Dog days of summer

Just chillin'

Og så alligevel ikke. Talemåden referer til de aller varmeste lumre sommerdage, og lige nu har vi det stik modsatte med grå skyer og kolde dage. Men hunden har vi og den er ved at falde godt på plads her I familien. Fx har den allerede luret at selvom Luca måske ikke har det største hundetække, så kan man altid tigge sig til en ekstra godbid hos lige præcis ham, Bailey har også ret godt styr på hvor de andre hunde bor her I området, og så er han han helt tosset med at køre bil. Faktisk galoperer han ud I bilen og smækker sig på (knap så) elegant vis lige op I midten af Ulrik og Luca og sidder med et udtryk I øjnene a la: “sikken vi hygger os” mens de stakkels drenge knokler med at få spændt sikkerhedsselerne, der er mast helt sammen under hunden.

Yet maybe not. The saying refers to the hottest of sultry summer days, and right now we have the exact opposite with gray clouds and cold days. But the dog we do have and it is becoming part of the family. For instance, it has already figured put that although Luca may not have the best dog skills, he is always good for an extra treat 24/7, Bailey also keeps pretty good track of where the dogs live in this area, and he just loooooves car rides. Actually he gallops out to the car and slams his body right in between Ulrik and Luca and sits with an expression in his eyes a la: "oh how we enjoy ourselves" while the poor boys work hard to get their seatbelts buckled as they are completely buried under the dog.

Hey lady. What's up with this stupid blogging! I'm bored

Vi har også lært at hos dyrelægen er ost på dåse et godt trick til at holde den del af hunden, der ikke skal have et termometer stukket ind, travlt beskæftiget. Samt at een af medarbejderne I den lokale dyrehandel har en hund, der en gang hed Lilly. Men en dag fik den sneget sig ned I svigermors kælder I et uopmærksomt øjeblik og bed hovedet af alle hendes dyrt indkøbte julefigurer. Nu hedder den Lilly-Dammit…….! Hø hø.

We also learned from the vet’s office that canned cheese is a good trick to keep that part of the dog busy, that is not required for thermometer use. And that one of the employees in the local pet store has a dog who was once called Lilly. But one day it sneaked into the mom in laws basement and bit the heads of all her newly purchased christmas decor. Now she is known as Lilly-Dammit .......!

Sommerferien synger på sidste vers langt om længe. Selv Luca er begyndt at indrømme at han måske faktisk savner skolen en lillebitte smule, men det når nok at fordampe inden første skoledag. Jeg glæder mig ærlig talt til at få noget hverdag op at køre igen – meget gerne sådan een af slagsen, hvor Kristian også går på arbejde. Hans arbejdstilladelse skulle være lige på trapperne, så vi må affinde os med at vente lidt endnu. Suk. 

The summer holiday is finally almost over. Even Luca has started to admit that he might actually miss school a tiny bit, but probably not more than it will evaporate VERY fast on the first day of school. To be honest I am really looking forward to some regular scheduled days – that kind where Kristian also gets to go to work. His work permit should be just around the corner, so we are still waiting for just a little bit longer. Sigh.

Introducing Bailey

Nå men vi lovede jo ungerne en hund hvis vi fik green card, men ikke før vi havde været i Chicago trods alt. Planen var en shelter hund, da de er en del billigere både i penge og i tid tilbragt med at tørre hvalpetis op...... Vi snydekiggede lidt for en måneds tid siden og fandt selvfølgeligt en super nuttet ung labrador, der var adopteret af nogle andre, længe inden vi fik en chance.

Well, we promised the kids a dog if we got a green card, but not until after our Chicago trip. The plan was to adopt a shelter dog as they are cost less money as well as less time cleaning puppy pee from the floors....... We cheated a little bit and started looking a month ago. Only to come across a super cute young labrador that was long gone before we had a chance to come home and get it.

Torsdag prøvede vi lykken igen og fandt en enkelt hund, vi gik en tur med,  men den var relativt uinteresseret i os og skabte sig tosset når den mødte andre hunde. MEN der stod volunteers linet op på rad og række til at tage imod en transport sydfra, og så blev der ellers båret hvalpe ind. Og lige der smeltede vi og var rørende enige om at komme igen dagen efter, når hundene havde fået helbreds tjek og var blevet frigivet.

