Axel and his 4 grandmothers

Axel with his natural American and Danish grandma. And his borrowed Spanish and Swedish grandma.

The confirmation party

The church

The confirmand

The parents

The sponsor

Big brother skyping his speech

Axel had wanted something with meat. And he got it.

Presenting farmors song

Little sister giving big brother a few words on the way

Grandma's speech. This is where Axel got the catfish on the hook.

Axel thanking everybody

And the dessert.

Getting ready for the big party

A few shots of the preparations for Axel's confirmation party. We had a 50 m2 tent in the back yard. We put it up the Sunday before the party but due to a bad weather forecast, we took it down again Monday. Just to put it up again Thursday. However, the weather was super on the day and it worked just perfect with a garden party.

Beach time

First time on the beach. Awesome summer weather and water of 14 C temperature. Needless to say Rita and Axel went in asap and loved it. A father made it quite a bit later. It was cold but nice. I tried to take a picture of the rest of the group in their beachwear but somehow it was overexposed :-)

Tom Paxton export strong bitter

First time in many many years. Can't wait!

Teens

Now who would have thought of that.

Vruuum

A hot dream for mechanical appliance afficionados. It was fun tearing away all the old bushes and shrubbery in the back yard. Now we just hope the grass will come back in time for Axel's confirmation which we celebrate with a major garden party.

Back yard camping

The stump from the big tree is still in the back yard. We have thought of many ways to get rid of it, but the kids came up with the best. Let's mix business with pleasure they said. The tree is very fresh so the fire only made a small dent in the stump. So there is plenty of opportunity for more fun.

When in Rome do as the Romans

Curry wurst - grilled bockwurst with ketchup sprinkled with curry - was invented in Berlin. We found the most hip place in the city and was kicked away from our table by French Tv. The only thing missing is a Berliner Weisse - German wheat beer which is traditional as well.

Real men don't eat quiche

We found a little place near Oranienstrasse who served French style lunch. The sun was shining and it was great!

Traveling is about eating

It looks better than it was. We thought we had found a decent cheap baker near the hotel. But the fried eggs looked weird and the coffee was thin. And the purple and black haired lady behind the counter was huge and with a voice so deep she could have been a man.

And he ate the whole thing

Even Axel has his limits when it comes to meat. A whole eisbein was too much. Although much energy was spent walking all over Berlin.

And he ate the whole thing

but not alone. The 550 g delicious rib eye was for sharing. What a way to spend a father and son evening in Berlin.

Hard days work

We are tired tonight! The old tree is now cut up. We have a huge pile of wood. Now we just need a fire place.

First outside dinner of the year

It was awesome weather today. Axel and I returned from a weekend trip with his class at school and the Ellen and I went straight to work. We had tons of branches lying in the backyard from the big tree, that had been felled. It took many trips to the recycling station before they all were gone. But it was warm. So Rita wanted us to eat outside. And Axel had been begging for us to start the grill, so we could be the first again this year. Well, we did and it was wonderful. Although we did get quite cold after about 40 minutes. But we did and we were the first!

Spring concert

Rita played her first concert in solo yesterday. It was really really good.

It's a bird, a plane, no it's Axel

What do you when construction workers build up a huge hill in the neighborhood? If you are Axel, you climp it and jump out from the top several meters down.

Party fun

It's already a week ago since we had Rita's birthday celebration. A bunch of girls invited for tacos and dance. Boy, it was noisy. We had a good time.

Coming down

The wind took down this huge branch on the tree in the back yard. We were lucky it didn't hit the house. Unfortunately the tree is too fragile and too close to the house, so we've had to decide that it is coming down.

Fastelavn

Rita had such a hard time deciding what to dress up like for the Danish Mardigras. Should she be a skating princess or professional skiier? Well, when Axel's friend David turned up with a high hat all doubt was gone. Rita became a fine gentleman.

Axel was in no doubt, however. He was to be an emo. We are still working on getting the black nail polish of his fingers.

Danglies

The womein in the house after a very succesful day of shopping!

Tillykke med fødselsdagen

It has been incredibly busy here's a few belated updates. Rita had a nice birthday. Two birthday cakes and lots of candles (and no boyfriends all candles were blown out). Unfortunately, Rita was a bit under the weather around her birthday so we had to postpone the celebration with her friends. But on the upcoming Friday we will party!!!!! Rita looks so much forward to it.

test

Rita Næstved

Bad hair day

I wonder if there is an equivalent bad baking day. Tonight I had planned a tarte tartin for dessert. Well the tartin ran out of the pie dish so all we had left was crust and baked apples and an oven overflowing with caramel goop. Afterwards the pumkin bread literally exploded in the pan and all the good stuff petrifying on the cookie sheet. No more baking projects that day but instead quite a cleaning up job. Hrmf!

Visit Norway

Last week when I was busy with work, Ellen, Rita and Axel went on a 40 hour cruise to Norway. The fjord was packed with ice. They had a thrilling visit to the technical museum. Axel got so enmeshed with a set of electric drums that he could have stayed there, Ellen said. Everybody frollicked in the pool on the ship and had fancy drinks in the nightclub. From what I hear it was an excellent 2 day substitute for a winter's vacation.

Happy New Year!