Exploring......

There was no work for us today. It´s Pentecost and so the Danes have a free day off work. We planned to enjoy it to the full. 

 Kristian came home last night, from his go-kart race, sore and exhausted. He fell asleep on the sofa almost as soon as he sat down! He really is not as young as he thinks he is! haha

 So today we woke at 10am! Wonderful to sleep long - especially for Kristian! I made a brunch of bacon, eggs, bread, and fruit. It was rather delicious, even if I say so myself!


Then we decided to go out exploring. Close to us there is a town called Frederisksværk, we have never been there and decided to check it out today. Leah came along and we collected her friend Benedikte. We would drop the two girls off at the beach, then Kristian and I would go exploring for a couple of hours before picking them up again. 

The girls had a great few hours together at the beach, while Kristian and I went to the harbour and to the little town of Frederiksværk.

 It was just sooo beautiful. We loved the place. In fact I wouldn´t mind living there!! ("OH NO" says Kristian "HERE SHE GOES AGAIN DREAMING OF A HOUSE!)

 The town centre is just soooo cosy. We got ourselves an ice cream before we went to the beach to pick up the girls.  

 The girls had a lovely time together at the beach.

It really has been a lovely day, so relaxing and the weather has been fantastic too:-) I am soooo NOT in the mood to go to work tomorrow (yet again!). All these long weekends and good weather just put me in a holiday mood. 


Ah well, I can look forward to next weekend, it is also a long weekend. I have Monday and Tuesday off - I just LOVE working in a school!!! 

WEEKEND!!!!!

Yes, it´s weekend and it´s a long weekend for us in Denmark. We have Monday off work because it´s Pentecost. I am so looking forward to having a weekend at home. 


Tuesday evening I arrived back in Denmark. I had a lovely time with Dad and we got a few things sorted out in the house while I was there. We bought some new lino for his bathroom and got that put down, as well as getting his back bedroom cleared and organised. It sure felt good. 


It also felt good to be back in Denmark and to see Kristian and the kids again. I arrived at 10.30pm Tuesday evening and when I walked out of the airport the heat just hit me. Summer had arrived in Denmark! It was lovely, but the warm weather just put me in a holiday mood. I was in no mood to get up the next day at 6am to go to work, but I had no choice! The weather has been fantastic all week.


Kristian left on Wednesday morning for a course with his work. So he first came home this afternoon. I meanwhile have kept busy. I visited my old lady friend on Wednesday and Thursday I had a Sunday School meeting. Today was the usual Friday afternoon filled with food shopping. Now I am ready for the weekend.


Kristian and Sara are going away this weekend. Guess what they will be doing? Go-karting!!! (Isn´t that a surprise!! haha) I am hoping to get my house and balacony organised this weekend so I can relax on Monday on my day off. Maybe I will get to read a book or two over the weekend as well. Aaaahhhhh life is good:-)

Home sweet home....

Once again I am back on Irish soil. I landed in Dublin last night and took the bus to Belfast. I got into Dads late last night. 


Yesterday before leaving Denmark I, along with the rest of the family, attended our nephews confirmation service. We were all off work and school and the morning was spent at church. It was then off to a delicious lunch. I was able to have some starters and first helpings of the main course but had to miss second and third helpings, plus the ice cream bar. Why? Cause I needed to get to the airport. 

One thing I am really happy about is that I got to hear one of the speeches that his mum, dad and sisters did for him. His big sister and little sister sang a song for him and it was fantastic! A Kirk Franklin song and it was beautiful. (I couldn´t find my camera yesterday morning when we were leaving and I didn´t have time to try and find it - how I regret that, I would love to have recorded them singing that song! I was crying my eyes out,  it was so touching and I was not the only one crying like a baby!)


Once the eyes were dry, Kristian drove me to the airport and then headed back to the party. Kristian and the kids first got home late last night after a really great party and day together with the whole of Kristian´s family. 