Thursday we went once more and found one dog to take walking, but he was relatively uninterested in us and went crazy when he met other dogs. BUT there was a long line of volunteers lined up to receive a transport from down south and they carried in puppy after puppy. And right on the spot we melted a little bit and decided to come back the next day, when the dogs had had their health checks and were released for adoption.

Der var mega travlt fredag formiddag, men kristian havde været inde og tjekke hjemmesiden samme formiddag og der var en VILDT nuttet eet år gammel lab/ retriever mix. Han var der ikke længe, for vi nåede lige akkurat at overhale en anden familie indenom og hapse ham med hjem samme dag.

It was a busy opening morning at the shelter, but Kristian had checked online before we went and there was a super cute one year old lab/retriever mix. He was not there for long as we just managed to arrive minutes before another family and snatch him home the same day.

Han er SÅ nuttet, meget rolig og elsker at blive nusset. Hver gang vi har haft ham ude bliver han næsten ekstatisk af glæde over at være hjemme igen. Vi tror han har fået tæsk med en kæp tidligere, da han krymper sig og prøver på at gemme sig hvis han ser os samle en pind op eller hvis vi møder nogen med en stok. Han har heller ikke sagt så meget som et lille bjæf endnu. Men eftersom han er blevet temmelig meget frækkere på bare 2 dage kan det godt være at han ikke bliver ved med at være lige så stille i længden ;-)

He is SO cute and gentle and just loves to be cuddled. Every time we take him out he is almost ecstatic with joy to come back home. We think it's because he was beaten previously as he startles and ducks when we pick up a stick or if he sees someone walking with a cane. Also he has not let out a single sound yet. But he has grown significantly more bold in the past two days, so I don't think he will be able to keep quiet forever ;-)

The flying superkid, bubble tea, and how to (almost) miss a train twice

Vi er stadigt I Chicago og vi stornyder det. Man hører sjældent mere til Chicago end hvor meget de skyder på hinanden derinde, men hold op hvor er det en fed by.

Søndag var planen at tage til Lincoln Zoo – den skulle nemlig både være god OG gratis (#FerieMedFamilienFattigrøv). Der var pænt langt at gå fra togstationen, så vi testede de lokale busser og hoppede af, da vi syntes vi var tæt nok på og havnede derfor midt I en lokal Hot Dog festival, hvor man kunne købe – ta daaaah – hot dogs. Men kun hvis man først vekslede til Dog Dollars. Man kunne også blive foreviget som en pølse, men køen var faktisk ret lang, så det er desværre ikke en Frikke der her ligger lunt og godt.

We are still in Chicago and we really enjoy it. Most of what we have heard of Chicago has related to how much they shoot at each other, but it is really a cool city.
 

The plan for Sunday was to go to the Lincoln Zoo - it should be both a nice place AND free (#VacationWithoutMoney). It was quite a long walk from the train station, so we got to test the local bus system, got off when we thought we were close enough,  and ended tight in the middle in a local Hot Dog festival where you could buy - ta daaaaah - hot dogs. But only if you purchased Dog Dollars. One could also be photographed as a sausage but the queue was actually pretty long, so unfortunately it is not a Frikke nestled below:

 

Inden vi nåede til Zoo måtte jeg dog holde et løfte til Teresa. Hun har været helt vild for at prøve bubble tea, og der skulle ligge en lille biks en god gåtur nord for Lincoln Zoo, hvor man ville kunne prøve den slags. Som  bonus kom vi gennem et virkeligt hyggeligt boligkvarter med små butikker og rækkehuse, men butikken vi havde kig på var desværre lukket. Af ren og skær stædighed gik vi et stykke længere, det kunne jo være at adressen var forkert, men uden held. Heldigvis kom vi forbi en anden butik hvor de havde rigtig bubble tea – dvs te og ikke smoothie med “bubbles” i. Teresa valgte popping bubbles, der er små gel perler med flydende indre I forskellige frugt smage, og det var heldigvis en stor success:

Before we reached the zoo, however, I had to keep a promise to Teresa. She has been very excited to sample bubble tea, and there should be a small place for that a good walk north of Lincoln Zoo. As a bonus we walked through a really nice residential area with small shops and houses. Yet the store did not exist anymore, but as Teresa is really persistent we kept walking. Fortunately, we passed another store where they did have bubble tea – and actually it was tea and not just smoothies with "bubbles". Teresa chose the popping kind of bubbles which is small gel beads with liquid inside In various fruit flavors, and luckily it was a great success :

