The summer that was....

So, I've fixed, or at least figured out a way of dealing with, the rotating picture issue.... Finally!

However, now I have photos in random order, regardless of how I load them -- aren't you lucky? I'll try to keep them to a single subject.

As the title implies, this post covers part of our summer vacation -- the week we spent in Jutland (the Danish mainland) with our good friends Ulla (Steen's cousin and one of my closest friends) and Lars-Ole and their children. We had a terrific week, filled with laughter, smiles, excellent food, and great conversation. Here are some of the highlights...

Lars-Ole, Ulla and Emil on the train at Fårup Summer Park. This was Nico's favorite ride... "mom, can we ride the train again?", "mom, let's go on the train!", "mom, how about another train ride?"

Lars-Ole, Nico and I on the beach on the west coast -- as you'll see in some pictures below, you can drive on this beach. We even managed to get our cars stuck and were saved by some sweet guy who came with some boards and helped us out again.

Luke on the beach -- this kid is all legs!

Matthew and his good friend Emil on their way back from exploring the dunes.

A tea and cake break in the summer house we rented... Nothing says "cozy" like a good cup of tea and some cinnamon rolls...

Frederik and Lars-Ole on the beach...

A pre-stuck-on-the-beach photo -- such a great scene!

Matthew building, or attempting to build, a card house for the first time.

The kids at play in Frederikshavn -- Frederik here....

Luke here...

Nicoline, Steen and Nico strolling down the street.

My cute little one...

Oh, Matthew at play too!!!

Beautiful Nicoline.

Nico on his first pony ride.

Emil waiting patiently in line at the summer park.  A great seat for people-watching!

Nicoline is ready for that license!

Matt and I on the rapids ride. This one was great fun!

Nico and Steen on the way home. Poor kid was sick all night long before we left... then, on the ferry, he was sick again. In fact, this photo is taken 10 minutes or so before he spilled his guts, literally, all over me. Lovely for me, but even better for the woman sitting next to us who got splashed. I felt so sorry for that woman and for Nico!

Nico trying for his license too.

And Emil. Aren't our little drivers cute?

Enjoying the pool in the summer house, slide and all.

Steen & Nico waiting patiently in line for a ride at the summer park.

Back to the pool. (See, you can't get bored with these random pictures.)

Enjoying splashing in the puddles with Nicoline... for Nico, there's nothing better than a puddle, except for -- maybe -- ice cream!

Out for a swing.

Puddle -- despite the order, this picture and the one above are not the same day.

Emil and Ulla enjoying a special moment.

Water gun fight!!!!

 Steen heads of to explore one of the many German bunkers left over from World War II.

 

Looking for elephants

(Forgive me, but for some crazy reason many of my pictures are rotated 45 degrees, even though they're not rotated this way on the drive -- I've tried for several weeks to fix this problem, without success. Hence the delay in posting and the lack of posts in general. If anyone out there knows a fix to this problem, please let me know. Thanks!)

Recently, we paid a visit to a safari park not too incredibly far from Stockholm. We've been there once before, but felt it was time to go back. Matthew didn't join us last time and Nicholas is finally old enough to enjoy the event.

We started off with a bang -- the dolphin show.

And then moved on to some of the other animals... like the gorillas.

No, that's not a gorilla...

And we enjoyed some ice cream....

Crawled around on giant lions, which Nick was sure were from the Lion King.

Had some great views of the archipelago.

And the bears....

In this safari park, you don't drive through but ride in cages that hang from a ski lift above the animals. This allows viewers, like Matt here, to get pretty close to the animals without disturbing them too much.

Despite all the amazing sights we saw that day, all Nick wanted to do was see the elephants. Apparently his favorite animal... where are the elephants, mom? Well, we finally found them at the end of the day, but guess what? No pictures! :)

In other events, Lucas took third place in the annual trampoline competition. Here he is at the start of his routine.

The trampolines (I think they look pretty impressive, so I've decided to share my impression with you.)

Receiving his medal.

Happy Dance

Despite the snow that fell earlier this week, it's time for a spring celebration.

Because our tulips have bloomed!

I'm a bit of a tulip fanatic.

Aren't they beautiful (it doesn't take much to make me happy, does it)?

Playing catch-up

Where've we been the past month or so?

And what have we been doing?

This post will give you a glimpse of our lives in just about 60 seconds... except one major event, my parents' retirement party, is missing... as I can't seem to find the CD...

I swear that my dad was right (yet again) -- if my head wasn't screwed on, I'd lose it.

Just like the phone I left on the top of my car one day. Geez, I'm a genius, eh?

Anyway, here we go. Let's start with Nicholas in his oh-so-cool, good morning getup.
The same guy painting his mask....

I love the way he puts colors together. I'm not kidding you when I say he worked on this mask for nearly an hour.

Bira and Steen... the former still thinks she's a lapdog, even though she's bigger than one of the children in this house.

Nico indulging in his desire for ice cream on a spring day. (Yes, spring is here -- the tulips in front of the house are actually BLOOMING!)

Nico helping to make spinach mannicotti for dinner -- at the moment he makes dinner with me almost every night. It keeps him busy (i.e., it keeps him from standing there screaming his dissatisfaction with the world while his frazzled mother tries to put a meal on the table.) Sorry there are so many pictures of one child so far -- he's in a stage where he demands a bit more attention (read "terrible threes").

Bira enjoying the spring in her own way... still on a lap. Isn't she a cutie?

Luke practicing for the national chess championships. He's playing himself. How he does that, I'll never know.

Nico sitting with Bira on his lap. He insists that she sit on his lap. If she won't, he sits next to her and slowly puts his legs under her so that, whether she wants to or not, she's sitting on his lap. She doesn't seem to mind -- she loves company and attention as much as he does.

Nico riding his bike. This bike was actually a gift from Matthew's grandma and grandpa to Matthew when he was just a toddler... Nico loves it. He rides it hours on end. And today he learned to brake rather than crash into the wall or curb to stop!

Coloring Easter eggs.

Finished Easter eggs. Nick didn't sleep for hours because he was worried the Easter bunny might come and he'd miss him. He finally went to sleep when Luke told him "The Easter bunny is going to bring you candy, but only if you go to sleep!"

Easter morning....

Preparing for Easter dinner with our friends Eva, Steve, Kadi and Henrik and all their beautiful children -- the table...

The dinner.

The chocolate cheesecake Steen made for dessert... oh, boy, it was yummy.

Another sign of spring... the boys waiting in line for the neighbor's trampoline.

Yeah, now you're basically up to date! Happy May 1! :)