Påske i Danmark

Easter card for me from Mira

Easter in Denmark
Now that I'm all caught up from my London Study Tour, I can resume blogging about daily life here in Copenhagen. This weekend was Easter Weekend, which at least in my family is another good excuse for togetherness, good food, and relaxation. Our celebrations culminated with a big Easter lunch/dinner together this afternoon with the whole extended family (on Lars' side).

Yesterday I partook in a different family tradition: a warm-weather celebratory walk! We (Mira, Kasper, Lars, Helle, Junior, Balou, and me) went for a long walk all around the neighborhood, soaking up the sunshine and warm temperature. Apparently it's something that the family does whenever they are able.... after a long winter, all of us were excited to get out and about without being all bundled up.

As we walked through the forested area, we marched on melting snow. In the places where there was more sun, we were wading through mud. 

It was really beautiful (calm, peaceful, quiet) and the fresh air felt amazing

Junior found a HUGE stick... easily twice my height. Lars took it from him and broke it in half

Then Balou wanted in on the action too, and they played/fought together for a good 10 minutes

We kept walking, but the dogs wouldn't give up their game 

Finally, they rushed ahead to join Kasper and Helle, leaving the stick behind

On the way home, we stopped by the store (where I treated my host siblings to ice cream) and then also by this building/playground, the preschool that both Kasper and Mira attended when growing up

Back at home, Mira and I did a crafts activity that I had picked up at Tiger: mosaics made out of foam. The house felt alive with Spring as we blasted music and sang along. 

Then today was the day we celebrated the holiday with the rest of the family. Lars and Helle had a 1.5 HOUR spinning class this morning, but then joined us at home to get ready for our family gathering at Helge's (Lars' dad) house at 1pm. Kasper and I biked over, while the rest of our family took the car (since they were bringing lots of food).

The Easter Table (at least, part of it)

My place setting

I finally got to meet Claus, Lars' little brother, and his wife and two daughters. The meal was good (full of meat as per usual), but I especially loved the after-meal time when I got to play outside with all the cousins. Otto was sound asleep in his pram parked in the backyard, but I ran around playing frisbee, in the sandbox, and near the swings with Elme, Alnus, Melanie, Isabella, and Mira. It was basically my dream come true: beautiful weather and four ADORABLE little girls running around in snow suits! I obviously took about 100 pictures. I'll include only a few here.

Mira and Alnus  

Frisbee with Melanie and Elme

Blomst=flower 

Keeping the sandbox clean is hard work!

Melanie and Isabella gathering blomster (flowers)

Otto woke up from his nap! 

Perhaps my favorite part of the afternoon was watching the kids bring out the swings, call to their parents to hook them up to the swing set, and then seeing them all play together. It was also pretty neat that Lars, Leena, and Claus all are able to bring their kids together to play in the very same yard that they played in as children. I know that Helge (their father) thinks that's pretty neat too. :-)