Frederiksborg Castle (Copenhagen Sekund)

Our day trip to Frederiksborg Castle was delightful.  It was such an easy journey from the city and a beautiful way to be outside and active as well as inside a very special room.

Since my internship at the BYU Museum of Art working with the Bloch exhibit I have wanted very much to visit the castle.  The paintings are familiar to members of our church, but less known or appreciated I think by general visitors to the castle.  We lingered in the dark little gallery off the chapel for a good fifteen, twenty minutes but most others passed right through without a second glance.  (Maybe because we were there . . . ha!)

The paintings are so fine, a photograph or a print in a church manual just can't compare.  It was fun to see the works for which I drafted the labels.  A select few of the actual paintings were unscrewed from the wall and brought to Utah for the exhibit at BYU as a remarkable acknowledgment of the special relationship members of the church (and museum curators) have, then returned never to leave again. 

I was happy to be there with my family and telling the stories we saw.

The favorite, unexpected treasure was the empty ballroom.  The kids could have played for hours in that room.  However, we would have been kicked out before they were nearly done.

The grounds I'm sure are most beautiful during the growing season.  Even in winter they were impeccable.  We had a very rousing game of hide and seek in the hedges and the gardener just smiled.

My boys are growing up.  They are well and truly big kids.  I see them less everyday than their teachers and friends do.  So when we are all together and I can sneak in some snapshots and snuggles I am a very happy mom.

Happy 10th Anniversary to me and Collin!  I know more and more how lucky I am the longer I'm with him. 

(And maybe for our 100th anniversary we'll celebrate with a celestial mansion like the one behind us here!  JK.  I'm totally cool with a cottage--here and in the eternities.  If I can't trip over all my people all the time I think I'll be far too lonely.  No echoing ramblers for us.)

Happy Birthday to Me Portraits

I've had an extended birthday celebration this year.  I feel so lucky and loved!

A few weeks ago Collin had a spontaneously light work day (and he knew that he'd only be busier and busier further into busy season, of course) so he arranged an early surprise.  I was on my way to an adventure with a friend when I got a text asking if I'd be able to have the kids ready for bed by 6:00 when a sitter would arrive.  I replied ??? and yes!!!  I got to wonder all day what surprise Collin had up his sleeve.  I love his surprises.  Our friend arrived at 6:00 and the kids--even Eliza who had not had many sitters--waved me happily out the door (and went on to play a marathon game of monopoly, poor Mariam.  She's a saint, that one.).  I jumped on the tube and met Collin at Holborn station.  He had a flower and a kiss for me.  Then I looped my hand round his arm and off he led me to the doors of a theater.  I only got an idea of where he was taking me when I saw a big poster for War Horse on the theater wall.  I'd been eyeing the adverts for the show for months and wishing on a star to go to a theater performance of something--anything!--in London.  Collin had found that the theaters reserve a few tickets for day of sales at a reasonable set price.  He didn't have meetings in the morning and so was able to stand in line and get us two.  War Horse was incredible.  Seriously, amazing.  The horses are huge puppet machines, manned by three puppeteers.  They were big enough for the actors to actually get on and ride the puppet horses!  Even more impressive, the puppeteers had the mannerisms of a horse down to a tee--and I have a critical eye.  They came alive.  I cried.  It was beautiful.  Then we went for fancy French pastries (I had macaroons and hot chocolate) at Lauderee, a fancy cafe in Covent Garden.  Out on the town in London at night with children safe and happy in bed.  Bliss. 

^^  Collin thinks it looks like I'm choking him here, but I'm not.  Just adjusting his tie.  Same difference.  Davy snapped it for us and I actually really like it, all painterly as it is!

Last night, birthday eve, my friends took me to dinner and a super secret treat at the Tower of London, called the Ceremony of the Keys.  It's a ceremony to lock up the gates of the Tower that has been going on continuously each night for 738 years.  It was late once during WWII when the Tower was bombed.  It's never been audio, video, or photographically recorded by any visitor.  The tickets are free, but only thirty are allotted each evening.  You have to plan ahead for months to request the tickets.  My friend knows all the ins and outs of cool stuff in London so she reserved them for us forever ago.  We arrived at the Tower after normal visiting hours.  While waiting we had cupcakes Lesley had baked and brought (!) and they all sang happy birthday--I blushed.  Then it was time to begin and we all walked into the gates of the Tower. 

The guards carried out the locking up of the outer gates of the fortress with all the pomp expected.  It's short and surprisingly moving.  It's quiet and dark (in winter) and all you hear and see is a man in a red coat holding a lantern coming along the lane.  His boots click clack on the cobble stones and the old iron keys clank at his side.  He joins an armed escort to lock up the doors.  They continue on toward the White Tower at the center of the complex but are halted by another armed guard in an aggressive stance.  He yells, "Who comes here?" and the warder calls back, "Queen Elizabeth's keys" before being allowed to pass.  Then a bugler plays the reverie and the dead are remembered as the clock strikes 10:00.  That's all.  But so cool, right?  You can see a snippet of it at the end of the BBC documentary about the "Secrets of the Tower of London" that's on Netflix (at least here in the UK it is available).

