Playhouse--Open and Closed

Finally there is a hope of spring in the air. The sun has been shining and the ground is no longer frozen. (sorry to my MN readers who are not as lucky at the moment)  So while I was in Greece, Søren prepared and painted Silas' playhouse so that we could set it up as soon as the weather allowed.  We finally got the chance last weekend, and it has already gotten a lot of use.  Silas' favorite thing is to go in and out of the door, or go to the window and say "boo."  We put a little plastic kitchen inside and he has made a few meals out of mulch so far.  It's fun to hear him call it "See-saw house".  (Silas' house)

In the video Silas is being shown his Christmas present for the first time.

Yay a mirror!

Silas has really found out who is really in the mirror!

Beep beep beep

The wheels on the bus go........"BEEP BEEP BEEP, BEEP BEEP BEEP, WHEELS, BUS, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP..ALL THROUGH TOWN!"

These capitalized words put together make up the lyrics to Silas' first song he can sing! He has really enjoyed the song for awhile, doing the actions, etc. But the other day he suprised us by singing along.  We smiled and gave him a big hug and he looked so proud afterwards.  Ever since we have been giving him the chance to sing, and we found out he knows a lot more verses then we would have guessed.  It is such a sweet sound hearing him sing.

Fill in the blank

A normal evening goodnight ritual consists of reading a story, singing and song and praying together. Silas has been able to point to objects in his "Bunny book" and say what they are for awhile now.  He especially likes the word "toadstool" and if you take a break at the end of the sentence, he will put the word in just where it should be.  The other night we were reading "Goodnight Moon" for the 52nd time and wanted to try something out. I stopped just before the last word on every page, and waited before saying the last word.  To my suprise I never got to say the last word, as Silas was busy filling in the blanks.  He was saying words I didn't know he knew...mush, hush, chairs, tree, air....etc, etc.  He could fill in the blank to every single last word of every single page. I guess Silas does have the ability to listen, even though he is squirming around like crazy!

Bork Legeland

We went to Bork Legeland today with Silas. It is an indoor playground near our house. All morning I was looking forward to going there so that I could watch Silas in awe of all the big slides, ball pits, bounce houses  and climbing towers, knowing he would have a great time! Upon arrival he spotted something in the distance and took off running......past the slides.......the balls......the bounce houses.....and what did he find? A tractor!!!  Quite similar to the one he has at home!!!

Okay we thought, it's something familiar, he'll get sick of it and then we can show him all the slides, the balls, the bounce houses, etc.  45 minutes later (after two attempts to remove him from the tractor while kicking and screaming) we were still sitting at the same spot, Silas still content just sitting on the tractor, or climbing on and off.  Søren and I were finding the humour of it all, wondering if we could get a refund as our child only was playing with a toy he has in his own garage.

Finally, Søren got Silas to follow my up the small tower and down the slide....but upon landing he immediately started saying "tractor, væk" (gone) and was walking around in a confused state looking for the tractor. That is when he discovered a different tractor, this time in red!!! So another 15 minutes went by on this tractor. And such was our trip to Bork Legeland...5 minutes trying something else and then back to the tractor....trying something else, and back to the tractor.  They only other real "hits" were the car racing arcade games (again with a steering wheel) and the blow-up bouncy tractor.

We had a great time, and of course we were just happy that Silas had fun...but seriously!! On the way home he kept saying over and over..."Bye bye tractor..."  "Mere tractor"  (more)

Here is a display of his tractor experiences today.

And a few of the 20 minutes he wasn't on a tractor

Easter!

Happy Easter out there. Our little Madsen family has had an absolutely fantastic Easter vacation this year. After being away for a week just up to Easter, what we all needed was some quality and relaxing family time. Although we had a lot of fun activities, we managed to stay relaxed and really enjoy the sunshine.

Thursday evening we went to an Easter dinner through our church. The entire meal was meant to resemble how Jesus spent his final evening with his disciples. We read bible verses, sang and ate unleavened bread, etc. It was great to get into the Easter mindset.  Friday we spent the day in Holstebro with Søren's Ulla and family as well as Inger.  We went to church and afterwards had a delicious Easter Lunch at their house. The afternoon was filled with fun, consisting of an Easter egg hunt and playing at the park. We also had a feast of a dinner and played a few games before going home.

Saturday we needed to get some preparation done, so we worked hard while Silas was napping. In the evening our friends Therese and Simon (as well as their 2 boys) came for dinner and Therese and I showed our husbands the pictures from our trip to Greece.  

Sunday was a very festive day being Easter and all! It started out great with rolls and eggs, followed by another Easter Egg hunt. My mom had sent an Easter package including the plastic eggs filled with candy. They were perfect for a hunt for Silas, so I hid them around the house and he had fun finding them and eating the small pieces of candy inside.  Silas also recieved an Easter basket with Playdoh and a Bubble Gun. It was so fun to recreate some Easter memories from my childhood in my adult home. We also went to the park and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine (it made the 34 degree weather feel almost warm)  Søren was playing drums in Church so Silas and I got nearly front row seats and enjoyed the amazing service. There was so much peace and happiness in the air that I couldn't help but get up and dance and shout as the service ended with the Tim Hughes song.."Happy Day"..."Oh Happy Day, Happy Day, you washed my sins away, Oh Happy Day Happy Day, I'll never be the same, forever I am changed."  We went to dinner at our friend Kirstens house and Silas had fun playing on the stairs and talking with a doll.

