A brilliant

couple of days.


On Wednesday Kristian and I decided to go away for the day. We decided to go back to the place where  he grew up - the Island of Fyn. We packed a picnic and of the two of us set. (Again it was just us two, the kids had other plans. Sara was working and Andrew was hanging out with his friend Thomas. Leah was still at camp!) 

We had a great day. We started by having a picnic down in the southern part of the island. Then we drove up to the little village where Kristian grew up. We visited the special tree that´s in his village. When he was a wee boy he play underneath the tree, hopping from stone to stone. (Believe me nothing has changed, he was still doing that on Wednesday! haha) 

 

We went to see his old childhood home.....

 Then we walked across the playing fields to his granny´s house (which you can see below) There was an old couple sitting in the garden and we said hello to them. It turned out that Kristian knew them and so we were invited in to see his granny´s old house.

 Close to Kristian´s home there was a farm. When he was a boy he spent nearly every waking minute of the day there. He loved being with the cows, or riding the bulls (really!!) or driving the tractors (yes, even as a young boy he was driving tractors around the place!) You can see the farm below....

 We then headed to a place where he would go with his family to enjoy the beach. 

    Kristian´s sister Signe and her husband were staying in a summer house in this wee town so we arranged to visit them for coffee, but before that we fancied a Danish hot dog....yummie. We found a hot dog place and enjoyed our hotdogs while overlooking the sea. 

 We arrived at Signe and Kim´s around 8pm as planned and we had a really cosy evening with them. The summer house was old and cosy and the view from it was fantastic. 

 Kristian loves Fynsk Brunsviger, a special cake that you get over on the Island of Fyn. I have never been wild about it but Kristian always told me that was because I had never tried the REAL Fynsk Brunsviger, well he was right. Signe and Kim had bought some from the bakery and I am now also WILD about it. It was delicious. 

 We had planned to drive from Signe and Kim´s place around 10pm but Signe suggested that we stay the night as they had a couple of extra bunks, bedclothes, clothes, in fact everything we needed even down to two new toothbrushes. We took them up on the offer, we thought it was a great idea and so we stayed the night. That meant we could use Thursday to explore more of the island. 

Thursday morning we were up early.We had a lovely breakfast with Signe and Kim before heading out to see more of Denmark. We drove further north and went to a place called Fyns Head. We walked for about an hour around the place. The nature was wonderful. The weather wasn´t the best but we enjoyed the walk anyway.

 We drove around a bit just enjoying the scenery before ending in Odense, the third biggest city in Denmark. This is the city where Hans Christian Andersen was born so of course we had to go and see his house. We then spent the rest of the afternoon shopping.

 Around 8pm we decided it was time to head home. As we got closer to home it started to rain but the sun set was fantastic. There was a weird, but beautiful red glow on the motorway. We arrived home   tired but content. We really had a wonderful couple of days away.

Then this morning I had to be up early. I had arranged with my boss that I would go in and help with some things at work. I first start back to work on Wednesday of next week but there were some things needing done before the office people started back on Monday. I didn´t mind going in today, it now means I can use those hours sometime later on.

Leah´s music camp ended today. She had a brilliant time!  We went to her concert this evening....it was brilliant. They are really talented kids....all of them! 

There were all sorts of groups and bands. You could sign up for the group of your  choice. If you played an instrument you could bring that along and be a part of a band for the week.   Leah signed up for the gospel choir and solo group. She did well! She had a fantastic camp.  Not only did she have fun singing but she also had a great time spiritually. Her faith was built up.

Below is a video clip from the concert. They sang some really lovely quiet songs but there was also times when they rocked the place!! The video clip is mostly of Leah´s solo group and choir although the last few clips are of some of the bands...... 

Goodbye Leah - Hello Sara....

Saturday afternoon we said goodbye to Leah. She was off to camp. This is her second year at the music camp. She loved it last year and the only thing she wanted to do this summer was go to the music camp. 

 Last Thursday (just one week before) we got an email from the camp telling us what was happening, what we needed to pack etc. Every year at the camp they hold a theme evening. Everyone dresses up and they have a big dinner.Last year the theme evening was Masquerade. Leah and I were in Ireland a few weeks before the camp and we were able to pick up a wonderful outfit for only £12.


Well this year the theme evening is Roman Times. So last Thursday evening I found an old white sheet and tried to make a costume. It was NOT a pretty sight. I gave up!!


I then tried looking at buying a costume on line. To buy a costume in Danmark was rather exspensive and to get one sent from England was not much cheaper - they were charging £19 for postage!!! I was in a bit of a panic.  It was then I thought of my dad. 


