Trans-Atlantic Learning Adventures

A mother's wish for her daughter on Mother's Day

2010-05-09T11:43:00.003-05:00

A wish for my daughter on Mother's Day

I wish for you to look at me and see I am strong and proud and there for you.
I want you to see my human qualities and that we are all just learning as we go.
Please take the qualities I am trying to pass onto you and use them to the best of your abilities
But, please, don't try to be me. You are you and that is amazing.

You are stubborn, and strong willed, and kind, and smart - funny and clever. You are all the best of me and so much more. Please learn to be you. I am here to help along the way but do not let me hold you back.

I wish for you to be a mother some day if that is what you want. But I wish most on this Mother's Day that you learn to be you and appreciate all that is.

I love you -you make me a mom, you make me better, you make me proud

Water Park Getaway

2010-02-07T22:31:00.006-06:00

Once a winter Addie's family tries to make it to a water park for the weekend.
February is a good month to go. The winter is getting long and cold, and cabin fever starts setting in. There are few days that we can get outside to play, and a change of scenery is in order. February is also Addie's birthday month. It is a good way to spend some time together as a family around her day.

We went to a casino/hotel/waterpark about 2 hrs from our house. We left right after school on Friday and returned Sunday afternoon. We spent the entire day on Saturday in the waterpark - taking breaks to rest and eat back in the hotel room. We also went back to the water park for a few hours on Sunday morning before we left.

The relaxation, warm hot water, and "sunny" atmosphere really does do a lot to lift the spirits. Having fun doesn't hurt either.

Water slides, the lazy river, swimming pool, kiddie area, and hot tubs were a great way to spend the weekend and to beat the winter blahs.

A Sledding We Will Go

2010-02-01T00:34:00.003-06:00

Today, as a family, we went sledding

While the temperatures were not ideal
about 15 degrees F

and the snow condition was a bit icy

We still had a great time.

Ice Fishing

2010-01-14T17:59:00.004-06:00

Addie went ice fishing with her dad and brother. They went to Red Lake, MN. If you Google a map of Minnesota you will see the Red Lakes, as they are very large.

They drove up Friday night and slept in the fish house. They fished all day Saturday and returned late Saturday night.

Walleye was the fish of choice for the weekend. They caught a dozen fish and kept 8 of them.

Here is a pic of the ice hole that you fish down inside the house. The house has a small woodstove that keeps it warm.

Do the lakes freeze hard enough to ice fish? Do people partake in this sport?

Suffering to be beautiful

2010-01-01T23:40:00.005-06:00

Over Christmas Break Addie got her ears pierced. Her mom had given her permission to get them pierced when she was 7 but Addie wasn't ready until a few months back.The opportunity arose and we grabbed it.

Her mom's only stipulation was that there be two ladies there to pierce both ears at the same time because she remembers very well how hard it was to have the second ear done after feeling the pain of the first.

Addie made it through quite well, and only flinched a little.

But a smile quickly rose up after she saw the final product in the mirror.

a big girl bedroom makeover

2009-11-17T13:48:00.003-06:00

on sunday, sabin's room got transformed from little girl room to big girl room. we took her bed down from its legs and moved things around. we didn't repaint it, since the paint was still pretty fresh (and since the house is for sale), so it's still two shades of pink.

we moved the bookshelf over by the door to act a bit as a room divider and create a more inviting play space.

we haven't yet moved the stuff on the wall that used to be under the bed and above the desk, so the clock is in kind of a funny spot.

we decided to shelves the books in color order, using (for the most part) the ROY G BIV rainbow order (plus white, brown and black down at the end). we're pretty pleased with how it looks.

since's sabin's bed will be used more like a couch when she has friends over, i'm making a sturdy bedspread and pillows with the bright, cheery fabric below. i'm backing it with fleece, to make it soft and usable as a blankie to cuddle up in and watch t.v. as well. we do love ikea, they have such bright, cheery fabric designs.

sabin feels the room suits her much better now and she's looking forward to hanging some things on the wall. she had really been complaining about the lack of wall space since the only wall was previously blocked by her bed and the other one is a vaulted wall that's hard to hang things on. the only new item will be the new bedspread, otherwise, we got a totally new look just by changing things around. but it feels so fresh and different, it's like having a whole new room.

Which Way to the Witch?

2009-11-09T19:02:00.006-06:00

Halloween has come and gone.

The candy bags are full.

The costumes tossed aside.

The pumpkins are rotten.

Addie was a witch this year.

Almost as cute as the Humbug Witch

But, it is hard to be as cute in real life
as an illustration.

These little rugrats come close.
Addie - Witch
Aiden - Army Guy
Keegan - Fisherman
Tryllen - Batman

Fun was had by all. I wonder what Addie will be next year? She has been a cheerleader, an Asian Princess, Butterfly, a cat, and others we have already forgotten. I also wonder how many more years we have before she no longer wants to dress up.

Do you only celebrate a Fall festival, or is there Halloween and Trick-or-Treating there too?

Pumpkin Carving- USA

2009-10-25T20:16:00.005-05:00

Tonight we carved pumpkins
-Jack-o-Lanterns-

This is the first year Addie
was willing to scoop most of the
inside out.

This was also the first year Addie was allowed
to use the carving tools to carve her own pumpkin.

Addie's signature is a heart nose.

I think these are the best
Jack-o-Lanterns yet.

In order from left to right pumpkins were carved by :
Mom, mom, dad, Keegan, Aiden, Addie, Tryllen, Aiden&mom
Addie and Tryllen later made a two sided pumpkin- one happy, one scary

the potato holiday!

2009-10-23T09:29:00.000-05:00

last week was the autumn holiday - called efterårsferie - here in denmark. that meant a week off from school! yay! it's a traditional harvest holiday, where once the kids had to be let out of school to be at home to help with the potato harvest. of course, these days, it's just a holiday as kids aren't really involved in harvesting potato crops anymore.

at our house, the father thinks that we should use the opportunity to tour around denmark and see all of the tiniest, most obscure museums the country has to offer. and we usually go to the westernmost point of denmark at blåvandshuk, just to feel the wind from the north sea on our faces. and let me tell you, that wind was blowing the day we were there. here are some highlights in pictures....

tivoli, the beautiful gardens/amusement park in the center of copenhagen is all decked out for halloween during the autumn holiday, so we started out there.

where sabin got cotton candy in a dark purplish-grey color, meant to look like spiderwebs.

next stop, koldinghus, in kolding (that's in jutland, the bit of denmark that's actually attached to the rest of europe - rather than being an island, like the one we live on).

we tried to get sabin to chop some wood, but she couldn't get the axe out of that stump.

the next day, we found a maritime museum and aquarium in esbjerg, over on the west coast of denmark.

despite the windy, grey day, we went to see some colossal statues on the beach in esbjerg.

see how big they are? they're a little surreal, sitting there, looking out at the north sea. that tiny little dark spot in the middle is sabin, so it gives you an idea of the size.

then we went to the very windy beach at the west coast at blåvandshuk.

this picture sort of conveys how windy it was.

tho' it was windy, it wasn't actually that cold, the wind was strangely warm.

sabin found a little starfish on the beach.

then it was on to the little museum in randbøldal, to play with all of the water apparatus.

it was really fun.

our friend mig, from scotland, came with us.

after that we went to århus, to den gamle by (the old town) where we looked at all of the reconstructed buildings from all over denmark and tried all manner of traditional things...like stilts and riding in a horse-drawn carriage. that evening, we headed home.

we were sad to see it end, but we do love the efterårsferie. this week, was back to a regular old school and work week and there won't be any holidays again 'til christmas.

Sick

2009-10-18T16:00:00.003-05:00

Addie is sick.
She has
1) a fever
2) a cough
3) a bit of a sore throat
4) just doesn't feel good-feeling

She didn't have a fighting chance between the various viruses being spread in her hometown and school. She fought the good fight, but fell victim on Saturday. She was at Grandma's house and had to come home early due to being sick.

From 1,200ft to 12,000 ft in a week

2009-10-03T22:49:00.000-05:00

Buller has been from here to there and back again.
We left Minnesota with Buller in tow on August 13th.

We drove from Minnesota to Pierre SD the first day. We stopped at 1 am and slept for 4 hours in the hotel. Luckily Buller and the kids had fallen asleep long before that in the van. The next day we were back on the road by 6 am. We drove until we reached Colorado. We were determined to reach our destination quickly. That night we stayed in Idaho Springs, CO. We camped in a tent by a small (very small) spring feed stream that is part of the hot springs there.

We drove across the entire state of Colorado the next day. Driving from the Plains to the the top of the Rocky Mountains and back down the Western slope toward Grand Junction, CO. Once in Junction we finished the last 100 miles by heading South down two canyons. We finally arrived in the small town of Naturita, CO.

The next six pictures were taken on the last 100 miles. It is a scenic by-way. It is one of my favorite drives ever, and one that the kids did well on considering that one side of the road is a straight 1000 ft drop (I actually don't know how far down it is, but it is a straight drop down) and the other side of the road is a sheer 500ft cliff up.
Red Rock is the feature attraction in Gateway, CO. Center point of the two canyons.
Buller felt at home. We had a hard time getting him back in the van to reach our destination. We finally convinced him that where we were going would be lizard heaven. That is we had him convinced until he ran into a lizard friend (can you see the lizard? he is brown.) Like all lizards we had to trick him. Was he ever that naughty for you? Maybe it is the little lizard that persuaded him?

The kids became very good at lining up for pictures by the time the trip was over.

Looking at the spring. We visited two natural springs and filled our water bottles. The water is fresh and clean as it is filtered naturally through the mountain.

The Dolores River

"Fairy Palace" behind cabins that we stayed in. Does this rock look magical enough for fairies to live in?

The first place we went (daytrip) was Ouray. There is a hot spring swimming pool there. After visiting a water fall, and having a picnic in the park, us and 20 friends enjoyed the rest of the day in the springs going from the very very hot part of the pools to the freezing cold water slide area and back and forth.

Part of the Cascade Falls, in Telluride CO

The next day was spent in Telluride. This town was known for it's mining. Today it is more of a tourist area. After a yummy lunch at the bakery we went up to another waterfall (or as close as little legs can get us) and then road the gondola to the top of the ski area and had a look around then, back down for ice cream in the car on the way back to the cabin

Buckeye Reservoir in Utah. Natural lakes are few and far between in Colorado. Reservoirs are man made lakes. (can you see Buller hanging out in the sun?)

The water level had dropped so low that the shore line had become quite muddy. The kids found this quite fun. Addie's suit still shows the "fun" in each mud spot stain today. Good thing we have a new one for next year already. No worries.

We are ready to head back across Colorado. Picture taken in front of the little cabin we called home for the week. The van and trailer were repacked and ready to go. Our next destination was Estes Park.
We had a great trip. Including several days in Estes National Park where we finally tracked down a herd of elk. We went from our elevation of 1200ft up to 12,000ft. and back down again. We were gone for 14 days.

Buller has now been to Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota (we had him waving as we went past your grandparent's area), Nebraska, Colorado, and Utah. He has seen forests, prairies, mountains, semi-arid desert, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, mountain streams, and waterfalls.

