The Forest Mill and Jasmine

Max has a good friend, Jasmine, that is daughter to my good friend, Patricia. Last weekend, we all got together and had an incredibly relaxing and fun Sunday in the woods close to the beach.

Here, out in the middle of nowhere, is an old, forest mill that still works. The kids can go in and see how to make flour and watch all the gears and millstones grind and churn away. There is also a little area for the kids to draw outside and Max and Jasmine spent a good half hour drawing together while the two moms yacked.

A walk in the woods led us to this fallen tree that made a perfect bridge over a little stream. The kids were like moths to a flame, so Patrica and I pulled ourselves together and walked the plank with our much more daring 3 year olds.

Another bridge to spend heaps of time on. The kids threw sticks and dirt and leaves and all sorts of things in to see whose stick or leaf came first. They looked for bubbles and fish and just enjoyed the heck out of not having to do anything at all. (So did we!)

The two little cuties. Here it is, caught on film, one of those moments of childhood where time is on your side and everything is just as it should be. Wish I could go back there sometimes. Pretty cool that having kids gives you a chance to relive all that fun in a new, grown-up way.

Saturdays

Morten has been a busy little bee, reading and reading and reading to finish up his last semester of medical school (WA-Hoo!). But he still manages to find a bit of time on Saturdays to hang out and so we make the most of it. The last few weekends we have hit the beach and the forrest to catch the last few rays of the late summer sun. Here's Max with his proud mommy (with a rapidly expanding belly...)

And here again with his catch of the day; two dried up, sandy, and quite dead starfish that went promptly in the back pocket and almost into the washing machine. And dad.

Max in the Box

And here are a couple of videos of Samuel these days. He's about 10 months old now, so he is crawling all over the place and standing up on all the furniture, trying out his new legs. Sam, like his brother and his pops, loves cars. So that's what he spends alot of time doing these days... playing with his, and often times (to Max's dismay) big brothers cars.

The other video is of me and Sammy. For whatever reason, we started rubbing our heads together awhile back. Now it's our little game. Here we are, one cozy Saturday morning after pancakes, rubbing heads.

Hangin' with Albert

Max got a chance to hang out with a new friend, Albert. He is the son of one of the girls I go to school with and is just as sweet as he can be. The two boys got along famously right from the start and we have plans to keep the friendship going. Here they are checking out the "Supersej (tr. Super Cool)" skaters downtown.



We spent the day at an indoor playroom with a huge pillow area, slides, a reading room, a coloring area and this stage with all sorts of costumes. Here is Max, as an Indian.

And Albert as a King.

Afterward, the boys sat and ate raspberry pie from home and looked out at the goats in the petting area downstairs. We visited them as well a bit later, though they were quite cranky (the goats, I mean...)

A great way to spend a chilly, autumn day!

3 is a Magic Number....

Christophe Vorlet, Pregnant Woman.Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

Suppose it's time to do this officially: We're pregnant with number 3! It's sort of been just word of mouth that we were, and I can hear lots of people don't know it yet, so, well, now you do! I'm pregnant! at just about 4 months now, due the 3rd of March.

We were to a scanning around week 12, but the picture wasn't really all that telling yet. And most of you guys have seen me pregnant in previous posts, so thought we could add some culture here instead. So yes, this is me, pregnant!

I'm just about over the tired-sick-to-your-stomach oozies; still need a nap every day (awwwww....poor me....you know how I HATE to sleep) but feeling much better. One might say normal, in a relative sense.

So, yep.... we're gonna find out if 3 is a magic number. Pretty sure it is......

What my husband is doing when I'm not watching...

This is what I got for my birthday: a FANTASTIC surprise weekend alone with my husband in the capital city of Copenhagen. Let me tell you, it was hard to come home....



We stayed at the Royal Hotel: originally designed from teaspoons to lamps by the famous Danish architect of the 1950's, Arne Jacobsen. Morten loves architecture, so it was a bit of a dream for him to stay here as well.

The lobby of the hotel. The chairs are also Arne's famous design, The Swan.


Our suite - cool "modern". Very cutting edge still today, even though this was designed a half century ago.

Our view from the 14th floor. Down below is the Town Hall, Tivoli (Europe's oldest amusement park) and the restaurant we ate at later that night, Nimb.

Nimb. One of the first things you see when entering Tivoli is this "Glass Palace". Inside was us, enjoying the start of a 4 hour meal together. I simply can't remember the last time we could sit and eat for 4 HOURS without being interrupted, having to change a diaper, or discussing pee, poop, swords, Bakugan or Ben-10. What a treat!

We sat right there at the window, first visible table to the left. The kitchens are all arranged in the center of the restaurant, so we watched them make our dishes one at a time.

The next morning, we had breakfast on the 20th floor of our hotel, also a well know Copenhagen restaurant, Alberto K. Here was our table, and here was our view. This is how to see Copenhagen!

Later that next day, Morten took us to our favorite museum when we are in Copenhagen, The Glyptotek, which means museum of sculptures. Here houses some quite world famous artists, especially Rodin.

The winter garden and The Water Mother. One of our favorites. Sculpted by a Dane around 1910 ( ?), she looks both ArtDeco and Ancient Greek at the same time.

We've all seen these guys all over the place, but seeing them up close, you really do fall in love with them.

Here he sits, and thinks, in the Glyptotek.

