Frida below the apple tree

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At the last part of my running route, I always see two horses – well, there are quite a few horses on the trip, but these two are different. They are standing close to the road, having their grassy dinner, and looking very peaceful. There are not many people around in that area, so I always go “Hi horses” when I run by. And they turn their heads and nod kindly (well maybe that last bit is my imagination, but you get the point), and they’re probably thinking “There’s that crazy lady again – whatever is she trying to catch?”. Anyway, I like our little rendezvous. My run yesterday evening was tough, so the friendly nod from the two horses was very welcome!

Got a few shots of Frida in the shade of the apple tree, wearing her apples yesterday.

Frida wearing her apples

I was amused that Jeannine in my comments on the last post tried to guess what Frida would be wearing with the blouse for the modeled pic. Could’ve been both red pants and blue jeans, Jeannine – however with the heat we’re having, I went with the more natural look.  ;)

Looking up through the leaves

As always, I was considering several combinations of fabric for this blouse, and I’m so glad I chose to leave the fabric alone.

By the way – Frida is soooo crawling now! Not just experimenting – really crawling!

And then one final thing: We just ordered our vacation, so we’re leaving tomorrow for a week in Greece! :)

Summer – 2nd round!

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Last week was a true family-week, Mads had the week off, and we enjoyed some beautiful weather once again. The first anemone japonica came out – this is it right here – it’s one of the highlights of my summer, one of the flowers in the garden, that I really look forward to enjoying each year.

Anemone japonica

We decided that there was no work on the house that really needed to be done, so we could all relax and do things together – this was a really good decision! The week was spent at home, with a few outings to BonBon-Land, Amager Beach Park (where Mads went diving with our good friend Martin), the beach north of Køge, as well as a birthday combined with a graduation party in the family.

Trip to the beach

BonBon-Land was lots of fun for Ronja – I must admit I’m not crazy about the park itself, but there’s definitely lots to do for children of any age. The food is lousy, so do remember to bring your own! I have always been a big fan of Legoland, which is pretty and clean with great service everywhere and good, healthy food – even for the children. And honestly, not many amusement parks do well in comparison – that’s just the way it is. One thing that I really do like about BonBon-Land, though, is that there are lots of green spaces all over the park with enough benches and tables. Ronja wanted the rides to be as wild as possible, and since Mads isn’t much into that, I didn’t have competition going for the rides with Ronja (I love that!). For many of the rides you need to have a minimum height of 110 cm – Ronja is no more than 100, so we’ll have to go again in a few years to try the really funny stuff!

Visiting BonBon-Land

Visiting BonBon-Land     Visiting BonBon-Land

Weekend at Konga in Sweden

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Yesterday afternoon we got back home from our weekend at Kongagården in Sweden.

Spring weekend at KongagÃ¥rden  Spring weekend at KongagÃ¥rden  

We had a wonderful weekend – Kongagården is a beautiful place. The house is BIG, and we had lots of space to relax, play, and just spend time together. The house is situated next to a forest lake with a big terrace overlooking the lake, and there are rowing boats, canoes, fishing rods, fire rings – well, anything you need for a weekend enjoying the typical Swedish landscapes. The weather has been amazing – truly the first real spring time weekend this year.

Spring weekend at KongagÃ¥rden 

Ronja has been canoeing for the first time ever, and she certainly seemed to enjoy the experience. She also enjoyed playing with her friends Emil and Rebecca for an entire weekend – hiding out in one of the many rooms, having secret conversations, drawing, playing by the lake (with an adult there), reading, climbing the rocks, baking twistbread over a fire and so much more.

Spring weekend at KongagÃ¥rden Spring weekend at KongagÃ¥rden

It’s wonderful to get out of the house and spend this kind of weekend once in a while – we have had great food, and enjoyed late night candlelight conversations with our friends – seated in the ugly but very comfy couches. I think Frida had a nice time as well – she really likes watching the other children, and she has been taking some long naps. It must be the fresh Swedish forest air! Check out the rest of the pictures here.

