Mons Kint

We braved the not-so-great weather last weekend since we had a car and drove about 2 hours south to a place called Mons Klint to check out these chalky white cliffs and the GeoCenter there.

Ron wore the toddler backpack and we hiked down about 500 stairs to get to the beach area so we could view the cliffs. He had fun walking back up! Raegan was a trooper with minimal complaining. It is a very beautiful area and very unique for Denmark which is mostly rolling hills or flat land. The Geocenter was fun too - there were a lot if interactive learning type activities for the kids and we watched a 3D movie about flying "monsters" (it was about finding fossils of a dinosaur that could fly) and in Wyatt's words it was "too spooky" so Ron had to take him out.

Holidays: Midsummer and Skt Hans Aften

Midsummer's Eve in Sweden and Skt Hans Aften in Denmark are major holidays around the longest day of the year. Ron and I decided we wanted to celebrate them both while here. Unfortunately, the Swedish holiday is always the Friday before the longest day of the year and Ron had to work and Raegan had school.  A Swedish coworker of Ron's talked me into taking Raegan out of school and taking the kids with her on the train to Malmo for a celebrations she had planned with her friends. So I decided I would go for it - we may as well experience all the culture we can in this region while we are here and I was being invited to a traditional Swedish celebration in Malmo!

If you would like to read more about what this celebration is, here's a good link: http://www.graphicgarden.com/files17/eng/sweden/midsum1e.php

We went to Folkets Park in Malmo - it was huge - it had a huge playground, amusement park type rides, water fountain play areas, and a petting zoo.

 

 

Here is the festival and the May pole. 

 

 

 Everyone got into big circles to dance to the traditional Swedish folk music.

The folk band

 

 Here is our traditional Swedish picnic - boiled new potatoes, pickled herring, smoked salmon. ...my first time eating pickled herring and I really enjoyed it!

 Here are the kids playing at the park and petting zoo.

 

And here they are in the fountain having a blast...all the other kids were naked or in their undies and we didn't think to bring swimsuits...so I thought When in Rome (I mean Sweden...)?? Ron amazingly was a bit embarrassed I let them do this.

 

 

 

The Danish holiday Skt Hans Aften was on Sunday. Their tradition is interesting -  people gather at parks near lakes or at beaches and sit around bonfires and sing traditional songs. The strange part is that they all burn witches in these bonfires...

 

Here is a link for more info on this Danish tradition: http://www.daac.info/facts_skt_hans.asp

 

We biked to a celebration at the Waterfront at Tuborg that started in the afternoon. They had a bouncy castle and a few little rides the kids enjoyed and they were going to have a concert later. Since it doesn't get dark until almost 11pm we were not able to stay up for the bonfire with the kids, but we did see the bonfire all prepped.

 

The bonfire and witch are all ready to go for later...

 



Fun in the sun

Life is quite different since Copenhagen defrosted back in April/May - - people are happily out everywhere, strolling, walking their dogs, biking, sitting and eating ice cream (a Denmark favorite any time of the year). It's very green and there are flowers everywhere - its really beautiful. People even sun bathe at the beach AND swim (not us, we aren't quite ready for that when its in the 60s/70s). Anyway...we are all loving living here now.

Fortunately we like an active lifestyle so the culture here suits us - I like our routines of biking or jogging to and from school everyday. The kids don't even mind when it rains - less face it rain is a novelty after the Austin drought that's been going on since they've been born! The kids just suit up in their rain suits and boots and splash away. Most days after school we take our time getting home - Raegan plays with her friends on the playground and I chat with the other moms.

Raegan's last day of school is June 27 and she is signed up for 2 summer camps - a pony riding camp and a soccer one - the community subsidizes these so they only cost equiv $20 for each. Needless to say, we sign up for all these perks when we can! They will be taught in Danish but she is signed up with a couple English speaking friends at school so that should help her feel comfortable (not that I really think that's an issue for her).

We try to make it out to Bakken whenever we can...

