My two painters...are making it happen!

My two big kids have been helping their Papa with painting our bed room...just fantastic those kids :o)

Maja's bike

And here it is at last.

After a year in our storage Maja is finally on her bike..that came from the Easter bunny ;o)

2009 here we come

2009 has started and the family is working on the house extension again.
Here it is the mosaics that Keenan and Opa are using for our new shower in the En-suite....it is looking very promising to the by-standers...and Maja thinks that it is a lovely Princess shower (that may relate to the shining mosaics)

The year 2009 is also looking promising in other ways as we are planning for a trip to Orlando to see "old" American friends after 3 years of separation.

It is not for sure that my excitement can be cept quiered for long ;o)

So I'm back on the horse and hope to report about new destinations and better living quarters here in the village.

A moment to reflect

23rd November and the first snow is mixing with the rain outside all day long.

Our kitchen is as good as finished and we just LOVE our new living area during the day

and during the evening

So now it is time to enjoy the space and the warmth and decorate our rooms with lots of "Nisser" for that Christmas feel.

Apple day

Fruit is something that most of us take for granted.

If it is the season for apples in UK or oranges and lemons in San Jose, California...the fruit is left on the trees to rot or on the ground for the cars to drive over.

We can always just buy it in the supermarket down the road!

So I really enjoy this special event here in UK!

It has NOTHING to do with believe or religion, it is simply a day to cherish the apple.

We had left the unused apples on the tree until the day for the same reason...so of they came...

and of to the local farm event where everything was ready for all the eager families and their apples.

Here the apples are cut into small pieces and the then squashed in this barrel to extract the juice.

The event also allowed all of us to enjoy some games, a puppet show(UK style), hog roast or hot dogs with the farms own sausages and some animals from the local zoo incl. this cute 4 months old "Barn Owl"

We have been on "Mount Etna"

As a part of our trip to Sicily in the beginning of September Paris and I decided to take the children to the very top of "Mount Etna"

It was a VERY hot day on the island so what could be better than a trip to the nice and cool Etna crater.

An hours drive plus a small encounter with a group of cows and some lunch in a restaurant on the side of the volcano and we had reached our destination.

And Pinkie made it as well ;o)

We paid the extraordinary expensive tickets...at least Maja was still free...and up the lift we went :o/

I think she enjoyed the first part of the journey.

The first part was a regular ski lift but that did NOT do it for us....OH NO!

We wanted to go ALL the way!

The next part had to be taken by these huge "Jeep buses" as you drive on small lava rocks.

We strapped us all in the back of the buss and after a rather rough trip we finally arrived as high up the volcano as we possibly could wish for ;o)

At first it looked a bit boring so Keenan and I tried to follow and understand the over tanned Italian guide and we soon found lots of excitement by removing the surface and feeling the warm lava just below our feet.

Paris and Maja found their own pace and we all REALLY enjoyed the whole experience...worth ALL the money!

Paris & Julie in "Wonderland"

A lovely Friday lunchtime Paris and I ventured south on the M11 to envision OUR piece of granite for the new kitchen that will arrive mid October.

With all the excitement and anticipation we rolled up to this door wondering IF this would be the place for "star galaxy granite"...

But opening this door revealed a COMPLETELY different world all together.

Pieces upon pieces of finished slates of granite....and in the very corner of the HUGE hall there was a little but fancy office.

And through another door the vision changed AGAIN to THIS

We soon located the stone for our kitchen and here it is!

Paris just looks SO official with the papers under the arm ;o)