Happy Halloween

Ruby and I thought that we'd BUZZ by to say, "Happy Halloween!". Halloween isn't really celebrated here in Denmark, though we did see one costume party advertised. We came prepared anyway with a little bumblebee costume for Ruby. I never thought that it would fit her one month ago when we got here, but it actually looks quite good!



We met another young family at church yesterday that moved here just last week from Charlotte, NC. They have a 9-month old baby boy with the most beautiful blue eyes--maybe he and Ruby will be buddies! They are still trying to get settled and in talking to them it was kind of nice to realize that even though we've only been here for a month we have learned so much and have started to feel very comfortable here. Hopefully we'll be able to help them ease into life here as well.

I also had to share this picture of Ruby "napping" in her crib. Somehow she got one leg out and her poncho over her face! Even though she looked a bit pitiful, we still had to laugh!

First Paycheck!

Jared came home with roses on Friday after finding his paycheck had been deposited into our account and said, "I know this is going to sound dumb, but the easiest money I've ever made was working for it!". So, it has been a bit of a celebration this weekend! What a huge blessing not only to have a job and the opportunity to live in Denmark, but a job that Jared really loves. We're really thankful for how God has provided for us here and that He really knows what's best for us. Anyway, here's a few ways we blew the wad (not really!)...

As I showed previously we got this awesome bike trailer out of the "Blue Newspaper" this week. A great deal and something that we'll get tons of use out of. Jared got this bicycle from his boss who had just purchased a new one. We have a bicycle for me to use for a while, but we'll have to get a new one for me eventually that is a bit bigger.

We also got a Stokke Tripp Trapp, which is the Scandinavian highchair. As you may have guessed from the color scheme, Jared picked this out when he was shopping by himself! I can't complain too much since these are Wheaton College's school colors! The Tripp Trapp is also convertible from a baby's high chair to a chair that an adult can comfortably use. This will definitely be coming back to the US with us... and not just because of the price tag!

As an aside... if anyone is itching to visit us, you really should check out tickets for January, February, or March. I've seen good deals on Orbitz, Expedia, and Travelocity for tickets well under $400 round-trip!!

Litte Cutie Pie!

Well, it's been a while since I have posted cute Ruby pics, so I thought that we were ready for some more! She's not quite to the Ru in Daddy's big shoes stage, but she is to the Ru in Daddy's big cap stage! She does have a pretty goofy look on her face, but I thikn it's pretty darn cute! She's been sitting with us at the table for dinner now, which is really nice, though she does get bored quickly and is to the stage where she gets a real thrill out of throwing every item within reach onto the floor! Needless to say we have to have LOTS of back-up toys and several pick-up sessions to get through dinner without listening to fussing!

I can't believe how much she has grown in one month. She's sitting up wonderfully and has starting scooting about in a roll/crawl combo. Jared got her this little toy yesterday--a piggy on wheels that is supposed to encourage her to practice crawling. She seems to like it pretty well, but isn't too motivated to go after it yet.


The big excitement this week is the purchase of a bike trailer, so I had to add a picture of Ruby in her trailer. She really loves it and there's room for lots of groceries or whatever in there with her.

Well, that's all for now! Hope everyone is having a wonderful autumn weekend! Don't forget to turn your clocks back!

City Slickers!

Well... not exactly! But, Ruby and I took our first trip alone today. First stop was lunch with Jared at work. We were able to meet a few of his co-workers and had a great lunch as well as a tour. Let's just say that UI could use a few pointers from the head honchos at DFU on how a chemistry building should be built. It's really fancy and user-friendly, which helps people get a lot more work done I think. Sorry I don't have any pictures... I forgot about having my camera along until it was too late!

