Celebrating spring with Økodag (dancing cows!)

On our way to the farm in our rental car for the week.

Økodag is considered the "spring party" for organic cows in Denmark. It is the day they are officially let out of the barn, after a long winter indoors, to roam and eat the green grass freely. Many organic farms throughout the country invite families to witness the cows dancing into the pastures. I was surprised how excited the cows actually were, although I don't blame them since they have basically been in the barn since November. There were several new calves to see, a few old calves the children were allowed to pet and interact with, and many many full grown cows ready to be freed from the barn. 

One of the first calves we met when we arrived at the barn.

The girls eventually received a few kisses from this cow.

Evelynn decided to make a straw bed.

There were a few barrels of hay for the kids to play it. 

Daphne sweetly talked to the calves and they were quite patient with her and welcomed a few head scratches.

Evelynn was also quite excited to pet the cows. This one was very interested in smelling her coat.

Happy girl feeling brave after petting the calves.

Waiting for the cows to make their grand entrance.

Huge cows, running straight at us. There was only a small single wire fenced standing between us and them. Lots of skipping and frolicking ensued.

Beautiful sunshine really made for a few beautiful moments at the farm.

Lots of happy grazing cows.

Now time for the humans to graze on the picnic mommy packed. It was a little chilly to be out in the fields with the cows, so we settled for the wind being blocked in our rental car.

Photos of life lately...

We finally made our first visit to Lalandia (a local indoor theme park). Nice place for Daphne to burn some energy and test out her magic skills :)

She was pretty excited about winning a poop emoji buddy.

Weekly crepe night in the kitchen. 

Poor D and Mommy were sick with some type of flu for a week. We slept with a bowl between us :(

Decorating Easter eggs for the egg roll in town

Our little artist at work - pigtails are always a must on weekends :)

Ev drew a photo of what she thinks Landon looks like in Aunt Jamie's tummy. He's laying down and happy...and of course has blue hair.

Family photo for Uncle CJ, Aunt Jamie and Landon.

Coloring sisters.

Building a baby potato head at her friend Rie's birthday party.

Daphne was not so impressed with her first listen of the Canterbury Tales :)

"Lego glitter" as D calls it. Our first visit to Legoland for the 2016 season.

We went on several rides before sharing lunch and visiting the penguins.

"Mommy I sooo high"

Watching the penguin carry around a blue ball.

Sharing a kids meal for lunch.

Ev has upgraded her school "commute" by enlisting the speed of her scooter. She likes to race home almost every day. Her competitive streak is making it's debut. 

Enjoying sunshine and homemade strawberry frozen yogurt.

Big sis getting in on the frozen yogurt treat too.

Almost every morning, we see at least 2 deer snacking in the forest in our backyard. 

"Can you see now Daphne?!"

Keeping mom company in the kitchen.

Mommy sent Daddy with carnitas to feed some of his coworkers dinner. Takeout in Billund is slim pickings and it's a good excuse for Ashley to cook! 

Beautiful spring sunset. Enjoying the longer days, especially when they end like this!

Easter Break in the Canary Islands

It's been awhile, sorry for the lack of posts and updates from Billund. We've been dealing with a lot of sickness, busy schedules and to be honest I've been lazy in terms of keeping up on the blog. As more time passed, the less inclined I was to write a post. Hopefully I can be more consistent again in the coming months!

Since Christmas, Evelynn has come down with the flu, strep throat and various colds which eventually spread to the rest of the house. We just surpassed her officially being in school for 6 months and she has been getting sick much less and I'm crossing my fingers her immune system has strengthened to handle all the new germs that come with her first year in school. She has really started blossoming in school and I am so glad we have her at the international school. She has made some really sweet friends, is learning to deal with new relationship dynamics, is gaining more confidence and her favorite - lots of time put towards being creative.

Daphne is patiently waiting for her turn to join Evelynn at school. She will start in October and the girls talk about this at least once a week. Evelynn explains to her she will be big enough for K1 when she turns 3 and that they'll get to play together in after school care. Daphne's vocabulary has skyrocketed the past several  months and now I have a conversationalist to hang out with during the day. She makes hilarious facial expressions and loves to "tell jokes" and be silly. When it's quiet, she is either causing some sort of mischief or reading books on her own. The former is usually the case :) She keeps her momma on her toes! We are looking forward to the weather changing so we can spend more time outside of the house at the local parks, Legoland and in our backyard.

