Stubberkloster Weekend!

For those of you that don't already know (or remember) one of the main reasons that we ended up here in Denmark was because Jared was an exchange student here TEN years ago! While he was here he stayed with three different families in the Skive area, which is in Northern Jutland (the mainland part of Denmark). So, once we arrived last fall Jared contacted his "favorite" family to let them know that we were here. Leo and Elinor invited us to their farm for the long weekend and we were happy to come! So, these are some pictures from our weekend...

That first picture was of the smallish pond that is right behind the house. We happened to arrive on Leo's birthday (Friday) and several of their kids and grandchildren were there for the occasion. Leo and Elinor had quite a day planned including LOTS of food and drink, a trip to the circus, more food, a memorial service for Leo's dog (Tor), which was followed by oodles of cake! Ruby and I bowed out of the circus in favor of a much needed nap, but Jared (and everyone else) really raved about it! The women were all oohing and aahing over the hunky guys and Jared seemed to like just about every act that they brought out.

Ruby's favorite part of the weekend was playing with the big girls! They helped her walk all over the place and she just had the biggest grin on her face the whole time. Don't look too closely at her outfit though! She was wearing a skirt and then the temperature started dropping fast so we had to pull some sweatpants on underneath! The two girls in front in this picture (actually holding Ruby's hands) are Agnes and Thea. They live just a few minutes away, so we got to see them again on Saturday. They live in an old farmhouse (I think a few hundred years, but I really don't remember for sure). I thought it was pretty cool that their barn had a thatched roof. Anyhow, since it's such an old place they have been in the process of renovating the place for the last few years and are nearly finished inside. Jared got a detailed and technical tour of the construction details, but unfortunately, I wasn't in on that...

It was SO nice to be in the country again. I really didn't realize how much I had missed seeing open spaces and feeling that fresh breeze until we got there. It's a farming area and very close to a huge fjord. It reminded both of us of the Grand Traverse Bay (where we got married) in color and the landscape. It really made me miss home, but I guess we just have to be thankful that we had our time in the country!

Another perk was that Leo and Elinor live in a rather huge house, complete with bathtubs! Ruby was very pleased with her big girl tub and wanted to play and play all night. Eventually, the water was just getting way too cold though, so she had to go to bed. I was very impressed with our little Ru becuase she slept like a champ while we were there. We had borrowed a pack'n'play from our friends and had Ruby sleep in it a bit before we left, then while we were there, she was great!

Well, I have another batch of pictures to post from our weekend, so I'll continue the recap then...