So for the next few days I am in Ireland with my dad. I go back to Denmark on Tuesday so I only have 4 full days this time.Today dad and I have been at the hospital. It was his day to go and get platelets. So from about 10am to 12.30pm we were there. Now dad is resting after his lunch. Monday will find us again up at the hospital getting platelets and then on Tuesday he will get blood. 

Dad looks really well this time. He has had a few weeks were he has been feeling really good. The blood he has been getting has been lasting for a week instead of him needing more blood by the weekend. We are believing for a miracle, for healing! He has also, in the last few weeks, put on 1½ kg, which really is a miracle. All the other times that I have been home he has been getting thinner and losing weight. 


Hebrews 11 v 1 says:  Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen, it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. (NLT) That verse is is what we are living by. What we hope for is him to be well, so we are just going to have confidence in what we hope for, will actually happen:-)

And we`re back...

After driving 2830km (round trip) we are back in Denmark. We had a fantastic trip to Paris. What a wonderful, beautiful city. We only saw a small part of it but we were satisfied and happy with what we saw, and it just gave us a taste for more, so hopefully we will be back again! We loved all the old beautiful buildings.

So, last time you heard from me we were about 200km outside Paris. That was Friday morning and when Kristian finally woke we headed for the city of love! Our first stop was Chateau de Versaille. I heard about Versaille in History class way back in high school. I remember wishing, way back then, that one day I would get to visit it. That wish came true on Friday. (Dad you would LOVE this place!)

After having our fill of Versaille we headed into the heart of Paris to our hotel – and what a hotel! It was a 4 star hotel that Kristian had gotten at a really great price, (under half  the normal price) It really was rather posh (by our standards) but it was lovely and they couldn´t do enough for us.

Friday evening we headed out to explore Paris. We must have walked miles that evening. We discovered all sorts of things – a street filled with designer shops like Dior, Channel, Ralph Lauren, Gucci etc.  Place de la Concorde where we stood watching the crazy French men drive. That was good entertainment!

We ate dinner in a lovely restaurant. The food was delicious and the weather was great, we were able to sit outside and enjoy our meal.

Then there was off course The Eiffel Tower! What a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. We decided that we just had to go up, at least to the 2nd floor. The queue was so long for the elevator so we decided to take the stairs….about 660 steps we climbed and my legs and lungs could feel it! It was well worth it to see the view over Paris. It was about 10pm in the evening, it was dark and Paris was alive with lights. Just absolutely wonderful!

It was then over to find the Metro back to the hotel.  We were finally in bed by 1am!! Tired but happy!

Saturday:

Talk about exhausted. I honestly didn´t think I would be able to get out of bed on Saturday morning!! My legs were killing me! We had planned to be up early Saturday morning and out exploring but we just could not wake up! It was 9.30am by the time we got up. By 11.00am we were out exploring. We bought breakfast at a local bakery and ate as we walked. Our destination was Notre Dame. We found the metro and before long we were exploring Notre Dame. What a magnificant building. We also wanted to go up the towers, but after standing in the queue for 40 minutes and moving only 5 metres in that time, we gave up. We were burning daylight and there was still so much to see.

We used the rest of the day to explore the area around Notre Dame which we found rather beautiful. Wonderful wee stalls with prints and paintings of Paris. Kristian bought me a painting from one of the local painters.

After walking around non stop for 5 hours my legs could not take anymore. We headed back to the hotel for a wee sleep before heading out again. We had  booked a dinner on one of the boats that sailed on the Sienne. We were so excited about this. Seeing Paris from the river while enjoying dinner was going to be something special and it was! The food was delicious, the service was excellent and it was all rather romantic! 

Our boat trip ended at midnight and we had a lovely walk home by The Seinne with the Eiffel Tower to keep us company part of the way.

Sunday:

Today we were up early and we were ready to leave by 9.30am. 13 hours later we are home! It has been a totally brilliant trip. In some ways we feel like we have been away for a week or so and in other ways it all went by too fast. Thanks Kristian for this birthday gift. I loved it.

