Never did show you how we spent our last summer vacation, did I? Now I can’t wait for summer to arrive – totally had enough of winter. Our plan is to head for the Skerry west of Sweden (sorry, it’s in Danish, but check out the pictures anyway, it’s amazing…).
It’s March 1st tomorrow, and we will have to do with the pictures from last year for a while still, so here they are:
The rest of the pictures are right here. Summer, sun, sea, sand, swimming. Can’t wait!
It’s raining again. It’s been all day, and it probably will be again tomorrow. So I’ll just focus on last weekend – wanna take a look?
The girls had a pool in the garden – they started out like this, and then they ended up soaked, jumping around in the water with absolutely no inhibitions.
Nelle, Frida, and Ronja at dinner in the garden. Nelle’s parents and her younger brother were there as well, and we had a real summery evening, barbecueing in the garden in the warm weather.
That’s just not possible this weekend. It’s been raining pretty much since this morning, and the guests we had over for dinner this evening just had to stay inside and imagine a summery dinner at the garden table. We had a cosy evening all the same, and Mads made some yummy lamb shanks for dinner.
Next weekend we’re going to Skåne in Sweden – my family and I have been invited by Tourism in Skåne to try out some of their offers for tourists, and of course we had to happily accept. Mads and I have taken a number of canoe trips in Sweden years ago, and we generally love the Swedish countryside, so it was an easy call to make. We will be going to Pappersbruket, and Denningarums Gård (sorry, no English version for that last one, but I hope it’s as beautiful as in the pictures – see “Bilder” in the menu on their website). I’m really looking forward to it!
Pappersbruket
Denningarums Gård Surroundings
Tomorrow, however – we will just be relaxing at home. Which is needed after a lot of running around lately – let’s hope for a bit of sunshine.
Guess you don’t hear much from me at the moment. But I mean – WOW… Life is so busy at the moment. This here below is one of the few breathing spaces Mads and I have taken lately.
The picture is from a minicriuse Mads and I took to Oslo in Norway, without kids. DFDS Seaways have a route from Copenhagen to Oslo, and we booked a cruise for our 10 years boyfriend-girlfriend anniversary. It was a wonderful trip. The girls had their grandmother looking after them, and Mads and I could enjoy a few days of total relaxation in each others company. The first evening, we had dinner in a restaurant aboard the boat with a panoramic view of the sea and the setting sun, and Mads totally topped it off by taking me to the deck later on and breaking out that question, you know…!
Even though we were limited to 7 hours in Oslo, we enjoyed every minute of them. Walking across Oslo to Bogstadveien, taking the bus up to Holmenkollen (the ski jumping hill) with the amazing view of the Oslo bay, admiring the sculptures of the Vigeland Park, and drinking latte in the sun every chance we got. We had sunshine and high temperatures, and we really had nothing to complain about – as dull as it may seem.
Today it is Mads’ birthday and he is not even here – he is working in Hull, England.
By the way, Mads got his ‘yes’ without too much trouble. 
We got back home from Greece Monday, and we had a very nice time, even though Frida wasn’t feeling too well the first couple of days. She reacted to a vaccination she had received two weeks prior to our trip, and Mads and I just hadn’t thought about it until it was too late (duh…). This meant that she was quite beside herself the first few days – like completely beside herself, which was rather tough.
However, those days passed, and the rest of the time was wonderful. Also, I think Ronja enjoyed pretty much every day there, she spent as much time as possible in the swimming pool, and she was having great fun with two 8-year old girls.
We did all we could to relax, had delicious Greek dinners served by friendly waiters, went for a few walks to see the area, and took the bus when we wanted to go away a little further. Mads and I sat on the balcony in the evenings, drinking wine, talking, and reading – now how often does something like that happen? We didn’t rent a car this year as we have done previous years, but we did go on a guided one-day excursion to see “the Hidden Crete”, which took us to several beautiful places in the area around Chania.
All in all we had a wonderful time there with warm weather, great food, lots of bathing and relaxation – and then a few of those factors that you should really learn to take into account, especially when you have children.
Oh, and by the way – Frida is not a good flyer. Has nothing to do with her ears – she’s just really not a ½-a-square-meter-in-4-hours kind of child. Nope. 4 hours…
I promised you a modeled shot from Greece of Ronja wearing her summer fairy dress – and here she is. More pictures from our vacation are found here.
Tomorrow it’ll be June. Today however, summer arrived!
Gorgeous, right?
The garden is an amazing place at the moment – we have flowers in all colours.
Today the temperatures went up to around 23 degrees Celsius.
Tomorrow is supposed to be even better…
And my first peony is in bloom!
Days like this are definitely meant to be spent in the garden!
Enjoy your extra day off tomorrow (Whit Monday) – we will!
Now, there’s just no way around it. There’s not much summer left, and we’re moving towards cooler days. Most of the perennials in the garden have now withered, and are just waiting for next spring, when they will come back with full strength as they do every year. A few are still hanging on by their fingernails, but now it’s just a matter of time. One stubborn shrub has started to bloom again, pretending that we have everlasting summer in Denmark. But hey, that just isn’t the case, and I for one love our changing seasons – though I do find it particularly hard to let go of summer.
Some things still lend a hand in keeping the garden colourful, though. A month ago or so, Ronja brought home two sunflowers that she had planted in a pot at kindergarten. One of them is blooming now, and the other one isn’t far behind. Looking at them definitely does give you a summery feeling!
The apples on our two 4-year old apple trees are almost ripe – I think they need a week or two still to be perfect, but a few have fallen to the ground, and they have been eaten with much pleasure! Those apples are so crisp and juicy – the perfect snack apples!
Ronja had a wonderful birthday – or rather she had three of them. Besides the kindergarten visiting Friday, we had the family visiting Sunday, and as her real birthday was Saturday, we celebrated then too with a traditional birthday morning, a visit to the National Museum, and her own choice for dinner. And what does a 4-year old choose, when she gets to pick anything? Spaghetti with meat sauce…
Ronja had so many wonderful presents, and she was really happy. She has been playing with all of them (no, literally) since – she didn’t get a single one that wasn’t appreciated. Mads and I gave her a puppet theatre, which we are having lots of fun with – it came from this shop:
Now, some of you will remember, that I recommended a toy shop in Amsterdam not so long ago, and now I’ll recommend one in Denmark (this probably goes mostly to my Danish readers, sorry about that). It’s an online shop, and it’s by far the best online shopping experience I have had for a long time! Klodsmajor.dk not only has fabulous toys for all ages, the service around the purchase is also just impeccable. They will wrap your gift beautifully at a fair price, they ship quickly and include a nice personal note with every order. If you wish, they will handwrite a birthday card and ship the present directly to the recipient, and you can still be certain it looks wonderful! I have recommended them far and wide, and I have used them or seen them used several times – it just always lives up to the same high standard. Thumbs up, Susanne!
Now finally I want to say a belated thank you to Wondermommy for awarding me these prices:
It’s so kind of you and greatly appreciated! At the moment, I’m only going to send them on to one blogger – I’m running out of time for today, so I hope you don’t mind! However, Amy over at Habitual continues to inspire and entertain with her wonderful style in crafts, her beautiful photos, and her personal and well narrated daily adventures. I was sorry I didn’t nominate her the last time I had the chance, so here you go, Amy – two in one!
