As of today, Evelynn is officially registered for Børnehave...translates to Kindergarten, but more similar to pre-school in the U.S. Her formal primary education doesn't start till she is 6, so this will be an opportunity for her to play with other kids her age (most children are in part time school by 3 here) and also have her first teacher outside of Daddy and Mommy. I may or may not have shed a little tear. It's hard to believe in a few days she'll be four and soon after beginning school.
There is a website for the school you can check out if you're interested. It is in Danish, but if you view it on a Chrome browser, it will translate to English for you. Here is the website for Børnehuset ved Banen (name of school).
The school is less than 10 minutes away and she'll be set up to attend 25 hours a week (most likely 5 hours a day, but she can do 3 full days if that ends up being easier for our schedule). We'll be taking a tour of the school in the next few weeks before the school year begins, so I will take some photos to share.
We plan to have her at this school until a spot opens up for her at the International School of Billund. She's currently on the waiting list and she probably will not get to start there until Fall of 2016. They are expanding their campus this year, so they can take in more students next year. We also hope to be living in Billund by then, so hopefully those logistics will pan out at the same time :) We have a tour scheduled for the international school on August 4th, so photos will be on the blog for this school as well.
Anyway, just wanted to keep you all updated and had a chance to update the blog while Joel is hosting a video game night with friends playing SmashBros :)
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Many have asked for a photo tour of our house and I'm finally delivering :) We were motivated to get our apartment cleaned up since we have friends coming over for lunch! The bedrooms still need some work so those photos will come later.
Front entrance staircase. Our door has the diamond window up top. Restaurant windows to the right.
Our neighbor's pretty yard, which makes for a nice view in the middle of the city.
Standing at the front door. Bathroom first door on the left. Main living area second door on left. Girls room, walk in closet and patio to the right. Coat and shoe storage closet.
Bathroom shower, toilet and sink.
Tour guide :)
Laundry area in the bathroom.
Hallway with walk in closet (left), girls' room straight ahead and patio (left).
Outdoor patio. Very big for Vejle apartment standards.
View of living room, dining, play area...
Daddy and Ev snuggling on the couch. Joel and my room is behind the couch wall.
Dining Area with our new table. It expands to fit 12 people!
Toys and door to guest room.
Kitchen. Dishwasher and refrigerator hiding on the right. Stove top and oven on the left.
A few weeks ago, Joel was able to sign Evelynn up to do a play test for a new product the LEGO Duplo line is developing. Today was the day and she was quite excited. Over the past couple days we've been giving her pep talks on what to expect and psyched her up for seeing Daddy's work. This was my first solo bus ride with the girls and I didn't want to deal with hauling the stroller and two kids by myself, so we pulled out our Ergo baby carrier (fortunately D still fits and doesn't mind snuggling) and E held my hand. We even got there early, so that was a success!
Daddy met us outside his office. Can you tell E was excited?? Oh and here's a little view of the sidewalk set up in Billund with the pedestrian and bike lane. In the cobblestone pathway, they include a colored tile every 15feet or so which is helpful in motivating the girls to keep up so we can find the next "treasure."
Joel and E went into the Innovation House...which is beyond the borders of where I'm allowed. He is able to bring the girls in until they turn 12 so it's definitely a special treat for her to go behind the scenes. D and I did a little exploring around Billund and officially confirmed a desire to move there in the long run. I always thought I'd prefer the city, but apparently I need a little more quiet and space in my daily life than I thought :) We ended our visit at the Billund Bageri (bakery) for lunch with Joel and the girls and I hopped on the next bus back to Vejle. Tired girls and a sick mama make for an early bedtime. Now off to read a little Harry Potter while I wait for Joel to get home from work.
Today we tried out our first church with the whole family in tow. Joel and Daphne had visited on a previous weekend with friends, but I had to stay home with a sick Evelynn that weekend. We had a nice walk (just over a mile there) with some new friends from the states (Mike and Karen). It was a fun experience, although quite a bit of work with 2 little girls. The services and most of the music are in Danish, but they offer audio translation via headphones in several languages, so Joel and I were able to understand most of what was going on. Karen (who passed her Danish language test this past year!) was helpful with translating/explaining things as well. The church had paper and markers, along with a few toys out on the floor for kids to play with. It kept the girls busy for the first half of the service, but then they got hungry and restless so I spent the rest of the service passing out snacks and following them around the lobby area while they explored. We met the pastor of the church before heading home for naps. Overall a bit exhausting, but a good experience and we hope to go back again.
Enjoying the music
Hiding under the coat rack
We decided to do a little baking project with the girls in the afternoon since it was raining. They were quite excited to make the fruit pizza. Evelynn spread out the cream cheese layer all by herself and then both girls decorated it with fruit. It was a hit!