If you look back through the blog, you will see that Buller has been to school, he has been camping, and hiking, biking, down the Mississippi River in a canoe. Buller was at family celebrations, and listened to bedtime stories snuggled in a loft bed.

He has watched Addie go from second to third grade.

He traveled short distances - to Grandma's, Headwater's of the Mississippi, in town for a statue walk, or just to the couch to watch t.v.

He learned about Earth Day, and how to fish and garden in Minnesota. He cooked a hotdish, and learned about fashion. He read favorite books, and packed school lunches.pictures of taking pictures

He has been busy.
Yes, we even showed him just how big Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox really are.
But, we have a problem.
Buller won't get out of the van. He has been clinging to his Colorado river rock on the dashboard of our van since we returned. Seems he misses Denmark, and he misses you Sabin. Buller wants to come home. Although it is a strange time for a robin to fly North (most are gone for the winter now) we are wondering if Early is ready to fly the coop too?

Addie has a brilliant idea. She doesn't want to shut your blog down, rather keep it open and post on it when you two have something you want to share. Halloween and Thanksgiving, Christmas, Addie's birthday - there are lots of things coming up. Thing to share. When you want to. I think it is brilliant.

What do you think Sabin?

Road Trippin'

2009-10-03T22:00:00.000-05:00

Buller has been one busy lizard! He has been on quite the trip in the last (almost) two weeks. I thought for a while we may not get him to return when he made it to SW Colorado and found a lizard friend in the red rocks - but we got him back in the car and he is now sleeping soundly on his river rock he has adopted from the Dolores River in CO.

We have so much to tell you. Can't wait to return home to faster internet and share all the adventures Buller has been having!

From 1200 to 12,000 ft ina week

2009-09-04T09:46:00.025-05:00

Buller has been from here to there and back again.
We left Minnesota with Buller in tow on August 13th.

Part of the Cascade Falls, in Telluride CO

He learned about Earth Day, and how to fish and garden in Minnesota. He cooked a hotdish, and learned about fashion. He read favorite books, and packed school lunches.pictures of taking pictures

school's in

2009-08-13T01:15:00.000-05:00

we've been in denial most of the week, but it's really true. school has started. it started on monday. tho' on monday, it only lasted two hours - long enough to tell what everyone had done during their summer holiday, read about Leo's summer holiday and get new school books to take 3B through the year. tuesday, the new little 0-classers (aka kindergarteners) were welcomed by the older kids - they actually gather in the schoolyard and sing a welcome song. and wednesday was the first real day, following the new schedule above.

today, i dropped sabin off with her swimsuit and towel. the swimming pool in town (which is indoors) is under renovation, so they are actually going to the beach to swim in the roskilde fjord today. sabin wasn't too keen on that because there are lots of jellyfish at the moment because the water's so warm, but she said they have the option to play frisbee on the beach if they don't want to swim in the jellyfish water. i'm eager to hear about it this evening. i think it sounds pretty cool to go to the beach for school.

i know you guys are off on vacation, so we'll wish you a great trip and see you when you get back!

Tough Girl "Stuff"

2009-08-06T10:34:00.009-05:00

Addie and I took a walk through the neighbors garden last night as the sun was setting. We took turns taking pictures of flowers.

This is an Indian Blanket Flower that Addie Girl shot.I took this cosmo's picture.

Then we took pictures of each other.
(We won't show you mine as I did not look picture worthy!)

After the sun went behind the trees and the "good" light was gone.
We came home and showed the boys that girls can be tough too.

Sometimes doing "tough girl stuff" is fun!
Especially when you are on target :)

"Click" the pic to see how we did!

Addie Geo-CachesToo!

2009-07-27T07:56:00.006-05:00

Addie and her family also Geo-cache
It is something we have been doing for 2 summers now.
This summer will make our 3rd summer.
Although we haven't cached yet this summer, we intend to on our
way out to Colorado and back.
Our goal is to get three caches in each state so that we can
add each state to our cache page.

As you can see we are called the Family Circus
it is a cartoon family in the Sunday funny papers.
They have three boys and one girl and the
similarities don't stop there.

Our geocaching adventures have taken us into some
interesting areas. We have been in the deepest forest and up the
highest fire towers (it was at the top on the outside of the tower)

As you have discovered a person can get pretty beat up in their
searches. These are called "geo-stripes" there is a whole glossary of terms
if you haven't found them yet.
This info can be found in the Geocacher's U site.
If you watch the rotating header on this site long enough you will
see Addie's dad and brother (on dad's shoulder) geocaching.

We have been down a steep ditch digging in a pile of rocks
on a lovely summer day,
(We are wearing pants to avoid poison ivy and burning nettle weeds.)

and we have been up a tall hill in the snow and cold
(another fire tower)

This was our 100th find. It was part of a series of puzzle caches
and for me (since I solved the puzzles) was thrilled to find.

Geocaching has given our family something to do together that is relatively inexpensive
(other then when gas was almost $5/gallon)
The whole family enjoys the activity (mostly)
and it takes to places that after 10 years of living here
we have never been too.

I hope you have a lot of fun - and it gets easier as you learn
If you need any hints let Addie know - she is usually
the first to find the cache.
(Which is why we play huckle-buckle -beanstalk - see glossary)

we've been geocaching!

2009-07-22T08:25:00.003-05:00

just a couple of weeks ago, sabin went geocaching for the first time with her friend andreas. we were thereby introduced to the whole idea of geocaching (addie, i heard you've been doing it for two years, you must tell us about it!). since then, i've downloaded the app for my iPhone so we can do it wherever we are and we've found three caches within walking distance of our house.

the first one, we really took the long way and ended up scratched and covered in thorns and weed seeds rather unnecessarily, but we found it! sabin led the way:

here's a shot of the wrong way we went...it was quite treacherous:

but we did find it in the end, our very first cache as a family (sabin had found several together with her friend):

and here's what was inside. it was originally a crystal cache, with quartz stones to trade, but people had traded lots of other items into the box. we had taken a piece of quartz from the black hills with us to trade, taking the cache description very seriously.

then, a few days later, we went on another geocache walk and found this book cache up near the old farm where sabin used to go to pre-school.

we thought the idea of a book cache was really cool. we brought a book to put in and we took a book out as well. super fun!

and then yesterday, we took Else, our neighbor who is a sort of surrogate grandmother to sabin along on to find a cache. it wasn't one where you trade, it was just a film case where you should log that you found it. it was a relatively new cache, as we were only the 5th ones to write in the log.

addie, i hope you'll share some of your geocaching experiences with us. we're totally newbies. and the last one was difficult for us, because we didn't expect it to be magnetic and up high, we were looking on the ground. we hope we get smarter about it! and we want to make our own cache eventually too.

Buller Finally Made It!

2009-07-20T20:15:00.007-05:00

My main goal for Buller when he arrived in the States
was for him to make it to the
Headwaters of the Mississippi River.

On Sunday July 19, 2009 Buller arrived at this location. Luckily for our cold blooded friend it was a lovely day out. Those have been few and far between in the great state of Minnesota.

The Mississippi River runs the length of the United States. It starts just outside of Park Rapids, MN at what is now a State Park named Itasca. It then travels North to Bemidji and then starts heading South toward Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico.The Mississippi flows out of Lake Itasca and travels 2552 miles before becoming part of the Gulf of Mexico and eventually part of the Ocean. A man named Schoolcraft was the person who discovered the correct source (as others had been named as such) and the short story is on the sign below.

Remember Sabin: click to enlarge it
so that you can read it better

We try to make it to Itasca State Park at least once a season if not more often. There are miles of bike/hiking trails, camping, boating, fishing, dinner cruises, naturalist programs, swimming, shopping, restaurants, etc. Plus it is one of the last great stands of old age/ untouched forests in the area. Almost everything else has been logged at one point in history.

Here is a collage of our time at the headwaters. I will first point out the upper left and lower right pics - these are from a 10 mile canoe ride that Addie's mom and dad took down part of the Mississippi on Friday. You can read about that here. Buller came along for the ride, but due to the rain and cold he stayed in dad's jacket.

From there I will start at the top left and continue to the right and around
1) Loon - Minnesota state bird. Came up right in front of our canoe
2) This is a shot taken at the Lake Itasca swimming beach - across the lake is the headwaters. You can barely see people walking across
3) My feet (mom) on the rocks of the headwaters. Imagining the water going across my feet will eventually be in the ocean
4) All four kids sitting on the Headwaters
5 &6) A shot of people walking across
7) Buller basking in the sun on the rocks collecting memories
8) Rocks to send to your mom out of the Headwaters - they will be making the return trip with Buller
9) Canoe trip - cousins in the canoe behind us
10) Heading down the path toward the river
11) The kids and dad walked from the Headwaters to the first bridge.
12) Dad holding Addie's brother's homemade boat he was floating down rocks
13) People from all over the world come to see this
14) Ducks and ducklings on Lake Itasca
15) Buller on the log bridge
16) Addie sitting in the headwaters
The middle pic) Buller hanging out at the Headwaters of the Mississippi sunning on the rocks.

~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~

Sabin -
Ask your mom if she ever made it to this place?
Did her family take a trip here?
Does she remember it?
Are the pictures hidden in your granparent's basement ;)

leo's adventures

2009-07-20T05:30:00.000-05:00

sabin's class has a class stuffed white tiger named Leo. they've had him since "nulte," which is what kindergarten is called in denmark. he goes home with one or another child every weekend and there is a whole book written of all that leo has done over the past three years. sabin got the privilege of taking him home for the summer and since we'll have to write in his book, we took him along to dublin last week (we should have taken Early too, but that's another story, i'm afraid we didn't. us bad.). but i thought we'd share some of the adventures leo got up to anyway.

most of the time, leo rode on the back of far's backpack:

he got some good things to eat and drink:

he saw some sights:

and he was occasionally naughty and went places he shouldn't have been:

he had a scary encounter with the terminator:

and it didn't end well. as you can see, he got shot:

but later, he recovered and enjoyed reading a book about a white tiger at starbucks.

quite a lot of adventures for just a few short days in dublin. next week, both he AND early will go to singapore. we'll definitely share what they get up to there.

Yeah! for the day

2009-07-12T22:15:00.005-05:00

We were able to spend a some time on the lake. We went on Addie's Grandparent's pontoon boat. In the middle of the lake that they live on is a sand bar. We park the boat there and play around in the shallow water. It was a cool 70 degrees, but when the sun came out it made for a warmer time.

It was nice to finally get out on the lake - even for only a little over an hour

(Since Buller is not a water animal we left him on shore)

Fourth of July

2009-07-07T19:31:00.007-05:00

Fourth of July is America's Independence Day celebration. It is a Holiday that Americans take the time to remember our independence as a nation and to enjoy family time.Our family went fishing, swimming, to a parade, and a carnival.Here is Addie fishing for sunfish on a lake a walk away from our house.

Here she is playing at the beach - of the same lake (but the opposite side)

Sunday is the day of the parade. This is the marching band from the high school. People in the parade throw candy. That is the kids' favorite part.

This year we watched the parade at a friends house. They are on the parade route.It is was terribly hard for Addie's dad to get the timing right to take this picture on the carousel. This is her favorite ride. She chose the horse with pink on it.