What if Elliots had a costume and he could go down and buy it and post it over to us? We went on line and found a costume for £10 in Elliots. I asked my dad to go and get it and send it over. He did and the problem was solved!! (Thanks dad!) The costume came on Friday afternoon (1 week later) Leah tried it on to see if it fit - it was perfect:-) Now she was all set for her Roman night!

 Today Sara arrived home from Barcelona. We went in to collect her from the airport but on the way stopped at one of the big shopping centres. As we were walking around we met Kristian´s cousin Jacob and his wife and wee girl. It was great to see them. Then it was in to get Sara.


It´s good to have her home agian, although my tidy house will now disappear. We have discovered over the last 2 weeks that Sara is the messy one (well we sort of knew that!) but it has been wonderful how tidy our whole house has been, especially the bathroom. 

Our picnic....

.....was cold and a bit wet!

We decided to go off on a picnic/shopping trip today. We packed the picnic basket with loads of egg and onion sandwiches, a strawberry cake for each of us,  a few tins of coke and a thermal flaske of hot coffee for Kristian. We decided to head west. The weather wasn´t the best. The rain was coming in from the east so we thought the further west we went the better it would be. Well, we got that wrong!!


Idea was that we would find a lovely nature area to have our picnic, maybe head down to the beach for a walk, head over to a little harbour place for ice cream and end of shopping (the shopping was for Leah´s benefit! It was the only way we could get her to come with us! haha) 

Well we found a lovely place to eat our picnic. The only problem was how cold it was. The rain had, thankfully, stopped but it was just blowing a gale. In the end we had ourselves wrapped up in a big blanket You have never seen three people eat a picnic lunch soooo fast!! haha

The strawberry cake was delicious! We literally just swallowed our last spoonful of cake when the rain came on. Boy did it rain!

 We headed into a town called Holbæk. Last time I was there I was pregnant with Leah! I couldn´t remember much about the town, only that I thought it was a cosy place to shop. We had a great afternoon there. Leah got a new school bag for school at a really good price!! (Once again there were sales everywhere!)

 We ended the day by having a burger at McDonalds.Finally it was time to head home...I had a book to finish!!  We were all tired, espeically Leah. It was a really great day even though it felt more like October than July!

P.S. I finished the book! 

Destination - SWEDEN!

Yesterday we decided to go and explore Sweden and what a good decision that was! Once again we were on our own as our kids had their own plans for the day. (It´s like being newly wed again! Just the two of us!)

We have had such bad weather over the last week but yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. It was sunny and warm, at least in Sweden! We caught the ferry across from Helsingør, it only take about 20minutes to cross over to Helsingborg in Sweden. We then went up to Kullen. It was such a beautiful place. The nature was fantastic!

 We had made a picnic lunch from home, so when we arrived we ate our lunch. Funny thing was that Kristian had only made 2 pieces of dark bread for himself. I on the other hand had made loads of things. Even though I ate more than he did, I was the first one hungry and the first one looking for a restaurant to eat in!! Honestly!!! 


Well, apart from all the eating we did we also must have CLIMBED miles today!! It was wonderful being in a place so hilly:-)

 We just loved the nature and spent the whole afternoon walking, climbing or just sitting on the rocks talking! Oh yeah, there was also all the time spent taking photos!

Around 7pm we decided to head down into the little village and explore there. Again we were not disappointed. The place was wonderful, so full of atmosphere. We found a lovely restaurant overlooking the harbour and had a delicious meal there.

 Kristian had a burger and chips.....

 While I had lasagne and salad! It was really delicious! I would go as far as to say it was the nicest lasagne I have ever tasted! 

 We ended the evening by driving down to a lovely beach. Here we watched the sun go down. It was beautiful! (Doesn´t it look like Kristian wants to kill me!! haha) We caught one of the late ferries home and arrived home just before midnight. It has been a long but really great day!

 I am so glad we decided to go to Sweden. It will not be our last trip there! 

Video of our day in Sweden:-

Our day out....

Our day out never really happened!! Yesterday Kristian and I decided we would go and explore some part of Denmark , maybe even stop at one of the shopping centres we have never been too. First though we needed to go to our town and buy bread and milk for the kids. They didn´t want to go with us:-(  So off to town we went. I got the bread and milk but then I started to buy things for my new lifestyle. Loads of fruit and vegetables. 

The thing was, while Kristian and I were shopping, we got inspired to cook wonderful food. Now that is not us!! We normally don´t like cooking so we were rathered surprised. We spent nearly 1½ hours walking around the supermarket getting inspired. In the end we decided to just go home and make some great food, start up the grill and just enjoy being home. 

