First days at Herning Friskole

The tradition continues....
2007 first day of school pics from Michigan

Sophie at Northstar Montessori

Bailey and Max at Pleasant Ridge Elementary
Can you see the joy on their faces??


2008 Herning Friskole

Sophie and Cille (pronounced Silla)
Cille, Sophie, Cecilia, Cia
















Sophie bonded quickly with Cille, while Cecilia and Sia are very curious and attentive would be pals. The fact that we don't understand all that they are saying doesn't seem to bother them, nor does it make them say less! Cille was very happy when she spoke to me one day and I was able to make out that she had just lost another tooth that morning! You couldn't miss the toothless smile for the rest of that week! Cecilia and Sia seem to be intrigued by the fact that we are novices in the Danish experience. Cecilia continues speaking to me without taking a breathe and is encouraged when I catch a basic word or two. They are all fond of Sophie's love of beautiful dresses and told me that "Sophie har mange fint kjole.". I know I am killing the spelling, but that meant that she has many fine dresses! They also loved her Dora backpack with wheels! Sophie sits next to Xenia, and a little drenge ( boy) named Anders. Barring one little boy in her class she is the only brown berry in the bunch! ;)



Each child is encouraged to bring a pencil bag filled with colored pencils, pencils and rulers to skole.

Here is Sophie looking for a pencil to write her name on the first day of school.








Bailey's teacher Aase (pronounced osahh) addressing the class on the first day. We found it interesting that the children call the teachers by their first names. (Even in Børnhaveklasse or Sophie's class - which is after kindergarten, but before first grade -they call it zero grade)

Bailey's seat mate Ellen, is a new big sister and very nice. Funny enough after meeting with Ellen's mom we realized that Finn and Ellen's stepdad had attended school together.




The classic pic in front of the school. Just because we are in Denmark doesn't mean that they get out of this age old tradition! :) They were lucky because they didn't have to have the standard pic with their teacher this year. I had to give in a little, because I know that they already had to beat the image of being the new kids! Don't worry, I fully intend to get them a little later in the year when their classmates are used to this photo snapping American mom!

Max lucked out this time around, because I could only be in two places at once! :) Finn attended the first day meetings with Max and sadly he didn't have a camera on him. Max tried to look bummed, but the smile he was trying not so hard to hide kept peeking out!

The link to check out the skole : http://www.herningfriskole.dk.com/

The link to check out the old skole: http://www.SalineSchools.com/
(Pleasant Ridge elementary )

Hangin' out at home

The Frog catchers and their princessa with the snazzy soccer cleats. Frog catching is fast becoming a daily event. The more they find the more they want. These are some of the cute ones. I have to say that one of the bunch grossed out even me. It looked like the guy who stole Thumbelina from her lilly pad. He was not at all charming! I was quite happy when that one escaped. Bailey ( aka: lil mother nature) found that he was perfectly fine in a frog sort of way. Leave it to the budding biologist!

Negotiating proper stone placement was essential to the construction. It was really great to see them trying to find a happy medium. Every once in a while Sophie with her firecracker temper would be tested and could be heard throughout the neighborhood. I can only imagine the neighbors wondering what had happened to their quiet neighborhood! :)

Fortunately, for all of us, once she felt like her opinion counted, construction could begin again. I found out later that week why they slept so well that evening - those rocks were heavy!
The finished product. The kids spent hours creating this fort together. Hefting big rocks and incorporating a ton of dirt to secure the rocks in place. Even the peanut was carrying the big rocks. They all rolled their eyes when I used the classic "be careful" phrase every once in a while. "Yeah, yeah mom." The double yeah, yeah is a classic dane-ism. It cracks me up to hear them use it - even at my expense!

An impromptu game of Soccer..I mean fodball in the neighbors yard. Bailey and Max were hangin' around the house when Tina's boys came over and signed that they were interested in a two on two game. The oldest against the youngest. Always fair right? Well, in this case it didn't seem to matter, because Max and his fellow younger sib. won 3-1! They were sooo proud! These pics were taken from Sophie's bedroom while I was in spy mode. A mom's only spy mode! It was soo funny - because I am sure that if they were paying attention that they would have seen the flashes going off!

Danish "Petting" Zoo - more that we expected!

What an adorable lille, smulle abe!



Ice Age 4...we'll be there!

The Lion King theme song running through your head too? "The circle of life...."

It's easy Max, Just put your hands up to his enormous beak!

Can we take him home, PLEASE??

Sophie preferred this side of the fence!

Our second week in Denmark Aunt Karin, Melina, Oliver and Freja took us to a petting zoo about a half hour from Herning. The drive was beautiful, with winding roads, green trees, grass and fields all along the way. Of course as we are beginning to realize - there were bicycles dotting the horizon too. We were wondering about the ominous predictions of clouds and rain, because from the moment we arrived the weather has been just beautiful. Bailey keeps asking..."Now, why don't they have air conditioning?" Fortunately, it cools down enough at night for really good sleeping!

We were so amazed after arriving at the "petting" zoo that it had much more than we anticipated...lions, monkeys, seals, and even a few animals that appeared to be straight from the Ice Age movies! Bailey, Max, Oliver and Freja fed the Parrot, while Sophie and the rest of us watched from a safe distance!

Our zoo fav's - were the baby monkey and mama, and the mystery animal pictured. ( I know we looked it up, but I can't remember what it is called. Anyone wanna help?) An honorable mention has to go to the the twenty foot python that was on display with his handler, and after touching him I think we were all in awe. Nothing quite beats the monkey pics, it is as though they can see right into our souls! Especially the wise old grandpa monkey - doesn't he just look majestic?

We took boat rides in the pond, a train ride around the zoo, stopped for a yummy lunch provided by Aunt Karin. We played in the park, checked out more animals and after that were ready to call it a day. It was really a lot of fun, and we hope to make it there again before winter.