Afterward, Morten surprised me again, together with his aunt Ruth. Ruth and I share a birthday and are actually exactly 35 years apart! (We both liked to drink olive juice when we were kids, too!) She met us in town at, what is called a conditori: a very European tradition where you can go and have cake and coffee at coffee time. The head conditor here at La Glace has won several awards for his chocolate.

Happy Birthday to us!

Morten and his aunt Ruth.

Morten also spoiled me with a little "wellness". We relaxed at the Frederiksberg Bathhouse with saltbaths, like this one which is like the Dead Sea. You have to try to sink.. you really can't!.

We also enjoyed the hottub, steambaths with salt and oil, and our favorite: an aromatherapy sauna. Not for the faint of heart - but if you need to relax RIGHT NOW, you can't pick a better method.

Like I said, hard to come home after such an amazing weekend. Don't know when we'll get a chance to do something like this again what with the 3rd on the way, but such a surprising, relaxing and luxurious trip is enough to live on for a long, long time. Thanks sweetie!

Mom and Tom - Summer 2009

My mom and Tom, my stepdad of over 20 years, finally BOTH were able to make it to Denmark - together. We had a wonderful time, spending almost a week in a summerhouse in Skagen and then coming home to my adopted city of Aarhus to see the sights. Thanks for a wonderful summer, family!

Cold Play - Viva La Vida 2009

So this summer, Morten and I have really been able to be grown-ups! Two major concerts - SANS chil'uns! And what a concert to get to go to!

No, not my secret boyfriend - just Morten without glasses!

Two videos. The one with cool graphics and the other when the band went all the way to the

back to play for those of us who weren't

able to get up front. So we got pretty darned

close anyway! Thanks, guys!

Silly Stuff

Here's me!

Max got equipped with a whole football uniform from grandma and grandpa Denmark - so he's ready for the SuperLiga.

Uh, mom? Don't make any sudden moves, but I think there's something on my head...

I think Sammy is pretty photogenic, but we sure do capture some doozies as well. Here he is, playing with mommy's silver duck which she too, used to chomp on as a babe. He loves it as much as big brother did and crawls around the house with it half in and half out of his mouth and offers it to us to suck on too.

Another way too long video since I can't get my movie editor to work right (sure, right... it's the software, not the user...). So be forewarned. It's long - like 3 minutes. Don't feel guilty for shutting it off early. I did too.... But just had to show you that he's got "teefers" and has had for awhile, so has moved on to pasta, to rye bread and chunks of soft fruit.

He has also begun to crawl, to pull up, to eat plants, to tear up books, to chew cables and to steal his brothers cars. So, he has, as would naturally follow, learned (by example, no doubt) how to say "No!" But you can see for yourself how seriously he takes it. Good thing you're cute, buck-o!

Uncle Olav's Boat

Last year, Morten's uncle and aunt took us on a wonderful trip in their boat through Silkeborg and the surrounding lakes. This year, they invited us to come out to sea! We sailed across Aarhus bay to a quiet little inlet for coffee and homemade cake. Here's the boys, catching water droplets and looking for jellyfish.

Here we are on the way home. Afterward, we went to Olav and Marie's for a great meal out on their lawn overlooking the water. We wondered what the poor people were up to.....

U2 - Gothenburg, Sweden 2009

Morten and I got a chance to see the greatest rock band of our time - U2. Our buddy Theis went online at like, 6am one morning and included us in his list of folks to get a ticket for. We were thrilled, but not nearly as thrilled as we were the day we sat in our seats and saw them!

The future needs a big kiss.....



Us two - U2.

Our seat buddies, Sarah and Emil. Good times, guys. Only wish we could have got Emil to flash his baby blues at the T-shirt sales lady when WE wanted to buy a shirt...


The stage and the arena, filling up with ca. 60,000 people.

Our hero...

We don't want to say goodnight!

Visit from my dad and Janell

My dad as Mary Poppins up in the Queens apple tree.

Janell helps Max build a sand city at Moesgaard Beach. Me and Morten got in. The other two desert rats watched from the shore.

Sammy conquering Mt. Bob. We had a wonderfully relaxing day at the beach.

Max - hamming it up for the camera. He's realized what a fun reaction he gets from mom and dad when he makes silly faces for the camera.

Janell celebrated a birthday here with us in Denmark. So we went out to eat - minus kiddos! Thanks Anni and Jens - at our favorite Mexican place, Tortilla Flats. Happy Birthday, Janell!

Legoland!

My dad and his girlfriend, Janell visited us here and among the fun stuff we did, we took a great day trip to Legoland. Sammy stayed home with his grandma and grandpa Denmark, so we got to be pseudo-grown ups playing kids again.

The Safari cars. For those of you that have never been to Legoland, check out all the details... EVERYTHING is made of Legos - including this car (no, not the engine... though, that would be amazing!).

Mt. Rushmore

Me and Max steering the train - Ding Ding!

On the pirate ride. You can see the fort in the background made of Legos.

See the Lego sharks?

Trying the fire-engine ride.

The games were aimed at kids, so everyone won at some point or another. We liked that. So he came home with a pirates parrot, a green monkey and yep, you guessed it - Legos.

Panning for gold with pops.

The US capitol in Legos. Very cool. They used something like 3 months of man hours to make this thing and we can't even remember how many Legos.

Max and poppa-daddy on the boats. Max got to steer.