The weather had also changed and it was pouring down with rain when we left the supermarket! Perfect weather for a cosy day at home cooking and eating!!

 So I came home and decided to make Bruchettas. They were soooo delicious! We sat out on the balcony and enjoyed them. 

 A few hours later Kristian became the chef! He started to get the meat ready for the grill. Loads of garlic!! Yummie, just the way we like it.

We had the most delicious meal and I ate healthy! Loads of salad - which had everything under the sun in it. We spent the evening watching Raymond. Sooo funny but now we only have 1 disc left:-( 

It was a lovely day. I´m glad we changed our plans!! 

(Yesterday I was 72,2kg,  today 71,7kg - yeah hay!! 500grms - 2 packs of butter. Let´s see if I can keep it up. Had a bit of withdrawl systoms last night! Was craving coke and chocolate!! I´m just taking it one day at a time!! Ok now we are really going off to explore today!!)

A whole new me.....AGAIN!!

Ok I have decided I want a whole new me again!! 

Over the last year and a half I have put on 7 kilos!! I have not been motivated to get them off....I would like them off, but I haven´t wanted to do what it takes. Then last night I decided to look back over my blog. I started this blog as a diary, a place to record memories from our life. I had so much fun looking back over the last three years, but the thing that jumped out at me was this picture......

I went back to July 2008 to see what we were doing and this was the first thing I saw!! I couldn´t get over how thin I was (compared to now!) In this picture I have a little bit of a neck!!  I have absolutely NO NECK at the minute, the fat hangs from it! (I know I will never have much of a neck, it´s the way I´m made! but this picture stabbed my heart and I said out loud "Oh I want to look like that again.") 

Not only do I want to  look like that but I want to feel the way I did then. I remember how I exercised and how much energy I had! I felt soooo good. I was eating the right foods but still eating loads!! Between the food and the exercise I was feeling on top of the world. I remember coming home from work after 7½ hours of cleaning and  still feeling like I could go on cleaning for another 7½ hours!! (I haven´t felt like that for a while!!!) 

 So now, I think, I´m motivated!!! I am going to keep this picture before me as a reminder of what I can achieve. Starting now I am inventing a whole new me!!! (OH I HOPE IT WORKS!!!)

Goodbye 72kg Laura  - Hello 65kg Laura!! haha Let the challenge begin!

A peaceful Sunday

We had a lovely peaceful Sunday. It started with a long lie in. Our church was closed today due to so many people being on holiday. So we spent the morning here at home relaxing and holding our own sort of church service by listening to some teaching over the internet. 


Just after lunch we headed to Hillerød. Leah and her friend were going to see Harry Potter and so after leaving them of at the cinema we headed up to the castle to have a look around. We decided that we would go in and explore. In all the years that we have lived here we have never been inside the castle. 


When we arrived there were soooo many tourists!! We could have made believe that we were in Rome, there were sooo many Italians! I wanted to pretend that the castle was the Vatican and try and sneak around with the big Italian group - however Kristian would not go along with it!! (spoil sport!haha)


Anyway we decided there were just too many people and we really didn´t want to see the place with soooo many people around. 


We will go back on a week day and see if it is any better, although I doubt it. I think we might have to wait until September, a bit out of the holiday season.  Anyway we had a lovely walk around the grounds. 

Kristian was very happy to hang out with these two ladies!! haha (Jeff if you`re reading this the ladies made us think of you and Campbell! Brought back good memories!)

We then walked through the town and decided we would go get a coffee/coke, but when we got inside the cafe I decided I wanted something more! As usual I was hungry! It didn´t take Kristian long to change his mind and swap his coffee out with a Salmon Bruschetta. I had a lovely prawn salad. Both were really delicious!


We ended the afternoon driving around some of the places we have lived over the last 21 years. There were many happy memories to talk about. We were like two old people out for our Sunday drive! 
Finally it was time to pick up the girls and head home again. 


A lovely relaxing Sunday afternoon. The bonus was the down pour that we had when we arrived home! The heavens opened and we enjoyed watching the rain sitting all cosy at home. 

First day....

It´s the first day of Kristian´s holiday! He is now off for 3 weeks. We have been in checking the weather and it has to rain all week long, so all the picnics we had planned will have to wait!


Today however was lovely. Warm and sunny again. Kristian was going of to a re-union with his old go-kart club. Leah and I decided to sleep long and then head up to town. We tried to get Andrew to come with us, but there was no way he was going shopping with his mum and little sister!! 