Next stop was to the zoo. It ended up being a pretty long bus ride and very full! Jared and I had been wondering last weekend how the bus makers could say that there were 32 seats and 36 standing positions since it seemed quite full when only 10 or so people were standing. Well, I witnessed every seat full, 33 people standing (including myself) plus Ruby's stroller! It was jammed! Of course we also had a beginner driver (my term, not theirs) who was incredibly herky jerky and sent people flying every few seconds slamming on the gas then the brake, then a quick turn or swerve to keep things interesting! Ahh, the wonders of public transport.

Once we got there it was smooth sailing as we joined the swarms of mothers and babies peeking in on all the animals. I went ahead and got a year pass (only $50!) and I think that Ruby and I will really enjoy going every few weeks. I think my favorite part was the tigers. They have two babies that are just adorable. They also had some pretty cool habitats that you could look under water at the animals including seals and penguins. It was feeding time when we arrived, so there was a lot of activity, which Ruby enjoyed!

All in all I'd say it was a pretty great first trip out. The ride home Ruby and I had a seat and we drove past lots of the touristy spots downtown--museums, shopping, Tivoli, etc. There's still a LOT of city to explore, so it should be fun. I think that one day a week Ruby and I will try to have lunch with Jared and go out and do something on our own. It will be good for both of us I'm sure!

Another Sunday afternoon!

On Sunday we went to a new church, FIBC (First International Baptist Church) located in the heart of Copenhagen. The church is held in the Danish Baptist kirke, so the service doesn't begin until 1pm. Right when we walked in the door I think that we both felt very welcome and were happy to see lots of young families in the congregation. We really enjoyed the worship service, though Ruby wasn't a huge fan of the nursery! There were 3 or 4 older boys running and jumping all over the place, which really freaked her out. We had another odd experience there, when a bunch of guys yelled into the church and threw handfulls of stones inside. It was a bit of a shock for everyone, but no one was injured and the guys ran away as soon as the rocks were out of their hands. So, we'll be trying this one again and hopefully we'll meet some friends there.

After the service we headed over to meet Jared's officemate, Julie, and her boyfriend Stefan. They invited us to their home for dinner, which was located down by the embassies in a really nice area. I commented on how ritzy it seemed, realizing that a lot can change from one block to the next in Copenhagen, but sure enough their home was beautiful. Now the real kicker is that they are only paying $500/month for a beautiful apartment in very safe, quiet, and beautifl part of the city... we were shocked as we are paying over double that! Julie explained that her parents had put her on a list for this apartment 20 years ago!! After hearing that, we were floored. So, it took 20 years to get that apartment at that price... I don't think we'll wait around that long!

Their home was a short walk from another one of Copenhagen's favorite tourist stops--the Little Mermaid. Here's some info on it:

Copenhagen's most famous tourist attraction, the Little Mermaid sits on a rock overlooking the harbour. Created by Edward Eriksen in 1913 who was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale. The model for the Mermaid was dancer Ellen Price. The statue's head was stolen in 1964 and although police hunted for several years, neither the perpetrator nor the head were found. The head has been replaced by a replica but jokers still occasionally try to saw it off.

We had a wonderful evening with Julie and Stefan, ending with me being invited to several events including a party to make traditional Danish Christmas decorations and another to make traditional Christmas cookies/treats! I'm sooo excited! We also planned a trip to Tivoli... can't wait!

Roskilde, food, and eighties rockers...

When we stepped off the train in Roskilde, we were very surprised to see this pub dedicated to Buddy Holly. We didn't get a chance to go in, but Jared snapped this photo...

As an aside (not really related to Buddy Holly!!) I have been noticing how much Europeans seem to enjoy the music groups that we as Americans have cast aside. Boy bands are still hot here, as are many rockers from the eighties and nineties that the US has turned its collective nose up to. Kind of funny to see ads for bands that we were rockin' to in elementary school!