We decided to host a Cinco de Mayo party at our house - we made our own salsa (because you cannot buy good stuff here), Chuy's creamy jalapeno dip, chicken chile rellenos, homemade refried beans, pork tacos, and we were able to pull off frozen margaritas to top it all off. It was delicious!!

Ron also decided that a Cinco de Mayo party would not be complete without a pinata. However, he didn't put in the effort required to make a proper one, so the kids got a deformed pinata that wasn't painted or decorated to swing at. He was at a loss for what to hang it from and decided 'well, why  not a hoe?' So one person had to stand on the handle of the hoe while the kids swung at the sad pinata. It was a mess (very entertaining though!...luckily no one was hurt :-) ) I do wish I had a good photo of it...

Also in May the Amazing Baldoni Circus came to town!! We saw the flyers on the light posts and could not resist. This was definitely your traveling mom and pop circus. We all walked down the road to a park in Ordrup that the circus was held in and we were in for a real treat. It was all in Danish of course and was very quirky - there were several skits I didn't quite get! And there were trained dogs, goats, acrobats, etc. The kids enjoyed it...they will tell you their favorite part was when Mr. Ryan was called onstage to hula hoop (I wish I had a good photo of that too!)!

 

Here's Raegan in her new rain gear (minus the jacket).

 

Some photos at the parks.

 This is a new one in Ordrup, I need to go back with Raegan because they have a zip line she would love.

 

We re-visited the great park Faelledenpark that was right by our old apartment on a random school holiday.

 

Here we are at Charlottenlund beach down the road from us after school one sunny day, enjoying ice cream and playing with bubbles.

 

Raegan's school Spring Fair was in early June - she loved getting her face painted.

 

In Denmark the way they teach their kids to ride a bike - at a VERY young age - is with these little bikes without pedals. I don't think I have seen anyone else besides Raegan here with training wheels. The kids are probably Wyatt's age when they can ride real bikes without training wheels, it's rather amazing! Anyway, we picked up a little bike without pedals for Wyatt - he is very excited for his "big boy bike". Here they are riding to Bernstoff park around the corner from our house the other day.

 

Our community 'kultur and festage' days were held last weekend (mid June) - over 4 days there were tons of free activities to participate in. Wyatt and I went to a (Danish) puppet show at a library on Friday - interesting!

 

Friday and Saturday they closed down the downtown main street - flea market tables were set up, stores had merchandise on sale outside, there was a music stage, and a scavenger hunt.

 

The kids playing with bubbles

 

watching the music performance (in English!)

 Ron and I took the kids to this marionette puppet show

 Wyatt and Raegan loved it

 They set up an area where the kids could experience toys from a long time ago - here are the stilts

 ...and Ron trying them out

 And wooden shoes they got a kick out of. They also had metal hula hoops which were rather hazardous!

 

 Raegan has had a few end of the school year events recently - 2 coffee mornings and a Sports Day.

 

This is the first coffee morning - each child was dressed like a train conductor and they passed out train tickets to the parents as we came inside - and sang songs with that theme. Each child had a line to recite.

 

Here is Sports Day - each child participated in 2 events - Raegan was in the sack race and the relay.

 There were 4 teams competing - she was on the red team.

 And here's Wyatt on the side lines zooming his trucks with the other little sibling boys.

Raegan also got to dress up for school for the second coffee morning as what what she wants to be when she grows up (they had been talking about professions). Thankfully we convinced her that dressing as a princess was not the best option so she chose to dress as a horse rider.

The theme was 'excellence'

Here they are singing to Queen's 'we are the champions', the reason you can't hear the class is because Raegan  had been practicing at home so Wyatt learned it and is next to me singing louder than the whole bunch!

 

One thing that is still hard to get used to is the sun setting around 11pm and then starting to rise before 4am. It's hard to wind down and go to bed at a decent hour! We have learned to live on less sleep and take in all the sun while we can, as the winters will be equally as dark!