Zoo var også en success. Primært pga gorilla ungerne. Der var et par stykker der var I seriøst fjollehumør og drejede rundt om sig selv og slog på ruderne lige foran alle børne næserne, inden de jagtede hinanden rundt med munden fuld af hø. Gorilla mor så pænt smadret ud og prøvede at finde et sted at få en lur I fred og ro, men det var ikke ligefrem let.

  

Zoo was also a success. Primarily due to gorilla toddlers. There were a few that were seriously fooling around and started spinning and beat on the windows right in front of the children, then they chased each other around with their mouths full of dry grass. The poor gorilla Mum was very tired and tried to find a place to get a nap in peace and quiet, but it was not exactly easy.

Da det var søndag gik der kun tog tilbage hver anden time, og det så ud til at trække op til regn. Vi besluttede derfor at prøve at nå det tidlige tog, men vi gik lige akkurat glip af en bus, og var nødt til at vente på den næste, der sneglede sig gennem The Magnificent Mile så langsomt at vi godt kunne droppe at nå til stationen I tide. I stedet blev vi og spiste lækker  aftensmad lige midt I det hele udenfor med udsigt The Trump tower på den ene side og togene gennem gaderne på den anden side. Åh hvor har jeg savnet storby stemming på den måde. Det var simpelthen så hyggeligt og vores mad var forsinket på den gode måde, hvor man bare kan sidde og slappe af I sine trætte ben. Knap så spændende var det at opdage hvor langt, der egentlig stadigt var ned til stationen 20 minutter før det næste tog kørte……. Men vi nåede det lige akkurat. 

Since it was Sunday there was only a train gong back every two hours, and it since it started to get rainy we decided to test to try and catch an early train, but we just missed the bus, and had to wait for the next one. It turned out to be really slow and seemed to inch ever so slowly through The Magnificent Mile that we fairly early on realized that we were not going to make it to the station in time. Instead we got off and had delicious dinner right in the middle of Chicago overlooking The Trump tower on the one side and the trains in the streets on the other side. Oh how I've missed that big city feeling. It was such a nice dinner and our food was late in a good way, where you get to just sit and relax the tired legs. It was less nice to discover how far, we had to walk to get to the station in only 20 minutes ....... But we made it.

dinner with a view

I dag (mandag) har det været tid til indfrielsen af Teresas fødselsdags gave – indoor skydiving. Nørj hvor har hun glædet sig. Selve flyvetiden er eet minut ad gangen men hertil skal lægges instruktionstid og påklædning mm. Her er hun I gang og hun var een af de seje – ja hun var så. Se selv bevis her:  http://youtu.be/pbQ7Ld-Db9U

Today (Monday),the time had come to redeem Teresa's birthday gift - indoor skydiving. Oh my was she excited? The flight time was only 2x one minute but on top of this came instructions and clothing etc. Here she is http://youtu.be/pbQ7Ld-Db9U– and she was one of the cool kids. Just saying…

 

Eftermiddagen blev tilbragt I et lille japansk shopping center med et supermarked, en food court, en boghandel og en DVD butik. Slet ikke I nærheden af Japantown I San Francisco, men maden var simpelthen så lækker og vi åd til vi nærmest ikke kunne rokke med ørerne.  Bagefter gik vi amok I supermarkedet og købte stort ind af madpakke dims (inklusiv en bog om bentobokse med opskrifter på engelsk) så jeg tror godt jeg kan forudsige at aftenen inden første skoledag kommer til at foregå I køkkenet for Teresa og mig :-)

The afternoon was spent in a small Japanese shopping center with a supermarket, a food court, a bookstore, and a DVD store. Not anywhere close to the size of Japantown in San Francisco, but the food was absolutely delicious and we ate until we were way beyond stuffed. Afterwards we went shopping in the supermarket and bought large quantities of lunch box stuff (including a book on bentoboxes with recipes in English) so I think Teresa and I will be busy the night before first day of school :-)

#MidwesternSummer when driving back to the appartment

Japanese lunch stuff