Spring Break

I'm skipping ahead on April here a little bit due to the fact that I want to keep caught up and Spring Break is OVER!  No point in holding back on this post and then making more work for myself later, right? Right!

So our Spring Break plans were changed for a bit.  Originally we were leaving Friday for Rhode Island and were going to spend 4 days in New England and then 4 days in New York State.  Unfortunately Leah got sick on Thursday with a stomach bug.  So I canceled the New England portion of our travels till later in June.  By Sunday, Leah was feeling better, but it also gave us time to relax from school, pack our stuff up, and have a more chill trip.  Much nicer than "PACK!  GET UP!  GET IN THE CAR!" like my normal craziness.

We spent Saturday relaxing.  We went to the movies in the afternoon so Astrid could see Beauty and the Beast.  I got the girls their requested ice cream snacks and myself a boat of nachos, and as soon as we sat down, they both ate the nachos so I had to get more.  I had to laugh.

We also went over to the Walmart and got egg dying kits and made Easter eggs.  Astrid found a kit that made Viking eggs (whenever she gets real feisty, we blame her Viking blood) and we found a pearlescent kit for Leah's eggs.  It was a nice way to spend the day. 

Easter Sunday, we got up early, as Leah was powerfully excited for the Easter bunny to have come and dropped off so many goodies.  She woke me up first, then Astrid.  Soon there were candy and toys flying.  Astrid got a gallon of white glue to further her slime making activities, which was a big hit.  She immediately went back to sleep till 1pm.  Leah and I made the traditional Christmas lasagna (?) and then woke Astrid up for what we were assured was a highlight of Danish Easters everywhere:  the Easter Egg roll.  This involved finding a suitable hill and chucking our eggs down them to see who could roll the farthest.  We assigned 1st place 3 points, 2nd place 2 points, and 3rd place 1 point.  We each got 2 rolls--one at the cul de sac at the bottom of our street, the other down a hill in a local park.  We all wound up with exactly 4 points.  A perfect Easter tie!

Afterwards, we came home, ate dinner, and packed up for leaving.  The plan was to get the girls up at 4:30AM so we could be in the car by 5 and drive to Destiny USA, the seventh largest shopping mall in the US.  Unfortunately, my alarm didn't go off, and Astrid woke me up at 5:42.  I'll give my ladies credit though, they were in the car and ready for action before 6:00!!  They watched Ice Age most of the way north, as I had gotten Astrid a box set with all 5 movies in it a while back, and they slept and played on their screens a little bit.  We made it to the mall in Syracuse NY by 2:00 and had 2 hours to spend before driving north to my dad's, as he was expecting us for dinner around 6.  Leah was immediately starving to death, so I got her lunch.  Astrid said she wasn't hungry, so I got her a milkshake and me a sandwich, and she proceeded to eat my lunch.  Are you sensing a theme here? :-)

After a quick bite to eat, we headed to Nordstrom Rack to check out the cheap cosmetics, then Ulta, Sephora, Macy's, and two other make up peddlers that Astrid was dying to check out.  Leah and I skipped out on a couple and walked down to the Lindt store and got free samples of chocolate.  When Astrid was done shopping, we got in the car and headed home to Oswegatchie NY.  PopPop had prepared a truly traditional Polish Easter dinner for us--ham, kielbasa, pierogies--and then we played some Yahtzee and watched Forensics Files, Astrid's new obsession. 

The next day, Tuesday, we headed up to "town" to show Astrid the sites.  She got to see the hospital where I was born, the first house I lived in (which is for sale now!), the school, the post office, the bank, and the new grocery store.  Dad decided we should take a walk in the woods and abandoned his car at a locked gate near the back of the lake.  We walked for quite some time, seeing a beautiful waterfall and lots of nature.  Astrid was excited to hear a woodpecker.  Then we went to my friend Elizabeth's coffee shop, Coffee Fever, for WiFi access so Astrid and Chris could maintain their streak on SnapChat and we all had a nice lunch.  Afterwards, I fell asleep for a while, and then PopPop and Leah made a pizza before PopPop loaded Astrid into the car and took her across the border to Canada for some English country dance lessons.  I cant' say too much about what they did there other than obviously English country dancing (think the kind of dancing you see in Jane Austen movies), but Astrid said she had a great time and it was lots of fun.  They stopped for burgers afterwards and were home by 11:00.

