Mira Turns Seven!

I can't believe it! Mira turned seven and she's turning into quite a little lady, isn't she?

Yep, she decorated her own cake. It's become sort of a tradition for the girls to decorate their own birthday cakes.


Mira got her greatest wish, an American Girl Doll, from Grammie and Grandpa and Shane and I. Mimi (my mom) made her a matching doll and girl dress in the same 1930's style and we spent the day having a party and going to Portland to see the Kit movie about the same American Girl. Mira is obsessed with these books. Today (Sunday) she read four entire American Girl books front to back in one day! She was reading all day obviously which is what she'd rather do than anything else....

(Home)School Days

Homeschool Day at the Oregon Garden learning about animal habitats and plants and trees

At Silver Falls during one of our weekly Science Nature Walks

Drawing in our sketch books from inside the cave behind North Falls waterfall

1st day of ballet for Annah
On another hike

1st day of school
Pioneer Days Festival!

School....

Last Couple Weeks In Denmark

Our family in front of Egskov castel on the island of Fyn. The castel is privatly owned - a rich guy actually lives in it! - but the grounds, nine museums and a portion of the castle are open to the public. There were three labyrinths there and we got quite lost in them! Sadly I also lost our new camera at this castle although we still had Mira's camera to use.

The climb (238 steps to the top) up a nearby lighthouse was incredible - especially crawling out through a shoebox sized door at the top to go out onto a tiny balcony overlooking the sea and only being guarded by a 4 foot high rail! I held onto the girls tight up there!

Shane, my sister Lissa and the girls begin the walk back down.

We enjoyed visiting Hjerd Hede, a nearby living museum with people in costume and getting to experience what a Danish village was like long ago. Our favorite part was the Stone Age settlement. While in Denmark we've visted a Middle Ages living museum, a viking living museum, and an 1800's and stone age museum.

The girls in the Tasinge church tower.

Mira on the street where Tirza lived as a child in Tasinge.

Tirza and Annah picking raspberries in the same garden where Tirza enjoyed picking peas as a three-year-old!

Fishing on Kirsten's (my dad's wife) family lake. Shane caught two rainbow trout! We had a wonderful picnic here and also picked cherries in their orchard.

The last couple weeks have been busy with lots of day trips to castles, beaches, lighthouses, farms, living museums and nearby towns. We also spent a couple days on a tiny Danish island called Tasinge and stayed in the same home where Tirza lived with her parents as a young child - an old timber framed house built in the 1800's. We stayed in the guest cottage in the back garden and "enjoyed" being woken by the garden rooster at 3:30 am each morning (it starts getting light early in Denmark and the sun doesn't set until after 10 pm).

We leave on Friday to return to Oregon. It has been a very eventful yet relaxing trip and we are so grateful for the opportunity to spend an entire month here!

Canoe Day in Silkeborg

Hiking around the lakes in Silkeborg

Picking plums at a nearby farm

Today we spent the day in a town famous for it's many lakes. Together with my dad, brother Mikkel and sister Lissa we had a wonderful picnic, hike and canoe trip. On the way home we stopped and picked plums at a farm. So far we've enjoyed picking our own cherries, raspberries, plums, strawberries, tomatoes and cucumbers. We've hardly had to buy any produce!

Bornholm and Copenhagen

The house we stayed in on Bornholm - a old farmhouse built in the late 180o's surrounded by wheat fields.

Annah overlooking the Baltic Sea from the top of the Hammerhuset castel ruins on Bornholm.

While on the island of Bornholm we visted the ruins of a castle built in 1100 and learned a lot about the middle ages and what life was like then at the nearby middle ages living museum.

A typical Danish lunch - smoked herring, topped with a raw egg.

Tirza and Mira on the Danish island of Bornholm - a very small island out in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden and reachable only by ferry. We spent a week here with Tirza's dad and family at an old farmhouse. It was wonderful.

Mira in front of the little mermaid statue in Copenhagen. We stopped in Copenhagen on our way to Bornholm.

Nyhavn - the famous harbor in Copenhagen where Hans Christian Anderson had a home and a place where Danes hang out and enjoy summer.

In Copenhagen at Amelinbough Palace - the Queen of Denmark's palace. We were there for the daily changing of the guards.

Just a few of the thousands of windmills that are everywhere in Denmark. Denmark is the world leader in wind energy and there are windmills everywhere you look here.

The long bridge from the island of Fyn to Zealand, where Copenhagen is. When I was a child there were no bridges and we traveled between the islands by ferry instead.

Days in Ringkobing

The town watchman singing the town to sleep.

Hot days on the beach nearby

4th of July BBQ with Dad, Mikkel and sisters Leyah and Lissa

Leyah and Annah

Grandpa Ben and kids

Fishing off the dock nearby

Look! I caught some baby shrimp!

Tomorrow we're off to Bonholm (a Danish island off the coast of Denmark and Sweden) for a week.

Hello from Denmark!

A typical Danish home nearby the house we're staying in. I love the colors on this house and the flowers.

The narrow streets in Ringkobing are made of cobbelstone and most the homes are brick. I love how roses and Hollyhocks sprig out of the stones along side the homes .

The girls in the dinning/living room. There are really three living rooms in the house and three bathrooms!

The backyard. Tirza at the patio table and Annah in the flowers.

The girls with "Grandpa Ben" in the backyard

The girls and my dad with their first Danish soft ice of the summer

Shane and the girls enjoy their ice cream at the town square/plaza, just a few blocks from the home we're living in.

The horse drawn carriage going by outside our house.

A typical Danish bakery. There is one on almost every corner in Denmark.

Annah checking out the pasteries.

Our street

We arrived yesterday after an easy, uneventful flight. Both girls slept much of it (Annah on the floor under our feet and Mira across the seats). My dad picked us up and we went back to his place for the first night to see him and Kirsten (his wife) and Mikkel (their son and my half-brother). Erik, our home exchange partner came by for coffee so we could meet and exchange keys. It was nice to meet in person after planning this via email for the last year. Today we got settled in their wonderful home in Ringkobing, a quaint little town with cobblestone streets and watch men that walk the streets and ring bells at 9 pm each night to signal the end of the day. Every 15 minutes or so a horse drawn carriage comes by the house and the girls run to the windows when they hear the horses hooves clomping on the cobblestone street outside. The house is right near the main pedestrian only shopping street with many shops, bakeries, etc. Of course we had to discover the ice cream shop and the bakery first thing. The bakeries in Denmark are absolutely amazing!

Tomorrow we plan to explore the fjord and harbor, just across the street from us and also go to the beach. Erik and Bente have two bikes we can use and we might rent a bike for Mira and a seat so we can bike as much as possible (gas here is more than $8 a gallon!). My two sisters also arrive tomorrow evening and we really look forward to seeing them.

That's it for today - just wanted to share these pictures and let everyone know we made it. We're trying to figure out how we could possibly come here for a year :). We'll update with more pictures again in a couple days.