Today, we are all a little bit tired. Ronja is home from the kindergarten – I think she needs to toddle about at home today. :-)

Spring apron

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I finished a little apron blouse for Frida tonight. I found a pattern for an apron in a Danish sewing book called “Sådan syr du” (“How to sew”) by Rikke Misciattelli, and I totally wanted to see it made with Amy Schimler’s blue bird-fabric. The smallest size in the book is a 74 cl, and since I needed it smaller, I downsized it to what I hope is a 68. Frida was sound asleep in her cradle, when I finished it, but she is soooo wearing it tomorrow. :-)  In the book it is shown alone as a cute and very light blouse for summer days, but I think it’ll be perfect now with a long-sleeved onesie under it. Can’t wait to see it on her – and see how it fits.

Apron blouse 

Besides that, we’re off to Sweden in the morning. We are going to spend this long weekend with our friends Kristina & Klaus and their two children in a house in the middle of nowhere. It’s situated next to a lake with absolutely no civilization nearby, and we’re hoping for some really nice weather, so that we will be able to spend time outside using the garden, trying the canoe, taking a walk in the forest – and who knows, maybe even making a fire. That is, when we’re not inside enjoying some well-prepared food. Hopefully some nice, relaxing days!

Flowers in Ronja's tree  

In our own garden, it’s really spring now. The buds on the lilac are ready to burst, and Ronja’s tree (the Cherry Plum that we planted when Ronja was born) has been blossoming for almost a week now. Frida’s tree has buds that are red like blood at the moment – it’s so beautiful. Her tree is a Katsura tree – in Danish its common name is “Heart Tree”.

Exit Christmas – Enter 2008!

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The Christmas Tree

Yesterday the Christmas tree left the living room. With dignity – not many needles were lost during its stay here. The tree was brought home by all 4 of us in the beginning of December. It has been the first Christmas that we have hosted, so of course we wanted to try and do it as well as possible – trying to honour each family’s traditions. I think everything went well, and we had a really nice Christmas eve here with the entire family. In the evening of the rather passive 1st of January we lit up the tree again to enjoy it once more before I escorted it outside.

And now we have some space here again – the living room is not quite big enough for a tree that size. Speaking of that – we did also have this kind of crazy project with the living room in the middle of December. All the furniture was removed from the room, as the ceiling and walls were painted and the floor was oiled. We had our meals up in Frida’s room, and the girls and I stayed mainly upstairs, when we were at home. Well, well – I’m not going to say much about it, except it was finished in time for Christmas – and I’m glad it’s done!

So it’s 2008.

Frida

Frida is doing pretty good, gaining weight as she should and each day becoming more active and curious. She discovered her feet a few days ago and they have been the big hit. Other than that the hero-status still belongs to the jumping mouse above her changing table, and the racing bees above the bed. Not forgetting the big sister! All the before mentioned have a good chance of collecting a smile or even an enthusiastic laugh from Frida – Mads and I still have to work quite a bit harder to be rewarded with that kind of gesture. ;) (Link to more pictures of Frida is found in the navigation bar to the right.)

Undercover

Ronja returned to kindergarten yesterday after our Christmas holidays, and the change in rhythm was much needed. Her boring old folks are definitely not enough entertainment for her, so it was great to see how she ran off with her friends as soon as we arrived at the kindergarten. The picture of her that I have posted is actually one that Mads took in October when we went to Vallø with Jolanda and Jakob – I just think it’s a really nice shot!

Today I met with my mothers’ group which is always nice. I think today was the 4th time we met, and we just always have a really nice time together. We seem to have loads to talk about (not just the babies…) and they’re all really nice. Also it’s a great way to get a network in a town where you don’t know too many people. The children are quite similar in age as they were born over a period of a month and a half. Frida is the 2nd oldest, but she is still the smallest of the babies because of her early birth. However, I’m sure she’ll catch up!

In general, there are many more pictures on my Flickr account. I just haven’t gotten around to posting the galleries here yet – I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.