When little sister gets tired, big sister gives her a lift.

Entering Canada

On Wednesday, we headed back to Canada as a family of four.  Dad had a full day planned starting at a llama farm.  Some years ago, he got Leah a little stuffed llama while he was up dancing in Spencerville.  Last year, she asked him for a husband for "Llamie" and he went through hell's half acre to find the creators of the llamas and get her a new one.  Unfortunately, he bought another girl.  Leah was very disappointed that he couldn't look the llama in the eye and know it was a girl.  So he decided to take her up to the farm and have her pick out a boy llama of her own.  We arrived and the lady who owned the place had it locked up for the day, but there was a sign on the shop that we could come to the house for help.  Imagine her shock when 4 bedraggled Americans were standing there, cash in hand, ready to buy some llamas.  Because, of course, as soon as Astrid saw that there were 2 llamas, she couldn't let one be left behind, so Dad bought her the other llama, who is also a boy.  We went and looked at the alpacas and llamas on the property and then headed to Ottawa.  (For the record, Leah's llama is named Dave and Astrid's is called Jasper.)

Dad decided there was no place we were going for lunch but the Hard Rock Cafe in Ottawa.  We arrived only to find it had closed.  He was so disappointed.  It was pouring rain and miserable outside, so we found a nearby Irish pub and they were celebrating their 25th anniversary and the meals were 25% off, which made up for the extra llama.  That was a nice treat.  On our way back through the market, we saw Obama Cookies and stopped in to get some baked goods.  Such an array!  We each got a cookie and they were delicious. 

Astrid and PopPop outside Parliament

Then we were headed to Parliament for a tour.  It took us a while to find a parking spot as there is a lot of construction going on, but eventually we managed and got the last tickets to the top of the Peace Tower in Parliament for the day.  We made it through security and then enjoyed the tour, although it was stuffy from everyone being damp in the rain, and the tour lasted quite a while on hard marble floors.  It was still cool to go there.  We learned a lot and felt very Canadian!

A haunting photo of Astrid inside Parliament

The "Big Ben" of Ottawa

Then it was back into the car, stopped at a Tim Hortons to import some coffee and a Walmart to grab some treats to mail friends, and back to the US we came.  Unfortunately we got lost and drove around Ottawa for a solid hour before admitting defeat and pulling out a map. We got back to Ogdensburg and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, then he turned over the wheel and I drove us home.

Thursday was our last day at Dad's house.  We spent the morning walking along some back roads and bridges that were things I remembered fondly from my youth.  In the afternoon, I took Leah and Astrid up to the school to play on the playground.  Astrid decided to teach Leah to jump the hurdles on the track.  She did pretty well and only ate dirt twice, but Leah decided it was just easier to crawl underneath the hurdles than to go over top of them.  We had a nice dinner together of meatloaf, then more Yahtzee, Forensics Files, and Raising Hope before heading off to bed so we could depart for our next adventure.

The one family photo I got of us all week. LOL

Astrid on Harriet Tubman's Front Porch

Friday dawned still cloudy and that was a little sad, as it had rained the whole time we were there.  I packed up the car, and after breakfast, we bid PopPop farewell--I don't think Astrid will see him again before she leaves.  Then we drove down to Auburn NY to see the Harriet Tubman House.  We arrived at 11AM and of course the tours started at 10:00 and 12:00, so we decided not to stick around.  We went to the free exhibit and read about Harriet's life and times and death, took a couple of pictures on the porch and then drove out to the cemetery where Astrid was made the navigator to help us find Harriet's grave, which we eventually did.  I guess I never thought about her dying or being buried somewhere.  It was kind of neat being there.  Afterwards, we stopped at Jreck's Subs, my favorite place to eat in the North Country, and the girls enjoyed good food before we packed up and headed to Seneca Falls.