Joel is keeping busy with top secret projects at work - sorry no updates on that front ;) He is still enjoying his job, feeling challenged and enjoys using the girls as test subjects for some of his ideas. He has joined a weekly basketball club and gets together with his buddies to play SmashBros a couple times a month.

I am doing my best to continue to adjust to our lives here, although not always very smoothly. It has been a challenge for me to stay positive and embrace so much change in my daily life. I miss our families, wish I could be closer to my sister (and brother in law) as they are having their first baby (can't wait to meet you Landon!) and miss the community of ladies I was a part of in Oceanside. I think as Daphne starts school in the fall, I will have more opportunities to invest in the community here, start language courses and pursue some of my own interests. Still figuring out what those interests will be, but having high hopes for the fall. Looking forward to more sunshine and Vitamin D for an energy boost. Joel and I are trying to overhaul our lives with healthier food, exercise and sleeping habits, which I'm sure will help too once we get in a groove on those changes. And now that I've posted it on our blog, that's more accountability...right? :)

So now that you are all generally updated, I'll start fresh with a post about our recent "cacation" (vacation a la Daphne) to the Canary Islands with Grandpa and Grandma. We spent a week on the island of Tenerife during Evelynn's Easter break from school, enjoying warmer temperatures and Grandpa/Grandma's company. The girls have once again proved they are becoming professional travel buddies after spending 7 hours in the Stansted/London airport overnight. They stayed mostly positive and were more patient then their parents at times. We met up with Grandpa and Grandma a few hours after we landed at a nice apartment rental. We eventually settled into our rooms and the girls enjoy playing in the backyard - lots of new terrain to explore in a desert climate. We had our first tastes of Spanish Tapas, visited the beach and swimming pool on the property, fed monkeys and guinea pigs at the Monkey Park and went on a yellow submarine ride. There are lots of photos to share below!

Late night bus ride to the airport. One plus, it only takes 12 minutes!

Ev created "a set" from the Duplo building area at the airport

Easter coloring pages

Mommy's shift to stay awake during our long layover

The girls were so sweet and cuddly in the wagon

Pretty views of the volcano and Tenerife island from the sky.

We made it and didn't have to check any bags!

Afternoon melon snack

Off to dinner our first night in Tenerife.

The adults attempted a game of Parcheesi.

Beautiful blue skies!

Tough life for a 2.5 year old :)

Morning visit to the Monkey Park - first off holding some parrots for a photo.

One of the girls' favorite activities - feeding the guinea pigs.

Feeding a very friendly monkey.

We were able to feed this guy some oranges - he even spit out the seeds.

Taking a break with Daddy and Grandma.

The "move it move it" monkeys (thanks to Madagascar)

Ev's favorite - the "fuzzy monkey" 

Sweet little baby monkey.

Lots of lizards to watch at our apartment - can you spot it?

Time for a ride on a yellow submarine...

Very excited to be on a yellow submarine...

Happy sisters

Lots of fish - mostly sardines I think.

HUGE manta ray.

Happy girl

Grandma brought supplies to make Easter bags.

Hunting for their Easter donut 

Yummy breakfast treat

Ev colored each of us a special Easter egg and hid them in the apartment to find.

Grandpa found his!

Grandma and E with their eggs.

Grandpa and Grandma accidentally locked themselves out of their room...we sent D in to retrieve the key!

Enjoying the pretty view...

A fun park near the beach.

One round of the many tapas we tried on our trip.

Wiki stick fun with Grandpa.

Checking out the tapas menu, so many choices.

Beach day with my love.

Rocking her new ice cream swim suit and enjoy the "chocolate" sand.

I think Ev was the most excited to be at the beach.

Trying to warm up E in a little sand bed.

Post beach day bath. The bath tub was quite the treat for these two since we don't have one in Billund.

Cruising to the pool.

Sunbathing in Grandma's hat.

Enjoying clear skies and warm sunshine.

Off to the airport again...

Lots of walks on the tarmac this trip.

Thumbs up from everyone for the first flight (D uses her index finger :))

We are tired and almost home after our second flight from London. On this trip we discovered D loves to listen to music with headphones and busted out a few notes for the back half of the airplane)