Back from the circus

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We just came back from a trip to the circus – Cirkus Arena – a few hours ago, and we had a great time. It was Ronja’s first time at a circus, and I believe she had sense impressions enough for a few weeks. She was completely dazzled for two hours, and when we got home, she was so tired, she could hardly speak.
Our summer vacation is almost over, and it has been a really welcome break with a combination of work upstairs and relaxation.
We started the vacation with a one week trip to Mallorca. Three days were spent with a rental car, to see some of the island, which proved a really good idea. The mountains in the north west part of the island are just beautiful, and we enjoyed the landscape, the groves of citrus fruits and olive trees, and the picturesque villages (especially Deià ) with the amazing terracotta colours. We also had a lot of fun just driving in the hairpin turns in the mountains, which is something none of us had tried before.
The rest of the time was spent going for walks and relaxing by the pool (not Ronja, she soaked in the pool, going home with wrinkled fingers and toes). Pictures can be found here.

Well back from Mallorca, we agreed that we had to make some progress on the 2nd floor, meaning as usual, that Mads would work, and I would take care of Ronja and the house. Even though we would enjoy more to spend our summer vacation together, this has been working quite ok, with the breaks we have made room for in the last two weeks.

On the 2nd floor Mads has been making great progress. The bathroom is nearly finished, though right now Mads is concentrating on the rooms and the hallway to bring them up to the same stage. The work that remains is roughly; finishing the walls with fiberglass tissue, laying the floor, painting, and some finishing touches. It doesn’t sound like much, and though there may be a bit more to it, than you would know, we’re not far away from “reopening” the 2nd floor – exciting! As always – updated documentation from the rebuilding process is to be found here.

Besides the trip to Mallorca, we have made room for a trip to Boesdal Kalkbrud, where we made a fire and had fun making twistbread and sausages. Very nice afternoon!

Everything is going seemingly as it should with the young passenger in my stomach – I’m getting a bit heavier, but I guess that’s normal since the arrival is only 3 months away now. I have – as promised long ago – posted some ultrasound pictures, that you can find here.

Just back from Side in Turkey

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Nice view at dinner time

Two days ago we came back from our vacation in Side, Turkey. We had a wonderful time there with lots of warmth, relaxation, and bathing. I have posted new photographs here.

Now we’re busy tearing down the 2nd floor of the house – or actually that means that Mads is busy. My task for now is to take care of Ronja, so she and I take it easy and go to look at Mads’ doing once in a while. ;)

But that’s all for now – the weather is way too good to be in here!

Easter at the weekend cottage by the water

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Our small weekend cottage

Well back from the little weekend cottage I thought I’d write a few words.

First, I have to say I was wrong about the geography. I didn’t do much research before we went there, since the important thing was to get a bit away from it all. However, the cottage was situated in Kyndbyhuse which is – some will know – not by Roskilde Fjord, but by Isefjord.

The cottage was really small – 10 square meters – but also very cosy. Getting to the water was easy – out of the door and down the wooden stairs and you were there. With the water just outside, the view was amazing and the place was really quiet and undisturbed.

Ronja and Daddy collecting stones by the water

We arrived Friday and it was terribly windy (which must be why they place windmills up there), but Saturday and Sunday the weather was fantastic and totally “pre-summer”-like. The two and a half days were spent relaxing, going for walks, throwing stones in the water, eating well, and looking at fishermen and airplanes. We actually barbecued the first night in spite of the wind, and the second night Ronja slept so well, that Mads and I could sit by the fire all night, talking and enjoying the view of the stars and the sea. Not a bad way to spend a night as early as April.

Sunday we celebrated Easter in the morning – Mads and Ronja went to get some bread, and I stayed back to make coffee and prepare breakfast – and of course Ronja’s easter egg. She loved getting all that chocolate, and she didn’t eat any “real” breakfast that morning. Let’s not make a habit of that… ;o)

Now, we’re back home – going to work tomorrow after a nice and slow Easter vacation. (More pictures from our trip can be found here.)