Our first stop was the National Women's Rights Historic Park where we saw some exhibits and got some materials.  They had a good display about the suffragettes and park rangers on hand to answer questions.  Then we went down to the National Women's Hall of Fame.  I had been there when I was about Astrid's age, but didn't remember it.  And even being there didn't jog any memories for me!  There is really nothing to it, unfortunately.  All the women who have been accepted into the Hall have write ups on plaques, which are hung around the walls of the place. There are some cutouts of famous women to pose with.  There is a mirror that says "Future Inductee" where you can take a picture, and a wall where you can write who inspires you.  And that is it.  They have recently acquired a building across the canal where they're going to make it a real Hall of Fame with artifacts and exhibits, but for now, that's as good as it gets.  There were many women there I hadn't heard of, and they were very interesting to read about.  Leah wrote two notes on the inspiration wall, and we were basically done.  I bought some materials in the little shop for my Pantsuiters group, and then we headed over to the Seneca Falls Visitors Center.  The girls had a great time there.  There was a room in the basement where there were various simple machines they could use to see how the Erie Canal was built.  They operated pumps and waterwheels and gears and pulleys and levers and stuff.  On the middle floor was a room with all the products that were made in Seneca Falls over the years, and they built creations with Seneca Sticks, which we called pre-Legos. They were literally sticks.  But the girls made masterpieces for nearly an hour!  So I guess there's something to them.

Afterwards, we drove down to the bridge which was the inspiration for a famous scene in It's a Wonderful Life.  In the movie, Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey goes to a bridge to commit suicide, but his guardian angel jumps in first and George jumps in to rescue him.  I found this picture of George praying on the bridge:

And here I am on the bridge just a few days ago:

I was weepy over being there.  It turns out, not only did the bridge look the part, but it had its own story which inspired the movie.  If you look on the bridge, you will find this plaque:

Antonio Varacalli was walking on the bridge and saw a woman go over the side.  He jumped in after here and managed to get her to safety before being swept down river and drowned himself.  Now you know a bit more about George Bailey.

Once we were done with all this fun, we headed out to Cortland NY to stay with my dad's lady friend, Miss Linda.  Miss Linda lives about 3 hours closer to our house and is an absolute sweetheart.  We had a great evening with her, eating pizza, chatting, and watching TV.  I was totally exhausted and went to bed early, but I think Astrid and Linda stayed up for quite a while. 

The next morning we were in the car by 9:30 and driving back to Virginia.  We stopped off at our favorite Wegman's to do a potty break, then hit a Sheetz for lunch and gas and made it back to VA by 7:30.  We were all happy to be home and figure that we have about 5 days of traveling together in close proximity before our little crew goes off the rails.  Astrid and I both like a little alone time. :-)

So that's our Spring Break wrap up!!  We had a great time, even if we weren't sunning ourselves on the beach somewhere like you might picture a typical spring break.  Many thanks to PopPop and Miss Linda for their hospitality!  It was especially nice that they both had normal cats who actually liked being around us. ;-)

February

My word!  How is it April and I haven't blogged since January!?  The other night I logged on to see what I needed to catch up on and I was shocked to see it had been 2+ months since I've blogged.  I thought I would sit down and just take a few minutes to get my pictures in order, but that wound up taking nearly 2 hours, so blogging is a real labor of love!  We are drawing to the end of our year together.  Astrid has been here 234 days and has only 84 days left.  Those numbers are surprising to me.  It feels like she's been part of our family for years and years, and I can't quite bring myself to believe that the time which has flown by so quickly has added up to that number.  Nor do I want to contemplate how quickly everything is going to go now with so few days left!  But enough about that...