Along the line of restaurants, there seems to be one (and only one) type of fast food in our area--"pizza & grill" kiosks. The really strange/funny thing about them is that they are all run by Middle-Eastern men and they are all... well... pretty gross. I guess that the pizza is Italian style (thin tasteless crust) and the toppings are just plain weird. This Viking Pizza & Grill actually had "deep-dish" pizza, though it was what we would call normal. I guess I'm just thankful that there is somewhere that we can eat out cheaply when we're sight-seeing. And really the food isn't bad if you don't expect it to taste like our idea of pizza!


Ruby and I finally got to try Soft Ice this weekend as well. Jared remembered soft ice as something quite spectacular from his exchange student days... I'd have to say it pretty much just tastes like soft serve, though the vanilla flavor is somewhat different than at home.

We saw a blurb on TV a few weeks ago that Danes eat the third most amount of candy of any nation in the world (per capita, I suppose). I would guess that nearly half of that candy is some variety of black licorice--they're wild about the stuff! Of course there are lots of other yummy things too like jelly rolls and cream filled chocolate bombs, etc. Apparently there will be many more varieties of treats coming out soon as Christmas approaches. Ruby and I are going to have to step up our activities if we want to keep off the Christmas pounds!

The Viking Ship Museum

Saturday morning, after some debate, we took off for Roskilde to visit the Viking Ship Museum. Roskilde is SW of us and not terribly far away, but it took us about 1 1/2 hours to get there with public transportation. We got to ride on the bus and the IC tog (InterCity train). The public transportation is so awesome around here and really quite easy to navigate, even with a stroller.

The Viking Ship Museum has five viking ships from the 11th century on display. They were found in the 1950s in the Roskilde Harbor. According to legend, the five boats were filled with rocks and sunk at the entrance of the harbor to thwart enemies from entering. There isn't any firm evidence of what really happened, but what was left of the five boats has been brought up and is on display. They also had exhibits of Viking weaponry, which has mostly been found in streams throughout the area, and hoards of jewelry and coins. Some of it is apparently plunder from the Viking raids, while other pieces were buried by their owners to protect them from the "Northmen".

As you can see from this rather corny shot, they also had a kiddie area with Viking costumes that you could try on and a few other activities. Pretty fun I'll have to admit, even though I wasn't terribly thrilled to do the dressing up myself!





Jared's favorite part of the museum was outdoors where they have craftsmen building replicas of the Viking ships using the same methods and tools that they would have used. This finished longboat was a warship would have held over 50 men and 100s of weapons. They also had a workshop for the archeological finds, but it was closed. We decided that we'll have to go back again in warmer weather so we can take a cruise on the boats and see more of the outdoor exhibits.

Finally, here's a pic of a wooden chain. I'm not really sure if this was something that they would have used or what, but Jared thought it was pretty cool, so maybe you will too!

Lots of blessings!!

Back again after yet another frenzied weekend! But before I get to all of that I really had to share this great blessing with my "devoted readership"!

Last Friday Mary Anne, the pastor's wife from the International Church of Copenhagen, brought us an exersaucer for Ruby! Its a really neat one with a farm theme. Ruby is so tall that it has to be on the highest setting already! The really cool thing about it is that the top comes off and locks into the bottom portion to make a figure-eight railroad track and then several of the toys come loose to form a train. I think that she will really enjoy it. Thankfully we have enough room to for her to enjoy it. Mary Anne also brought Ruby a snow suit that her kids had grown out of. All of the babies are bundled up in this kind of snowsuit here and it makes a HUGE difference in her comfort level on our walks.

So, more evidence of God's great provision for us! We aren't actually even going to ICC anymore, but they were still so generous in helping us. It's really wonderful to meet God's children all over the world.

Rainy Days...

Well, the cool rainy days of winter have officially begun! It isn't so bad from the inside, but it does make me think twice about wanting to go grocery shopping and things like that! Thankfully we made that trek yesterday, so we should be okay until tomorrow or Sunday.