Here is Addie waiting for the fireworks. We have watched the fireworks on the lake in a boat the last two years. It makes for a very late night since they don't finish until almost 11pm. We did not arrive home until almost midnight. It was a great weekend.

Surely you don't pout like this
do you Sabin?
I love how Kendra
(family friend- blonde to the right)
is looking at her :)

It can't be perfect
all the time!

summer is so fleeting

2009-07-05T04:40:00.001-05:00

we've been horribly neglecting our dear blog here as school ended and summer began. the weather's been glorious and that's drawn us outside, away from the computer, which is no doubt a good thing. but, i thought i'd share a few pictures of sabin's summertime activities from the last few weeks.

we burned a witch

we had breakfast at school on the last day

in sabin's new classroom.

the parents are going to get together and paint it white this summer

that orange color on the walls is awful!

we spent time at a nearby beach

we had our final riding lesson of the season

we played on another beach with sabin's cousins

nicolai and christian

and she stayed with them for the weekend.

in all. we are thoroughly enjoying summer.

we'll do some fun stuff around home in the next couple of weeks including:

sommerland sjælland (a do-it-yourself kind of amusement park)
lejre (a middle ages park you can visit)
maybe a trip down møn's klint (my favorite place in denmark)

we'll also have a long weekend in berlin or somewhere like that together with sabin's big sister mathilde, hopefully taking the train down.

and then at the end of july, we'll go to singapore for ten days. i'll be working, but sabin and her dad will hang out by the pool and eat sushi and generally enjoy themselves.

our school holiday is only about six weeks long, so we have to try to make the most of it! summer is just way too short!

Reading Rewarded

2009-06-29T22:31:00.004-05:00

Addie finished school about three weeks ago. However, the last week of school was full of field trips and award presentations.

Addie participates in an Accelerated Reading Program. The student reads a book and takes a test on the computer testing their knowledge of what they read. Then the student is rewarded with points. Most picture books are worth .5 points, with most 2nd grade level reading level chapter books are worth 1 point.

Addie earned over 100 points. In fact she earned almost 125 points.

This is a great program to motivate students to read. In fact, now that school is out I notice Addie reading on her own has drastically reduced. May be time for some mandatory reading time? Hmmmmmmmm.....

closing in...

2009-06-21T17:04:00.000-05:00

it's the last week of school this week. books have actually already been turned in and so it's all wrap-up activities and fun. and we're looking forward to many hours of this:

and to having a little bit more time to dedicate to taking early on a bit more sight-seeing in denmark before he might take to wing and make his way back home to minnesota.

Looking back to 2008

2009-06-05T21:06:00.004-05:00

Addie is officially a third grader. She has finished her last day of school for the year, and is ready for a summer break.

She came home with the content of her locker and desk the last couple of days. Papers papers and more papers etc. However, in all of this mess was her Spring Pictures!!!!!!

I love Spring pictures, the colors are brighter, it feels more like a transitional picture to me.

I noticed this year in particular how much Addie has changed since last Spring. I had her 2008 Spring pic on the fridge and was taken aback by how much older she suddenly looks.I guess it is through pictures that time or the loss of it is captured. Teeth are no longer missing, her face has changed shape and she even seems less scared in the 2009 picture.

How have you changed in looks since last Spring Sabin?

How about in what you know/have learned?

Statue Walk

2009-06-02T20:22:00.006-05:00

Buller is still tired of this chilly weather - as we all are.

So, to cheer him up Addie and I decided to take him on
The Sculpture Walk.

We have a very talented collection of artists in our area, many of which are sculptors.

These sculptures are displayed through out the down town area.
The Chamber of Commerce (tourist building) has a map to help you find them all.
However, we just drove around and jumped out at will to snap these shots.

You can play "Where is Buller"
Because he is in every shot
(Hint: remember if you click on the pictures they enlarge)

(except for the pics below which are two statues,
two pictures I just really liked from our walk)Which sculpture is your favorite?
How about your mom's and far's favorite?

tiaras and beautiful dresses

2009-06-02T01:30:00.001-05:00

denmark is a constitutional monarchy. what this means in practice is that it's run by a multi-party government/legislature sort of like we know it in the US (but with way more parties--we won't go into that whole thing in this post) and that the queen is the official head of the government and opens parliament and the like, but has no real power. in fact, she's not even allowed to publicly express any political opinion at all. generally, she has lots of public duties and hosts dinners attended by people like nelson mandela and the dalai lama. and in the summer she sails around on her beautiful royal yacht.

denmark has a queen, she's been queen since the early 70s when her father died. she is married to a french count named henri, since he's french, he's not the king, he's the prince regent.

queen margrethe II

photo from here

queen margarethe II & prince henrik

photo same source as above

the queen and prince henrik had two sons--frederik and joachim. frederik is the crown prince and will take over as king in denmark when his mother dies (seems like kind of a harsh way to get your job, but true nonetheless). frederik turned 40 last year and he's married to an australian girl named mary that he met at the olympics in sydney in 2000. she worked at microsoft when i did, so i've partied with her. they got married in 2004 and have since had two children.

mary and frederik at their wedding in 2004

same photo source as above

their son, christian (all the danish kings are alternating frederik or christian), will be crown prince when his father takes the throne. they also have a daughter, isabella. here they all are, on the balcony at amailenborg (that's the royal residence in copenhagen) waving to the public on the queen's birthday in april last year.

prince henrik, prince christian, crown princess mary, crown prince frederik, princess isabella and the queen

here's one more official shot of mary--she makes a lovely princess for a girl from tasmania.

like most families, the royal family has a brother they don't like to mention. that's the younger prince, prince joachim. he was married to a lovely girl from hong kong, alexandra, and they had two children--princes nicolai and felix. then alexandra, who is a lovely, intelligent, accomplished woman noticed that joachim is a complete inbred dufus and actually quite creepy and he smokes like a chimney so they divorced in 2005. now she's remarried to a totally cute camera guy and is a countess instead of a princess. i'm sure she's thinks it was worth it to lose the title.

princess countess alexandra

same source as above

of course joachim didn't want to be alone for long and he wanted to try to duplicate his brother's success, so he imported a new princess, named marie, from switzerland. she's the spitting image of mary, but has a cute little french accent. they just had a son a week or so ago, so there's a new little prince. this is from their wedding last year.

princess marie seems like a nice girl and i guess you will put up with a lot to be a princess and get to wear a tiara for real, because joachim is no less creepy than he's always been.

the danish royal family is related to most monarchies in europe. one of the queen's sisters is the exiled queen of greece. even the last russian tsar's mother was a danish princess (dagmar, neé tsarina alexandra). there's lots more here if you want to learn more.

there's a tivoli in town

2009-05-30T12:43:00.001-05:00

there's a summerfest in our town this weekend and that means a little carnival has come to town. we call that a tivoli. i don't even really think that's a danish word for it, i think it might come from italian and is used all over europe for what we call a little carnival--like with rides and booths where you can win a teddy and food that's really bad for you.

here are some scenes from our visit...

there was the coolest bouncy bungie ride thingie (that's the technical name for it)---

the eastern european dude who speaks no known language straps you in

you do a little test bounce

then higher

and higher

and then you use up all of your ride coupons doing this 4x

far got a bit green in the gills from this one.

in fact, he's having a lie down right now.

mom took about 100 pictures of this one

but we didn't go on it.

she likes colorful stuff.

then there was cotton candy.

extra large size, apparently.

it was also the girl's first time making it.

it was suitable for a game of hide 'n seek.

in all, an awesome afternoon.

and there's two more days left of the weekend

since monday's a holiday.

we love all those spring holidays.

hope you're having a fabulous weekend too!

Celebrating Life

2009-05-28T08:21:00.007-05:00

Like you Sabin, Addie was a twin.

Picture of Alyse and Addie
drawn from a picture taken in
the delivery room

She had a sister who passed away before birth too.
Her story is quite similar to yours.
Where as your mom fell ill,
Addie's sister's umbilical cord got tangled
in my tummy during the pregnancy.

How she has grown!
Addie comparing hand prints
with Alyse's - taken in the hospital

At least once a year we head to the cemetery.
We go in good spirits.
To celebrate Addie's life.
She too could have easily not made it.

The cemetery is about 2 hours from Addie's house.
It is in the country on a dirt road.
It is a very old Finnish cemetery- for the Finnish settlers to America

There are flowers scattered everywhere.
Lilac bushes surround the yard, and are here and there through out.
Alyse's grave is under one of these lilac bushes

Years ago we put a birdhouse in the lilac bush.
Every spring we clean it out for a new birdy to take residence.
This year it was suspiciously packed full up with sticks and fluff.
When I pulled out the "nest" this little fellow fell out.
It was a cold day and he was non to happy to have his house disrupted!

Although it is a sad occasion to think of a child's life lost
We know that we have to celebrate the life
that was given to us-
Addie's

dreaming of summer vacation

2009-05-28T03:16:00.001-05:00

mt. rushmore - summer 2005

with summer vacation on the horizon, sabin and i got to talking about vacation destinations last evening. we have established a tradition in our family that when you turn 10, you get to pick where we go on vacation. we got the idea from a girl from my hometown who did that with her family and when her son turned 10, she asked me for advice on how to travel with kids in egypt. we loved the idea so much that we began the tradition too. big sisters karoline and mathilde both (with gentle pushing) chose the US as their vacation destination when they each turned 10. although ten is a little over a year and a half away, sabin likes to talk about where she will choose to go.

dipping our toes in the aegean in thessaloniki

of course choosing where to go brings up thoughts of where we've already been. so we end up talking about turkey and barcelona and iowa and south dakota and london and legoland and læsø (an island here in denmark) and munich and macedonia and singapore and greece and oslo and ljubljana. but it always comes back to the philippines. sabin loves the philippines. and although her decision isn't yet sealed, i suspect that's where she will choose.

thanks to my work, she's already been there four times. she had such a great time on her first visit that it has sealed it for her..she adores it. the people are so friendly and nice, the weather is warm (tho' it can be rainy), the shopping is good, the food inexpensive and delicious, the hotels divine and the beaches fabulous. what more can you ask from a destination?

she got to sleep on the way there:

there were chocolates waiting for her in our room when we arrived:

she got to collect shells and sea glass on the beach at grande island, subic bay.

she saw a wonderful show with trained seals at ocean adventure park, also in subic.

she spent lots of time in the swimming pool, which was fun even tho' there was a pesky fly that kept landing on her nose.

and she stayed for the first time at the heavenly manila peninsula hotel during our time in manila.

far actually got to come along on that first trip, which was really cool. the other three times, it was just me and one time aunt monica was there too, which was super fun. since i was working, i would arrange a nanny for sabin--sweet young filipino girls who played with her and took her shopping all day long. one day she came back from the mall with six new pairs of shoes. and she hadn't even spent $20!

the watermelon shakes are heaven.

and a pedicure with warm paraffin is just the thing when you're feeling jetlagged.

the sushi is fantastic and that's one of sabin's favorite foods.

and they serve it to you here in this wonderful room, where there is a live pianist playing all day long and late into the evening:

tho' there were a few crazy late nights hanging out with a bunch of adults. (click to enlarge and see fabulous manicure w/little bows.)

and the long flight's not so bad if you've got your iPod along and new clothes to wear on the way home.

