saying, "I'm a daddy!"

Evening Out

So, I can't believe Anika is already over 2 months old. Time goes by so fast. She is getting big, already starting to outgrow some of her clothes. She's getting more smiley, but you still need to work them out of her. She is still a good little girl and quite a snuggler. Broderick is starting to really like her, quick to check on her and give her a pacifier (quite forcefully sometimes), when she isn't happy. He likes to have her lay by him before bed and always asks if she can sleep with him. And she's getting some hair on top - how exciting. She also takes a bottle sometimes, which is great. This will give Brad and I the chance to have a date once in a while.

Recently we met some of our friends at a seafood restaurant on the east coast. They had a buffet which was nice, because you could try all sorts of different things. Of course we have no idea what we were eating many times, but it was still good. Its very difficult to translate names of fish, especially when they may not be as common or something we even have in the states.

Broderick was a little scared of the prawn.

We walked along the coast afterwards - beautiful, but a little scary at times as there were many places for Broderick to fall in ... and of course he wasn't excited to hold our hands.

Our friends, Brian and Lise, recently put in an American Basketball hoop, and a court to go along with it. They are huge fans of the sport - not so common over here.

Broderick loved it of course. We got home quite late. It is still light out past 11pm right now, so you don't realize how late it is many times. This is great, we love the long days. Unfortunately, just because you stay up later, doesn't mean you get to sleep in.

A Ride on the Ferry

We recently took the ferry from Denmark to Kristiansand, Norway. We really loved Norway, we saw only a little bit of it, but it was gorgeous. Big granite rocks with amazing colors, very green and a lot of water. Denmark is pretty flat so it was nice to see some elevation changes.

Broderick liked the boat ride and enjoyed looking at the ocean.

Coming into Kristiansand.

The place we stayed really talked up these brand new steam showers they had recently put in. They were the most confusing things we had ever seen. We finally managed to get the water running, but beyond that, we were clueless on how the rest of it worked.

Our first full day there we went to the "Dyreparken" or Animal Park. Its like a zoo, but with a little more. It was not that warm out, but that didn't stop Broderick, Fiona and Brad from riding the water ride. I guess it didn't really matter because if you look at the picture below, you can see how the day turned out.

Needless to say, our day ended a little earlier than planned there, but it was fun while it lasted.

The next day was beautiful weather, in the 70s. We drove north of where we were staying about an hour to Evje, just south of Byglandsfjord. We decided to do a beginner hike since we had Broderick with us. It was a 6 km hike and yes it was beginner, but very steep. Broderick did pretty great considering, he climbed up, but wanted to be held most of the way down.

It was nice enough that day to spend some time at the beach, so after our hike and a short nap for Broderick, we went there.

Norway really was so beautiful - very picturesque everywhere you looked.

After dinner at a seafood place on the coast. Good thing we have Fiona, we now get pictures with all of us sometimes. =) Except Anika this time.

The next morning we went to the canon museum. The 2nd largest canon in the world is in southern Norway and there is an identical one in Denmark. The nazis placed these during WWII to control the water way between Norway and Denmark. These canons covered most of the water except for a small area that was heavily mined. It must have been a good deterent because the allied forces never tried to cross these waters.

Here is one of the mines.. It was huge.

The canon. The bunker that this canon is in is unchanged since WWII and they actually turn everything on each week to make sure everything still works. It was pretty amazing to see. My engineer husband could have spent hours there.

The view from the top of the bunker.

Brad and Broderick climbing out of the bunker.

Coming back into Denmark ... not very mountainous, but still beautiful.

We really like Norway and hope to go back, there are some amazing places to see. Unfortunately most of the hiking is a little intense for Broderick.

Fiona is here!

We are so excited to have Fiona staying with us for most of this summer. She will be such a big help to us while we are traveling and exploring with our two kids. Her family goes to church with us back in Iowa and when we worked with the youth group, she was one of our students. Broderick has been looking forward "to that yady, fona" to come (that lady, Fiona). He already adores her.

Mother's Day!!!

Here's what I would consider two of the finest kids ever!!!! Of course I'm not bias or anything. =D Anika Mae
Broderick Jon

I love being a mother so much. It amazes me how much you learn from your kids each day. Already I can see differences in their personalities and am so excited to see them as they interact more and mature. Being a parent is not anything someone can prepare you for, so I'm so thankful that God is always there to give me direction and hear my cries for help.

Our friends were still here on Mother's Day, so we went to Skallerup Klit again. I knew Broderick would love the water park, and us adults took turns going to the spa. It was Mother's Day, after all.

This was Anika's first trip to the pool. Only her feet got wet this time though. I'm sure she'll get more brave. (Or mommy will get more brave.)

She's finally smiling a little more, although they're still a little tough to get out of her. When she does, it melts my heart. And I realize I'd do anything to get a smile out of my kids. Monday night, Brad went to a football game, that would be European football, otherwise known as soccer to us Americans. I took Broderick to a big tent circus that came to our town with Jorgen and Kirstine. We were in the 2nd row and Broderick LOVED it. He was watching the entire time, and taking it quite serious. They offered elephant rides during intermission, but Broderick was a little scared. I was a bit sad as I wanted an excuse to be able to ride one. Maybe next year. Although Broderick has informed me that we are to go next week, not next year. And next time, maybe we should take daddy. He's quite the daddy's boy right now.

To all you mothers out there, I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day. And those without your mothers, a special prayer for you.