Zuckertuten Party

Yesterday, after four and a half years of German preschool, Logan had his "graduation" party. He is now ready for real school! This morning he told us that yesterday was "the best day of his life." That sounds really good and it is an encouragement to see how well he has done. Especially after so many mornings where we had to drop him off crying and wanting to go back home. (Those days were not as frequent lately, but never ever completely went away.)

Here are some shots and video of the great day:

The traditional tree, decorated with leaves and sugar-bags, only of the wrong sort in both cases:



The tree after the kids properly decorated it:



They all do a conga-line:




In fact, they did a lot of dancing and singing:




Logan receives his cone:



All the kids with their cones:



After eating, the kids have some more dancing in the disco set up at the preschool:

Copenhagen

Here are a few pictures from our day in Copenhagen. We pretty much walked the entire city. I think we hit most all the most recognized spots. We didn't go into Tivoli, the large park with concerts and amusement rides because of the cost.

Rosenborg, castle in the city park that now houses many of the royal jewels and a museum.

The round tower (aptly named).

Gefion Fountain near our favorite church and the Little Mermaid statue.

Our favorite church, an St. Alban's Anglican church.

The kids in front of the most famous Copenhagen site: The Little Mermaid, from Hans Christian Andersen's story of the same name. He is the most famous Dane.

Nyboder: Homes built for the royal navy in the 1600's. This street has the only remaining original homes. The others in the area were built in the 1700's.

Alexander Nevsky ChurchThe Marble Church near Amelianborg Palace, the royal residence.

Amelianborg and the Marble church behind us and the Opera House in front of us. Seen below:

The Royal Danish Theater.

The stock exchange with a very interesting tower made from the tail of 4 dragons.

Nayhavn, the most famous street in Copenhagen. Also, the prettiest!

Scandanavia

Jason had been wanting to head up north to Denmark and Sweden and Norway for about 4 years now. So, when the kids had off a week at Easter we decided now was the time since we are headed south in a few months.

I found this great little vacation house about 45 minutes from Copenhagen and just off the beach. It was a good spot, quiet and scenic.

We drove into Koge, the nearest city to grab some goodies and see the largest town square in Denmark. The city was a disappointment, to say the least.

There were a few neat, old buildings and a pretty church.

The day after our 9 hour drive through almost the entire country, we hit Copenhagen. I will add pictures of Copenhagen later so there aren't so many pictures.

We spent a day in Copenhagen and then on our second day, went to Helsingor, (spoken like Elsinor) a city on the far north border of Zealand and home to Kronborg. Kronborg is a castle made "famous" by Shakespeare in his play "Hamlet".

Kronborg was used originally as a toll fort and then was built into a castle. I read that they held meals here that consisted of 65 courses and each guest was provided their own vomit bucket!

It is built at the narrowest strait between Denmark and Sweden. It is built in a star formation with moats around the outside walls and the inner walls.

Looking out toward Sweden.

The town of Helsignor was quaint and prettier than Koge. We walked a few of the streets and found a few interesting buildings.

Jason liked this building because it was so narrow, really just a door and window in size.

Graz

We went to Graz, Austria in February to check out the city and meet some people already serving there. As per our last visit, it was very cold and gray. I think living there in the winter will be difficult but having the Alps nearby may be enough to make it better! Other than the cold, gray weather, I like the city. It is more traditionally European in size (everything close together) as opposed to Dresden that is very spread out. It is also much smaller, half the size of Dresden. We are looking forward to and dreading the year away from home.

Town square

We aren't sure who these men are but they were loud!

On the Mur river across from the very strange looking Culture Palace. We have nicknamed it the body organ building!

We celebrated Logan's birthday in Prague a month or so ago. Here are some of the pics. Logan turned 6 and will start school in Austria this year. It is hard to believe our baby is already 6.

He wanted a Toy Story theme so we had Toy Story strawberry cake!

Lego plane from the Chumbley's

New Lego Ninja fighters. He had these first before his brothers!

Transformer Bumblebee

Logan had asked for a remote controlled helicopter for Christmas but we weren't sure he was old enough but we went ahead and got one for his birthday. It has been a hit except now it is broken but we aren't sure who's fault!