Our neighbor, Mads, called this the "boring time", but hopefully before too long Ruby and I will be signed up for some classes and play groups and our days will be getting a bit more full. There is an organization called LINK (something about internation ladies living in København) that has lots of neat groups for crafts and baby play groups, etc. Also, we got our CPR cards today, which means we can go to the doctor if we're sick and we can get a library card--yippee!!

This and that

Just wanted to catch everyone up on my week since it has taken forever for me to get all the Kronborg Castle pictures done!

This week we had some good news as Jared got the refund money from our travels, so we can actually go grocery shopping without bringing a calculator along to make sure we have enough! It has really been a very quiet week mostly because it's fall break here and lots of people are on holiday. Since we have several retirees on our street there were more kids around than usual playing soccer in the street and such while their parents were at work. Kind of nice to hear them out there enjoying the last nice days of fall.

I have had a rather rotten week health-wise. Last week I had a horrible 24 hour flu or something with a fever and the works. This week my back and neck have been unbearably out of whack. Jared and I have a horrible bed that is really starting to wear on us. It's just a foam mattress maybe 4" thick with wooden slats underneath. To make matters worse, it isn't one matress, it's two smashed together. They don't "do" double/queen/king bedding here either. You just make up each side separately, including separate duvets! It seems like I wake up 100 times a night in between the two duvets and shivering. It's like camping every night! Thankfully Jared got me a new pillow to replace the 2-dozen-feather "pillow" I had been using, so that'll help some. From my ranting, you can tell what our first extra pennies will be going towards!

Well, to cheer up this post some I'll post a cute Ruby pic. That little punkin is really the light of our lives... She's giggling lots and has said, "Mamamamama" a few times! Of course it's just babble, but it still makes this mommy feel pretty special!

A quick "Happy 21st Birthday!" to my "baby sister" and it's off to bed for me!

Even MORE on Elsinor

Sorry to drag this out, but apparently you can only have a limited number of pics per post!

Inside the living quarters they had a fair amount of original (post-fire) paintings, tapestries, and furniture. Here is an example of a dining room. I thought that the table they put in there was a bit silly! The room was enormous as the chandelier indicates, and they placed a puny four-seater in there. Anyway, it does give some effect of what it may have been like.



They also had several displays of clothing styles from the era. Both Jared and I thought that this dress was reminiscent of my wedding dress. Thankfully the man's outfit is nothing like what Jared wore!









The only part of the castle to survive the fire was the church, which is all still original and vibrant with its paintings and oodles of goldleaf. The church is still used about once a month and for some special occasions. There was an area in the balcony (to the left of this picture) where the royal family would have sat.




I liked seeing all the fishing boats too... Here's one that must be loaded with fish judging by the bird population on their tail! I still haven't tried the pickled herring, but I'm sure I won't escape it much longer, especially because Christmas is coming!

More on Kronborg Castle, etc.

Well, I'm back again to post a bunch more pictures from our trip to Kronborg Castle...

My first impression stepping off the train was that this is what I thought living in Denmark would be like. Squished up colorful buildings, narrow streets, not too much hustle and bustle. It's really quite a cute town and would be really nice in the warmer months being right on the ocean. Of course where we actually live is more like suburbia, which is nice too in its own way. But I digress...


Here is an interesting picture of modern Helsingør (Elsinor) in constrast to the medieval castle. Of course I realize that this is the way it is all over Europe now, but having seen it now for the first time I found it very odd and somehow surprising. I guess I pictured all castles to be separated off from modern civilization.



Our pass allowed us to enter three parts of the castle: the living areas, the church (kirke) and the casements. This picture is inside the courtyard where there was a rather pitiful fountain.







I guess I'll start with our last stop which was down in the casemates. It was extremely dark (lit only by candles) and cold and damp. Not exactly posh living quarters! Ruby is posing with Helgor Danske, the national hero, who is asleep, but, according to legend will wake up whenever the country is threatened by external enemies...yikes! I wasn't really able to get many good pictures down here, so you'll have to rely on your imagination--or better yet, come visit, to get the real effect!