So much has happened, and so much to talk about :)  For this entry, I'll cover the end of January and all of February with the exception of our trip to Georgia and Florida.

When I left off, we'd spent an exciting day in Richmond at Lobbying Day.  Astrid continued playing basketball through the end of February.  Her team was in a rebuilding year, so they only had 8 players and they played so hard and with such heart, it was a joy to watch.  Bigger teams with noisier coaches and more aggressive players came and went, but the girls never gave up.  The blur in the center of this picture is Astrid, who got some good playing time.  She learned a lot about the American sport, but also got to continue being part of a team and making friends, which was important to her.  I so enjoyed the games myself, as I think I mentioned in previous entries  Leah learned a lot and has enjoyed learning about basketball, and we had a great time at each game, getting dinner at the Wawa down the street from the school, eating, cheering, then watching the boys team play after the girls.  Leah was a big fan of one player she dubbed "Mr. Muscles", so we had fun keeping an eye out for him as well.  I started to get to know the kids and faces and some of the parents got to know our faces as well, which was cool.  I recently helped out at Astrid's school's Foreign Language Week luncheon and one of the moms I met said, "My sister and I were very impressed by the patience you had at the basketball games!" referring to wrangling Leah, The Bup, and the occasional extra teenager. It was nice to hear such a compliment!

Astrid is #14, right in the middle, above the ref

Leah and Dipthi enjoy Wawa victuals

We were also super lucky in early February to have Dipthi come and stay the night with us before the AFS mid-stay orientation.  She also came to watch Astrid in one of the home games, and we had a blast with her.  Even if Leah's face says otherwise.  Dipthi is an important part of the family!

So, in addition to basketball, Astrid had a couple of big events at the end of January.  First, she was invited to go with friends to the St. Jude's Hospital Teen Gala.  St. Jude's is a hospital that treats critically ill children, and several of her friends raised some serious money for them as volunteer work.  Her friend Mackie, with whom Astrid carpools every morning, offered Astrid a complimentary ticket to attend the gala with her.  We did some quick Goodwill shopping and found a gorgeous gown from there for a mere $8.  What a steal!  Astrid looked amazing, and we put in two quick darts and the dress fit like a dream.  She really enjoyed the evening with her peeps, good food, dancing, awards to the highest fundraisers, etc.  There was a photo booth, all kinds of good stuff.

Glamour Girl

Additionally, we had tickets to go to see Lukas Graham in concert at the end of the month.  This meant skipping basketball practice one night, but sacrifices had to be made.  Lukas Graham, for those who don't know, is a Danish pop star who has made it pretty big in the US with his hit Seven Years.  When I found out he was coming to the DC area, I got us tickets to go see him.  The girls didn't seem all that excited, but happily they were.  We drove up to Silver Spring, and got SO lucky with parking--on a meter around the corner from the theater and the meter turned off only 10 minutes after we arrived, so we didn't need to worry about paying more than 25 cents for parking, which was awesome!  We got on line after the girls said they weren't hungry for dinner, but then Leah needed a bathroom break, so we went to the shopping mall across the street.  We hit a beauty supply store and had fun looking at wigs and hair appliances, then departed, only to find a little sushi place across the street the other direction, so we grabbed a quick dinner there!  Everyone was very satisfied--Astrid loves sushi, Leah loves soup, and they even had bao, which I love!  Yum!

Pre-concert Selfie

Afterwards, we got back in line, a lot farther back than we had been, but we all agreed that we wouldn't get into the mosh pit area.  We went through security and went up to the balcony level.  I paid for Leah to have a seat to sit in and Astrid and I just stood behind her.  There was an opening act, although I can't tell you who they were, some little Australian guy, and then Lukas came out and played for quite a while, maybe even 2 hours.  He talked a lot about growing up in Denmark and there were Danish flags flying everywhere.  The ladies in front of us were speaking Danish, so Astrid was able to speak with them a little bit.  The music was great, I was a big fan!  Bright, fun pop music, Lukas was adorable, and he even did the traditional American encore, which if I recall correctly Astrid said doesn't happen in Denmark.  For my Danish readers, this involves the concert being over and the audience screaming and cheering until the performer has to come back on stage.  Lukas also talked about the great language divide of swearing between American and Danish society, and Astrid was like "See?!"  Fair enough!

