North Sjælland

With Blake visiting for the first time, we ended up having a bunch of repeat trips, so we could show him around some of the best tourist attractions here.  So, for the 3rd time, we made our way to Kronborg Castle.  I really like Helsingør, so it's nice to visit that part of the country.  We did the tour through the castle.  The boat museum was no longer there since they are moving it to a large building they are building next to the castle.  So, we took a guided tour through the castle and the casements.  Then we went back and toured the casements again.  That's my favorite part of the castle.  It's fun to explore the depths...  The kids were a little scared, but it was fun.
After leaving Kronborg, we headed to some old castle ruins no too far away.  Søborg was built sometime around the 12th century and was Denmark's strongest castle during it's prime.  It was destroyed in 1535 and not much remains today.  I love castle ruins though.  It's so fun to walk through the overgrown remains and imagine what life there was like, so long ago.  We took some family pictures, which was, of course, difficult with the kids.  It was a fun place to visit and play around at.
After that, we headed over to the fjord area.  We found a museum that was closed, but we were able to walk around the grounds.  We'll have to go there again when it's open.  We also made our way to another castle - Jægerspris Castle.  It's actually a large manor house and it's history dates all the way back to the 13th century.  The castle itself was closed, but we were able to walk around the grounds, which were quite beautiful.  Definitely another place I'd like to go back to some day.

Kronborg

Holger Danske

See that chain, it didn't stop Chad.

 

  

 Søborg Castle

 

Didn't quite make it.

Noah was really into posing by himself. 

Noah's done

Going,

Going,

and they're gone.

 Museum - I don't know what it was called.

 Jægerspris Castle

All tired from a long day.

Grammy, Grandad and Uncle Blake Visit

We were so fortunate to have Chad's parents and brother Blake come and visit us for Myra's baptism.  Grandad stayed for a week and Grammy and Blake for 2 weeks.  We had such a fun time with them.  We had thought that it would be a slower visit than last year, since we had already done a lot with them last time, but we were sure wrong.  We were super busy and saw a lot of new things and returned to a few favorites as well.
Here is a quick breakdown of the visit:
June 27th, Friday - Uncle Blake and Grammy Arrive - We all went to pick them up at the airport.  A very exciting reunion.
Saturday - Grandad arrives.  Visit to Herstedhøje and Picking Strawberries.

Sunday - Baptism in the Morning.  Copenhagen in the afternoon, including Canal Tour where we saw the Queen and the Prince Consort!

Sunday - Church and a Linger Longer.
Monday - Kronborg Castle, Søborg Castle Ruins and Jægerspris Castle

Tuesday - Guys Golfing and the afternoon visiting with the Rasmussens
Wednesday - Island of Fyn - Valdemars Castle, Egeskov Castle and Odense

Thursday - Bellevue Beach and the Deer Park

Friday - Lubeck Germany

Saturday - Bike ride through VestAmager

Sunday - Grandad leaves and Church
Monday - Vordingborg Castle & Møns Klint

Tuesday - Roskilde Cathedral & Cook Out with the Jensen's

Wednesday - Round Tower & Rosenborg Castle

Thursday - Karnan Tower in Sweden & Dinner in Helsingør

Friday - Teary good-bye to Grammy & Blake

We took over 2000 pictures during the 2 weeks they were here.  Wow!  I'll probably do a couple more picture blogs with a few of our specific trips.  It was such a fun visit and we were so happy that they could come.  It came and went all to quickly.  We really miss being around family.  But, we definitely had a fun time during their visit. 

Photo Challenge Week #28 - Church

The nave of St. Mary's Church in Lubeck Germany. There are so many amazing churches in Europe.  Lots to choose from.  This was one of my favorites.  The ceiling was so high!  The roof and much of the interior of this church was destroyed during World War 2.  But, after the war was over, they worked very hard for 15 years to reconstruct the damaged parts to how they looked before.  One interesting story is that with the fire, much of the plaster on the walls came off to reveal these old frescoes from the middle ages painted beneath.  They had hired someone to restore the paintings.  There was a scandal when the painter created his own works in some areas.  Some of these paintings were much photographed and actually used in postage stamps commemorating the churches 700 year birthday.  When the fraud was found out, it created much scandal in the art world and were quickly painted over.  His paintings were actually a really small part of the actual frescoes that remain today.

Photo Challenge Week #26 - Fear

I have so many fears, it was hard to come up with just one.  I think one of my biggest fears is something bad happening to one of my kids.  It can be very hard for me to just let them walk across that tiny rope bridge, all by themselves.