Smooth sailing from here on out...

Well, we've had a slight delay here due to a few nasty viruses, but thankfully Jared found them and "exterminated" the little buggers last night!

I had a VERY rude surprise yesterday when I rounded the corner coming out of the kitchen only to find a beheaded mouse lying there like a bloody stump! I was totally disgusted and nearly called Jared, but decided to buck up and take care of it myself (with the aid of several paper towels between my fingers and that little tail!). I put Mela on a diet last week (well, from 75 grams of food a day to 70 grams) becuase he's really quite fat and all he does is sleep all day. Apparently he's taking his revenge!

Moving on...
We had a great time last Sunday visiting nearby Kronborg Castle in Helsingør. The castle was built by Frederick II in 1574-85 on the remails of the old Krogen fortress from the 1420s. There was a major fire in 1629, after which Christian IV rebuilt the castle as before adding about three zillion of his crests in strategic places!

The new crown prince!

Everyone has been abuzz since we got here waiting for their beloved Princess Mary to give birth to the new crown prince/princess. We have been alerted that the baby was born and it is indeed a prince. Here's a news story on it:

It's a prince! The heir to the Danish throne has been born. Both the little
prince and his mother are doing well. Did she or didn't she? After rumours
circulated all night long as to whether she was in the hospital, why, or if she
had gone into labour, the Royal Family announced this morning that Crown
Princess Mary gave birth to Denmark's next crown prince early this
morning. According to the court, the prince was born at 1:57 a.m. at
Copenhagen University Hospital, weighing 3500g, and measuring 51cm. Both the
prince and his mother, Crown Princess Mary, are doing well. Crown Prince
Frederik was present during the birth. (www.denmark.dk)

So the Prince will be named Christian, as they switch back in forth between Christian and Frederick for each crown prince. This is of special interest to our neighbors who have a baby nearly four weeks old that they haven't managed to name yet. If they don't name him by 6 months, he automatically gets the prince's name! I thought that was a bit funny!

Big breakthroughs in Ruby-land!

We've had a very exciting last 24 hours here in the Nelson household!

Miss Ruby had a very full day... First she spent some time playing on her tummy, as usual. She's been doing this for as long as she can remember (and about as long as I can remember too!). She's starting to enjoy playing peek-a-boo, so she gives a big grin when I say "BOO!" or "Peek-A-Boo!" and then plows her head down to the blanket and giggles. Silly girl!

But, this is starting to frustrate her as she really wants to be up higher and getting around, so we decided to try something new--sitting up! Of course we have been working on this feat for a while, but this is the first day she has been able to balance herself for minutes at a time.

As you can see, she was pretty keen on the whole experience... until she toppled over and bonked her head that is. (I'll save you from seeing pictures of her bawling her head off!

The second big news story is that Ruby managed to sleep through the night!! And it was in her own crib!! Yeah!! I of course was awake several times in the night scared to death we had a case of SIDS on our hands, but she was really just conked out. We think that the trick may have been stuffing her full with peas and cereal, then nursing her right before she went to bed. Hopefully we'll have a repeat performance tonight! Here are some pics of Ruby with her peas and asleep in her crib that Jared made for her (from IKEA).

Pictures!

I think that I may have figured out at long last how to get pictures up on here. Apparently I'm still in the stone age when it comes to this blogging stuff because it isn't as easy as it looks! Anyhoo, hope you enjoy the pictures of our new home!

Here's our little pond. I don't know if there are any fish as it is totally covered over by water plants. 

I think that the swing is just there for looks becuase it's REALLY rickety. 

Here is the greenhouse and vegetable garden. 

Here's a view of the backyard... maybe too dark to see much! 

This is our little music area and our cat's hangout. Mela (not sure of the correct spelling) is a lazy, but friendly 10 year old with grey fur.