yup, i suspect that sabin's 10 year old destination is going to be the philippines. and probably more specifically, boracay, where sabin's big sister mathilde got to go with me last fall:

but as for this summer, we don't really know...perhaps we'll go visit sabin's grandparents in the US in the early autumn.

where do your vacation dreams take you, addie?

mermaids and castles and swans, oh my

2009-05-24T05:06:00.000-05:00

after reading your post on minnesota's official state bird and the like, we did a bit of research. we can't really find that there are so many officially designated things that are danish national symbols, but a couple of things come to mind.

the swan is one of the few things we could find that has official designation as the national bird.

this was as close as we wanted to get to the swans, as despite their beauty, they're really pretty mean.

the other national symbol that comes to mind is the little mermaid. she originated in hans christian andersen's fairytale and there is a statue of her in copenhagen harbor that people come from around the world to see. i always imagine they're rather disappointed because it isn't a very large statue--but it's not really false advertising since it is called the little mermaid. but, as you can see, whole boatloads of tourists are there to see it. this picture was taken last year when my cousin was in town, so it's sabin and my cousin gisel.

and here's one of just sabin, so you get the idea of how little the mermaid really is.

there is something elegant and wistful about her. but it is somehow a testament to the marketing genius of the danes that such a little statue is such a big attraction. she's actually going to be sent to china to be part of the world exposition and she'll be there for about a year. we think that's pretty cool that the little mermaid gets to travel.

denmark has had kings and queens for over a thousand years, so that means that there are castles around. the danes never had ostentatious castles on the scale of the english or the russians, but there is one famous castle in particular--kronborg. it's famous as the hamlet castle, because after all, hamlet was a danish prince.

we were on TOP of kronborg when this picture was taken

another important castle is called rosenborg. it's a little bitty very dark (on the inside) castle in the center of copenhagen. it's where they keep the crown jewels. it's fun to be there and read that it was once considered to be on the outskirts of copenhagen, when today it's really in the center.

looking up at the tower at rosenborg

other distinctively danish symbols include bright red mailboxes:

the colorful houses along nyhavn:

which you can also find immortalized at legoland in billund:

and which is, of course, one of sabin's favorite places to visit:

and lastly, the main danish symbol we can think of is the red and white danish flag. it's used quite a lot. people have flagpoles and fly the flag in their yards on holidays and special occasions. people line their driveways with little paper flags when there's a birthday in the house. danes love their flag.

danish sandwiches

2009-05-24T04:05:00.001-05:00

i've been meaning to share what the sandwiches that go into sabin's lunch box look like. of course, you can encounter sandwiches in denmark that look like you know them to look--with bread, something in the middle and another piece of bread on top. but, most sandwiches in denmark are open-faced. it's called smørrebrød, which literally translates as buttered bread.

this is a batch i made for lunch eaten out in the garden one day. the farthest ones are skinkesalat--ham salad. the two reddish-colored ones with a dollop of mayo on them are makrel i tomat--mackerel fish that comes in a can in tomato sauce (it's delicious). the lone white one at the back had two circles of goat cheese w/salt & pepper (that was for me, nobody else around here likes goat cheese). the ones with crispy fried onions on top (a bit like those french's kind you put on a green bean casserole at thanksgiving, only smaller pieces) are leverpostej, which is arguably the danish national pålæg. pålæg is anything that you put on bread--it can be anything from paté (which is what leverpostej is--a pork liver-based paté) to salami to ham to chicken to dried fruit concoctions (kind of like fruit-leathers in sandwich-size) to chocolate. yes, you can buy chocolate in thin pieces that are specially made for eating on bread--we'll send you some when we send early back to you.

as you can see above, i generally serve some veggies--tomato, cucumber, carrots, corn--on the side and that particular day, i had used the juicer and made up an orange-carrot-apple juice to go with our lunch.

the bread the sandwiches are placed on is a delicious, dark rye bread that has a lots of body. danes know how to do good bread. and it's healthy too. there is a whole set of unwritten rules about what kind of topping goes on which bread, but i'll save that for another day.

on a more normal everyday basis, sabin has one of each of these sandwiches in her lunch box:

that's a good hard sausage called spegepølse (would we call it summer sausage?) on the left and again leverpostej with a drizzle of mayo (ours comes in a squeeze bottle) and some of those ristetløg (crispy onions) on top. those are favorites. i generally give her four sandwiches of this size--one of each of these, sometimes one with the chocolate, sometimes mackerel, sometimes tuna, chicken or just cheese. we have a tupperware in the fridge where we keep all of the pålæg and i try to buy a good variety so her lunches don't get too boring, because although it's possible for her to buy lunch at school, they changed the provider around christmas and she doesn't like the new one, so we never order the school lunch. most kids bring their own lunch from home. they eat in their own classroom and we order milk for her on a semester-basis, so she gets a little half-pint of milk with her lunch every day.

one last picture. it's not really of a lunch box lunch, but sabin wanted me to share it. it's a brunch she got one day at a cafe down by the harbor and she thought you'd like to see it.

honeyed walnuts, brie, a crepe-style pancake (that's the one that's sticking up in the center), bacon & scrambled eggs, plus a bowl of yogurt with museli. sabin wanted me to let you know she ate it all! as you can see, she drank a coke with it. it was more lunch time than breakfast, so we decided that was ok.

and that's how our lunches go on this side of the pond. :-)

State Symbols

2009-05-20T14:02:00.004-05:00

Each state in the United States has a list of "symbols". Things that represent each state. Anything from state bird to state flower - even state drink have been named. I have included a list of these for you and your mom to look over.

This was brought to my attention because the eerie sound of the loons at night can once again be heard. They have returned for the summer and are just starting to nest down. Soon we will see little loon babies riding on their mother's back.

Does Denmark have anything like this?

Common Loon

Common Loon carrying baby
(they carry them on their back
to protect them from fish called
Northern Pike- which will eat
the baby)

Lady Slipper

32nd State
May 11, 1858

Minnesota

The Midwest

Flag of the State of Minnesota

State Abbreviation: MN

Nickname: North Star State and Land of 10,000 Lakes

Origin of Name: minisota, based on the Dakota Sioux Indian word "sky-tinted waters." Centuries ago, that is what the Dakota named the river now called the Minnesota River.

Minnesota State:

Capital: St. Paul
Motto: The Star of the North
Minnesota State Seal
Beverage: Milk
Bird: Common Loon
Butterfly: Monarch Butterfly
Flower: Pink and White Lady Slipper
Fish: Walleye
Gemstone Lake Superior Agate
Grain Wild Rice
Muffin: Blueberry
Mushroom: Morel
Song: Hail! Minnesota
Tree: Red (or Norway) pine

it's a family tradition

2009-05-17T16:46:00.000-05:00

in addition to all that digging in our family, another family tradition involves building dams on creeks. we have a creek right across from our house and last weekend, sabin and her big sisters spent well over an hour stacking rocks and lining their dam with large leaves. it was pretty cool.

it's something that sabin's far did as a child and which he has helped the girls do on many a beach visit--several beaches we frequent have little creeks emptying into the sea. but the dam above the three girls did all alone. and then they even came home for the camera and took these pictures. pretty cool.

addie, we know there are lots of lakes in minnesota, do you ever build stuff with your brothers? sand castles perhaps? or dams?

Webkinz World or Bust

2009-05-15T09:29:00.006-05:00

Seeing as it has been so cold and gray and Buller is an reptile, there for subject to the temperatures around him. He has been spending lots of time cuddled up with his other friends down in Addie's bed. He is just trying to stay warm. Buller has become good friends with Lil Pink Bow Bitsy (The Dog) and Brownie (the Horse).
Bitsy and Brownie live in Addie's bed and in a virtual world. Do you have a Webkinz? Have you played in "Webkinz World" online? You purchase one of their super cute "pets" it comes with a code (Like Littlest Pet Shop animals) and you can "play" with them in a virtual world as well as having a super cute cuddly animal. Addie recieve Bitsy for Valentine's day a couple years ago and Brownie for Christmas (both from Grandma). One or two seems to be plenty in her mom's opinion ;)

Buller found it quite fun to go online and see where his friends spent their virtual time. He even helped Addie pick out some of their food- he is getting quite good with the mouse.

Addie and her siblings are limited to 20 minutes of computer time a day. They seem to be able to get a game or two in that time. We are quite rushed after school and every minute seems to matter (plus because 20min x 4 gets to be long when there is only 1 hour from the time they get off the bus until we eat)

What games do you play online?

digging--it's all in the family

2009-05-11T17:19:00.001-05:00

we rather often tease sabin's father that he's obviously happiest when he's digging. he has transported vast quantities of our lawn from one side of the yard to the other. he has dug out foundations by hand. he has terraced bits of the hill behind our house--all by hand. he is a digging maniac. he would make a great prairie dog (they dig a lot, don't they?). and this weekend, sabin and her big sisters proved beyond a doubt that they are indeed his children (as if anyone doubted it, since they all look exactly like him.) he was so pleased, he came running in for the camera, so these pictures are taken by him.

sabin and karoline are working on creating a new flower bed where they can plant whatever they want.

addie, is there anything you or your brothers do that convinces people that your parents are your parents? :-)

just a quick note for addie: i'm traveling this week, so if we're not responding properly to posts, that's why. the blog is something sabin and i do together and she's home alone with far this week and he's just not very bloggy. we'll read everything and comment properly on friday! :-) she's gonna love your weekend post! :-)

Over the river and through the woods

2009-05-11T07:48:00.005-05:00

To grandma's house we go.

Addie's grandma lives on a lake

We played with grandma while
Addie's dad and grandpa
got the dock and boat lift in

It was finally warm enough to spend some time outside

Here's grandma

When we go to grandma's town we always have to bring the truck
(We need to pick up supplies for our business
Sunday it was a boat lift and accessories)

It is quite squished with all of Addie's brothers and us

Even though it was getting late we had to stop off quick
and put one last dock in.
The kids all thought it was great - because it was 8 o'clock- bedtime
(this morning when they were tired and groggy it wasn't as fun)

After a weekend with grandma/pa -
going to South Dakota for her cousin's graduation
then
spending one more day at grandma's house made
for a fun and different weekend for Addie

early up late on a thursday

2009-05-08T05:02:00.001-05:00

friday is "the big prayer day" a holiday in denmark. no school. no stores are open. it came about when king christian IV (more about danish royalty in another post) was tired of all of the different days off for different saints and said, hey, we're rolling this all into one Big Prayer Day (storebededag), to get it out of the way in one go. that meant that last evening everyone got to stay up late, including early. with all photos and poses by sabin, here's some of the things he did...

Spring = Cute Clothes

2009-05-07T12:42:00.005-05:00

Since we haven't posted an outfit picture lately,

I will get this pic up.

