Denmark and Big Foot

This was the coolest thing I saw in Denmark: Big Foot!

I thought it was a giant Burning Man sculpture ready to be torched on the main plaza in Aarhus.

These are huge planks of lumber. Couldn't read the sign so I'm not sure what it was, but clearly a temporary art installation. Two days later, when I brought my colleagues to see it, it was gone!

Waterfall also in the main plaza:

Cathedral in the main plaza:

I counted myself very lucky to see an offshore wind farm from the train - at least 7 turbines off the coast near Middlefahrt.

As you'll notice from this sign, the Danish are very understated. This would never sell beer in the US. Probably the best beer in town. We're not sure though. Denmark is probably the best country between Germany and Sweden, too.

More Danish art. Tons of bikes, of course and this town was a little hilly.


I really wanted to buy some Lego's for Leo. I went to the big Lego store. Lego's cost twice as much in Denmark as they do in the US. This mural is made completely out of Lego's.

More art - big welded steel over brick with kids climbing it like a jungle gym. You'd never do this in the US.

Occupy Copenhagen was occupying one of the plazas in Copenhagen. It was pretty small, but at night they played techno music and had a nice light show about poverty, water, energy and the environment.

Lightning Jets Soccer Team

Paul's 50th Skating Birthday Bash

We had Paul's 50th birthday bash at Skate City's Adult Night. It was great fun, even if they did treat Paul like a little kid, announcing his birthday on the skate floor and singing happy birthday to him, with a decorated table and placemats that announced his birthday.

Lots of friends joined on the floor, including many of us who haven't skated since we were in middle school.

Bill and Andi:

Scott making his way towards cake:

Rob, Mari and Caroline watching the skaters making their moves:

Kevin and Jennifer (coconut flour lemon filled cake not shown here):

K-rock and Dawn taking a break from their fancy moves on the floor:


Xana, Paul and Jim:

Caroline, Paul and Mike:

Kirsten and Mike:

Lisa and Jason:

Wendy and Ross were wonderful to give Paul a gift of having Leo over for a sleepover so we could party late, which we did. And Leo got new roller skates! Free skates came with the birthday party package and just in time too, because Leo has been using Paul's skates to skate around the house and he's going to break an ankle doing so because they don't fit.

Overscheduled!

I've been driving Leo nuts for a couple days, probably the same way I drive Paul nuts. Yesterday, after school, we had a quick early supper, then the Bear Creek School Carnival which was a fundraiser event that his friends were attending. Then we met his friends for a quick pizza and headed to Mari's (Thank you Mari! It's been a hard two weeks with Paul gone) where Leo was having a sleepover.

This morning I picked them all up at 7:45 to get breakfast and then go to soccer. After 3 bad practices/games in a row, Leo actually stayed the whole time and played and kicked the ball a few times too. He said he had fun. Then we had a quick lunch and I had to drag him to the mountain bike clinic. It was Leo's first dirt riding. The new Valmont Bike Park has super huge jumps and tricks for great bikers as well as beginner trails and features. We did the clinic and Leo had a blast. He didn't want to leave. He did fall a few times and leave some blood on the trail. At one point, I got lost and we ended up on the intermediate trails and he rode a twisty steep bridge feature and sort of fell off the bike although not off the bridge, thankfully.

We get home in time for a quick shower to get the blood off and make dinner for the neighbors who have just had their second kid and the husband is out of town. Again, I thought he had fun - he loves little kids.

But there was a LOT of whining, fighting and even the first really nasty teenage comment - "I told you a MILLION times I want pizza!" I let him know in no uncertain terms that I'm not going to take attitude from him. Tonight, he finally found the words to explain that he never wanted to do any of this stuff, that he only wanted to play Legos, that he was tired, that he was really scared of the twisty bridge and he nearly fell off the bridge.

So, I've promised him a down day tomorrow. Nothing is planned. We can build Legos all day. I hope it goes better!