Paris.......here we come!!

The time was 2.07pm, the day was Thursday, the date was 10th May and we were on the way. Before us lay about 1300 km and we were excited. Finally we were doing what we had talked about doing for years.....we were going to Paris!

We have always wanted to just pack up the car and drive down through Europe, stopping as we felt like it, wherever we felt like it. 

We decided to live a little of that dream yesterday....be spontaneous, stop when we wanted. We knew where there were a few cheap hotels along the way but we decided not to book any from home. We would stop when we felt like it and overnight in Germany or Holland or Belgium.

So off we set,  we drove and drove. The weather outside was dreadful....rain, rain and more rain....but I was loving every minute of it.

We had a show of lightening a one stage - really spectacular and off course there was more rain!!

We were hoping we would get to Gent in Belgium and over night in a Formula 1 hotel - clean and cheap. We got there about 1am only to discover that the very last room had, literally, just be rented out. We met the people going out of the hotel as we were going in!!! Arrrghhhhhhhhhh

Well,  we took this bit of news as a challenge, I mean it can´t be that hard to find a hotel in Belgium on a Thursday evening out of season?!!! How wrong we were!!!

After trying 3 hotels we were running out of hope! The answer was the same everywhere, "NO ROOM - FULL."  We were starting to feel a little like Mary and Joseph. We made a decision. We would travel on down towards Paris and keep looking for hotels, if we didnt find one by 3am we would drive into a car park and sleep in the car. Not ideal but sure it would be an experience!! 

Finally, at about 2.13am,  not long after crossing the French boarder we found a hotel with a room available!! YEAAAAHHHH!!! We just had to pay double what we would have in the formula 1 hotel!! But it sure is nice!!!!  I could get used to this! And we learnt a lesson - ALWAYS BOOK FORMULA 1 HOTELS FROM HOME!!!! 

"Check out this bathroom Kristian......"

A happy but tired Mother who was very thankful to find a bed for the night.

Now its 9.30am. Krisitan is still sleeping and I am about to go have a bath and get ready for the last part of our journey! About 200km from here lies Paris!! Thank goodness we have already booked a room there!!!

Blue Monday.....

Yesterday was a special day for Leah. It was her "Blue Monday". Now for those of you living on the Emerald Isle, (or else where)  you will probably have no idea what that is. Let me explain....


Over here when you are in 8th grade you, and your class, get confirmed. It is nearly as big as a wedding!! Big white dresses for the girls, suits and ties for the boys. Limousines, horse and carriage, or old sports cars, are among some of the things that can be waiting, outside the church, to drive the kids away after the service. 


Once the service is over the kids go their separate ways and each family holds a party with speeches and songs for the one who got confirmed. Then on the Monday after the confirmation the kids are off school and they arrange a day of activities together. 

Leah didn´t get confirmed as we are not members of the State church, so we had no big party to arrange for her. However she was going to the "Blue Monday" and she was really looking forward to the day out with her class. They had arranged brunch at one of her classmates, then it was a trip into Copenhagen and a visit to Tivoli. In the evening it was back to another classmates house for a party. 


She had a great day! 


Monday was also a "blue" day for me too. It was my birthday!!! haha I turned 43, just  another year closer to the dreaded 50!!! haha  Actually I had a lovely birthday.


We didn´t have too much planned as I had to leave at 5pm to go and help with the party for Leah and her classmates. However we did have a cosy afternoon. 


Kristian got home from work before me. He had bought my favourite strawberry cake and by the time that I got home, he had the table set for tea and cake. Sara and Andrew were also there and we had a lovely afternoon stuffing our faces. I got some WONDERFUL presents. Sara got me a lovely perfume - so now I can stop stealing hers!! Andrew got me a gift card to Matas, a type of shop like Boots, so I can go and buy some more perfume!  


Kristian´s present was/is AMAZING!!  He wrote to my boss and arranged for me to be off work this coming Friday as he is taking me to Paris for the weekend!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! HOW WILD IS THAT!!! I am sooo excited. We leave on Thursday afternoon and come back late Sunday evening!! 

