The soldier, the graduate and the birthday girl

They were all here this weekend.

Actually I took a pic of Bodil friday morning, she was opening her presents, smiling. It didn't turn out well, so ... instead, here she is friday evening when her big brother came home...



Notice the discreet glimmer of gold on his shoulder. These are the needles he has been aiming for the last 3 months. Close up they look like this:



They required some hard work - his feet held up the worst, and the following picture is not for the faint - it will scare off prospective Queens Guards...



His left foot is one big blister, and his big toe nail on the right foot doesn't look too good. I think it is going to come off - this is what happens when loads of rain wash off the protection on your boots and soak them through.
His feet didn't stop him from going out yesterday. There was celebrating to be done, and perhaps a few beers could ease the aches...

Today we celebrated Bodils birthday with my mom and Brunos parents. Bodil had lots of nice presents and some money too. Kristina and Andreas came here too - and we finally got a look at Kristinas graduation hat!



Nice huh??

Now they have gone on to another graduation party somewhere, and the house is quiet. And we are on vacation now - for 3 weeks :-)

Happy Birthday ...

...to you - Happy Birthday to you - Happy Birthday, dear Bodil....

Something like this ... not quite, coz we did the danish birthday song "I dag er det Bodils fødselsdag" instead ... was how Bodils day started at 6.45 this morning. She looked happy and sleepy, all at the same time.

For once she was quick at coming downstairs, where fresh baked rolls (that had spent the night rising in the fridge) were waiting along with a small pile of presents.

She is such a happy, pleasant and lovely girl, and she deserves a wonderful birthday. So we'll do our best to make it so.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BODIL!

So proud of my boy!

Andreas called me just a little while ago. He is now officially a Queens Guard.

He made it through 60 hours of toil, pain, hardship an no sleep, in thick sheets of rain and with a sleepingbag that was as muddy and wet inside as out.

He made it. All the way back to the camp, where everyone cheered them.

Tomorrow he is doing a tattoo thing for the Queen, and then he is going to come home to us, to celebrate his sisters birthday - and for us to celebrate him.

I am incredibly proud of my boy for his durability and his wanting to go through with this!

I wonder if he survived?

Today is Andreas last day on the Rex trial.

Boy have they had lousy weather!

It has been raining cats, dogs AND medium sized horses tuesday and wednesday - and wednesday we even had winds ranging up to stormy.
Today, though - it is quite fair. Not hot, but at least sunny and not too much wind.

Throughout the day I frequently find myself thinking of Andreas. Is he tired? (Probably) Is he wet? Is he hungry? And worst of all - is he disheartened? I am glad these three days will be over tonight! And I am aiming to really pamper my boy, when he comes home for the weekend!

CONGRATULATIONS KRISTINA!

Kristina just graduated with the grade 9 on the danish 13-scale. Her final subject was danish.

VERY WELL DONE, KRISTINA - CONGRATULATIONS!

...picture of the new graduate with her hat on will follow later...

Shame on me

I know - I've been shamefully bad at keeping my english blog up to date.
But then, I do have a busy life, and my weekend has been full indeed.

Andreas came home to recover on wednesday, and by friday morning he was feeling his own self again. That made Kristina appear - she was really worried about catching a bug from him, since she is graduating from highschool - TODAY!!!

She has her final exam at 9.30 this morning, so I will be crossing my fingers for her. I am quite sure she will do really well, she is well prepared, and smart to boot.

This weekend we went for my brothers 50th birthday party. It was midsommer as well, so we had a bonfire with a mock witch on it. She was stuffed with more than hay - actually she was shooting fireworks right and left :-)

Bruno got in a proper party-mood, and Conny and him did their usual song number.... my mom was astonished :-)



The pic is from my birthday last year ... :-)

This week will be busy too. I have to tie off a bunch of loose ends at work, because on friday I go on vacation. The first week we will be at home, maybe off camping a day or two, but mostly home. Then we leave for the south of France with our tent wagon.



I can't wait for that. I am allready in the mood for lavender and wine fields..... rustic markets and handmade soaps.... all that good stuff...

Sick bay in my house

Andreas is home from Høvelte - he's got the flu.

A nice female doctor thought he'd be better off being nursed and fed at home, so he is due back there on monday. Plenty of time to get well, I hope.

Tuesday they leave for the Rex-trial - a three day thing where they have to prove that they have the right stuff to guard the royal family. Andreas is dying to go and prove himself worthy!

So I believe he will recover before then!