The weather is still chilly in the mornings (35F) and on days like today when the wind is blowing it end up being quite cool on the playground as well.
Addie is wearing green Capri pants
(but she has grown since last Spring and they are more like long shorts this year!) Her peasant shirt with white tee under for added warmth
and blue "crocs" which is the popular footwear in the U.S.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

We will then decide what to write about once Addie gets home off the bus.
Spelling words are particularly hard this week and has required extra time.

give us this day our daily lunch

2009-05-06T05:36:00.000-05:00

we make a lunch "packse" every morning for sabin to take to school. we call it a "packse" because that's what sabin called it when she was very, very little. i had intended to post pictures of the actual sandwiches, but they turned out totally rubbish b/c i forgot to change settings on the camera and didn't notice until later since i hadn't had my morning tea as of yet. her lunch consists of 3-4 sandwiches, cucumber, carrot, cherry tomatoes and some nuts or dried fruit--today it was almonds. and she was lucky enough to get a brownie as well, since we still had some from our monday batch.

we wrap the sandwiches in foil and pack it all up in sabin's pink plastic lego madkasse and she keeps it in her bag (there is a refrigerator to put it in, but she doesn't like her sandwiches all cold, so she doesn't do that) 'til lunchtime--around 11:30, when they all go get their lunch and eat together in their classroom. the school cafeteria is full of the bigger kids, so the younger grades eat in their classroom so they're not trampled by the big kids.

it is possible to get lunch at school. there's a website we can go to and pre-order it for sabin online, but just after christmas they changed the provider and she doesn't like the food they have, so we almost never buy food at school. mom and far take turns making sabin's lunch, so there's a little variety. at the last parent-teacher conference, sabin's teacher told us that sabin' likes mom's lunches better. i think that's because i usually put a little kinderchokolade "kids' chocolate" in it.

could the packaging on these look any more german?

it's even IN german!

i usually send an apple or two with sabin in her bag, wrapped in a skinny la minx cloth napkin so it's both cheerful and eco-friendly. we try to send enough for her so she has a little something to snack on at 10:00 recess, as well as once she gets over to SFO, but she's often totally starved when she gets home. that's mostly because she's good at eating her carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, nuts and apple and kinderchokolade, but not so good at eating her sandwiches. we promise to show the sandwiches in the near future, as they're quite different from what you see in the US.

Lost in Translation

2009-05-05T16:23:00.004-05:00

This post is in answer to Sabin's question in the post below
We thought we would try our hand at Danish
(using an online translator of course)

2nd grade math: danish style

2009-05-05T15:11:00.000-05:00

sabin loves math and here is some of what they're working on these days in math class (please disregard three mosquito bite scabs on the forehead, the mosquitos are already out):

symmetrical figures and shapes

making change by subtracting larger figures

calculating weights and putting them in ascending order.

i don't remember math being fun and colorful like this when i was a kid.

and now sabin's question for addie..first in danish:

and then the same question in english:

Weather

2009-05-05T13:01:00.003-05:00

The weather is quick to change here.
The kids were sent off to the school bus in just sweatshirts because it looked to be a beautiful day. The sun was shining, it was the first morning the temps were above freezing and it only looked to get better. Before school started though the clouds rolled in and the winds picked up. It is cold and blustery now and the rain can't decide if it wants to come or go.

It seems we are hardly ever happy about the weather here in Minnesota - too hot, too cold, too windy, too rainy, not enough rain. etc... as we get more into summer the good days should outweigh the bad though (I hope) that is what keeps us from moving further south where the weather stays warm.

How was your weather?

Question of the Day

2009-05-04T19:21:00.003-05:00

We await your reply
via a hand written sign

(could you write it in Danish & English?)

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

a week of school

2009-05-04T15:04:00.000-05:00

sabin's weekly schedule at school looks like this:

monday starts off with two back-to-back periods of P.E. they do anything from tumbling and climbing on gymnastics equipment to playing a baseball-like game called "round ball" to the old stand-by, the dreaded dodgeball. round ball has four bases like baseball and a pitcher, but the bat looks different (we'll have to photograph one and show you), but you can have as many men on a particular base as you want at any given moment during the game. runs and outs are scored the same as normal baseball. it's played with a tennis ball, not a regular baseball, so no one wears a glove.

after P.E., there's recess and then the rest of the day is spent on math.

recess happens every day between 2nd & 3rd period and lunch happens between 4th and 5th. school starts at 8:10 a.m. and gets out at 12:50. this yard is where recess takes place. that's sabin's school building on the left. i took these pictures at the friday celebration of middle ages week a couple of weeks ago, so that's why there's way more people there than there normally would be.

tuesdays mean two periods of danish, then two periods of art and then the last hour is "class time," which can be used to sum up/reinforce things like social relations and treating one another with respect.

wednesday first period is science, followed by one period of math and then two period of music after recess. last period on wednesdays is christianity. denmark has a state church, rather than separation of church and state, so kids learn about christianity. actually, the class would be more accurately titled "religion," as they talk about religions of all kinds. sabin has two classmates that are muslim, so that's of course a topic as well.

thursdays are all danish all the time. we'll share a bit more in-depth another day what sabin does for danish--but it's all about reading and writing and on tuesdays actually includes dictation and a spelling test. sabin's class is working with a list of 120 common words this year--drilling them over and over and using them in sentences and composing stories.

fridays bring more danish and 4th period is a mystery to us. on her schedule it says "IFT," and none of us can remember for the life of us what that might mean. sabin's going to ask and we'll report on that another day this week. last period on fridays is math again, but her math teacher, frank, often regales the class with stories during that hour (or so i heard at the parents' meeting). he's been a teacher for twenty years and has lots of stories to tell.

and that, in short, is a typical week at sabin's school. every day she goes next door to the after school program, which is in a house right next to sabin's school building:

one of her favorite places at the SFO (this stands for skoleogfritidsordning) is the pillow room. you have to sign up for it and i think only 4 kids can be in there at a time, because it gets pretty wild. here's sabin with her friend M, they had mostly cleaned it up because i was there to pick sabin up:

most days after school, sabin has play dates arranged with someone from her class. often they walk home together to the friend's house or to our house. if she's not playing with someone, i generally go down and get her around 3 p.m. (when i'm working from home) and we bike/scooter or walk home together (it's about 5-6 blocks). sometimes i give her a note or call her on her mobile and she comes home on her own. but, she generally likes me to pick her up, so i do. it's especially nice with the beautiful weather we've been having. tho' this week has turned a bit blustery and rainy. we're trying not to mind because the garden needs the rain.

and that's our weekly school routine. more later this week about a normal daily lunchbox and hopefully some other pictures of school and maybe our town.

saturday means riding lessons

2009-05-03T05:54:00.001-05:00

sabin started riding lessons about two months ago. we go every saturday to a big riding school near where we live. sabin started out with the very beginners and has already "graduated" to the next level. she's absolutely loving it. this makes her mom, who grew up with horses, very happy. and grandma in south dakota is ecstatic! grandpa in south dakota is warning against small girls who will soon want a horse of their own. he says it's a slippery slope. he's probably right.

sabin's learning to ride "english" as we call it in the US--with an english saddle, rather than a western (cowboy-style) one. here are some scenes from her lessons:

lesson 1, riding silverstar

lesson 2 - silverstar again

that's sabin's instructor, christina

we like her.

she's giving sabin a little lesson in posting the trot

at lesson 3 there was a little jump!

that was exciting

silverstar is an awesome lesson horse.

there are a variety of sizes of horses

and sizes of students at the riding lessons.

lesson 4 meant a little tour outside.

at lesson 5, it was nice enough to ride outdoors

at lesson 6, we rode outdoors too.

this time on dizzy.

and yesterday, sabin rode milton for the first time

he needs a little crack of the whip

so christina showed sabin how to hold it.

riding is giving sabin a new confidence and she's really a natural at it. she's fearless and lucky that nothing scary has happened on any of the occasions. milton was the zippiest horse she's ridden, but she handled him very well. we're really fortunate that christina, her teacher, is just awesome--she's matter-of-fact and instills a quiet calm in the kids. we think she's great. and the school horses are really good too...other than milton trying to bite me as i gave sabin a leg up yesterday, they have surprisingly few bad habits. it's a real pleasure to go every saturday. and if sabin keeps it up, we're going to look for a horse for her at the end of the summer. it might be that her mom would like to ride again as well.

What's For "Supper"?

2009-05-02T22:36:00.004-05:00

Today we find Buller in the kitchen.

We are teaching him how to make a Minnesota classic
Tator Tot HotdishBuller thought it smelled so good while cooking he tried to climb into the pot.
Luckily we caught him, before he jumped in and became part of the meal!

While the ingredients cooked I lost track of Buller
I found him wrapped around a can of tomatoes
I took the hint and quick made a spaghetti sauce
for tomorrows lunch.

Buller checking out the casserole
before it goes into the oven

Addie and Buller enjoyed the finished meal

After the warm comfort food I found Buller
all curled up and snuggly with some of his many
new friends. (They were all so "stuffed" from the meal)

He is working hard to help Addie solve her Rubix Cube
Sweet Dreams Buller

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Tator Tot Casserole
1) brown ground beef (add onions if desired)
2) drain beef
3) add 2 cans cream soup (mix in 1 can milk) salt and pepper
4) add 1 or 2 cans of mixed vegetables (I actually prefer green beans)
5) mix together and pour into bottom of cake pan
6) top mixture with frozen tator tots - line them all up nice and even
7) throw a few extra tots on top for testing
8) bake 350 degrees for around an hour. (until hot and bubbly)
9) serve with bread, pickles, and milk

Hotdish or Casseroles are a long standing tradition in Minnesota. There are many different types, but they are all baked in the oven, they are creamy and warm and feel good on a cold day.

More Cool Stuff

2009-05-01T16:23:00.003-05:00

Addie and I just pulled up the pie chart of visitors - placing these facts with the map should help locate where visitors are coming fun. You guys are international ;)

how cool is this?

2009-04-29T16:55:00.000-05:00

i just took this snapshot of the visitors to your blog, girls! green ones are people who are online right now and red is the one who joined most recently. that person was in dublin, ireland! where else have your visitors come from, can you tell? countries? or at least continents? and in the US, perhaps states? i know this map is tiny, but i think it's pretty exciting!

To the Park

2009-04-29T14:42:00.007-05:00

Pictures
1) Addie on the point
2) Addie climbing up
3)Aiden and Tryllen
on the rock wall
4) Skipping off to the point
5) The ice just went off the lake yesterday
6)Going down

We venture to the Park
Join us as we enjoy a break in the gloomy Spring weather.

This park is on Lake Bemidji across from the college.

It was remodeled just over a year ago. They turned a shady (both from the sun and due to the characters who hung out here), slightly scary place into a wonderful gathering grounds for families, college students and residence of town alike.

We have really enjoyed stopping by this park for a quick play, or longer. We have even had cook outs with friends here, and the kids have come here for birthday parties.

Diamond Point Park
Aerial view
Park is on the point

our favorite books: denmark

2009-04-28T13:35:00.000-05:00

because we read in two languages at our house, we have lots of favorite books. we'll post about the ones in english today and do the danish ones another day.

for a long time, our best and favorite books were all charlie and lola. it's a UK series by lauren child and features cool mixed-media/cartoon characters called charlie and lola. every book begins with, "i have this little sister lola, she is small and very funny..." and all of the books are told by lola's big brother, charlie, but they're really mostly about lola.

the illustrations are good, the text is interestingly placed on the pages and the stories are super cute. there's even a really cool one about fair trade and this new one called "look after your planet."

sabin hasn't even seen that one yet, so when i get home (i'm in oslo for the next few days, working), i'll have to show her. it's a BBC series as well as a bunch of books, but i believe it started as books. and now sabin can read these herself, tho' they're something we've been reading and enjoying together for several years.

