Saturday, June 30, 2012
Taste of Home
Over the past few weekends we (mostly my wife) made some great homemade salsa and enchiladas. Overall we have been making a lot more food from scratch. While it takes longer it has been worth it in taste.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Trampoline
Our son got a trampoline for his birthday. After several failed attempts and some online research we decided to go with a different model. The new trampoline assembly process was a pleasure to complete--from start to finish took around an hour. We have one very happy son now.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Small Things
We often fail to take time to enjoy and appreciate the smaller things in life. It is all the small pieces that make up a large puzzle. I would like to share a few of the small things that I have come to appreciate. A new, and very quiet washing machine. A very quiet and powerful vacuum cleaner. A very quiet dish washer. A hot water kettle (not sure what else to call it) that boils a cup of water in half the time of a microwave. Water faucets that give very hot and very cold water very fast. Beautiful wild flowers. Getting a grill. Getting blinds installed. Next to no billboards. Life is pretty good.
Legoland
This past week was our son's birthday. As part of the celebration we took a trip to Billund, Denmark to visit the original Legoland. We took a ferry ride between Norway and Denmark. The journey to Denmark was pleasant--we enjoyed a buffet and enjoyed meandering around the boat enjoying the nice weather. The return trip was somewhat frustrating--many more people, no room at the buffet, and vocal travelers. The landscape of Denmark resembles central Texas--relatively flat with some hills, forests, lakes, rivers, etc. We had a clean hotel room with complimentary breakfast. Legoland was a 15 minute bus ride or car ride away (the bus stop was 200 m from the front door).
Legoland had many of the same type of rides, shows, attractions that you would find at most amusement parks, but with a Lego theme. Miniland is amazing with its miniature replicas of famous and historic people, places, and events. Dogs, coolers, water bottles, outside food, and umbrellas were all allowed into the park--unheard of in North American amusement parks. The park itself is slightly smaller than the former Astroworld. There is one small two lane road that circles the park. Hotels and restaurants that you would expect to surround an amusement park were non-existent (even the Legoland Hotel is small and inconspicuous--if it weren't for the sign you would think it was an administration building, store, or theater). The weather was less than ideal but that did not hinder any of the guests. We drove the second day and found a free parking lot 10 minutes from the front gate (even the parking lot across from the front gate only charged $8).
If anyone would have told us a year ago that we would be riding roller coasters in 50 degree weather with wind and rain we would have thought you were crazy--be we did just that and had a blast (so perhaps we are the ones that are crazy). The first day the park was fairly empty so we got to ride as many rides as we wanted. On the second day the park was busier but our longest wait in line was only 15 minutes, and an hour before the rides shut down we again had the rides to ourselves. The store was amazing (guess what is on my Christmas list). What a wonderful weekend, one we will treasure for a very long time.
Legoland had many of the same type of rides, shows, attractions that you would find at most amusement parks, but with a Lego theme. Miniland is amazing with its miniature replicas of famous and historic people, places, and events. Dogs, coolers, water bottles, outside food, and umbrellas were all allowed into the park--unheard of in North American amusement parks. The park itself is slightly smaller than the former Astroworld. There is one small two lane road that circles the park. Hotels and restaurants that you would expect to surround an amusement park were non-existent (even the Legoland Hotel is small and inconspicuous--if it weren't for the sign you would think it was an administration building, store, or theater). The weather was less than ideal but that did not hinder any of the guests. We drove the second day and found a free parking lot 10 minutes from the front gate (even the parking lot across from the front gate only charged $8).
If anyone would have told us a year ago that we would be riding roller coasters in 50 degree weather with wind and rain we would have thought you were crazy--be we did just that and had a blast (so perhaps we are the ones that are crazy). The first day the park was fairly empty so we got to ride as many rides as we wanted. On the second day the park was busier but our longest wait in line was only 15 minutes, and an hour before the rides shut down we again had the rides to ourselves. The store was amazing (guess what is on my Christmas list). What a wonderful weekend, one we will treasure for a very long time.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Shopping in Sweden
Last Monday we took a trip across the border to Sweden to do some shopping. This is a common practice as food prices (and some other items as well) are often lower than in Norway. The trip took around an hour and a half one way. One of the items we got was a large bag of meatballs, so I guess we can say we bought some Swedish meatballs.
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