Finally Michael arrived! Written August 3rd 2014

Marianne:

Michael finally arrived on June 30th. It was really nice to have him here with me.

We stayed in the summerhouse for a couple of weeks, relaxed a bit and did a lot of practical things that just needed to be done. The first day Michael was in Denmark, we took a long walk – first of many! – on the beach.

 

We put up the name of the house. We have always called the house for FriisBo (Friis I guess that I don´t have to explain; Bo means ”to live”). Now the name is official – and we will always have a memory of our nice Chrysler Pacifica.

For the past couple of years, Søren and Sisse have always spent a week of the summer holiday with my parents. They were always in the summerhouse as this is much easier for everybody. We dicided that there was no need to change this, so the kids and my parents stayed with us for a week. When Caro and Michael came to get the kids, they also stayed for a night. It was very nice to have the whole clan together!

During the days with the kids, we did a lot of things together. Went to the beach, we were bathing, playing all kinds of games etc. Michael made a treasure hunt, which they really loved. We went to gorgeous places and had fun at the amusement park nearby. It was absolutely wonderful to spend time together!

I simply have to show a couple of more pictures from the beach. Michael and I took a bike ride on the beach and on our way to the closest bigger town (Løkken), we passed a bunch of bunkers from WW2. I find it very scenic and a somewhat scary memory of a pretty terrible time.

On our way back to the house, we passed an old farm house that has this earthwork covered with the most spectacular wild flowers. It is SO pretty!

  

We left the summer house in order to be present when our container arrived on July 16th. A lot of people (Neighbors) were very curious when it came, because it is pretty obvious that there is not enough space in any of the apartments in this area, so hold everything that was in that huge box. We (well, the movers) unloaded the whole thing and we sorted what to take up in the apartment and what to send to storage. I guess that we have about 25% of our stuff here now. The rest is in a nice storage facility where we can come and go as we please. Michael might even, when time comes, be able to set up his golf shop there. But that is not for now.

We are now settled in our new home. All the boxes are unpacked, we have some paintings on the walls and the lighting is fixed. And it is actually pretty nice. It was hard for me to get there, though. I have cried a lot of tears, because I was frustrated about all the nice things we have and that there is no room for here. My parents came last week to visit for a couple of days, and that kind of gave my a kick in the butt, so that I got finished before they came. It was nice to have them here – and they also like the place.

 This is the combined living – and dining room.

Here is the combined office and guest room (yes, there is a bed available if you decide to come for a visit!)

And here is the view from our balcony. Nice, right?

This is my room, which will be mainly for crafting, but also my office and my sanctuary

The bathroom is pretty nice – and functions very well.

 

We were anxious to know whether our big beds could fit into the rather small bedroom. Well, they could. Not room for much else – but it works great.

Finally, here is the kitchen and dining room. As you can tell, it is an open space kitchen. Very nice!

Last weekend we went back to the summerhouse. We arrived pretty late Friday night, cooked dinner and ate outside. It was SO hot and humid! After having finished, we just sat there enjoying ourselves – and not least the fact that everything was in order, which was far from the situation at the apartment. In the distance we could see this beautiful rainbow. Fun thing is that we never really got any rain where we were… This picture was taken at 9 pm.

The reason for yet another trip to FriisBo was that my uncle and aunt had their summerhouse modernized and they wanted to take the opportunity for a summer party. It was very nice to see everybody. This is the family who visited us twice in Bountiful. Two of my cousins have had babies since we saw they last time and it was wonderful to be introduced to these two new citizens of the world. They are SO cute. One of them has actually since then (as in this week) moved to San Diego with his parents. His dad is going to study there for the coming 10 months.

My parents gave us a nice Danish flag hanging in a string and with big stones as weights (and decoration). I love it – and it will always be hanging outside the house when we are there.

 Tonight is Sunday night. We have had a beautiful weekend. Yesterday we celebrated silver wedding with some of our good friends (Jeanette and Ole, who visited us three year ago with their 3 kids). It was a fun event at a very spectacular venue. We met for sandwiches before going out to play.

The boys were trapshooting and the girls were having fun on Segways. Afterwards we had coffee and the owner told us about the history of this beautiful manor built in 1750. He bought it 10 years ago and at that time nobody had lived there for 60 years. Now everything has been restored and opened as a hotel and conference venue.

It was a great party – some of us were partying most of the night. Here are Jeanette and Ole with their 3 kids and daughter in law.

This morning, after having brunch, we all left for the church nearby and there was a special worship done by Thomas, who was also at the party the night before. He is a very skilled and popular priest. What a wonderful way to end a unique event.

Well, it is about time to go to bed. We did not have much sleep last night – and tomorrow is another busy day. Michael is going to work. I am going to prepare for a couple of meetings I have this week with some headhunters. The week after is vacation time. We are going with Jeanette and Ole and some other friends to stay in a rented summerhouse and we will play golf and watch Made in Denmark – a golf tournament on the European Tour where quite a few of the world´s best golfers will play. It will be SO much fun.