Goodbye 2019

2019 has been one of the more - ehm- interesting years in our life. We have had years before where it did feel a bit like a rollercoaster ride, but I would say that 2019 has been more in the category of haunted houses where new not-so-pleasant-surprises showed up around every corner. Still, when I look back at my photos, there has been plenty of wonderful memories made as well. It has been a year where we have lived apart as a family in various combination patterns and because of this, there are several experiences that I will share that has been mine alone and have not really included everyone else. Here it goes:

January:
We made a good head start of 2019 with a trip to Chicago in amazing mild weather, as we needed to stop by the Danish Consulate to renew the kids passports. I was worried about the trip because #midwesternwinter........, but it was awesome. Hanging out by lake Michigan in sunshine in January was one of my favorite things that month:

February:
So full of contrasts as I started my new job and moved to Pennsylvania by myself! In a mere 24 hours I went from fancy party thrown by my most favorite boss ever (with the requested "death cocktail" - a cocktail intended to look like euthasol which is pink, viscous, and used to euthanise animals):

..... to this! Eating off the floor in the worst apartment I have ever lived in in my life! It only took a few days, though, and then I had my IKEA delivery, but those first few days were not exactly thrilling.

March:
Things got better. And those weekends I did not spend in Michigan, I used to explore Philadelphia instead. I knew next to nothing about this city, but now I am so grateful it is only an hour away:

And after having spent my actual birthday crying into half a bottle of redwine, I got to cry some more as Kristian truly really surprised my with a surprise party back in Ann Arbor.

April:
Not every non-Michigan weekend was spent in Philly. In April I got to check of an item on my bucket list, which was to see the cherry blossoms in Washington DC (with about several hundred thousands of other people, but oh well):

I also got a visit from Teresa where we got to eat our way through Philly, with our favorite spot being this one:

May:
Highlights in May was to enjoy the explosion of flowering trees and also realize that my most favorite flowering tree from Michigan is also to be found here (it is a native tree called redbud and I just love to purple color of the flowers and how they grow directly from the stem):

It was also the month where I discovered that such a thing as "beer and cross-stitch" events exist. Yay! And this is what you get when I attend such events. I present the "hiding hipster".

June:
Luca had his confirmation in June. Here he is getting all ready. Technically he should not have been confirmed until 2020, but since we were moving, our church squeezed him in anyways.

I also got a visit from Tammy and tried something completely new. Goat yoga...... All I can say is, that some experiences might not be repeated. Ever. Especially since one of these little bastards headbutted my right in my ribs (while looking super cute of course. But still......)

July:
Moving the whole family over inched closer, and before leaving Michigan Kristian wanted to make sure I had experienced Frankenmuth. The town that feels just like being in Bavaria..... right? And on a hot summer day we enjoyed our lunch of everything meat and starch and sauerkraut. LOL:

It was also the month where I finally got to leave my shitty apartment where I had not been able to sleep for close to 4 months due to noise and heat, and move in with friends in Doylestown. For that I am forever grateful.

Life delivered another sucker punch in July, as I had to experience my very first crash course in Big_Pharma_101, and watch all my projects getting taken away overnight. Now I can of course look back with the knowledge that everything turned out just fine, but it didn't feel like that in the middle of it.

August:
MOVING! August was all about moving. First I moved into a rented house in Doylestown and then our Ann Arbor life got relocated. And of course the very first thing the movers packed away was our TV right as I was enjoying the final season of my favorite netflix show. Sigh.

And off we went. In our good old trusted/busted minivan:

We had to endure a few days of very minimalist living until our belongings arrived. Oh my gosh - how did we accumulate so much stuff!!!!!!
I also got to bring all 3 kids of mine to the best cake place in Philly. Something I had looked immensely forward to since I first found it:

September:
...... is a blur. Of trying to make ends meet with new schools for Luca and Teresa, and with Kristian still being in Michigan. Everyone survived, but mostly it felt like survival and I honestly do not remember much. But when I look at the pictures we apparently did have the energy to go Philly and hammock away:

 And we got to visit Scandifest and meet all the other proud vikings

October

.... rolled around with lots and lost of volleyball:

Lost and lots of sitting on the front step of the house and enjoy the sunsets over the fields:

And sneaking away to Lambertsville on a regular Wednesday night to see their freakin' awesome halloween displays:

November
Kristian got to move to Pennsylvania too! Yay! Finally we were all back together (except college kiddo, but that's kind of a given). My favorite things in November were our visit to Ringing Rocks park armed with a hammer:

And discovering how any leftovers taste amazing if you add mustard, cheese, and a panini maker:

December
And at last. The last month of this crazy exhausting year. Where we learned that even Pennsylvania gets ice storms:

And were we also (once again) enjoyed being close to Philly and enjoy their Christmas decorations:

I really wanted to end this post with a picture of the 5 of us. Oh well. This is as close as it gets. Cheers to 2020 bringing lots and lots of boring stability and visitors from overseas and Michigan

A Merry Frikke Christmas

We have been utterly unprepared for Christmas this year, so when it finally got around to December 20th we have been busy getting everything done. First stop was to get a tree at a local tree farm (we have several Christmas tree farms within a miles radius). Teresa instantly picked out the wonkiest tree available. “It’s just like our family mom”🤦‍♀️

We ended up picking another one though

Where it turned out is was incredibly hard to put on real candles despite much enthusiasm:

We have baked gingerbread cookies with the subsequent icing session. I happened to mix up icing in a very Patrick Starfish’ish color. Et voila - Patrick for the people

We have been going to airports to pick up first Ulrik in Philly and then my sister in Newark. On the Philly trip we were surprised to see very empty streets considering it was the last Saturday prior to Christmas. Turns out that everyone seemed to have gathered at Macy’s where we also hung out to watch their Christmas light show:

And we have of course eaten insane amount of high calorie foods. Including “leverpostej”. Here is bailey having a gourmet revelation, emptying out the cup of leftover warm remnants

Merry Christmas from all of us:

Winter equinox

Today is officially the shortest day of the year and from tomorrow and onwards every single day will get just a little bit lighter. Just like how I feel inside. It’s all in the little things. One day you forget to turn on the GPS but still makes it to where you need to be. Or someone you have seen before greets you in a store. The dog walking in the morning feels like meeting a friend for a chat (for dog-friends as well of their owners). And before you know it the rays of the setting sun will once again reach through the living room windows.

Needless to say it has been very very quiet on this blog. But I start to miss writing in here which is a hood starting point to get it back up and running right?

I was looking through pictures on my phone to have something to add to this post, and I was thinking to myself “nah. It has all been a fog of misery. What’s the point?”. But it turns out that looking through my phone photo album reminded me of all the good things that has alsohappened!

Such as bringing hammers on a hike to explore ringing rocks park (on a late November day where there are positively NO snakes! Gosh I hate snakes):

Or trying on stupid halloween hats in target

And hers comes my absolute favorite: learning about assquatches (Sasquatch is the same as Bigfoot). Dear butts taxidermied to look like faces! Guess what I will try to hunt down (heh heh) in 2020?