We are going to drive down through Germany, through Belgium and into France. It will take about 12 hours!!  People think we are crazy driving all that way but we LOVE driving. Well, Kristian LOVES driving and I love sitting talking to him. It´s such a fun part of the journey for us. Sara and Andrew will be looking after Leah and the house. I think they are also looking forward to having the place to themselves. 


I can´t believe I am finally getting to Paris!!! Way back in 2001 we did stay one night in Paris while on our way south on a camping holiday. We hardly saw anything as we only had about 4 hours there and we had small kids. It did give us a taste for Paris and since then we have wanted to go back. Better late than never!!! 


So Bon voyage everyone!! We will keep you posted:-)

Singing in the rain....

Well actually there was not much rain about to sing in! 

Thursday was a glorious day - sunny and warm! Leah, my mother-in-law and myself  were having a girly evening out. (Sara was away so she couldn´t be there!)  We had gotten tickets to go and see "Singing in the rain" which was showing in Copenhagen. We were sooo excited.

I decided that I would drive into my mother-in-laws and leave the car there, then we would all take the bus to the city center. Kristian´s mum lives on the outskirts of Copenhagen so it is handy enough to get right into the center. 

 Leah and her Granny waiting on the bus.....

 We had to have a hotdog with all the trimmings before walking down to the theatre.

 The show was fantastic. Even though the weather was beautiful outside, there was loads of rain inside!

I love musicals! I wish God had given me a wonderful singing voice because I know what I would be doing if he had!! BROADWAY!!! hahaha

After the show we headed back to catch the bus which was meant to come at 10.45pm. We were there 10.35pm and by 10.55pm the bus still hadn´t arrived!! Leah went to check the timetable and realised that we had the wrong time, the bus was first due to come at 11.26pm!!! Aaarrrghhhh we had just wasted 25 minutes sitting waiting on a bus when we could have had a train! 

So off we went to the train station. We caught the next train home and rang Kristian´s sister Hanne, to come and pick us up at the station. She did and when we got back home,  (Kristian´s mum lives in an apartment attached to his sisters house) she had toasted baps waiting. Delicious!!!

It was however one in the morning when Leah and I got back home! Good thing we were off work and school the next day, as it was a bank holiday.

Friday, our day off, we did get a bit of a lie in before we had to be up and on our way to church for our nieces confirmation. Then it was back to her house for a family get-together. Loads of fun, chatter, laughter and off course food! A really wonderful day. 

Mother-in-law.....

I can´t believe it´s already Wednesday evening!! On Sunday afternoon my mother-in-law came to visit and we had a really lovely day together.

´

So much for my diet!!! I couldn´t resist the cream cake that was on sale in the Bakery!

After eating far too much cake we went a walk in the forest. Leah and Kristian took their cameras and Jette and I just took ourselves!

We came across a few beautiful houses....

 Ummmmh put me in the mood to go house hunting again!!hihi

After a lovely walk, we headed home and made a delicious dinner. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing before yet another busy week.


Monday, after work, found me at Ikea. I needed to see if they had any curtains. My old lady friend would like some new curtains. Unfortunately they didn´t have anything to suit but I still enjoyed myself. I just love that place - it relaxes me walking around it.


Tuesday I was visiting my old lady friend. 


Today my feet were walked off me. I needed to find some gifts. My niece and Leah´s friend are getting confirmed this weekend so Leah met me from work and we went shopping for 3½ hours. That was after a 7½ hour shift of cleaning - am I mad or what??!!! Anyway we got everything we needed and Leah got a new outfit for her "Blue Monday" which you will hear more about later.


It has been a good day - I achieved a lot of things that were on my list! Love days like this. Now I can hardly walk so I think it´s off to bed to rest my weary legs! haha Only one more day at work. We are off on Friday as it´s a bank holiday! So tomorrow (Thursday) is my Friday. Yipieee - love bank holidays too!