biking with vikings

Denmark is the 'Happiest Place on Earth' ?

I knew it was nice n'all here, but according to the Beeb Denmark is the 'Happiest Place on Earth':

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5224306.stm

Tillykke Danmark!

mumsie and pops visit

(almost caught up now)

After England, a nice and relaxing week here with my parents visiting, here they are in Hillerød at Frederiksborg Slot (Castle)

They’re back off to England yesterday (Sunday), for another week with relatives and friends then return to Canada just in time for fine beach weather in Nova Scotia, knock wood.

Definitely high holiday season now, and the weather is fine.  Birkerød, our town, is a ghost town, with many/most families away on holiday.  After England and my parents’ visit, we’re off today for a week to Odsherred, sharing a beach house with friends from Seattle and their Danish cousins, and after that, more family coming over from England for a week.  It is a busy summer of lesiure.

See you in a week or so!

 

The Goodwood Festival of Speed

(catching up from last weekend)

went to England last weekend for the Goodwood Festival of Speed with some of my motor-headed friends, to catch the World Cup final in London on Sunday, meet up with some other friends (John and Jacki who are touring around, Richard and Shannon and new baby Madeline) and briefly visit family.

After overnight at my uncle and auntie’s place in Hemel Hempstead, we met John and Jackie in Brighton

where they had lots of the usual allurements for Malcolm

and from there on to Goodwood!

I must admit that I have a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with the automobile:  The engineering and design behind certain cars is fascinating, and there’s no question that we’ve all benefitted from the mobility afforded by cars. But now, especially in a place like England, we are choking on the damn things, and they are spoiling the quality of life in many places.

That said, it sounded like a fun outing and I assumed Malcolm would enjoy the kid friendly parts of it.  It *was* interesting to see all the vintage cars, and to see a rally race “live” and up close for the first time

The setting, in rual Surrey, was lovely, on an expansive estate which made the crowds seem much less pressing, and the weather was perfect.  And Malcolm definitely enjoyed the electric karts for the small children!

Unfortunately it was a bit boring for Susan, but she gamely came along in spite of that, bless ‘er (and thanks to Blackthorn for helping to alleviate her boredom).

afterwards we had brief visit with our friends Richard and Shannon and their “new” baby Madeline whom we’d never met.  Here she is having rejstafel at brunch – line up those curries!

 Susan and Malcolm went back to Denmark on Sunday night along with my parents who just finished up a tour of England and Ireland.  I stayed in London for the World Cup final with some friends and a nice dinner at Smith’s of Smithfield.  After dinner and the final, the streets in London were mobbed with Italians celebrating the victory.

On Monday we kicked around London: Convent Garden, Harrods and more.  I stopped at Hamley’s (huge toy store on Regent Street) to pick up a toy for Malcolm on the way out, and Ali G was there!

all in all, a packed but fun long weekend in England!

goodwood snaps

Marianne visits

Our friend (and erstwhile Dane) Marianne visited Copenhagen so we met up for coffee at Cafe Norden

that’s her and Susan by the ‘Stork Fountain’ on the Strøget, the actual name of which escapes me…

Hornbæk

ah, the beach at Hornbæk, always nice…

at least it was until I backstroked into a jellyfish … thankfully a small one.

I ignored the folk medicine cure of peeing on my own arm and applied lemon juice then aloe vera, which did the trick.

Malcolms 4 års fødselsdag (4th Birthday)

this post is a week late, but Malcolm turned four years old last Saturday – Tillykke (Congratulations!)



His birthday was Saturday the 24th. We went to the toy store and he got to pick out a toy (a robosapien robot – no surprise there). He'd been waiting all week for that trip to the toy store!



Sunday we went to Cirkus Baldoni (www.baldoni.dk) who happened to be coming through our town that weekend...



Monday all the kids came over from his Børnehave/kindergarten for a birthday party. Here they are arriving for the party, signing the traditional Danish birthday song…



Susan made some lovely pizzas for the kids and carrot cake — his favorite — for the birthday boy.



It has been quite a year for Malcolm, settling into his Danish school (and learning Danish!), becoming one of the “bigger” kids there, and the typical rapid development of a 3 year-old changing in mind and body to a four year-old.



Here are some of his in the last year:



He’s grown into his body – a bit tall for a four year-old, he looks much more like a boy than a toddler now. All the baby fat is gone, and his limbs are sturdy



His coordination is considerably better – Still apt to fall down occasionally, but very confident in water/swimming pool (for example). The training wheels haven’t come off yet, but he cycles independently now.



He plays by himself much better now than a year ago – inventing games and imaginary scenarios, signing songs he’s learned at school, and making up nonsense words (just to hear himself say them I think)



His Danish language skills have really taken off, so he communicates better with kids at his Børnehaven/kindergarten, so his relationships are better



It was a fun weekend — I hope he will remember it!



Here are some snaps from the birthday weekend:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcm/sets/72157594184849536/

Snow White and the 7-ish Dwarves, and the, erm, Bear

as you can tell I am catching up on posts today….

June 20 Malcolm’s Børnehave (kindergarten) had a ‘school play’ loosely based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, except this version had quite a number of dwarves and a bear (played by Malcolms mate Patrick).

All the dwarves had smudgy-stuff on their cheeks.  Miners, perhaps?

OK so it is very loosely-based on the story, but still fun!  All the snaps are here.

Uncle Dave Visits

my brother Dave has been working in Dublin, helping to get a new electronics plant up and running that is owned by the same Portland-based company he works for.

this was actually June 11, just posting the photo now. That boy needed (and received) a haircut shortly thereafter!