Bech-Svalgaard Family Home Page

Updated December 16, 2004; by Mikael

Dear everybody!

As usual, too much time has passed since my last web-update! During this period we've seen fall come and go; and now we're fast approaching christmas. That means busy-time!! Both with work, various x-mas ceremonies/parties at school, preschool, work. And we still haven't sent out the holiday greetings we finally managed to buy this year. But we will! We've also had our new VOIP line set up, so now we can call our friends in the US and elsewhere for next to nothing; that really feels good.

For some time now Ingrid has had a lively social life with friends from school and the 'Y'. Peter was lacking that, although we tentatively started inviting some of his friends home while we were in the Boulder. Since we came back to DK, we increased the frequency of this with good success. However, since our apartment is quite small we usually arrange for Ingrid to be out while Peter has a guest and vice versa. Here's Peter with his good friend, Carl-Andreas, having a ball with each other and the flexitrax:

Here's a rare shot - where I'm actually in the picture. This one was taken at our annual summer-party where friends from near and far join us in the countryside house for a weekend of barbequing and hanging out. On day two we usually go to the beach; generally we try to do nearly the same thing every year; that way people can concentrate on more essential things such as intelligent conversation and playing with the innumerable number of kids:

The summer-party usually marks the end of summer. Just after, we went for an extended weekend at Signe's dads second home (he lives and works there for 3-4 days pr. week with his older brother) in northern Jutland. Here Peter and Lasse are jamming on a new bass that Lasse's brother just bought:

The view from a lighthouse at the Northern tip of Denmark. They don't have that in Colorado..!

...and neither this; an active harbour with little fishing ships. The Danish fishing industry is under severe pressure by bureuacrats and overfishing, so maybe this view will become a thing of the past..?

Peter's preschool has a fine tradition of having a potluck in 'Kongens Have' (Kings garden), a very nice park just adjacent to the preschool and where we live:

The same day Ingrid was playing with two classmates, Molly and Karoline:

As is typical for Denmark, this year we were lucky to have some really nice and clear weather in September. This is the view from our kitchen window; I like it so much at this time of year. I propped Ingrid up in the open window to get a better composition, luckily she didn't fall out!

Currently, at work I am hosting a Ph.D. student from Italy. When he had to go back to Italy and help his father harvest grapes (really!) we had him buy a bunch of Italian delicacies. When he came back we had a feast with him and Signes mother. Here Massimo is showing us how to cut a white truffel. This is an extremely wild thing! Very tasty, very aromatic, worth its weight in gold (or so they say). And very smelly, according to the kids. Just check out Peters face:

...and Ingrid's! This is good, we didn't have to share with them!

We are still maintaining the english skills of the kids by talking english together often and by letting them watch only english spoken movies:

Here's Signe in the countryhouse workshop, fiddeling with a panel for her doll-house project. Remember that our friends and I gave her a serious doll-house kit for her birthday? Next update, I'll post pictures of her progress with this project.

As falls gives way to winter we more often spend the weekends in Copenhagen. One of our favorite pastimes here is going to the botanical gardens. Our favorite place there is the greenhouse (or palm-house, as it is called locally):

Inside you can get lost among beautiful plants and victorian ironwork:

...a very dreamy place, especially when it's cold outside.

Even though the Danes don't celebrate halloween, we will not let that stop us. Using seeds purchased in the hippie-supermarket, Wild Oats, in Boulder we gardened our own pumpkins. I just love this time of the year. Who is smiling most on this picture?

Both kids really like it.

No pumpkin from our garden goes un-cut! Even the zucchinis get a makeover:

Here's Peter with the results of our labour. Since the density of houses is too low (and Danes don't trick or treat anyway) we don't have a candy-orgy. Instead, when the sun sets I set up the pumpkins and zucchinis around the garden with lights and then the kids come out for 'pumpkin-hunt'.

One day, a small boat washed up on the shore, un-damaged. We took it for a spin, although mostly backwards!

Here's a photosequence from Peter's preschool. It is located in the historic 'Nyboder', built in the 1600's. As you can see, it is quite photogenic. Peter is holding a big bag of groceries, since this day it was our turn to cook lunch.

Peter and Carl-Andreas were the chefs (when they weren't fooling around):

The downside of having a preschool in a house from the 1600's is that space is really cramped. This view encompassed the entire yard that all 17 kids have to share. It is about 20 times smaller than the one Peter enjoyed in Boulder. Sigh....:

And here the kids are having the lunch we cooked. This room is the place all the kids have to share when inside. Oh, and then they also have a locker room downstairs...

The first snow came in November, but just a little. Since then we've had one snowstorm, but it's not cold enough for the snow to stay.

It's damp, grey and most of all dark. In a few weeks the worst will be over, later in the winter we hope to go to Norway for cross-country skiing. Our house-purchasing adventure has so far not produced any results. Everything is soooo expensive, but eventually we will prevail. I hope. In the meantime Signe found a new strategy for improving our housing situation. Since we cannot get more square feet under our roof, she found out that throwing stuff and furniture out can achieve much the same result. Here's what our living room currently looks like:

A few days ago we celebrated my birthday; Irene & Preben and Merete & Anders & Ida & Anton came over for scones and cake. Ingrid and Ida are totally nuts about each other, just look at this picture:

...and Ida just keeps on gaping - 'wow, a big girl!':

That's all for now. We miss you!!!

Love - Signe, Mikael, Ingrid and Peter

Mikael (mikael@leif.org)

Signe (sba@dmi.dk)