So that took us into February.  We did some more political activities by way of sending postcards to our representatives and we also joined the WAFA Fredericksburg group to hold signs out in town. WAFA stands for We Are For America.  It was a fun thing to do--we had a lot of honks of support and of course we had our share of detractors, but for the most part it was respectful and we had a good time.  Astrid was later maybe slightly embarrassed because a couple of kids from school saw us out there and remarked about it.  We haven't been back. LOL

I also took some time to take Astrid up to DC for an improv show my cousin Cara was competing in.  Cara is my dad's brother's daughter, and as far as I can remember, I haven't seen her in about 12 years.  She and her husband moved to DC a couple of years ago and she posted that she was on an improv team that was competing and would anyone like to come support them?  I thought it was a great opportunity to see her again, and comedy is always good, so Astrid and I headed up there on a VERY cold night after basketball practice.  Leah hung out with The Bup and had a fine time without us, and we had a fine time ourselves.  Astrid had homework so she brought her books with her, which turned out well since the theater locked everyone out for the improv show.  We had to go in through the backstage area, which was kind of fun, actually, and I got to see Cara for a bit and meet her husband!  It was a  great evening full of laughs.

My nephew William also celebrated his 7th birthday, and wanted a pet turtle as a gift.  Other family members bought the tank and all, and I offered to buy the turtle when it was all set up.  Thus did they come down one February Saturday, and Astrid and I took William to Petsmart to get Sheldon, the African turtle.  Astrid immediately determined we should have a turtle, but no thank you!  She can live vicariously through William.  She sacrificed a dollar store toothbrush to Sheldon for turtle massages, and had fun playing with him while he lived in our kitchen sink for a while. Fun times!


We also took advantage of some really beautiful spring-like weather to go up and hike Government Island.  GI is a local park that used to be a stone quarry--the stone for the White House came from Gov't Island.  There is a VERY easy walking path/boardwalk type thing over the marshland, and then a hike up some easy hills and cliffs and quarried rock faces to climb on.  Astrid and Leah had a blast chasing each other around, climbing rocks with other kids, petting dogs, etc.  It was VERY busy there--we luckily got the last parking spot--since the weather was so nice, but it was a real lift to the spirits.

As I said above, Dipthi stayed with us for one night and then she and Astrid attended the AFS mid-stay orientation.  The orientation occurs at roughly the halfway point of the exchange year, and the point is to give the kids a chance to reflect on what they've accomplished and learned and what they want to accomplish and learn before departure day.  The mid-stay orientation here always takes place in Virginia Beach and the kids do a polar bear plunge into the cooooooold Atlantic Ocean!!  They had an absolute blast, as they always do, and the pictures and videos are so fun.  There was dancing, lots of food, beach time, and of course the orientation itself.

They're a great group of kids this year.  Astrid came home really energized and had a great time!

Astrid also got a paid babysitting gig, watching my BFF Amber's little guy so we could go out to celebrate Amber's birthday.  Leah doesn't pay any of the little boys we take care of a whole lot of mind until they quit doing her bidding, then she entertains them just enough to get them going again.  But Michael was thrilled to have Astrid around to pay attention to him and let Leah know he has other options :-)

We also celebrated Valentine's Day a tiny bit.  Each day I would put a heart on each girl's door with something I loved about them.  Astrid enjoyed getting a new message every day with some silly little thing and it was nice for me to reflect upon the things that make her special and important in my life!  On Valentine's Day itself, I gave the girls candy and flowers and cards.  It was fun to give them tangible reminders of why they're special, which I probably don't do enough of.

