Welcome to the real world Andrew

Andrew started work experience today as a brick layer!! The poor fella had to be up at 6 am and he left the house at 6.30am to bike to his work place. He had a hard day!!

Now Andrew doesnt have too many big muscles, in fact he is what you might call - a whimp! The only muscles that get exercised are the ones in his fingers when he is playing his computer. Well that all changed today!

His first assignment was to fill a big basin with stones, rocks and bricks and carry it back and forward. He did this for 2 hours!!! Now this nearly killed his arms!


Then he was told to break down a wall. He got a hammer and chisel. Then the man he was working with came and give him some sort of BIG tool and told him to use that to break the wall down with instead. Then he left him to go and get some other materials. So Andrew is all alone in this luxurious house, with a very heavy machine that he didnt have a clue how to use. Thank goodness for mobiles.


Kristian got a call from Andrew. "Dad how do you use this piece of machine?" He quickly explained what the machine was like and what he was supposed to do with it.. Kristian told him how it worked and what to do. Thank goodness he did the right thing, the house was still standing when he left.


When he came back the man then told him they were going back to "base" again. It was about 1.30pm. Andrew thought he must be finsihed for the day, after all he started work at 7.00am! Nope - he got that wrong, they were just going back to fill up the van and head out to another house.


Finally at 3.30pm he was allowed to bike home. We have a very, very tired boy, with very sore arms, at home this evening, but what a laugh we had at the dinner table as he told us all about his day. He thinks he has the hardest job on earth!! Welcome to the real world Andrew!!

As for me, I have a had a good first day back at work after the autumn break. The day actually went by really fast. Nice to see all my colleagues again.

When I came home this afternoon my good friend Rhona came by. It was soooo great to see her again!! It´s been a while since we hung out. It felt like old times. (When our kids were small we were together all the time. We did kids club, sunday school, and teen club together so we were always together planning and organising.) It was just soooo nice to sit and chat with her today and to eat some of her lovely cake. I supplied the tea and she supplied the most delicious cake. (Girls, I am getting the receipe, so I´ll post it sometime!!) Thanks Rhona for dropping by. It made my day!!

A Wonderful Sunday

It has really been a wonderful Sunday. The weather was absolutely brilliant - blue skies and sunshine. We went to church this morning and it was a wonderful service, especially the worship and prayer time. (very special!)

We came home and had some lunch before driving Leah over to the local riding school to visit some horses she is very fond off. Kristian and I then headed out for a walk around the area. It was just too good to stay indoors all afternoon.

When we came home I decided that I would play a little piano and then got this crazy idea that I would video some of my songs for you people to hear (oh you poor folks!!)

Well I was talking to my friend Charlene about it the other week and promised that some day I would get around to putting some of my songs on. So here is the moment.....

I really cant sing - honestly!! (I am all out of breath! - getting older, dont have the same puff that I had in my younger day! haha) Well, just listen to the words. I hope that they will bless your heart in some way.

Here are the words: There´s no-one like you Lord - Who can satisfy the longing in my soul - Only you God, can cleanse and make me whole - There´s no one like you Lord - You are loving kind and good in all your ways - And your mercy flows down to me this day - There´s nothing that´s impossible for you oh Lord to do - So to you now I give my life - Only to serve you - There´s no one like you Lord - Who can give me peace and joy along the road - Help in times of need with my heavy load - There´s no one like you Lord - Who can satisfy the longing in my soul - Only you God - Only you can satisfy my soul.

We have finally decided on a name for the kitten. Are you ready? It´s Shadow. After getting to know her for a week we think the name suits her. Everytime we´ve been cleaning or tidying up she has followed us all around just like a wee shadow. Andrew came up with the name and it was one we all liked. So Shadow it is.

We have all really fallen in love with this wee kitten. She has such a nice nature, (so far) and we have sooo much fun playing with her. The best thing is when she jumps up for a cuddle - she literally goes dead on your knee, except for the purring....ah it really does your heart good.

Now the holidays are over so it´s back to that time again - yes, I have to go make lunches again!! YUK!!!

Just the 5 off us again

Sharon, Jeffrey, Gwyneth and Campbell have gone.

They left this afternoon after a morning out in town. They went to see one of the castles and had a walk around the grounds. The ladies wanted to then go shopping, but it was a little hard to get the men folk away from some of the statues!! (my husband included!!) haha

Finally they got to the shops.

Meanwhile I was at home making some lunch for them all. We had a lovely meal together before Kristian took them back to the airport. It was really great having them here!! I enjoyed every minute of it (it´s great being together with people that you really click with.) Thanks you guys for a really good couple of days.

Friends from Ireland

So our friends Jeffrey and Sharon, Gwyneth and Campbell arrived Thursday afternoon from Ireland. It is soooo great to have them here. It was Jeffreys birthday in September and one of his presents was a trip to Denmark.

After picking them up at the airport we headed home to some real Danish pastry and a wee cup of tea. We waited for Kristian to get home from work and then we headed out for a Chinese. We had a brilliant night, chatting and laughing and just catching up on things.


I was soooo happy that I didnt have to cook dinner!!

Campbell was also happy that he didnt have to eat something that I had cooked!! haha

Then he got confused - there was just too much to choose from!

And when the food finally came - he didnt look too happy!! haha

Actually the food was delicious and we ate too much, as usual!!

