Glad Påsk!

In Sweden they have some unique Easter decorations. They go out into the garden and cut bare branches, then attach bright colored feathers to them. Alternately, you can purchase branches to attach feathers to. We chose branches that had been painted pink. You buy the feathers in packages of five, only one color per pack. Each feather has a little wire attached to make it easier to attach them to the branches. Also, you can hang eggs and/or hens on the branches. We chose small plastic eggs.

Hiding the easter eggs is always a challenge, but this year the easter bunny was especially creative.

This was actually the last egg the kids found. And then only when Mommy 'helped' them.

Lilli had her game face on.

She was an egg hunting machine.

There were so many eggs that Tipton didn't know where to look first. He managed to fill his basket in record time. Fortunately, we had 'secondary' baskets.

Lilli wasn't about to let something as insignificant as "height" stop her from collecting eggs.

The easter bunny was sneaky and hid eggs in cabinets the kids don't usually pay attention to, but Tipton caught on pretty quickly.

After the eggs had all been found and their treasures revealed the kids watched a video while Mommy & Daddy took a nap.

(Tipton had gotten up a little after 5:00am shouting "Easter! Easter Bunny! Easter!" Mommy looked at the clock and called back "No!" Thirty minutes later Tipton crept into our room and 'whispered' "Easter! Easter Bunny!" Mommy answered back "No." This went on two more times, with Mommy & Daddy finally getting up at 6:30am. Lilli, however, did not wake up. We finally woke her up around 7:30.)

That afternoon we loaded the grill into the wagon and walked/rode bikes over to the Trively's house. I'm sure we were quite a sight to see - the kids riding their bikes with Daddy pulling the grill in the wagon and Mommy carrying a big bag of food. (We brought pork tenderloin and a few Easter Treats.)

The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time playing outside.

Happy Easter/Glad Påsk everyone!

Egg Hunt

One of Dave's co-workers invited us over for an egg hunt the day before Easter. There were seven families, with at least 16 children between the ages of 9 months and 10 years. There were LOTS of plastic eggs hidden around the front and back yards. The kids had a blast running around and finding them all.

Action photo of Lilli running to find another egg.

Lilli shows off her 'haul.'

Tipton shows off his 'haul.'

After all the eggs had been open, and their treasures removed, there were egg games to be played.

There was a 'strongest egg' game where each kid took a previously hardboiled and dyed egg and went around tapping it against everybody elses eggs. At the end, the egg with the fewest cracks was declared the strongest.

Then there was the 'egg in spoon' race. The children were divided into teams. Tipton and Lilli were on the same team.

Look at that concentration!

Lilli cheated a little, but she was very cute so no one said anything.

The final game was an egg toss (again, played with previously hard boiled and dyed eggs.)

An action photo of Tipton about to catch an egg (you can see the egg in the air.)

Lilli and her partner didn't make many catches, but she was very enthusiastic!

Daddy had fun hanging out with the kids.

There was a trampoline. And after all the egg festivies, that is where Lilli spent the rest of the afternoon.

Action photo of Lilli in mid-air.

The kids had a wonderful time.

Copenhagen Zoo

Dave had Good Friday off, so we went to the Copenhagen Zoo. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! We took the train to Denmark Central Station, then got the 6A bus to the zoo. We weren't the only ones. No. We had to wait in line for over an hour to get in to the zoo. (Apparently, even the Swedes complain about customer service in Denmark - and that's really saying something!) Once in, some of the first animals we saw were the lions. And you could actually SEE them. And there were little lion cubs climbing all over.

We thought that was really cool. Because our only other experience with lions was at the NC Zoo, where they are like a mile and a half away and are usually just lying in the shade.

Of course, Lilli was very excited to see the flamingos, because they are P I N K!

Around 2:00 we decided we needed lunch. So we went to the hot dog stand. And stand we did. Or rather, I did. Dave and the kids found a table and sat down. Tipton played a game on Dave's phone. Lilli leaned against Dave and had a little nap. There were 7 people in line in front of me. I stood in line for almost an hour. (Sadly, that is not an exaggeration.)

After lunch we looked for more animals. We saw the very wild and ferocious "chicken."

A little further on we came across this:

"Find the Tiger with Yuri" Kind of cute, you follow a narrow (tiger) path through some tall weeds looking for tiger tracks, etc.

And at the end of the path you find them! Tigers!

The Copenhagen zoo is known for their elephant exibit. It is really neat. You can practically reach out and touch the elephants. And on your way down to them you pass through an auditorium. Behind the auditorium are several 'hands on' activities that teach you about elephants. There are also several viewing windows on the way through the building.

The Copenhagen zoo had a really neat children's area. They have a 'rabbit warren' where kids can go in and explore through the tunnels. Every now and there there are little ladders they can climb up and look around

There was also a really neat playground, with more 'mazes' for the kids to climb through. And of course, the obligatory climbing structure.