So that's most, much, or all of our February.  I can't think of too much else that we did.  I think we might have seen the movie Hidden Figures at some point, but I can't swear to it!  The days were a blur of play practices, basketball, kids, and all that good stuff.  We had a great month! 

Christmas & New Years!

It seems impossible that Christmas has come and gone, and with it the new year is upon us, we have crossed the halfway point in our exchange, and I haven't managed to update my blog once.  With February closing in on us very quickly, I figured I'd better get moving and get this blog updated!

Christmas vacation lasted three weeks between the two girls' opposing school schedules.  It was exhausting and hectic and crazy, but I loved having special time with each of them separately and together.  I was also happy to send them both back to school, although I haven't had a whole lot of peace and quiet even with both girls out of the house all day!  :-)

During the break, we had a blast doing a lot of different things and just spending time together. On the 23rd, my friend Linda from the UU invited us to go back to Paul's Bakery to see the lights and go out for a snack afterwards.  The girls got to see Santa again and he gave them each little craft kits as a present.  Santa and Mrs. Claus were adorable at Paul's.  Astrid did NOT stuff herself into the reindeer carts this time, however.

One of the things Astrid was most worked up about spending Christmas in America is that we don't open our presents and have a special meal on December 24th.  I couldn't understand why the Danes (and many Europeans) do this, because what is the point of Christmas Day then?  If everything good happens the night before Christmas, why celebrate on Christmas itself?  We had many debates about this, and finally I told Astrid that we would celebrate Danish Christmas on the 24th.  She could plan a special meal, talk with her family, and we would open the presents that were pouring in from her family around the world.  So that is what we chose to do.  We were due to have a friend over for dinner, and he declined to eat the traditional Danish Christmas duck, so we went with the traditional Danish Christmas roasted pork.  Astrid's menu also included some potatoes that were cooked in butter and sugar, red cabbage and orange salad, and rice pudding.  She worked so hard and everything was really delicious and beautiful.  She was inventive on new ways to use the oven which I had never seen before :)

I don't think anyone has ever cooked meat directly on the oven rack.  But she did and it was incredible.  The top didn't come out quite as she wanted--the fatty part of the pork is supposed to be quite crispy when it's all done, so we put it under the broiler for a few minutes and it was fine.  I have to confess that it was as delicious a Christmas Eve meal as any I have had before, and I didn't miss the traditional Kosior seafood feast that we usually have.

After dinner, we went over to the UU for a Christmas Eve service.  I was singing with the choir and leading the service as worship associate, so I had many tasks to complete that evening.  Both girls were as good as gold, and the service was one of the best I have ever attended.  The girls ran through the halls and rooms of the church snapping pictures with friend, chasing The Bup around, and generally having fun.  The music and readings were beautiful, Reverend Doug gave a wonderful sermon, and we had a very moving and sweet candlelit version of Silent Night together.  It was a wonderful evening.

Astrid recently told me that she was kind of nervous when she read in our application that we attended church every week, because in Denmark that would probably mean you were part of a cult, but that once she started coming, she found she enjoys  it.  I find that hilarious--maybe it IS a cult, but one I'm glad to be a part of.  hehe

After the service, we went home and I let the girls open some gifts.  They enjoyed that very much--for Leah it was a BIG treat.  I bought them each pajamas to wear for Christmas Eve, but unfortunately Leah's were an adult medium, and Astrid's cousin or aunt or someone sent her footie pajamas that she immediately put on and refused to take off for about 3 weeks, so I guess I need to up my pajama game! :-)  Then it was time for bed.  Leah announced that this was the year she was going to catch Santa in the act and she was going to stay up all night under the tree and wait till he came down the chimney.  Needless to say, this raised my blood pressure tremendously.  I let her do it though, and went to bed, setting my alarm for nearly 2AM.  I got up and tiptoed downstairs and found a sweet scene--Astrid and Leah curled up together, sound asleep under the Christmas tree.  I did my best to quietly put the presents under the tree and hang up their newly filled stockings, but Astrid woke up.  It was just as well, as she was able to help me bring everything downstairs and make sure Leah stayed asleep.  A friend told me about an app that would photoshop Santa into a picture of your house, which I got, but I must say, Leah was not fooled in the least by this the next morning.