Thanks to a local taco truck and Joel picking up a stack of real corn tortillas (they only have flour or hard shell at the grocery store), we got to have tacos for dinner!! Looks and almost tasted the same :)
Then we got a special treat after dinner being serenaded by Elizabeth over Skype! So grateful for technology and getting to see familiar faces from California.
JToday the girls and I ventured down towards the marina (partially to pick up an amazon package, but also soak up some vitamin D), which happens to be about a 10 minutes walk from our apartment. This weekend we had spent most of our time indoors with sick kiddos, then a sick mommy and a daddy with bad allergies...so it was nice to get out in the sunshine!
The logistics of getting out of the apartment for more than a quick trip to the grocery store get a bit complicated dealing with 2 kids, a double stroller, usually a few bags of trash to take out and a big flight of stairs. Already sweating in the first 5 minutes...
Anyway, first stop was what I think was a post office incorporated into a grocery store. Picked up my delivery from Amazon...important purchase...a hotplate (so I can use my stovetop espresso maker since our fancy induction stove does not like it!) and eventually came across a little park where the kiddos played for a bit.
Then we continued on towards on the famous "Wave" apartment building, where Ev decided she was too tried to walk (aka sit in the stroller) and was ready to go home. We made a stop into the grocery store since we needed to restock the fridge and fortunately made it back home without any major meltdowns!
Well we have officially been living in Vejle for 1 month and decided it was about time to get this blog started. Hopefully you have seen our photos updates on Facebook up until now. We plan to keep our families and friends updated via the blog and also document this adventure to share with our girls one day. We look forward to sharing the journey with you!
Off to the SFO Airport
Middle row to ourselves!
Bus ride between terminals
First impressions of living in Denmark:
Most coffee shops do not open until 10:00am (while living in our apartment for one month with minimal belongings, this was a bit difficult for this momma who needs her caffeine)
The roads/pedestrian pathways are VERY organized. Cobblestone for pedestrians, smooth pavement for bikes and a separate area for cars. Do not cross the line, or you may get a bell dinged at you :)
Most everyone we have met speaks English really well (except for the kind man who was trying to teach me where we throw away our trash from the apartment - lots of smiling and pointing ensued as we tried to understand each other)
CPR numbers (somewhat similar to social security in the US) are VERY important (aka no internet, bus pass, bank account until a number is assigned). After living here a month, we finally have all our ducks in a row.
The bread is AMAZING here...I mean who can pass up a fresh slice of bread with Danish butter...apparently I can't and I won't tell you how many I've eaten
Most restaurants and public spaces have a play area for kids...its amazing. Kids are taken into account on most everything here!
As of June 3rd, we had officially moved into our apartment located in Vejle. It is approximately 25km east of Billund, the town Lego headquarters is located. The apartment is in a convenient location and so far we are really happy with our choice, especially considering we hadn't seen it before signing the rental contract! Our only complaint is the close vicinity to party central for the high school and college students. It gets a little loud on the weekends.
My moving buddies
Nap time in the new apartment
Resting up at the hotel
Joel has met several coworkers who commute on the bus and has successfully made it work everyday with no issue. We are so grateful for the many generous and helpful people we met in our first week. A fellow California native, Lego employee's wife brought over groceries and other essentials I had not even thought of (like toilet paper!) to our apartment along with a thoughtful "welcome to Denmark" basket. While our kids were running around our empty apartment, our neighbor stopped by to introduce himself. He offered help by way of letting complete strangers (i.e. us) borrow 3 travel mattresses and a kitchen table/chairs to hold us over until our shipment arrives mid-June. I was blown away less than 2 hours after arriving into our new home with all the kind people who came to our door. The following week we were invited to dinner by another couple from the states and enjoyed getting to know a few other expats.
Daddy's 1st day of work
2am snacks, waiting for breakfast
The hardest part of the transition thus far was recovering from jet-lag with two little kids in tow (that and attempting to read Danish manuals for our appliances - thank you Google translate!). 5 days in and we were still having 2am parties with energized kiddos who could not sleep. Our first few days consisted of sleep, meals and a daily walk to get outside. Our first night in the apartment they slept from 8pm-5am! I was feeling quite refreshed and we were able to go on two adventure walks in Vejle. We found a park with beautiful green grass, water feature and play area for the kids. They were once again in their happy place roaming free outside. We came back home to nap and relax before heading out on a second venture to find mommy a good latte. Fortunately in 5 mins, we scored and the latte was warm and delicious. There is a park across the street from our apartment, so we spent the rest of the afternoon there. Again, very happy kids and a happy caffeinated mommy.
I will recruit Joel to share stories from his first weeks at LEGO soon. To say he loves it, is an understatement. The man is living the dream. He hit the ground running on his first day since his team had a deadline to meet within 2 weeks. It is wonderful to watch him thrive in a role that allows him to be super creative with LEGO. His design brain never stops and I think he's pretty happy about it!
Well that is all for now...more regular updates to come!
