The first week of Canada 2007

Right now, I'm sitting at the kitchen table in Sooke and I'm finally posting pictures of my first week here in Canada. My brother is sitting next to me, talking to his fiance (they set a wedding date! It looks like I'm heading this way again next year!) while all the "old" people - mom, dad, mormor and bebba - are watching the news in the living room. The puppies are enjoying all the extra cuddles and we are all having a wonderful time. Peter, Gaby and Soren left after breakfast this morning and we are expecting Stritte, Greg, Jake and Jaime to arrive in a couple of hours - just in time for some homemade danish soup!

My brother arrived Monday and when he came to on Tuesday, we started really getting the house ready for when the first batch of family arrived - Peter, Gaby and Soren came Tuesday evening and it was great seeing them again. Wednesday was a very special day for me - I got to see my grandparents - aka Mormor and Bebba - for the first time in around 14 years. We all trooped down to the airport in Victoria and greeted the old Danes flying in from Toronto. Even though they were exhausted after a long trip from Biksen to Victoria, they managed to stay awake for the majority of the afternoon and evening. I'll admit, I was impressed that they could keep their eyelids from closing because I was really tired - they must have been super sleepy!

Peter, Gaby and Soren had to continue on with their everyday lives so they were forced to leave our family reunion today (Thursday) so after a good breakfast made by my favorite cook (my dad!), they took off for the ferries. Today, we've just been puttering around the house, making food and eating way too much of all the food and now we're all having a quiet time, waiting for Stritte and co. to arrive. I saw Stritte last year on a short trip to Seattle but it's been many years since I last saw Jake (my cousin) and I have never met Stritte's husband Greg nor have I met Jake's wife, Jaime so this will be a big thing tonight.

I have lots more to write about but I'll just let the pictures tell the stories!

I went for a walk with Mom, shortly after I arrived and this is the view on their usual dog-walking route. Man, I sure do miss this island!

This is the end of the walk, the house at the end of that road is my parent's house. They have a really cool house and I'd take it in a heartbeat!

My mom and I were goofing around while we were waiting for Mormor and Bebba. What can I say - we're not normal!

We all love Allison and we have adopted her into our family so it was only natural that she was there to greet the grandparents! She made us all look bad because she brought flowers with her!

Dad and Soren. Soren is Peter's (my cousin) son so that must make Soren my great-cousin or second-cousin or whatever you call it. He's a good kid and was all dressed up in a superhero costume to greet his great-grandparents. And he's not tall enough to see over everyone's shoulders so Dad was there to help!

Here they come, all the way from Toronto! Welcome to Victoria!

A father-daughter moment. Hugs and kisses to everyone!

Mormor and Chris with huge smiles!

Bebba, Peter and Gaby - this was a big moment for Gaby since this was her first time meeting the grandparents.

And now we eat, drink and be merry. Dad arranged a wonderful lunch with sild, shrimp, tuborg and snaps. We all ate too much.

Last picture for now - Me and my little brother. He may be bigger than me but he'll always be my baby brother!

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Celebrations all over the world!

Sorry to everyone who actually reads this blog - I know I haven't been too good with my updates but hopefully this post and the ones to come will make up for it! My days here in Canada have been packed with lots of stuff - family, good food, coffee and long talks. I haven't really been out much with my friends but I'm sure that'll come next week after the diamond anniversary. At least they all know that I'm not ignoring them or anything snobby like that!

Now that the apologies are taken care of, on to a real post!

The weekend before I flew out to Canada, we had Claudia's stagette. (The boys also held Thomas' on the same day.) We dressed her up in dirty work clothes and took her to a small zoo in the area..... Claudia loves animals so we figured letting her work for a couple of hours as a zoo keeper would be lots of fun. Yups. Even though she had to shovel poop and face her camel-spit fears, I'm sure it's safe to say she had a good morning there.

After tending to the animals, we took Claudia to the beach.... where she could test her water-skiing skills. She kicked ass!

We all trooped back to her place and while she was taking a shower, we all helped each other to get the BBQ ready and set the table for our meal fit for kings. After dinner, we had a "tupperware" party and then spent the rest of the night singing karaoke, drinking and basically having a really good time!

If we continue on with a Thomas and Claudia story, I must mention that a week after we all tried to spoil them rotten - they got married! Congratulations! I couldn't make the wedding due to my trip home to Canada but I made sure I had people taking lots of pictures and from what I hear, the wedding was beautiful and it was the party of the year!