Christmas morning was a riot of gift opening.  The girls were especially excited to get a new Wii U--our old Wii had died a painful death just before Astrid arrived, making it useless for anything other than pulling in Netflix on the TV.  Leah was at an age where not only did she enjoy playing the Wii, she was getting quite good at it, so she really missed it.  They also both got tons of make up, Orbeez, clothes, and promises of upcoming trips which they are both very excited about (and so am I!).

After gift opening, we got ourselves ready for breakfast and then my sister and her family arrived in the afternoon, as well as my mom and her husband.  We had another big round of opening gifts before sitting down to a traditional meal of roast beef, yorkshire pudding, and trifle.  It was a wonderful day indeed.

Just before New Year's Eve, my niece Dot came to stay.  I wanted to take everyone to the Ginter Gardens for the light show, something my dad and I started doing years ago and a tradition I have enjoyed keeping up with Leah and Ine and Dot and whoever else has been around.  We had a nice day together, as I introduced the girls to Waffle House for breakfast, and then we went over to my mom's for a while so the girls could see their Nana.  We had lunch there, which was fun and then headed down to Richmond when it started to get dark after dinner.  The Ginter Gardens partners with the electric company to put more than a half million lights up all around the gardens. There is a maze made entirely of Christmas lights, there are animals and statues made of lights, and all the trees are draped with lights.  It is truly an incredible thing to see.  We bundled up as the temperatures were quite cold, and headed off into the night.  The girls were especially delighted by the maze and the tree house you can climb into and keeping up with them was nearly impossible.  I love the greenhouses with the giant trees (the first picture on this post was taken in the Ginter greenhouse) and the animal dioramas and the beautiful flowers they tend to year-round.  It is a real spectacle, to say the least.

Let's see, what else did we do during Christmas Break?

Well, Leah started with a new mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters.  Her new "big" is named Megan.  Astrid admitted she felt a bit jealous of how happy Leah was to go off with Megan, because Megan is a special once-a-week friend and it's easy to have fun for a few hours each week.  So I suggested Astrid plan a special activity to remind Leah that she can be fun too.  She thought that was a great idea, so she decided to take Leah to SkyZone Trampoline Park.  They went for 90 minutes.  Frankly, they were done after about 45.  All that jumping is a lot of hard work.  But I think they had a good time!

Starting on December 30, we were the darlings of the New Year's party scene.  We went to a party at my friend Susan's house on the 30th, billed as a New Year's Eve Eve party.  there were a lot of UU's there and of course, it was packed and there was tons of good food and friendship.  Susan opened up her basement for Leah and Astrid to go play with the Wii and they discovered the joys of Wii Fit.  Afterwards, we headed to the UU for a kirtan, which is a sort of religious performance art with drums and singing and chanting.  My friend Cindy from Northern Virginia came down, and afterwards I dropped the girls off at home and went to a late night snack with Cindy.

The next day, it was time to bring Leah to my sister's home.   We always meet at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico to do a kid swap.  Astrid was very interested in going into the building as we have only ever seen it in the parking lot, so we went in and checked it out.  I've been there several times, but always get lost and discover something new, so it was fun to go in there and see what was new and interesting.  They are expanding the museum, I think, so it will continue to grow and develop for years to come.  Astrid found a 'Marine' and helped raise a flag over captured WWII territory.  We touched a piece of the Pentagon and the World Trade Center from 9/11.  It was a nice little break, and fortunately quite warm, as it was FREEZING outside!





