The Thin Beer

Moving again + Legoland

We have had a busy week.  First, we moved again on July 1.  It was an easy move, because we borrowed a car and two friends and their two cars.  The actual moving took only two hours, from loading the first car to unloading the last one.  Of course, packing and cleaning took longer.  It was truly an international move---involving American, Dutch, French, and Italian help.  Here is a photo of Sean at the last breakfast at the old apartment:

Then, on July 4 our Finnish friends Timo, Pauliina, and Oskari came to stay with us at the new apartment for a few days.  Sean enjoyed playing with Oskari who is a couple of years older than Sean.  Unfortunately, the weather was rainy, but that can happen in Denmark.  Yesterday, we rode the train to Vejle and the bus from there to Legoland to meet them (they drove) for the day in Legoland.  It was our first visit.  I was surprised at how much we enjoyed it---there are a lot of things for even very young children, and Sean had a great time.

There are miniature lego cities and towns.  Here is Nyhavn in Copenhagen.  The restaurant we ate at with my Dad is on the left:

Here is Rosenborg Slot (Castle) in Copenhagen:

Compare to the real thing:

Here is the horse statue in the center of Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen:

Compare to (it's very difficult to shoot the real horse from the same angle as the Lego one, or vice versa):

Sean liked the little Lego villages, because he understood that they were made out of toys and because they have moving cars, trains, and boats.  There were also rides that he could go on (with his parents, because he's not yet 90 cm):

He loved these rides, and just smiled the entire time.

Finally, we did miss the Rebild Fourth of July festival this year.  It's the largest Fourth of July celebration outside of the U.S.  We went two years ago with Angela's brother, but then last year we were in Copenhagen (a little farther away) and Sean was still little, so we didn't go.  This year, it rained all day and fell in the middle of the week.

We did, however, spot an American flag in "Legoredo Town", the wild west village in Legoland.  Here it is, between a break in the storm clouds:

Happy grundlovsdag!

Tuesday was grundlovsdag (constitution day), a holiday.  Denmark has a glut of holidays in May and early June: store bededag (great prayer day) in early May, then usually Kristi himmelfartsdag (ascension Thursday, it floats around with Easter), then pinsedag (Pentecost Sunday) and anden pinsedag (second Pinsedag, the Monday after), and then grundlovsdag.  It's a nice time of year to have time off from work.

Sean continues to amaze and entertain us.  Today, Angela asked him to say the alphabet, and he got the first two: "A, B".  That's pretty good.  One of his favorite new phrases might be "damn it".  He honestly has not heard this very often, but he picked it up.  He uses it when he's been in his high chair too long at meals and wants to get down and play.

He has very definite food preferences, picking out and eating all the strawberries from his fruit salad and the baby corn from his Thai curry.  Yesterday, when he got tired in the morning, he turned on his musical lullaby toy we use at his bed time and naps and tried to climb into his bed.

This is one of the first days in the new apartment.  He really wants to turn that thing on, so he can dance.  I love the morning hair.

Here he's playing in the drawer we use for bread (no bread box).  We've just told him to be careful of his fingers, notice how gingerly he closes the drawer.

Here's a big smile.

This is the Yankee's hat that I brought for him from New York.

Danish spring

It's been a busy few weeks since my PhD defense.  I have been traveling for job interviews (more on that later).  We are moving again, to a small two-room apartment (a Danish two-room apartment has a living room and a bedroom; also a kitchen and a bathroom, but those are not "rooms") in our old neighborhood, near the Trøjborg neighborhood in Aarhus.  We were lucky to find a place available before the first of June, because most apartments come available on the first of the month.  We will have to move out of this place on Wednesday morning, and can't move into the new place until Thursday afternoon, so we will stay at Olivier's overnight.

In other news, I've mowed the lawn here (pictures below).  It's the first time I've mowed a lawn since 1999, when I mowed Angela's PhD advisor's lawn while he was on sabbatical (cutting the grass at the cabin with a weed wacker doesn't count as lawn mowing).  Before that, it was probably 1993 that I mowed a lawn, at my parent's place.  But don't worry about me, I've mowed enough in my life to get me through the dry spells.