* * *

our other favorite at the moment is anything by roald dahl. we've read so far:

george's marvelous medicine
the twits
the witches
the enormous crocodile
matilde (we're about halfway through this one)

still on our shelves to go:

the BFG
charlie and the chocolate factory
james and the giant peach

these tend to be bedtime reading that i read to sabin, they're a bit dense yet for her reading abilities, especially in english, since she hasn't had english yet formally in school and i haven't pushed her with it. she needs to solidify her reading skills in danish and then the reading strategies she learns will help her pick up the english. and it's not that she's not reading english. she can read most of fox in socks.

i'm looking forward to reading the laura ingalls wilder books with sabin, perhaps we'll tackle those this summer. and we've also read the first two harry potter books as bedtime stories, so maybe we'll move back to those when we're done with our roald dahl period.

Where is Buller Now?

2009-04-25T18:38:00.003-05:00

Buller is in this picture. Can you find him? Where is Buller?

The Birth of Paul Bunyan

retold by
S. E. Schlosser

Now I hear tell that Paul Bunyan was born in Bangor, Maine. It took five giant storks to deliver Paul to his parents. His first bed was a lumber wagon pulled by a team of horses. His father had to drive the wagon up to the top of Maine and back whenever he wanted to rock the baby to sleep.

I will zoom in to help you see him.

As a newborn, Paul Bunyan could hollar so loud he scared all the fish out of the rivers and streams. All the local frogs started wearing earmuffs so they wouldn't go deaf when Paul screamed for his breakfast. His parents had to milk two dozen cows morning and night to keep his milk bottle full and his mother had to feed him ten barrels of porrige every two hours to keep his stomach from rumbling and knocking the house down. Within a week of his birth, Paul Bunyan could fit into his father's clothes.Hint Hint

After three weeks, Paul rolled around so much during his nap that he destroyed four square miles of prime timberland. His parents were at their wits' end! They decided to build him a raft and floated it off the coast of Maine. When Paul turned over, it caused a 75 foot tidal wave in the Bay of Fundy. Buller spent the morning hanging out with one of our main attractions
Paul Bunyan and Babe his Big Blue Ox

They had to send the British Navy over to Maine to wake him up. The sailors fired every canon they had in the fleet for seven hours straight before Paul Bunyan woke from his nap! When he stepped off the raft, Paul accidentally sank four war ships and he had to scramble around sccooping sailors out of the water before they drowned. After this incident, Paul's parents decided the East was just too plumb small for him, and so the family moved to Minnesota.

friday jump shot

2009-04-24T16:43:00.002-05:00

happy friday!

it was a mad day, which started with a jump shot in our fab new outfit.

dress: by phister & philina

leggings: cotton by phister & philina

and again with the red converse all stars.

we did lots of other stuff that we'll have to share later this weekend. but we wish you a totally fabulous weekend with great weather (we're writing this because we know google is controlling the weather and we'd like to have a vote in how it is). :-)

This and That

2009-04-24T10:07:00.003-05:00

Today is Friday - everyone's favorite day. Friday means relaxation for the evening. Playing outside and not worrying about school tomorrow. Friday means a great supper, and sometimes it means Family Movie Night. This is fun. Everyone gathers sleeping bags or blankets, and plenty of pillows and stuffed animals. Pajamas are required attire for this event. Sprawled on the couches, big chair and floor we all watch a movie and share several bowls of dad's buttered popcorn and juice. Tonight's plans are still unset. ( Spring is hard around here with our business.)
This was Addie's outfit for yesterday. She started the day out with her mini jean jacket (from the last outfit) over the top of this. However, by the end of the day it was near 80 degrees Fahrenheit and she was able to go in her shirt-sleeves (and bare feet).
With the warm temperatures yesterday we started to notice another one of Addie's favorite things - Butterflies (although I believe this to be a moth).

We hope you enjoyed the weekend with your sisters. We will try to bring Buller somewhere local and fabulous for your learning experience. See you Monday.

sabin's big sisters

2009-04-24T07:30:00.017-05:00

we haven't really explained sabin's family as of yet. her two most favorite people in the world are not her parents (much to their disappointment), but her two big sisters--karoline, 17 and mathilde, 14. karoline and mathilde have the same far as sabin but a different mor (that's mom in danish and pronounced moah).

last year at almost exactly this time, we all went to barcelona together and this is one of my favorite pictures of sabin and her big sisters, even tho' it's almost a year old:

mathilde (then a mere 13), sabin and karoline (then 16)

at gaudi's park guell, barcelona, spain

you can see from the picture that we're dealing with teenagers here. but they are so awesome with sabin that it's a real pleasure to have them come every other weekend and sabin is in absolute heaven when they're here. big sister karoline takes her to the movies almost every weekend she's here. the girls have taught sabin to play world of warcraft and have guided her through it. she plays a lot on mom's facebook with them in a game called pet society. karoline's birthday is new year's eve and when she turns 18 at the end of this year, she has declared that she will come and live with us. she's going to gymnasium, which we would call high school in the US, but is really somewhere between a high school and a junior college type place. she's super helpful around the house, so we're looking forward to her moving here. both girls have their own room here at our house.

another shot at park guell, barcelona

mathilde is 14 now and will be confirmed on saturday. it's kind of a big deal occasion in denmark and her father has prepared a speech and a big slide show with pictures and stories of her life thus far. there will be a big catered party at a rowing club by the harbor in copenhagen with 60 family and friends invited. when karoline was confirmed a couple of years ago, we rented motorized toilets to race on (i foolishly did not have my practice then of never going anywhere without a camera, which makes me sad because it was completely hilarious and i have no photos of it). however, we can't find those people again--i suppose there is a relatively limited market for motorized toilets--so we're just taking our bigscreen t.v. and the Wii for the entertainment this time.

not sure what's going on here, but this is a fairly typical scene

it must have been sunny and bright in barcelona because they never took off their sunglasses.

as you can see, mathilde looks a bit older than 13

we'll try to post more recent pictures after the party this weekend. it looks like the weather should be great and i'm sure we will have multiple photo opps. but we wish you a lovely weekend and we'll catch you on sunday, since saturday will be a busy day away from the computer!

we'll share sabin's favorite reads on sunday, we haven't forgotten!!

Jumping, Cleaning, Eating

2009-04-23T14:14:00.005-05:00

For the picture of Addie's outfit today - Buller joined it. (I have a hard time not typing Bullah - since if I am write that is how it is said) Addie is wearing the mini jean jacket she wore for the fashion show, a "princess" shirt and a pair of jeans (with holes in the knees, obviously getting to be the end of the school year!).

We decided to try our own jump shot.
We opted for jumping off something
(a trailer used for the dock business)

This really allowed Addie and Buller to get some air!

We then had after school snack: toast
with homemade raspeberry jam -
raspberries from our garden

Then we did our yearly Earth Day walk
through the ditch to pick up garbage.
We live on a dirt road in the country -
however people that drive this road can be quite gross!
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Addie had cold lunch today. She had a summer sausage sandwhich on a ww bun
canned peaches, a granola bar, and for a treat organic Annie's fruit snacks
(they are bunny shaped)
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Addie's mom made snack baggies for her chips/pretzels/crackers
and sandwhich wraps out of cotton material and oil cloth
in an effort to eliminate some of our lunch waste.
We love how well they work!
The sandwich wrap even serves as a placemat!

what's for lunch?

2009-04-23T10:24:00.000-05:00

here during middle ages week, sabin is working in the café. all week, they've been preparing all sorts of yummy bread and cakes and pancakes for the big "let's sell all this stuff to our parents" bit of middle ages week which will take place on friday. if you're standing there working with all kinds of dough and yummy things to taste, you don't really want a proper lunch, so this is what sabin has been taking:

a zip-loc with carrots, cucumber and cherry tomatoes (the adjacent melon was breakfast). she's also gotten a brownie along for the past couple of days, but they're gone now. she takes an apple as well. when we get back to normal practice next week, we'll tell you what our usual lunch is like. but for now we'll just say that the danes do sandwiches a bit differently.

when i picked up sabin at her after-school program today, she was working on a card for her big (half) sister mathilde's confirmation, which is on saturday. had to snap a picture or two because the light was so great. this is why we always have at least one camera on us at all times.

outfit today was one you've seen before (dark grey dress and leggings), so we'll wait 'til tomorrow when we've got something a bit more springy to share.

Buller is Here!

2009-04-22T07:52:00.003-05:00

Addie wore another of her favorite shirts - this one a Birthday gift from grandma. It was the perfect outfit (yesterday) to welcome Buller! He has arrived and is safe and sound.
(minus one sequins after a night of sleeping in the new loft)
Addie made quick work of making him feel at home. she took him out into the first Spring rain to show him the yard (since we figure outside is where he feels the most at home)
Although lizards tend to prefer dry warm environments Buller seems to be adapting well.

it's middle ages week!

2009-04-22T06:56:00.001-05:00

it's middle ages week at sabin's school, but that doesn't mean dressing like it's the middle ages (that would just be too scratchy with all those burlap sacks). snapped this shot at sabin's SFO (her after school program). that's where her spot is--she keeps her coat and bag and about 5000 drawings there.

she's wearing:

white leggings: H&M

denim capris : exit

pink t-shirt: grandma sent this one from the US, it's got horses on the front and we're a bit mad for horses at our house. it's a brand called Kerritts and it came with a package of carrot seeds on the tag! how cool is that?

fleece jacket: also our riding apparel.

shoes: pink vans (apparently some fell off a truck, so they had them on special at the grocery store this week)

pink bag: make-shift purse/lunch bag from H&M

during middle ages week, sabin's busy in the café. they're making all kinds of goodies all week for the big sale on friday when the parents come. sabin's been making bread for a couple of days (it should be cake today) and has been so excited that she wanted to make some more when she got home:

it's a big mess, but we like big messes in the kitchen at our house. they mean we're having fun and making something yummy. she was even making fancy braided loaves. isn't that cool? just ignore all those cutting boards on the edge of the sink in the background.

the bread recipe is:

1/2 package of yeast (we use little blocks of fresh yeast, not the powdered kind)

3/4 cup of water

pinch of salt

4 C of organic flour (or until it's firm enough not to stick to your hands)

work it all together and form it into the shapes you want, then let it rise. i was a little surprised we didn't let it rise first, then shape it, but sabin insisted this was the right way. i ate some for lunch today and it was great, so she must have been right.

To Tell a Tale

2009-04-21T09:25:00.004-05:00

Addie's reading ability has really soared this year. She went from barely making it through a picture book with frustration to cruising through a chapter book in a couple of days. This success is in part of these three characters:

Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park

Junie B. Jones just can't help getting into all kinds of scrapes. After all, going to school, and having to ride the smelly old school bus, and making new friends isn't easy. She really can't help it when she shouts out loud in class. After all, if that dumb May, the class tattletale, wasn't always calling attention to Junie B.'s behavior, she wouldn't have to yell at her, would she? Then there's that meanie kid, Jim, who is always teasing her and making life miserable. And it's really hard to follow the rules, when there seem to be so many of them.