While in town we decided to spoil ourselves and went to the local coffee shop and bought some delicious cake which we sat and enjoyed while watching the world go by.


It was then home to just sit out on the balcony and relax! I love my wee balcony!  Leah´s friend Cecilla came by and the two of them started to make a joint blog. They were out taking pictures for the blog and I must say I am really impressed with their photography. I like the way they capture things. Their blog is about them being best friends and so they took pictures to capture that theme. Have a look at a few of their pictures! 

Kristian came home around 7pm and we spent the rest of the evening sitting out on the balcony talking, just enjoying the peace and quiet and listening to the birds singing. We have soooo many birds around this area and their songs are sooo beautiful. Finally at 11pm we went in and put on some "Everybody loves Raymond" - yes we have got another new series!! After watching a few episodes, we started to nod off on the sofa. It was time for bed!! It has been another lovely relaxing day!

You would think.....

You would think it was Autumn going by the weather outside. Over the last many weeks we have had really lovely weather, at times a little too warm for my liking but that changed yesterday. It has rained since yesterday and turned colder. I must say I am enjoying it! I love nothing better than a rainy day all tucked up at home.

Well I wasn´t at home too much today. Around 9am Kristian rang me from work. I was in bed reading.  He had forgotten something important and he needed it before lunch, so being the good wife I am, I got up and got ready and then drove to his work with the envelope that he had forgotten. It was only a 20 minute drive there but the rain was wild. It was hard to see out the window. 

After lunch I went over to visit my friend Laura.It´s been absolutely ages since we last were together. Leah came along to visit her daughter Mia. We had a really great afternoon catching up with all that has been happening We had tea and pancakes and to top it off, a laughing fit that had us Lauras in tears! Our girls just watched us and shook their heads!

 Their small kitten had gotten sooo big.

Laura and I are always trying to be improve ourselves!! We are always trying to be more ogranised or eat more healthy or find better ways to exercise, better ways to get more sleep etc and we always have some book or article that we have read to help us with the topic we are trying to become!! So today Laura had a book for me. I am struggling with my weight. I have put on 7 kgs and am just not motivated to get it off...oh I want to get it off but I don´t want to make the changes that I need so it can just melt away. So Laura gave me a book - "Women, food and God"  hopefully this will give me some inspiration to get going. I am really looking forward to reading it.

I finished my first book of the summer holiday reading, "The midwife´s confession" by Diane Chamberlain. I started it yesterday afternoon and finished it this morning. I really enjoyed it, I was so involved with the different characters and the plot of the story. I found it hard to put down. Think I might buy more of her books, pity they take so long to get here.  I really need to get myself that Kindle and SOON! 

 It was an early start for Sara and me yesterday morning. She had to be at the airport for 5am! At 4.20am we left home. We both were so tired. I had gone to bed at 1.30am and Sara went an hour later. Anyway, we got to the airport on time and Sara was soon on her way to Barcelona with her 4 friends from school. 


So while she was on her way to Barcelona, I was on my way home to head off to bed again. However by the time I got home I was not at all sleepy. So instead I cleared up all the files and papers in our office. Threw out another bag of rubbish. At 8.30am I was starting to feel the tiredness, so off to bed I went again for a few more hours. 

I woke just after 11am got up and got ready to go visit my old lady friend. We had a great afternoon out together. I was home in time to make dinner. Then after dinner Leah and I had planned a beauty night. It was time to clear out the old pores, scrub the old body down and generally just relax. 

 So on went the face masks and 20 minutes of relaxation time started with our eyes closed and our feet up while listening to good music.

 Leah had on a white chocolate face mask while I had on a passion fruit peeling mask. 

 It was fun peeling it all off. My skin felt soooo good, really clean and tight!

 Then it was time for a footbath and a book. By the end I was nearly nodding off.

Then it was in for a shower with a body scrub. The hair got a good conditioning before we covered ourselves in body creams and face creams.

It was then time to cut the nails and file them. Then we did a paint job on them....very nice!! I never wear nail polish - actually really hate wearing it but I made an exception last night, so now I have pink nails!! 

It was fun, but also a lot of work! I was feeling really relaxed by the end of it all and my skin felt soooo good.  

It was then time for bed and I don´t even remember my head hitting the pillow. I was so relaxed and tired that I went out like a light.

I woke this morning at 10.50am! Wow I had slept long! and it felt sooo good. I woke to rain. What a wonderful day. It has been raining all day and I have been enjoying every minute of it. I spent the whole afternoon on the sofa reading my book. What a wonderful holiday this is!