Esbjerg

The weekend after Simone's party we headed out on a mystery trip to Esbjerg. Our first stop was at the Esbjerg water exhibit. (OK, so I can't remember the real name, but it encompasses a lot of what we saw and did there! ;) We saw fish and seals and even had the opportunity to look at shells and other sea skeletons through microscopes. The sea lion show was really great, they are really cute, and amazingly graceful in the water! We managed to get there early and had a great spot to see the show...thanks to Max! He ran ahead and secured our place. While we were there we could look from the deck over to the four statues of men that we had on our agenda to visit too! They were donated to the city by an artist, and are enormous! (I will add the exact information in a bit later, but I am trying to play catch up :) The water museum also was home to a World War II exhibit, with actual bunkers that were used during the war. They were damp and downright yucky, and I can't imagine being in them for extended periods of time. The kids said that they felt a little bit like they were haunted...and I have to agree! The statues were last on our list, but certainly not least! ( These guys had secretly been on my wish list of places to visit since before we had moved to Demark, so I was sooo excited to finally see them!) It was a great trip and we came home tired, but happy! Don't tell the kids, but I think they learned a little something too! ;)

Simone's Graduation Party

A few short days... or was it nights : after we arrived back in Denmark, we hosted Simone's graduation dinner. There were many bonuses to this tactic, one of which was that the house was perfectly clean and ready for a party, and secondly we ordered dinner in from a catering company in town. It was reasonably priced, even for Denmark standards, and eliminated the need for a lot of additional stress! It was a really lovely evening, and the food was really delicious! Contrary to standard temperatures in Denmark, the weather was sweltering hot, and Finn even broke down and changed into shorts after some of the guests arrived wearing them! Simone has completed Danish high school and an additional two years of schooling in what we would equate to general education requirements with a business focus. She is taking the year off to work and save money, and plans to take a trip around the globe with her girlfriend as soon as they have saved enough to visit the places they would like to. She is a hard working and lovely young woman, with a good head on her shoulders. We are really proud of all that she has done, and are convinced that she will do well, no matter what she decides to do after her globe trotting!

The trip back to DK

The trip back to Denmark was uneventful, so much so that the girls even slept for awhile. Max kept me company in the airport while the chicks were snoozing, and even giggled with me while we recorded Bailey trying to fight the sandman. HILARIOUS footage, and I promise to put in on here if I can figure out how!!! Sleep was more attractive than the Eiffel tower this time around, so it is still on our list of sights to see. We arrived in MI with three suitcases and returned to Denmark with nine suitcases and two guitars. We actually had to leave a suitcase in Hamburg for awhile, because all of the luggage and people didn't fit in our car! No suprize really, because they barely fit in an American Jeep Commander! :) It was a long journey back, but we arrived safely and were happy to finally sleep in our own beds! :)