It's not a really big zoo, but we saw lots of animals. We saw kangaroos, lots of kangaroos. And some of them even had little joey's in their pouches! We saw zebras and giraffes and tazmanian devils. We saw orangutangs and lemurs (and of course had so sing "I like to Move It, Move It!") We saw a brown bear with two little bear cubs.

We definitely want to go back.

Påsklov

The kids had the week before Easter off from school. Påsklov = Easter Break, akin to Spring Break in the USA. The first three days the kids had sports camps. Tipton went to a multi sports camp at Fairplay from 9:00 to 12:00. There he would play tennis, football (aka soccer), badmitten and innebandy. At the end of the camp each day he got a hotdog and a drink. Lilli went to Little Gym camp from 9:30 to 12:30. She did gymnastics and played games and did an art project and got a sandwich and a drink. Monday after their camps Tipton went to play at his friend Rouven's house. Lilli and I went over to play at her friend Ben's house. Tipton got home a little past six and went straight into the shower. Since Daddy was working late that night and since they didn't have school the next day I let them watch a video while eating dinner. They chose Harry Potter. So, they didn't get to bed until about 9:00. Long, exciting day for them. The next day we met Keisuke and his brother, Sho, at Pildamspark after their camps.

Of course, Lilli spent most of the time in the little pink house.

Tipton decided to climb the picket fence. I watched him from across the playground, thinking "Oh, Tipton, that's not a good idea." Sure enough, it wasn't. He came running over, crying. He had a huge scrape down his ribs from the pointy part of the fence. I cleaned him up and administered a Spiderman bandaid and he went to back playing.

After a while the playground started getting crowded so we went over to the big open grassy area. There we met up with another of Tipton's friends, Mart, and his little brother Olle. Olle is about Lilli's age.

They played really well together.

I didn't get any pictures of the big kids playing - they were moving too fast! They played football (soccer) and innebandy and jumprope and frisbee.

On Wednesday we decorated Easter eggs after their camps. Sadly, I did not get any pictures. But take my word for it, they were very pretty. They scribbled/drew/wrote on the hardboiled eggs with a white crayon and then dyed them.

On Thursday they didn't have camp. So we drove downtown and walked around a bit. We went to Panduro - a craft store. We bought some Easter crafts - kits to make chickens, wooden eggs to paint, wooden chickens to paint and wooden hens to paint. Then we walked to Burger King and had lunch. We spent the afternoon doing crafts. Both kids have been all about doing crafts recently. Especially Lilli.

Lilli is always wanting to paint, so she was THRILLED with an afternoon of crafts.

Tipton was still obsessed with chess.

But he did take a break long enough to paint a chicken and some eggs.

Lilli would have sat there painting all day if I'd let her. Sadly, we needed the table for dinner.

March and the First Week of April

Hello everyone! I'd like to give a shout-out to my Mom - Hi Mom! - and wish her a speedy recovery. This post is for you, Mom.

It is now April, and April is a busy month for us. We've got two birthdays and Easter. So there will be lots of pictures this month. I wanted to get caught up before all the festivities begin. So here goes...

Lilli's hair is growing long. She has finally stopped pulling it out, and is now growing "pretty princess hair." In fact, her hair is now long enough for pigtails!

Grandma Kay and Papa sent Valentine cards. Lilli's included a paper crown that she could punch out and decorated. She liked it. (And yes, her hair has blue and pink stripes. She'd gotten a haircut earlier that afternoon.)

Another random photo of Lilli looking cute. Playing dress-up.

I have been reading Tipton the Harry Potter books. We finished the first book a few weeks ago, and Tipton was really interested in "wizard's chess." I had mentioned to Dave that I always wanted to learn how to play chess. So one day while Dave was out running errands he picked up a chess set. He taught Tipton how to play chess. And ever since it has been nonstop chess in our house. Tipton is obsessed.

And he is trying to share his obsession with Lilli. Lilli is always happy and willing to play with him, however she doesn't really understand the finer points of the game... She likes to move her pieces randomly around the board and shout "Check mate!" after each move. Doesn't matter if she's no where near Tipton's king.

In an effort to captivate Lilli's attention, Tipton has incorporated the use of Playmobil figures into the game.

He is also creating his own special version of chess, where the Playmobil characters have their own special powers.

Such a creative little guy.

Oh, and one more thing. This doesn't have a photo to accompany it, but it's just too funny not to share... The other day Lilli spilled her lunch all over her shirt. So I had her change her shirt before we left for the movies. Dave walked by and asked Lilli what she was doing. She told him that she was changing her shirt. So then Dave asked her "Lilli, are you a clothes horse?" To which Lilli replied "Nej!"