She does her best, but life just has so many interesting possibilities, which often land her in trouble with the teacher and her parents. No matter how mixed-up things get, one thing's for sure --- you'll have a good laugh reading about Junie's adventures in kindergarten and first grade. And, by the way --- that's Junie "B." --- as she will firmly remind you, if you happen to forget.

review by Ann L. Bruns

Rainbow Fairies by Daisy Meadows

All kids love magic, right? Well this magical adventure is a perfect introduction for all little girls into the world of book series.

Rachel Walker and Kirsty Tate meet on their way to Rainspell Island for holidays and quickly become friends. While searching for the end of a rainbow they discover an old, black pot. Inside the pot is Ruby the red rainbow fairy. Ruby explains that evil Jack Frost has cast her and her rainbow sisters from fairyland in anger that they forgot to invite him to the midsummer ball. Ruby turns Rachel and Kirsty into fairies and takes them to fairyland to meet the king and queen and receive instructions on how to rescue the other six fairies.

So begins book one of the series. (from reviewstream.com)

School Days - Laura Ingalls Wilder

School Days is the latest favorite. I am sure this has to do with our cold snowy stop to the homestead in South Dakota during Spring Break. These books were compiled by taking chapters out of the original series. It does make for easier reading then the longer original books. She also read Animal Adventures in this same series.

All of these are a series of books, which if fun to go from one story to the next for Addie.

jump shots

2009-04-21T06:28:00.000-05:00

at our house, we have a tradition for taking jump shots. it's not a long tradition, but it's a tradition just the same. it started with some very creative people at some workshops that i held around the world during the course of 2007. at every workshop, we had the whole group do a jump shot. here's an example of one of the best ones:

here we had our own personal professional photographer (who used to be a BBC producer) take the shot, but what we usually did is set the camera (or a number of cameras) to take a series of rapid-fire shots, then put it on a timer and run back into the picture. check out the height some of us got (i'm in the middle and a little to the left in a green shirt). when it's just kids in the shot, an adult usually takes the shots on a rapid fire setting, like i did with this one of sabin above or my sister did with the one of sabin and her cousins at navy pier from the other day.

since you guys are a whole crew all in one, you should really try it. i think you'll find it's pretty addictive. and you'll be amazed to see how high you can jump!

We will make it Spring

2009-04-20T17:04:00.001-05:00

Quick note on the fashion choice of the day.
I love this shirt and actually bought something off the rack. It fades from a turquoise blue down to a sunshine yellow. This is paired with the traditional blue jeans.

We will make it Spring one way or another - even if that means wearing sunshine yellow.

Pants - Target
Shirt - Walmart

A quick addition of pictures - this shirt was a lot easier to take a pic of off from my little wiggle worm..... I love this shirt, I would wear this shirt!

Where is Buller?

2009-04-20T12:19:00.005-05:00

I was hoping to share the good news that Buller had arrived safe and sound.
However, there was only a single letter in the mailbox from a friend in Idaho.
We anticipate his arrival tomorrow.
The way our mail travels he is
probably hanging around Fargo, ND right now.
(is it a he or a she?)
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Where is Buller?

trying to get out the door

2009-04-20T10:22:00.000-05:00

gorgeous day today. busy day today. but sabin wanted to share what she was wearing:

top: white t-shirt from miss whatever, singapore
pants: grey velour genie pants by bombi bitt (you saw these last week)
jacket: grey velour jacket by bombi bitt (you saw this last week)
shoes: those red converse all-stars (you see these every time. sorta.)
bag on the floor: years ago, the gap
purple backpack: by jeva--all of the kids have these for their school bag.

it's middle ages week this week, so not "real" school. sabin's working in the café. today they made homemade buns. tomorrow: cake.

Pets

2009-04-19T20:28:00.004-05:00

Addie and her family have three pets. Two cats and a dog.

We call him Lost and he calls us Found

This cat's name is "Lost". Because that is what he was. We aren't sure how old he is. He showed up at our house several years ago. He remained outside the first winter he strayed our way. The second winter he was allowed to sleep in the garage. The next summer my mom found him so funny that she let him in the house this winter. He has become a good pet. (But he eats a lot and then throws it up in my bed sometimes if I forget to keep my door shut :( I like that he can meow the word "milk" when he wants milk and "mamamama" when he wants food.
This is "Tori". She is a Pomeranian. She is our dog. We got her after our Dachshund was hit by a car. A lady from dad's work gave her to us two years ago because she had too many dogs. She barks a lot at the neighbor dogs. She likes to play a lot and I like to play fetch with her.
This is "Kitty Lou" . He is old. My mom and dad have had him since before they had kids. [he is 10.5 years old]. Lou stays away from us all unless he wants to be petted.

Some days I like having all these pets and sometimes I don't. I like Tori better then the cats.

a spring sunday

2009-04-19T12:34:00.000-05:00

we were on our way to our favorite nearby beach--the "tarzan cliffs," when we were momentarily delayed by the bridge going up. we didn't really mind, because we were first in line and it was pretty cool to see it up close. there were only two sailboats that wanted to go through, so it didn't take long.

sabin packed sandwiches for a picnic on the beach, but there was time for lots of play. the fine sand feels wonderful on the toes and gets our feet started towards those barefoot summer days.

sabin and her far (remember, dad is "far" here--pronounced faah (soft "r" like the brits do)) decided to hollow out a little path so their hands could meet:

and then it seemed to get a little bigger...

in all, it was an excellent day at the beach. we hope you had a wonderful sunday as well!

Saturday Mornings

2009-04-18T10:57:00.007-05:00

The weekend can't come fast enough for school age children. Addie is no different. Saturday mornings mean staying in "jammies" longer, sometimes it means a big breakfast, playing, and cartoons. While the kids watch 1/2-1 hour of cartoons after school there is a lot going on at that time, a different pace.

Addie and her brothers are allowed to eat breakfast in front of the t.v. on Saturday morning (only other time they can eat in front of the t.v. is for after school snack). Addie's favorite cartoon is Scooby Doo (mine too).

Having 4 kids means running a bit of a tight ship.
Saturday mornings are one of the few unstructured lazy times we are able to enjoy.

Scooby Doo and The Grand Prix Race
The rest of this episode can be found on Youtube

growing up with two languages

2009-04-18T03:48:00.001-05:00

jordbær med chokolade overtræk

(pron: yord-bare meh chokolathe ower-trike)

sabin is growing up with two languages. she always speaks english with her mom and danish with her dad. school is all in danish, tho' next year, in the third grade, she starts to have formal english at school.

when sabin watches hannah montana in the morning or in the afternoon when she gets home from school, it's been dubbed into danish. when disney channel broadcasts it in the evening, then it's in the original--in english. even for me, that sounds really weird. i'd never seen hannah montana before, so even i have mostly seen it with the danish voices, so it's really strange to hear miley's heavy southern accent. sabin prefers to watch it in danish, for sure.

for the most part, denmark is too small of a market (it's only 5 million people) for dubbing television and movies, so most are broadcast in the original with danish subtitles. but for children's movies and on disney channel and such, there is some dubbing of programming for kids. because kids wouldn't be able to keep up with the subtitles. sabin recently saw the monsters vs. aliens movie at the theatre here in our town and it had been dubbed into danish. there is always a theatre or two in copenhagen that shows the original english version.

since sabin was little, we've always watched lots of shows in english. we have a channel called BBC Prime, which has children's programming in the morning and afternoon and sabin watched it a lot when she was little. she watches less now. generally, while we're making dinner, we watch friends and sabin likes that. on saturday nights, DR1, the main danish state-owned channel, almost always has a james bond, so we watch that and it's always in english.

sabin speaks danish with her friends and has always done a lot of translating of what i say for their benefit, ever since she was pretty little. i can speak danish as well and i do generally speak to her friends in danish. but sometimes i tell sabin something in english, because it feels strange to both of us if i speak danish to her. she switches absolutely fluently between danish and english--that's a talent she's inherited from her father, he's brilliant at it as well.

sabin's dad and i always speak english together, i don't think we'll ever switch to danish in our home, it's too much who we are that our life takes place in english. i think it's good, because it also means that sabin gets more english in her everyday. we tend to use danish together only as a traveling language when we're bargaining on a rug or an antique in turkey. it's pretty convenient then.

sabin's dad's native language is actually swedish--he lived his first five years in sweden and then moved to denmark when he was five. he speaks both swedish, danish and english fluently and pretty good german and enough french to get by in a french-speaking place (like morocco, not necessarily like france).

sabin's aunt monica was here last year, staying with us for five months and that really helped sabin's english. i have always spoken english to her, but she knew i understood danish, so she wasn't actually speaking that much english before aunt monica came. sabin also went to the states last summer for a month and stayed with aunt monica and her cousins owen and finn, who are 7 and 6. that helped a whole lot too. here they are, doing a jump shot on her first day at navy pier in chicago.

we should just note that owen's tongue is black because they had a blue slush right before this. but we'll tell more about that trip another day. now it's time to run off to our riding lessons.

Addie's Room

2009-04-17T06:00:00.002-05:00

First we will start with what Addie wore to school yesterday - a little more of the norm - blue jeans (these are embroidered with flowers/hearts) a white shirt and the sweater of the morn had been shed.

*-*-*-*-*
Now, onto Addie's room. We sent these pics to Sabin along with Early ( in case he got homesick for his old room) But we thought it would be fun to be able to compare Addie's Room with Sabin's room online.

Both girls have a lofted bed with room under to play.
However
Addie's room is in the basement and Sabin's is in the upper level.

Addie's room colors include -
Pink, purple, yellow, orange,
turquoise blue

The loft includes a reading area and a set of bookshelves
with a cloudy sky hand painted ceiling (by mom)

This is Addie's house.

This is (part of) the backyard.
The swing set is as long as the house
The monkey bars were expanded after
Addie aced them a few summers ago.
The little building is the playhouse.
It was Addie's mom when she was little
and was moved here for Addie by her Grandparents

friday wardrobe

2009-04-17T02:16:00.000-05:00

morning scene at our house most every morning:

sabin eats her breakfast in the arm chair while watching hannah montana on the disney channel. when hannah montana is over and zack & cody's suite life is starting, it's time to brush hair and teeth and head for school. these days, we're biking to school because the weather is beautiful. one of us generally bikes with her. this morning it was Far who did so, because i had to be home when the cleaning lady arrived.

and this is our friday wardrobe (on which i apparently had the light settings all wrong, as it's a bit over-exposed).

top: white cotton shirt from the gap (under the jacket)
jacket: grey velour from bombi bitt
capris: black linen from bombi bitt
leggings: black cotton from local grocery store named kvickly
shoes: the famous red converse all stars
refrigerator: retro smeg

what sabin wore today

2009-04-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

here as sabin should be going to bed, she insisted i take a picture of today's outfit...she wouldn't really hold still, so some of these are in motion, but i thought it looked kinda cool, so there you have it:

today's outfit:

dress: grey linen by bombi bitt
leggings: grey cotton by bombi bitt
socks: H&M

again, the red converse all stars were the shoe of choice with this outfit. they are our shoe of choice every day. with every outfit.