Spring in Denmark is a very nice time of year.  Days are long, and the weather is mild.  Koldskål appears in the stores in the spring.  It is a seasonal dairy product---made from buttermilk (kernemælk in Danish, literally "seed milk"), vanilla, sugar, and lemon juice.  We serve it as a dessert, cold (kold) in a bowl (skål) with tiny cookies called kammerjunkere floating in it.

Below are some pictures from the weekend.  There is a little child-sized wheelbarrow at the rental house.  Sean has recently learned to push it around, and now he's almost inseperable from it when he's outside.



There is also a swingset.  He will miss the easy access to the swing (and the wheelbarrow) when we move.  Sean has two Dutch friends who bracket him in age, their names are Rik and Stijn (pronounced "Rick" and "Stein").  Sean talks about them a lot when they aren't here; he calls them "Wree" and "Tye".  So, when we push him in the swing and say "whee!", he thinks we're saying "Rik" and he replies with "Tye!".


This is a reenactment of mowing the lawn.  I didn't actually use this pushmower.  I oiled it up and tried it, but I had let the grass get too long for it to work.  Instead, I used a gas power mower that belongs to the house.  Then, I raked up all the grass afterward.  Mowing was kind of fun, and should last me for another decade.

Latest photos

The weather is turning nicer, and the days are getting longer.  Here is Sean having a tea party with the cat:

Here he's playing with one of his toy cars:

And here, cuddling with his Dad:

Working on his art:

He likes art!

Here we are, walking in the park on a sunny day:

At the top of the slide:

He can go down by himself!

Playing in the sand with Mom:

This is a place called Legeland (Playland).

More Legeland:

With Mom at Legeland after playing:

Rødgrød med fløde

This is Sean at Good Friday dinner at our friends' place.  He is enjoying his dessert of 'rødgrød med fløde' (literally, red porridge with cream).  It can be made with almost any reddish berries: strawberries, raspberries, red currants, black currants, or cherries.  This one is raspberries and black currants.

Pictures: Copenhagen

This past weekend was Påske (Easter).  Angela's brother and his girlfriend visited us from Germany.  Since the weather was gorgeous, and since Tivoli is open now, and since we have year passes to Tivoli, we spent most of Saturday in Copenhagen.  Here is the pirate ship restaurant in Tivoli:

See the little pink house?  It's a duck house:

This is the town hall, as seen from Tivoli.  Even though it feels like Spring, there are still no leaves on the trees:

We were finally able to get you the stereotypical picture of Copenhagen that we promised you last Christmas, our very own picture of Nyhavn:

Pictures: growing baby

The baby is still growing.  Around the first of the month, he started sitting by himself after we prop him up.  He can bend forward to grab his toes or a toy at his feet, and then straighten up.  He can also recline against his parent or the sofa, and then return to a sitting position on his own.

Here he is, holding his feet again.  He is already almost out of this phase, but he still sticks his feet up in the air when he's trying to go to sleep (it doesn't help him relax, in fact, it does just the opposite):

He is starting to get too big for his lift, which goes in his barnevogn.  It's hard to believe that he slept in the lift for his first two months, and it used to dwarf him.  We still use the lift, but we've now removed the fur (because the weather is getting warmer):

He still has limited mobility, that is, limited to rolling and yawing and scooting away from things.  But we really should childproof the house:

Hoping for Spring

Tulips outside a flower shop on Jagtvej in Copenhagen near Kevin's work.  These photos were taken March 1st.

Huge clouds in a blue sky over Vigerslevvej in Valby.  You can see in the bottom of the photograph the long shadows of me and Sean's carriage on the snow.  This photo was taken March 21st.

Sean's toys

In addition to Sean's octopus friend Legs the Whale, he has a few other stuffed buddies.  Above is Gitte Bamse (bamse is Danish for a teddy bear, or any stuffed animal generally).  This one he just calls his tetrahedron:

He could stand to have a few more stuffed animal friends, though.  Like maybe a Giant Microbe (I think athletes foot and syphilis are especially cute) or a Teddy Scare (OK, the teddy scares are all a little creepy, except for Abnormal Cyrus).

More developmental milestones

Sean seems to have discovered his feet.  The picture speaks for itself.  He knew about the feet a week ago, but now he can reliably hold them.  He likes to lie around the house like this.  Just a week ago, it seemed like his knees were all the rage: