Sprinkler Savvy

We discovered at the family 4th of July party that Ruby LOVES to run through the sprinkler! It was a hot, muggy day and the kids really had a blast getting soaked. I had just as much fun listening to all their little squeals! Ruby was definitely the most daring (and the most soaked) by the end of the afternoon. You'll notice that Jared probably got almost as wet as Ruby since she insisted on having a "walking partner". I got the happy chore of snapping pictures!


After being in that COLD COLD water, Ruby was really excited to get into Nana and Bobo's hottub with cousins, Caleb and McKenna.


We really had a wonderful visit and just loved seeing everyone. Hopefully a few more of our family will get the chance to come visit us here in Denmark!

We were able to see Anne and Ken once more at the end of our trip. This picture was taken right before we went to the airport. Regardless of the grumpy face Ruby has on, she really did wonderful on all the plane rides and slept for a lot of the trip. She's a good little traveler, though I will be happy when she has her own seat for that LONG haul across the Atlantic. Of course, by the time we can afford another big trip, she might be 2 and forced to buy a seat... we'll see.

Ruby's First Haircut

One thing that we had been anxious to get done while we were back in the US was to get Ruby's first haircut. It had gotten so scraggly and was constantly in her face unless I had it tied back (which she would pull out every few minutes!). So, we were very excited when Jared's cousin, Megan, said that she would cut her hair!! Here are a few pictures from the big day.

In this first shot Megan's just trying to see how much to take off. As you can see, I needed a haircut pretty badly too!

After we decided to cut bangs and keep most of the length it was a pretty quick job. In this picture it looks as if Ruby was just really docile and easy to work with...she wasn't! Actually I don't think it was all that bad, but she did have the benefit of her first lollipop to keep her occupied.

The gross part was that Ruby's lollipop kept getting covered in hair, so we had to keep rinsing it off. She was also covered in sticky, so of course the hair was just sticking everywhere! Yuck! She really didn't seem to care though and came through the whole thing like a champ. I couldn't believe how much older those bangs made her look! Looking back at these pictures, I'm also noticing how much her hair has already grown. I'm going to have to give those bangs a trim before long.

Nana and Daddy approved of the new haircut and hurried off to MawMaw's to show it off while I got my hair cut. Thanks Megan, for great cuts all around!

More pictures from our trip to the USA!

Sooner or later I'll be up to date on these posts, but I'm afraid it's later than today! I have oodles of great pictures from our second week in MI, so take a peek.

We managed to hit the beach a few times while we were visiting. The first weekend we were in Elk Rapids they were having an aft festival with quite a few tents set up along the walk between the parking lot and the beach. Nana enjoyed showing off her little cutie pie as they perused the stalls. Ruby really did stop traffic a few times with that adorable grass skirt!


Jared and Ruby really loved Bobo's new "hog". By the end of the visit Bobo was getting more comfortable with his Harley-Davidson. I think it may be a bit longer before Kay trusts him enough to climb on though!


Ruby's Aunt Alyssa got her this cute dress back when she was living in Brasil. I kept thinking that it looked WAY too big for her, but it actually fits her just right! I'm glad I didn't wait any longer! With the heat wave we've been having since we came back to Denmark, she'll be getting plenty of use out of it! As you can see from the picture, Ruby STILL doesn't want to walk on her own very often. She is getting quite good at "solo walking", but still prefers to call walking a team sport.


Ruby loved having her cousin, Caleb, around. At 2 years old and twice her weight, he's definitely a force to be reckoned with. This picture shows how they play best--with Nana in the middle! Really they did get along just fine. It will be fun to see them together in another year--then Ruby will be able to give Caleb a run for his money!


As with every trip back to the good 'ol USA, we enjoyed a few ymmuy meals out. Now that Nana doesn't have her shop anymore, she really did have almost all of our menus planned, but we managed to sneak this trip to Burger King in on "picture day" at Sears. The poor kids were made to wait an hour past our appointment (through lunch, without a morning nap, of course!) to get their pictures taken. So, these nuggets were a hard earned prize! Thankfully, we did manage to get a few cute shots.

Well, that's all for today. Next on the docket--Ruby's first haircut--stay tuned!

Visiting with the Armstrongs!

After a long, but smooth trip home to the US, we went down to my sister, Heidi's, apartment in Indiana to pick up our Suburu (Thanks so much for driving us Anne!!). We had a great time driving up to MI all together the next day, including Christina and Fink! Heidi had prepared a yummy picnic lunch for us to eat on the way (though there was plenty of snacking going on as well!).

Our first full day in Elk Rapids we went to the beach! Ruby just loved playing in the sand and water. She didn't seem to mind the cold water at all, though her teeth got chattering pretty good after a while! Heidi and Christina didn't get too much time to enjoy the sun though as Ruby had to hurry home for her beauty rest!

After we bundled Ruby up, she was ready to roll again! Until nap time, that is!

A few days later, Dad was able to drive up to see us all. The day that he visited we went to Charlevoix for dunch and shopping, then spent the rest of the afternoon on the jet skis. The water was too rough for me, but Dad and Heidi couldn't get enough!

Grandpa and Ruby had a fun time looking at toys and books while the rest of us ate lunch.

Kay had to resort to blowing bubbles to get Ruby to let us have this family picture--it's a bit corny, but that's okay. Our time together was short, but sweet. Filled up with lots of game playing and chit chat. I hope that it isn't another year before we're together again!

Lots of June Picnics!

We really enjoyed having our friends over for BBQs in June. I think that we had FIVE dinner parties in a week and a half--whew! The nice thing about doing it that often is that you're always tidying and cleaning, so things never get that messy around the house.

One evening we had our friends the McManus family over. They have a little girl, Amy, who is just a few weeks younger than Ruby. Amy is a VERY good walker, so Ruby was busy taking pointers. The next day she walked all the way across the room!

We also had some of Jared's co-workers over. Here Jared is helping Ruby do some chalk drawings on the patio, while Emma and Conrad do their own thing.

The Strømgaard family introduced us to Danish pancakes--served as a dessert with ice cream and marmelade--yum!

A trip to Køge!

Our friends, Jim and Linda Corbett had us out to their home in Køge (south of Copenhagen) on my birthday (June 11). They have a beautiful thatched roof home right on the sea.

They also have a hot tub, which Ruby absolutely loved!


After her "swim", Ruby was pretty exhausted and slept all the way home!

After a great steak dinner we enjoyed learning an old Viking game, Kubb.

While the game didn't go so well for my team, we all enjoyed watching the swans swim on the calm waters.