Today the two couples headed into Copenhagen. Jeffrey has been to visit us about 15 times (honestly!) so he could actually get a job as a tour guide over here! haha He knows the area pretty well, so after sorting out their train tickets and getting them on the right train, I left them to it.

They spent the day in Copenhagen seeing the sights. Kristian was able to pick them up this evening and bring them home, as he was in Copenhagen. He was meeting up with some old colleagues.

When they came home it was time to put the feet up and hear all about their day.

As I said, Jeffrey had a birthday in September. So today I made a cake and we had a wee birthday party for him...

...And you cant have a birthday party without presents.

Now everyone is tucked up in bed. I think they are all exhausted. Tomorrow we will go for a tour of the queens summer castle. Then a quick lunch before driving back to the airport. It has been a short visit, but a good one. I hope they have enjoyed themselves - we have enjoyed having them!

We should have got it on video...

Wish we had turned on the video camera while we were eating dinner tonight.

Sara and Winnie arrived back from the summer house. We were all sitting eating dinner and having a really good chat when suddenly I screamed "AHHHH" and shocked everyone. What happened? Well, the cat had gone under the table without us noticing. It had jumped up unto my lap from under the table and scared the life out of me (well, its claws scared me!). I screamed which in turn scared the cat. The cat then jumped from my lap unto Kristians. (this is all happening under the table - so no one else really knows what is going on!) This in turn scared the wits out of him, (again it was the claws.) He was about to take a drink of coke but instead jumped and flung the coke all over me. This all happened within seconds of each other. Hahahaha

The best thing was the kids faces. They didnt know what was happening. They just sat there in stunned silence with mouths open for a few seconds before we all laughed soooo much that we were crying. It was really hilarious! Now that was one moment we really should have had on film!

Beating heart and shaking legs

...well that´s what I had most of yesterday. Leah and I went to an amusement park called Bonbonland. My heart was beating very fast, and my legs were shaking after some of the rides I had been on.

We have gone to this amusement park every year since the kids were small. (Sara was 5 and Andrew 3 when we started going.) It is a fantastic place for young and older kids. They have a good mixture of wild rides and rides for really young kids. Every September we, as a family packed a picnic basket and headed off there. This was the highlight of the year.. However this year we didnt do it - too much on, and the kids getting older....etc.

However Leah had got a free ticket and it had to be used before 19th October so we decided that we would go - just the two of us and have a girls day out. (Sara was at a summer house with friends and Andrew was also out with his friends - my kids are growing up!!)

So Leah and I were up early. It´s takes about 1½ hours to get to this place and we wanted to be there for opening. First we drove Kristian to work as we passed it on the way. Then we headed on for our fun day out.

Kristians work.

We arrived 5 minutes before opening, and for the first hour we were able to try lots of rides without standing in a queue.

I must admit - I am getting old!! I am not as adventurous as I was in my young day. I use to love wild rides. Now - well, any wild rides I did go on, and I did try some, I came off a wreck!! Literally my heart was in my mouth and my legs were shaking. Took me a while to recover. My wild daughter however took it all in her stride. She thought I was such a weakling getting so scared!!

After a morning of trying different rides we had something to eat. I didnt pack a picnic. I thought we could buy something since we were just two. The food was nothing to shout about and we actually missed my picinic! (I always made a big thing out of our picnics there, so we always had a delicious picnic with us!)

After lunch there was a sea lion show. Now that was fun! Amazing what they can get those seals to do.

Then time to try some more rides.

Finally we had had enough off rides. We decided we would head out and visit the huge shopping centre they had in the next town. We had a blast walking around looking in all the shops. (Now this was more my cup of tea!)

Finally it was time to head home. We stopped by Kristians work to pick him up again. This time we got to go inside and meet his colleagues and see around the place. What a huge building!!

Home for dinner and a cuddle with our wee kitten. We spent the evening watching a film that was on TV.

It´s been a really good day but also a really nostaglic day. As Leah and I went around we were remembering different things that had happened there on our family trips. Things Andrew had done, things Sara had said, things that had happened to her, rides she had been on with Kristian.We had a laugh as we remembered and then I realised that those days are gone. My two big kids are growing up, and Leah is on her way too. We will probably never go there again as a family (maybe with the grandkids!!) The two big ones go to places like that with their friends. Didnt I also do that when I was 15, and 17? I went to Funderland with my friends, not with my mum and dad. It´s sad...but hey, I have got soooo many great memories.

When the kids were small we sometimes didnt have the money to actually go to this amusement park. (It cost about £15 to get in but then everything was free. We always went in September because 5 could get in for the price of 4.) So I would juggle around with the food money and save here and there and somehow we always managed to scrape through. I always had a saying "Lets make memories" and so we would scrape and do without somethings so we could make memories at Bonbonland. I am now soooo glad we did.

What I am trying to say is, make memories!! Time goes by sooo fast. I am forever saying to Krsitian "Hey lets go make some memories!" Make memories with each other and with your kids. Time is precious, dont waste it, make memories that you can cherish for the rest of your life.

Wow - didnt I get serious there!! haha

Now I need to go and get this house cleaned. Tomorrow our house will be changed into The Rasmussen Hotel!! We have 4 friends coming to stay from Norn Iron. Am soooo looking forward to seeing them. So my day today will be spent cleaning up, washing bedclothes and getting the house into shape. (and in between all that there will be time for a cuddle with Pepsi!)