Today, my birthday, I awoke to extra sweet hugs and kisses from my babies.  The primary children sang to me.  I chose a breakfast-for-dinner favorite: brioche french toast with cinnamon syrup, strawberries, bananas, and fresh whipped cream.  Brownies for dessert and I actually shared a variety of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  That's big, for reals.  The kids know that's grown-up ice cream.  :)  And Collin gave me a foot rub before we settled down to our separate computers for the night.  Oh, and bonus, we got to talk with Collin's sister, Jenna, who is engaged!!  We got to hear all the sweet, romantic details of the proposal and see how adorable young love is.  In spite of my apathy toward Valentine's Day, I really do love love.  We are so excited to get to attend a family wedding.  The love!  The family together time!  The new clothes!  The food!  You better believe we'll be there, jet lag and all.

Snippets and Snappits

I'm so clever with titles.  Or something like that.

I mostly have a series of random, unrelated--except by the real and every day theme--pictures and quotes.  Most of these are duplicates of Instagram, but there are some never-before-seen.  I'd like things in one place for the day I print all this stuff out.

Eddy kept asking me to do things while I was practicing driving on London streets.  Collin, in the passenger seat, reminded him "Eddy, address your questions to me." After a beat Eddy said, "Dad, can you ask mom to change the CD?"

My aunts visited London for a few days after their trip to Paris.  It was fun to have a full flat (we really were at capacity but in a good way!) and explore during the mornings with them.  After several museums in several days even our good sport Eliza was done and showed us the way of things on the floor of the British Museum:

Eddy, after a year and a half in stage one (and a half, as we liked to call it), just today moved up to stage two.  He is thrilled about it and I'm proud of him for continuing to work hard.

Davy used to be the star of these quote sessions.  He's gotten old enough that if he does say something funny he's embarrassed by the attention.  He's cute and clever and we love him loads.  The lack of pictures and center stage time may not prove it, but it's the truth.

 

Eliza has her own opinions about what she wears.  I get it.  That's cool.  She is my daughter after all.  But the past few weeks we've been having fights about what I wear.  I'll come out of the shower and she will have set out my clothes for me to put on.  It was adorable the first few times and she actually chose well enough.  But then she started experimenting and she melted down when I told her I just couldn't wear bike shorts and a sheer decorative over shirt.  Now I think we've compromised and she gets to pick my socks.

I think it's almost time to take out Eliza's afternoon nap.  Which is a shame, because we both still really need it.  She's not settling down to bed until after nine, however, and that's almost worse.  She comes out repeatedly and has absolutely no respect for me or Collin asking her to return.  Last night she was out of bed rummaging quietly around the living room.  I looked up from my work on the computer and saw her wearing dress up clickity clack shoes, sunglasses, and a stethoscope.  I said, tiredly, "go back to bed, Eliza."  She looked at me, surprised that I could say such a thing and replied, "I can't, mom.  I'm a doctor."  And then I laughed and it all went down from there.  I can never hold a straight face around a two year old.

Eliza:  "My favorite is basking ball.  But I can't do the dribbles when I'm a little girl."

Eddy, oh Eddy.  He is always the one reminded many times to stay on track (reminded six times it was time to get dressed for school when I came in to find him half dressed and drawing on the winter window) but finds much more fun in doing his own thing in his own time.  I love that childhood seems to come so easily for him.  He just is a kid and happy to be there.

The closest Eliza Road is several hours drive away in Manchester and we likely won't get there, our itineraries never bringing us near there.  So we decided to just count this Elizabeth Street in London as her street name picture.

Sibling love gets me to my heart strings every time.  Eliza and Eddy are the best buds while Davy is in his football (soccer) class.  It's gotten so good that Eliza will not allow me to help her anywhere but has to have Eddy hold her hand and Eddy push her on the swings and Eddy pull her on the scooter and Eddy play with her.  Eddy is more than happy to oblige.

Her "skirt that Cinderella gave me" gets a lot of good mileage around here.  Also, her favorite color is pink, unless she's wearing blue and then it's blue to match.  The logic of a two year old.  I wish I could always had a two year old around.

London we love you.  Seriously, though.  Davy's already starting to mourn leaving London.  He says things like, "I wish we could have been born here and never have to leave."  And "couldn't we just live here forever?  America is so boring."  And "when I grow up I'm going to live in London and my kids will go to my school and I will never make them leave places they love."