1st day of school

It's hard to believe that a month has already passed since Rita started school. We had a wonderful day. The principal gave a great speech that really captured the new pupils. Each class has a stuffed animal. In Rita's class it's a dog. The principal had the "dogs" introduce school. It was fun. After that we went to Rita's class room where the teachers read from the pile of postcards received over the summer.

Coming home

Rita, Axel and Erik were all very happy to see each other when Axel and Ellen returned from their US vacation. Ellen took this great picture of the kids in the car.

Picnic

Rita, Axel and I went for a bike ride while Ellen was at work. Rita had found our old picnic basket in the shed and we just had to use it. She filled it up with kitchen towel, melon, a sharp knife and a knife sharpener just in case we needed it.

Axel's birthday

We came back from Germany on the 16th - just in time to celebrate Axel's birthday. Eventhough it was 1 AM when we finally reached home we managed to stir together the dough for the obligatory birthday rolls. Axel got this book from Rick and Jennifer. He also got tickets for Transformers. He loved it!

Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe

Rita was sitting in the front row when the new Danish princess was baptized Sunday. Rita had pink milk and princess cookies. She had a comment on each of the guests she saw arrive to the church. Rita had guessed the baby's name to be Diana, but she likes Isabella - which is the name of one of her friends.

The Danish Chef

Erik is quite a chef. Once in a while it he gets on idea for a meal he wants to concoct. Tonight it was pork roast stuffed with herbs and garlic. For dessert we had crepes suzettes. You might be able to see the flames on the pancakes. It was delicious!

Dressed up

This picture Else and Jacob plus Ellen and me was taken at Jens and Kirstens wedding. We had a very enjoyable evening. Good company and good food.

Axel's birthday

Since Axel's birthday is in the middle of the summer vacation we have a tradition of celebrating him before school ends. This year we had the party at grandma and grandpa Q's place. We had a lot of fun but it was hot! We've never seen the kids drink so much. On average each kid drank half a gallon of kool aid in 4 hours.

Awesome weather

I can't remember any month of June being this warm. Today it was almost 90 F! Yesterday we went to a near by lake and had fun. Rita is still learning to swim. Hence the life jacket.

Great friendship

Axel's best friend Bjarni moved to Iceland last summer. These days he is paying a visit to Denmark. It's really been great to see how happy both boys have been to see each other again and how god they are to pick up their old games.

History day

June 3rd was history day in Denmark. We went to an old bog where they used to cut out peat. Erik was very taken with it and wasn't bothered by the 10.000 mosquitoes that swirled around our heads. We were eaten! Erik dug up quite a bit of peat and was allowed to bring home a big chunk so now we are waiting for an opportunity to burn it.

Bird watching

This year Zealand has had more storks visiting and mating than ever before in recent time. In the weekend we went to a bird sanctuary to look at the birds. We saw one stork flying very high up. It is a very graceful bird. Later we found a farm with nesting birds. Exciting!

Erik with braces

Friday May 11th Erik got his first braces. He's got braces both in the top and bottom of his mouth. Two rubberbands are connected to the teeth in the top and bottom. We had bought lots of soups and yoghurts to get Erik over the first weekend, but luckily he didn't have too many pains.

Not one of the kids

This little squirrel visited our garden the other day. It was a great opportunity to test the zoom on our new camera.

Aguilera go home

 

Just imagine Rita getting a little older. It's enough to give someone sleepless nights :-)

Don Ø

FCK is on the longest winning streak ever. The national championship will be won if they win on Saturday. That's 5 games before the final game of the season. This is a picture of our meeting with FCK's CEO. It's obvious to see on Erik's face that it was grand!

School start - almost

We are no longer a preschooler family. Rita retired from preschool Friday and began after-school club or SFO yesterday. This is a preparation for the real school which will begin after summer.



The club has a lot of activities for children aged 6-9. It's the same place both Erik and Axel has been. Rita soon found the one tree allowed to climp in. You can imagine who was at the top in no time!

4-2

This evening we had an great experience. Ellen had won 5 tickets VIP-tickets for a FCK home game. Axel doesn't care for soccer so we had invited my uncle instead.

The arrangement included dinner in the VIP lounge. A chance to meet and get a photo with the team's CEO. Erik was so looking forward to it. All through dinner he kept looking at his watch waiting for it to become 5 o'clock which was the time for the meeting.

The game started at 6...and it was a great game. After 30 minutes FCK had made 3 goals and we all thought this was going to be a walkover. Then in less than a minute the other team made 2 goals. But that was it. FCK made one more goal and we won.

To make it even more amusing half way through the game a streaker ran over the field. "A naughty man" as Rita called him.

We all loved it and had a great time.

13

We now have a teenager in the house. Since our boat trip was cancelled Erik had asked for a real brunch with bacon, scrampled eggs, pancakes and the lot.



In the evening Erik and I went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and then to the movies to watch Ghost Rider. It was great.

Ellen, Rita and Axel went to a musical. The tickets had been bought before we knew the sailing trip was cancelled.

Oh my gosh

What happened? The library in Stenløse had a special effects workshop where Erik and Axel was made up as these casualties.

If you have the nerve , you can view a slideshow from the workshop here.

But be warned it is bloody.

Be prepared

Over Easter, Axel, Erik and I are going on a boat trip with David. We have bought all the safety equipment. Axel was very concerned about how not to drown. He asked a whole lot of questions at the store and when we came home, he tried out everything.

Giddy up

Rita's preschool had prepared a farewell party the other day. The last couple of weeks they had rehearsed for a circus something we heard a lot about. Rita had several roles. She had talked the most about the horse act where she commanded around with 4 "talking" horses. The snake act really took us by surprise.

More pictures can be seen in the web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/LQ.qvistgaard/CirkusIBH

End of season

Rita's gym class had their end of season show. Rita's team dressed up like animals of the forrest. Rita was a butterfly or was it a fairy? It changed during the day. They really did it good with a lot of sommersaults and jumping jacks etc.

Beware!

It was with some intrepidation we followed this truck in Sweden. Couldn't see the driver though. It was a definite photo op.

Rita's birthday

We had a great birthday for Rita. In the morning we had fresh homemade breadrolls. Rita opened her gifts and was very happy. Preschool came for lunch. As is custom Rita got a very fancy hat. Ellen had made a beautiful teddy bear cake.

After lunch Rita and Ellen went downtown Copenhagen to pick out a build-a-bear. Hence Amalie was "born". Amalie is pink. Wears ice skates and follows Rita all over :-)

Snowstorm

We had a snowstorm covering half of Denmark in snow last night. When we came out in the morning. Drifts had formed huge hills in the back yard and on the roof.

School was out and Ellen and I was unable to go to work. We had a fun day playing with the kids in the snow.

Fastelavn er mit navn

The kids dressed up for Fastelavn the other day. This is what they looked like.

Branäs

We had a great time in Sweden. Everybody went skiing. Rita, Axel and Erik really got the hang of it. It didn't take them long to master the slopes. Ellen did her best to keep up with them. I didn't do any down hill but went cross country instead. The winter filled landscape was breathtaking.





In the unlikely case that the slide show doesn't work try this link. (has worked on the 4/5 of the computers tested) :-)

29-17

Way to go Colts. Superbowl XLI began 0.30 AM Danish time and ended 4 AM. We watched it and had a great time. Click on the picture to see more pictures. 

Fun stuff

What do you think if this? Try out Heritage.com. On one of the first tries Axel came up looking like Jesse Jackson and Snoop Dog!