Hi Ho - Hi Ho - It's off to school we go

2009-04-16T10:25:00.006-05:00

As you know Addie is in Second Grade like yourself. School hours are from 8:10 a.m. - 2:50 p.m. The school provides transportation to school by big yellow buses. Addie gets on the school bus at 7a.m. and gets back off the bus at 3:50. (We live out of town, making the bus ride necessary) This makes for a long day.
*-*-*-
Today Addie's schedule looks something like this Reading 8:35, P.E. 9:50, Music 10:15, Math 10:40, Recess 11:30, Lunch 11:55, Calender/Sharing 12:20, Tech or Art 12:45, Social Studies 1:10, AR or Math 2:00, Dismissal 2:50
*-*-*-
Addie's Day in Pictures:

Lincoln Elementary School

There are 6 Elementary School in the Public School District. (Several more private schools too)

Front Doors

Addie's school is the newest building of the Elementary schools

There are an average of 22 students per classroom and three classrooms per grade
(except Kindergarten that has 4 classrooms around 20 kids each)

Addie's Classroom

Addie's room has lockers for their coats and backpacks and each student has a desk. There are 5 computers in the room for the student's use. Smart boards have just been installed - they are interactive white boards, I can't wait to see what they can do.

The classroom pet

This is the computer(tech) lab
(Your mom will be pleased to see they are Mac's)

Tech is on Monday and Thursday afternoons

This is one of our favorite places in the school - the Library

Addie has Library Class
on Friday

This is the Gymnasium-

This is where the kids have
Physical Education
Addie has P.E. every day for 25 minutes

As I was leaving I smelled something yummy

It was coming from the Cafeteria
also known as the Lunch Room

On the menu yesterday was:
Chicken Soup with Cheese Stick
Carrot Sticks
Fruit Choice
Milk

If they don't like the scheduled menu
item they may bring a "cold lunch"
from home.

Before the kids go to lunch they have Recess.

This is 25 minutes of outside time.
They play outside unless it is below zero, or raining.

Remember: you can click to enlarge
They switched recess and lunch around several
years ago so that children weren't rushing lunch to get outside.
It works very well to have recess first

Edited: On the lunch menu for tomorrow - Deli Sub, Carrots w/ Dip, Pickles, Baked Chips, and Fruit Choice. Milk.
Monday - Chicken Drummies, Potato Wedges, Seasoned Veggies, Muffin, Fruit Choice, Milk.
Tuesday - Soft Shell Taco w/ all the fixings, Tortilla Chips w/ Salsa, Fruit Choice, Milk.
Wednesday - Tator Tot Hotdish, Garlic Toast, Garden Salad w/dressing, Fruit Choice. Milk.
Thursday - BBQ Chicken on a WW Bun, Corn, Garden Salad, Fruit Choice, Milk.
Friday - Popcorn Chicken, Baby Baker Potatoes, Green Beans, Mini Muffin, Fruit Choice, Milk.

our house - denmark

2009-04-16T06:19:00.001-05:00

since we didn't enclose real pictures of our house in the package that's headed your way, we thought we'd share some pictures here so you can see where sabin lives.

this is sabin's bedroom:

she got a new room in the past year when we remodeled--her bedroom used to be downstairs, but now it's upstairs. sabin got to choose the colors for her new room--as you can see, she chose light and dark pink. her bed is up high with space to play underneath just like yours is, addie.

sabin spent about a month in the US with her aunt Monica and her cousins Owen & Finn last summer. when she came home, she had this iMac waiting for her. she plays all kinds of online games on it and even plays World of Warcraft.

sabin's dad built this cool window seat with storage underneath. all of those boxes underneath have wheels on them, so sabin can wheel out her legos or littlest pet shop or brio trains or build-a-bear gear whenever it's time to play. lots of time is spent sitting up on the actual seat and manufacturing drawings of all kinds.

and here is a shot of our house from across the street. that's ours in the center with the steep roof. the white one beside with the flat roof is where ryan and else live. they're kind of surrogate grandparents to sabin and love to have her come and visit. we try to keep them supplied with cupcakes and brownies whenever we bake. since spring is only just beginning, it's not too green in the yard yet. we'll have to take an updated picture once the leaves really come out. that's our ancient toyota in the driveway.

what to wear - danish version

2009-04-15T09:48:00.000-05:00

we took our "what to wear" picture today after school since there was a bit of a rush in the morning to get out the door. so our subject looks a bit tired after a full day at school and "SFO" (skole og fritidsordning) our after-school program where sabin goes when school lets out at 12:50. it's in a house on the school grounds, right next to her school building (we'll take some pictures over there one of these days). the SFO is open 'til 5, but i generally pick her up between 3 and 4 if i'm working from home. she also walks, bikes or comes home on her scooter on her own in good weather.

sabin doesn't wear a uniform to school either. that would be exceedingly un-danish--danes are really casual. sabin goes to one of the public schools here in town (there are 5). hers is in the center of town, near the church (of which there's only one)

sabin's ensemble today includes:

top: beaded long-sleeved cream t-shirt from the gap (in manila, we don't have the gap in DK)
pants: grey velour "genie pants" by danish designer Bombi Bitt
tights: grey w/green dots from Noa Noa Miniature (another danish brand)
hole in the left toe of said tights: by sabin
not wearing anymore: grey velour hooded zip jacket which matches the genie pants

prior to this, she was wearing the red converse all-stars (they go with everything in our current fashion estimation), but far doesn't allow us to wear shoes on the oak floor, so she took them off when she came in.

sabin's pretty opinionated about what she wears on a daily basis and often several choices have to be presented (she's an only child, so there's more time for that). and here, between the seasons she's especially difficult to please. she doesn't want to wear her winter coat because it's too hot and the spring coat is as yet too light, so we've been layering.

more tomorrow...

What to wear?

2009-04-15T08:00:00.004-05:00

Even in Second Grade what to wear can be an issue.

Ideas of what is acceptable, "cute", comfortable, and favorite collide between mom and daughter. Both Julie's wondered if these issues crossed Continents and Oceans.

Addie does not wear a uniform to school. She does however have a dress code at school. But, it is pretty lax. ( No shirts promoting things like drugs or alcohol, no flip flops, no revealing clothing.) That is about it.

A typical outfit for Addie's school is blue jeans, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt -typically the zip up hooded type. Very casual. Tennis shoes are acceptable footwear. If a child wears something other then tennies then they need to bring a pair along for Physical Education class (called Gym - after the room it is in "gymnasium").

With temps warming (highs in the 60's today) Addie opted for a Springy outfit:
Black footless tights
Gouchos
With a pink flowered rayon shirt.

Since Addie has decided to grow her bangs out she has been ordered (by her mean mom) to keep them clipped back in the mean time. Addie has just learned to put in her own ponytails and typically has a low tail everyday. (Which makes her mom happy because it is less snarly!)

the early bird thus far

2009-04-15T07:36:00.000-05:00

sabin had a ball last evening, taking pictures of early and posing for pictures together with him. she even thought he should get to be up in her favorite climbing tree over by the creek. here are the results:

as you can see, there are plenty of friends for early to hang out with.

he got to play a little DS

or at least closely observe it.

i'm sure it was mario.

with sabin up the tree

and then sitting on a branch like in his natural habitat.

i'm assuming early is a he because of his red breast. you guys think he's a he, right?

getting the mail is fun!

2009-04-14T10:01:00.000-05:00

early arrived safely today! he's actually been in the country since saturday, but we missed the postman that day and had to wait 'til the post office was open today to pick him up. the first thing we did was take him to lunch at café le zinc, our favorite local cafe. we won't say that the reason we had to go get lunch was that far (pronounced "fah" and the danish word for dad) forgot to put the lunch he made in sabin's bag, so she was totally starved today. :-( oh wait, i guess we did say that.

as you can see in the next picture, sabin loved her little necklace as well and put it on immediately! so a very big thank you for that and for the other goodies in the package!! it was such a treat!

and you'll be happy to know that we pulled ourselves together and sent a puffy envelope your way today as well. i can say that receiving the package with early has made sabin very excited about this project. i'm not sure she really understood what we were going to do before she actually got early in her own two hands. we were biking home and she carried early so he could see where we were going. she's currently watching a little t.v. and relaxing with him.

here's a little hint as to what we sent:

sabin made a last minute switch to send "buller" instead of the beanie cat named kooky that she had intended to send. buller--pronounced "boolah" is a little lizard that sabin made at her after-school program. he's called a "firben" (pron. fear-bean) in danish (that literally means four legs and is the word for lizard). he's colored with pastels and has a few bead and sequin accents and loads of character. we think you'll have lots of fun taking him places and taking his picture. he's very curious about things and we can tell you already that he likes going to the beach:

sabin's already looking forward to taking early to school next week. they have a special "middle ages week" and the kids will all do various activities from the middle ages--making shields, making clothing from leather and furs, felting, oral storytelling, and the like. sabin thinks early will get a big kick out of that.

it will probably take about a week for buller to arrive, that's usually what it takes when we send things to grandma and grandpa in south dakota and aunt monica in iowa, so be on the lookout early next week.

Homework

2009-04-14T07:50:00.008-05:00

This is Addie. She too is 8 years old; born 1 month and 1 day after Sabin. Addie decided to tell Sabin a little about her daily life. Last night it was homework:

I get my homework on Fridays. It is due back on the next Friday. Mom makes me do it on Friday night so we don't forget. This week was Easter so I did it last night [Monday]. Homework is usually Math. Right now we are learning fractions. I have to color or circle some food items to make the right fraction. [color the donuts to show 1/4].
Here is some of the work I did in school last week. A math sheet, AR reading tests, spelling words for this week, and some reading work. I got one wrong on the Math sheet. In Science we are learning about animals. Last week it was frogs and toads this week fish. I have 30 spelling words a week - I don't like Spelling [because she has to practice]. We have a test on Fridays.

I can't wait to receive your package in the mail. I wonder what kind of [stuffed] animal you sent?

what i did on my easter vacation - in pictures - by sabin

2009-04-13T13:26:00.002-05:00

i (being sabin's mom) thought that we could start this blog off by sharing a few pictures of what sabin did over our 5-day easter break. actually, sabin had all of last week off school as well, so she's had a ten day holiday! that's how it works in denmark. there's no school all of easter week and through to the following monday after easter.

anyway, here are some of the things we did (now in sabin's words):

i went to one of my favorite places in denmark

it's called møn's klint and we find cool fossils there.

sometimes my crazy mom dresses those fossils up in mermaid tails

while we were on møn (it's an island below the island we live on),

we visited a vineyard and i got to see how they make wine:

the next day, which was easter, the weather was beautiful

so we went for a walk at a nearby little bitty castle

this is me and my dad:

we also stood in line a long time for an ice cream.

mom and i were silly and took a picture of our purple shoes:

the ice cream was worth the wait:

then, today, my cousins came and we had a easter egg hunt

my dad makes the craziest 3D treasure maps:

and here we are coloring eggs.

my cousins had actually not tried that before.

we had some egg coloring stuff from my grandma.

she lives in the state next door to you--south dakota.

i'm really looking forward to getting to know you, addie, and doing this crazy blog thing our moms are so into. we have our package all ready to send to you and will send it tomorrow when the post office is open. we got a note from our postman that yours has arrived as well, so we'll pick it up while we're there!