Thomas and Claudia - August 19, 2007

August is a big month for celebrations. August 22, 2007 - My wonderful friend Dee turned 28! I've known Dee for many years now and we have definitely had our share of laughs and tears. We hung out at the tennis courts way back in the days of Spencer and finding another homeroom just because we like the teacher better. We made it through Belmont together - skipping certain classes to drink coffee at Whitespot and several other memories come to mind yet I choose not to share all of our (il)legal activities or else I'd be writing a novel!

Happy Birthday Dee. I hope you had a really good day yesterday, even though you had to work. Did your family spoil you rotten? Have a great time with Glenda on Friday and I wish I could have been there! I LOVE YOU!

(Admit it - Dee's hot.)

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Saltspring Island

I spent yesterday just relaxing with my parents, did some grocery shopping and stuff like that. We rented movies but I was just so tired and decided to go to bed at 9pm. But that was ok, because we got up early this morning so we could make the 9am ferry over to Saltspring Island. Every Saturday, there is a market where there are lots of fun stuff. I got really nice shoes (thanks mom and dad!) and we had a really good day. We ate lunch there and then caught the 1pm ferry back to Victoria where we did some more grocery shopping (getting ready for the big family reunion!) and dropped by Glenda and Nathan's place to pick up an airbed. They look great but were really busy with renovations so we only stayed for a few minutes to chat. I can't wait to really be able to hang out with them and catch up on everything.

No pictures this time around, I did have my camera with me to Saltspring but I forgot to take pictures! Silly me....

I heard from Anders that Thomas and Claudia's wedding went great and I'm totally looking forward in seeing the pictures! Ohhh, min mobil virker ikke (endnu) men jeg skrev til Telias kundeservice og haaber paa at de kan fortaelle mig hvad er galt. Jeg kan soege netvaerk og kan finde den stoerste netvaerk her i Canada men jeg har aabenbart ikke adgang.... Hmmmm, jeg forstaar det bare ikke og jeg savner at kunne skrive med alle jer i DK! Jeg haaber i allesammen har det rigtig godt! Tak for jeres kommentarer her paa min blog! I feel so loved!

I'm ending this update and will be soon going out for dinner. Nothing all crazy, just food and coffee.

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safe travels

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let people know that I have safely arrived in Vancouver and my trip was alright. A little stressful and I had to run a couple of times but I made the 9pm ferry and now I'm at my parents place, drinking my coffee and enjoying life.

I'll write a longer post later on today with details. But now I'm going to relax and cuddle with the puppies!

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a little bit of this and a little bit of that...

Yesterday, Aug. 6, 2007 was Glenda and Nathan's one-year anniversary! Yups, they have been married for one year and are now expecting their first child in December.

Congrats Glenda and Nathan!

I am slowly getting ready for my trip home on the 16th - I think this trip will be super chaotic and busy but I can't wait to see everyone again. Family, friends, dogs, cats, boat, language, food, sunshine, shopping .... ohhh, shopping. I usually go a little crazy when I'm back home and I'm sure this time will be no different than the last trips!

I've been working lately and things there are good. The kids are starting to come and we have quite a few new members so that's always interesting. Last weekend, Tine and I went out for some cocktails - we had a good time at our usual bar until we decided to check out another bar to see if anything interesting was going on. There, we ran into Tine's ex-boyfriend - NOT GOOD. I can just say one thing.... asshole, asshole, asshole, asshole and asshole. (I'm not going to get into it, it's a long and private story.) After that, we were not in the mood to party, so we had a stiff drink to calm nerves and then ended the night there.

On to happier news - the sun is finally shining here in Denmark! It's summer weather and I'm loving it! Tank tops, skirts, flipflops and sunglasses! By the way, how's the weather on the Island?

Today, I have a short shift at work so that's pretty good. I have to run some errands downtown before work so I can just relax afterwards and finish up some of the paintings I started last night. I was dealing with some stomach issues last night and didn't sleep very well so I'm looking forward to a nice quiet evening tonight.

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It's just me!

Hi everyone! How are things going for all of you guys?

I'm doing good - been busy lately, which is why I'm not posting as much as I usually do. I'm back at work and trying to get back into the normal routine. I can't really complain about being back at work, seeing that I had a 4 week vacation and that in exactly 2 weeks, I'll be back in Victoria. Well, I'll actually be on my parents boat since we plan on taking a little sailing trip the day after I come home. Pretty cool eh?

I can't wait to see my family and friends again!

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