Today, Monday, we also had the day off and spent it entirely together as a family. In the morning we colored eggs and played outside. Then in the afternoon we went to an indoor playground nearby. (another blog entry coming just about that). It has been an amazing 5 days and we feel renewed heading into the new week.

Happy Easter! Hallelujah Christ is risen!

Greece

Just before Easter I returned from a week long trip to Greece with 55 tenth graders. Before we left I was quite nervous about having to fly with so many people, also because we had a huge snowstorm the day we left. We had to drive the 4 hours to Hamborg to get to the airport, so we needed to leave extra early due to the weather. So at 9pm we left Frøstrup and due to no traffic and okay roads we arrived already at 1am and slept in the bus before having to check in.  Everything went smoothly and we only lost 1 passport, 1 bag and almost a video camera.

We flew into Athens, but still had a 4 hour drive ahead of us, up to Volos on the east coast. So we didn't arrive at our hotel until 9pm the following night, exactly 24 hours later.  The next few days we spent in and near the town of Volos.  (It is where our students teacher is from)

The first day we visited a beautiful little town in the mountains called Makrinitsa. Later we visited the Music School of Volos, were welcomed at the Town Hall, had some free time at a café by the water, and had a very filling buffet dinner before hanging out at the hotel with fun and games.

The next day drove about 120km away from the coast to the mountainous region of Meteora. It was absolutely breath taking with the cliffs, snow caps and valleys.  The Meteora region is known for the many monasteries built on top of the cliffs.  Six of them remain, and we were able to have a tour of two of them. Just seeing these extraordinary buildings on top of the rocky cliffs, made me shout "wow" multiple times. It was truly so amazing! The road that took us to the top was built just about 50 years ago, so it was incredible to think of how they could have built these building and had functioning monasteries there for so many years. On the way back home we stopped at a town called Trikala where some Greek students showed us around the town and we had a quick souvlaki sandwich in the sun. (Sandwich with meat and french fries inside)

Trikala (students doing a traditional Greek dance)

Dinner at Aspa's parents house (Pitas in the fire)

Delicious evening "snack" buffet

The following day it was time to leave Volos and head to Athens. We had planned a stop to Delphi on the way down, and that drive was also absolutely gorgeous. Winding through the forested mountains with a new spectacular view around every bend. The actual site of Delphi was also beautiful. It is the location of a very old town, Delphi, where there was and is a temple made for the greek god Apollo. It was amazing to hear old stories about the statues and town as we received a guided tour of the museum and archaeological site.
When we arrived in Athens we had some time for a evening stroll before bed.

Group photo

The women teachers

A glimpse of the 3 course  meals we got at the hotel

The next day we got to see a very historical site of Greece, Acropolis hill and the Parthenon temple. In general I was in awe of the history of the place and all the small stories behind it. We had a fantastic guide who brought the stories to life and I came away from that day so impressed by the history and age of Greece. Democracy was actually invented in Athens and we saw the building where Socrates went to speak and spread his ideas. There was time for some market shopping in the afternoon, and I had a pair of sandals handmade specifically for me. The owner has made sandals for many famous people such as John Lennon, Sara Jessica Parker and Bob Saget.  In the evening we had a bus tour of Athens by night. We got to see the changing of the guards, some old and new stadiums as well as Acropolis lit up at night!

Making my sandals

Our final days were filled with Greek interactions as we got to meet our pen pals that we had been writing with since November. They were from the American School of Greece and they had 1½ days planned for us. The first afternoon and evening, they took our students in groups around Athens, telling stories and being guides, before meeting all together at a restaurant for dinner. In the meantime, the 7 teachers were shown around Athens by their teachers and we had a lovely and traditional Greek dinner. There were about 7 different types of dishes placed in the middle of the table and we all could just grab and take what we wanted. The food was delicious and I loved the laid back feel of just grabbing. We tried cod fish, tzatziki, pita, Greek beef, chicken skewers, salads...and much more. The next day we went to the American School where we gave a presentation of our school and got to see a presentation of theirs. Went to English classes, got a tour, played sports, had a Starbucks coffee and just relaxed in the sun. They were very hospitable and it was great to see our students really bond with theirs. We ended the day at the mall to buy final gifts and souvenirs.

Ps: I don't have any pictures from the school, but we started the day out driving along the coast and here is what we saw. (Cape Sounion)

At 3am we loaded the bus and headed for the airport. We made it back to Denmark safely and I was home for dinner by 6pm. Silas and Søren welcomed me with open arms and it felt great to be home again after an amazing trip.