Sunny Day

Well, summer weather arrived this morning. After the Danish teacher left, Peter and I headed out. I wanted to get some tomatoes for dinner. Since this isn't high on his list of things to do, a stop at a park along the way was justified.
We like this one. It has a boot-camp-like obstacle course, and a rock climbing wall. Peter can do it all *on his own* big boy that he is now.


Here's an action shot.


When we got home I gave Pete a bucket of water to play with outside - its our version of running through the sprinkler.


He's been playing a bit with the neighbor kids. It can go good or bad. Two days ago, it ended in tears (darn 6-yr-old with a sword), yesterday it went OK (a different 6-yr-old playing board games and coloring). Today, I just didn't feel like trying to ("trying to" are key words here) speak kid Danish, so I didn't let them in the house. Outside OK, in the house - Nej!

Dainish Haircut

Peter got his hair cut yesterday.


The boys here put a lot of work into their hair. Even in grade school they are combing, gelling, and spiking. The barber gave Pete nice little Mohawk that even survived an evening's worth of sleep. It also goes along well with his current Indian obsession - he asked to go to Indian school the other day; to learn how to be an Indian of course.

It was a rainy, cold, and windy weekend. We tried to find a Maritime Museum in Svendborg, but couldn't. Instead we ended up at a castle. We walked around the grounds, but decided to save the tour for when we have visitors.


Today the rain appears to be blowing in three different directions at once. So we'll be hibernating at home for the day. I've heard that *summer* might be back as soon as tomorrow...fingers crossed.

Animals & Peter (wait, are those two things really different?)

Friday it was our job (as playgroup) to feed and water the animals at a 4H barn. There were bunnies, chickens, white geese/ducks (I'm not sure which), and sheep. The bunnies were the favorite since they generally won't peck your eyes out or jump on you. Oh yeah, and they're cute too.




We went to a friends place for lunch. Dessert was eggless ice cream and chocolate-chocolate cake. Peter's is the only one with that allergy, so its really nice that they think of him when making treats. He is SO happy when he hears he gets to have cake!

All the girls were getting their hair done with flowers and feathers. Peter got a blue feather, which instantly turned him into an indian. And of course, that night we HAD to watch The Indian In The Cupboard movie. We read the book a while back, we got the the very last chapter, and he didn't want to read anymore. He did pretty well for a long chapter book, with no pictures. And I know he was listening because he recounts the differences between the book and the movie.

What should we do today mommy?

Summer break is on. That means Pete's school is closed, and we are looking for things to do. Monday we took the bus into Odense. We can spend a good couple of house at the library, plus they let you eat there, so I remembered to pack our lunches.

This is a picture of Peter checking out the statue across the street from the library. There are lots and lots of statues around town, HC Anderson, and others too. After visiting to London, where lots of the city was bombed in WWII, the old (intact) architecture here caught my eye. I mean, I noticed it when we moved here, but that day I noticed it in a different way.


Then yesterday we tried out a new pool. (Now that we finally had the pool here at the University figured out, its closed until the end of August.) This place had at least four separate pools - each with something different. A shallower one for kids (up to Peter's chest), a deeper for older kids with diving boards, a lap pool, and the crowing glory - a pool in an atrium with a slide, mini waterfall, and hot tub (almost unheard of in DK), stuff like that. All the pools were warm - the atrium pool was so warm I felt like I was slowly being stewed. But for Peter it worked out well, his little body gets cold fast.

Today we are on a mission to find some fruit to bring to playgroup tomorrow. Its dark and cloudy, but we'll still be taking the bike and trailer - rain or rain.

Vacation Accomplished

Whew! We made it back from a week in London.


We left on Tuesday and came back on Saturday. That left three full days in between for touring around which worked out just right…a 4-year-old is only good for so much walking, tubing, and city sightseeing.

Our first day out it rained CONSTANTLY, so we did the double-decker bus tour, the river cruise, and then ended the day with a stop at Hamley’s …a five-story toy store in the Piccadilly Circus area.

The next day we visited the Tower of London and the London Bridge. (Hint: if you ever plan to visit the Tower, buy advance tickets online like I did or else you’ll be waiting half the day to get in).


Then our last full day there, we visited the HMS Belfast.


In between all that we visited outdoor markets, super markets, took the Queen's Walk, ate some English and non-Enligh food, and (Peter) made good use of the bathtub (something we don't have in Denmark).

I can think of two (children friendly) things we missed. The London eye (you should buy advance tickets for that too, and I didn’t, it looked too scary). And the changing of the guards (something was happening at the palace, lots of ladies with big hats waiting to get in). Other than that, I think we successfully *did London*.

It’s funny, I picked London over another vacation spot because the language is English, and I thought the food would be easy for Pete. Well, everyone that we *needed* to speak to, spoke English (like the hotel guy, tour people). But, walking around and riding on the subway I probably heard every language in the world – more often than I heard English. A very international and happening place - still, we're happy to be "home".

Happy 4th!

Rich remembered that Friday was the 4th of July. (Since I'm not working, all I know is what day of the week it is, not the actual date.) He wanted to bring rundstykkers (Danish bread rolls) to work to celebrate - forgetting that a place like Bruggers doesn't exist here (bakeries don't open until 8 am at the earliest). So, no buns for the Danes. I did however dress Peter in his "in July shirt" for the day.

We were back at the slot for playgroup, with a different bunch of kids this time. Even so, Peter said he's had enough of the castle until "it gets cold out".


The day before we were at the aquarium with Lone and Jens. Since its offically summer season, they had a few new displays, and a crab fishing game. The weather was warm and sunny, so we ended the day down on the beach.





Saturday was another beach day. Probably our last for a while. As I write, its getting overcast and cooler.


In the picture above Peter is pointing at the ice cream sign. These things are EVERYWHERE. And when kids see them, they go straight for them, all giddy trying to figure out which one they will choose.

And the thing Peter is holding in the lower right picture is a chubby jellie. At one point a bunch just came in with the waves. I've been told only the red ones are the stinging kind. The rule for Peter however is, only if the other kids are catching them first.

Summer Break

For Peter summer break starts tomorrow. We are off with friends the rest of the week, and will be going to London the following week. When he starts back up he is going to have a new adult leading his group. I think the change will be good and bad.

First the bad - he won't have Helle (his current adult) watching over him. He likes her a lot, so that might be hard.

Now the good - the new adult is a man. Peter responds well to male teachers. At St. Davids, I always knew when there was a boy volunteer; Peter would talk about them more excitedly than the girl teachers/volunteers. This new man was at the bornhave before, but he left for a year to get more schooling. He's been back to bornhave now for a few days and Peter seems to like him. Today was the first day that Peter actually ran away from me while I was unpacking his things because the new guy was outside playing around with the kids.

And, the last two weekends WE MADE IT to the POOL! Which is good, cause now its closed again until the middle of August. Peter does a good job paddling around with the floaties on. He even gets brave and puts his ears in the water, or blows bubbles. Little by little he's getting there.

Who needs to go to the cirucs when you have your own clown.