Afterwards, we headed to my friends Amy and Tom's New Years Eve game night.  It was a lot of fun. Astrid had been once, and didn't care for it, so she said she didn't think she would go.  I told her I wouldn't leave her home alone on New Year's Eve, so I would stay home with her.  Consequently she decided to go, especially after I pointed out that she had only gone right when she first arrived and everything was crazy.  Happily, she really enjoyed herself this time!  She also introduced us to the time honored Danish New Year's tradition of jumping off a chair at midnight.  I'm not sure what the significance is, but she and I jumped off a chair at the stroke of midnight and she and Tom then jumped off a chair as well.  It was dark, so I'm sorry that my picture isn't better!  We played a bunch of games, but one I really came to enjoy was called Ticket to Ride.  My friend Linda met us there as well, so that we had a nice crew of people playing games and didn't leave till nearly 1AM.

On New Year's Day we had another party to go to, this one at the home of another friend named Amy.  She had a pile of people from the UU over for the traditional southern New Year's meal of black eyed peas and cornbread and greens.  We enjoyed visiting with some of the same UU's as Susan's party, and also some other friends who came to this party.  We were quite tired after all this partying, and Astrid had to start school the next day. I called my sister's to see what was going on, and Leah asked if she could stay another day, which I agreed to as her school didn't start back till January 3rd.  Astrid and I took advantage of the night off by going to see the movie La La Land, which we both liked.  We considered Star Wars, but ultimately wound up with a singing and dancing Ryan and Emma and no regrets.

The next day, Astrid happily went back to school.  She had only managed to get together with her friends once--doing a gift swap with some of her "squad" (as she calls it) one night while Dot was visiting.  We had a lovely time together, but it was definitely time for school to start again, as she hadn't been in school since December 15th when exams finished.  I went to my sister's for our 4th New Year's party and retrieved Leah and came home.

Finally, on Saturday, January 7th, we had our final Christmas celebration by hosting a Feast of the 3 Kings feast at our home.  I had offered this as a service auction for the UU--my final item and I was glad!  We had 35 people coming to dinner to cram into the house, and I offered each of the girls $20 for their vacation fund if they did all the chores on the chore list I had setup for them to do.  Happily they each did their chores and I happily paid into their funds.  Astrid asked if she could invite a friend to come and wound up inviting Dipthi and her friend Sophia from school, but Sophia was in Colorado skiing, so she couldn't make it.  Dipthi came for the weekend and we had a great time.  The party was a smashing success--we managed as usual to have 35 people all sit down together and eat at the same time together, a feat which never ceases to impress me when I pull it off. 

There were lots of leftovers when all was said and done, and everyone was extremely complimentary about the food and the atmosphere.  It had snowed during the day so we were worried that people would want to cancel, but instead, everyone said they were coming.  UU's are hearty folk!!  I was relieved, as it would have been hard to put everything on ice and cook it the next day without my sister's help.

After the majority of people left and I got Leah to bed, my friend Andy pulled out his copy of the game The Village Crone for us to all learn.  I thought I would be way too exhausted, but it was actually a blast.  For some reason, Astrid decided she needed to learn to talk with a southern accenet--she is obsessed with not sounding Danish--so we tried to teach her.  It was hilarious.  She had the worst time with the world "you're" which when pronounced in a more southern way would sound like "yer" which rhymes with the world "fur".  Dipthi had no trouble with it, but it took me making the connection with the rhyming words to help Astrid get it.  It was a riot.

I've been so pleased that even though we were 'only' Dipthi's welcome family, she has continued to be such a big part of our lives.  She is such a sweetheart.  It was nice to have her over.

The next day, the Moores, Dipthi's host family, met up with us at the UU for services.  Then we sent Dipthi home and the Christmas season was officially over.  It was blissful, exhausting, at times stressful, and crazy, but I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of it.

I hope you enjoyed this update and stay tuned for our January wrap up in short order! :)