Barfuss Park!

 Have you ever heard of a Barfuss park?  Ben's delinquent jr. high friend was a Barfuss, and that's the only context in which I've heard the name.  But it turns out barfuss means "bare foot" in German and in parts of Europe, especially Germany and Austria, there are designated parks where you hike around barefoot!  The park we went to yesterday had areas of cold water, sand, pebbles, pinecones, mud, and even glass (eek!) that you walk through giving your feet a sensory overload.  I believe the idea is that going barefoot is good for your overall health and well being… basically being a hippy is awesome.  

In our two and a half years here, yesterday was our first trip to such a park because although I've been curious about the whole thing, I've never dared take Caroline on account of her sensory processing issues… as a young child she has hated going barefoot in grass, sand, or getting herself dirty in any form or fashion.  Now that she's a little bit older and not quite so anal about such things I felt like we could do this.  

But first, before leaving the house, Caroline came up to me and said, "Look Mom!  I got dressed by myself!"  This girl is one-of-a-kind, that's for sure!

She is clutching a random atlas, her choice of accompaniment to the park. The gloves are a nice touch.. she said her hands were cold (naturally, it being the first day of August.)

So, on to the park.  You ditch your shoes in the lockers, and are on your way!

It was about at this point in the two mile loop that Caroline sighed as we walked along, "It's a really long walk to the barefoot park."  Glad we clarified before we finished the dang thing!

The mud was the only part Caroline REFUSED to go through.  No way was she touching that!

And luckily they have a washing station at the end.  

So, do you think a park like this would be a hit in the states?  Contemplating a business venture. 

Copenhagen

I can't believe it's been month since I've posted… there's so much to write about, I don't know really where to start.  Ben and I had an awesome opportunity to go on a Baltic cruise. (Can I just say it was HEAVEN?? not so much for the destinations, which were great and all, but just to be with Ben and spend quality time together.)  Ben's parents came out and watched the kids for us (more on that later).  The cruise departed from Copenhagen and included stops in Warnemunde (Germany), Tallin (Estonia), St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Stockholm.  

We had an amazing time, but I wanted to share something cool from Copenhagen.  Ben's mom told us about a memorial in Copenhagen that was created by an LDS sculptor named Dennis Smith that honors the many Danish Mormon converts who emigrated from Denmark to the US at the end of the 19th century.  Ben has Danish ancestors, and I have a great-grandfather who is Danish!  Hans Jensen emigrated when he was five years old with his parents, Niels and Anne.  Besides my grandfather being born in Canada, he is the closest foreign born ancestor I have.  

So, the memorial consisted of three parts… a sculpture of a young woman named Kristina (loosely based on Dennis Smith's great-grandmother) who is looking out over the harbor, the relentless Baltic wind blowing her hair (notice the horizontal pony tail), then there is a plaque that describes the memorial and the LDS immigrants, and then there are several cobblestones with LDS immigrants names engraved on them, with the town they were from and the date they immigrated to the US.  I guess there were like 40,000 Danish converts in fifty years of missionary work there.  

So, we found the memorial on the way home and it was way cool.  It is at the location where the LDS immigrants sailed from in Copenhagen.  It was cool to think that this was the location the Jensens left from.  Familysearch.org shows that the Jensens sailed from Copenhagen in 1882 to Liverpool London, from where they sailed to New York. I have to think this was the location.  I looked and looked for Hans Jensen's name… or his parents Anne Jensen and Niels Jensen, but didn't find them.  I guess you can contact Smith to see about getting your ancestor's name added to the memorial.  That would be really cool.  We did see a ton of Andersens, Nielsens, Jensens, Larsens, Madsens, and Christensens… basically all the Mormon names.

Me looking for Hans Jensen's name.  

Here is a Hans Jensen, but it can't be our Hans Jensen since he wasn't even born until 1877.

We did find Ben's ancestor though, Ole Nielsen.  Here is a pic of him in front of the cobblestone.

So, it was cool to be in Denmark and feel of our ancestors' spirits there.  We did a fun bike tour and learned some interesting tidbits about Copenhagen and Denmark.

*Denmark only has five million people… it's made up of 70 islands, 40 of which are inhabited.  Or something like that.  Don't quote me on these numbers, ok?
*The climate is miserable.  We were there on a beautiful day, 75 degrees… our guide said that is very unusual.  Usually there's a lot of wind and clouds and it's colder.
*Denmark is very vanilla… not much diversity.  Our guide referred to his fellow countrymen as "country bumpkins."  I thought this was particularly amusing since Oprah once did a special on Denmark as the happiest place on earth to live….touting their progressiveness, etc.
*Denmark has shrunk more in size than any other European country.  I guess they were once quite the force to be reckoned with.
*The Danes helped quite a few Jews escape to neutral Sweden during the Nazi occupation.
*We can thank the Danes for Legos
*And Neils Bohr, a Dane for figuring out the anatomy of the atom
*And Hans Christian Andersen for The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Snow Queen (Frozen), and a myriad of other fairytales, plays, poems, and novels
* The Martin Luther reformation had a huge impact on Denmark… most Danes are Lutheran.
*The port in Copenhagen is so clean you can swim naked in it.
*One in four wind turbines are made in Denmark
*Most people get around on bicycles… most places in town are more quickly accessible by bike than car
*It's a very liberal city… the first country to give same-sex unions the same rights as marriage (just short of calling it marriage), one of the first on woman's suffrage, and freedom of religion (hence all the Danish Mormon converts).
*There is a 30 km bridge that connects Denmark to Sweden
*The Danes love Obama… he has been there twice and loves to go there since he receives such a warm welcome.  Our guide says he goes to Denmark to boost his self-esteem after being dogged in the U.S.
*If you retire from the same company after working for 40 years, you get invited by the queen to the palace for a cup of tea.
*The Danes are nuts about their royal family, who are just figure heads and have no power whatsoever
*Kids don't start school until they're seven years old

And Wow!  I'm amazed I remembered so much from that tour!  Worth the $50 I suppose.

The Little Mermaid:

The Royal Palace

Ode to Summer, Mom Style

Simple things, like a blow up pool in the backyard, will keep these little tikes happy for hours

As a kid/teenager, I LOVED summer.  It was by far the happiest time of the year.  No school, no schedule, long hot days, wandering up and down the street with my friends… we'd entertain ourselves for hours.  We'd go to the rope swing at the canal, we'd rollerblade to Albertson's to rent a "scary" movie, we'd have sleepovers on each other's trampolines under a star filled sky… and the highlights of summer were always Girl's Camp and Youth Conference.  Now that I look back on it, the way we spent our time required no planning or orchestrating by my parents (unless they had callings in the youth program).  We didn't even really go on any summer vacations as most of our family trips, which were never too far from home, took place over fall break in October. 

So, you would think as a mother of three, that long relaxing summers would just be a sweet memory of the past.  I mean, I don't feel that huge relief of finishing the school year, I still have to change diapers, wipe up messes, mop floors, and prepare meals. AND do the dishes.  But, I be wrong.  I'm discovering that summer be a little bit magical even for a mom.  

Here's what I'm loving:

1. I don't have to get up early and get Emily off to school. This is soooo nice.  My kids can sleep as long as they want!  Which means I can sleep in too.  If I want to get up early to exercise or read my scriptures… awesome.  If I would rather snooze in a little bit later… awesome too.

2.  Don't' have to worry about a set bedtime.  No stressing that the kids have to be to bed by 8:00.  During the school year it is difficult because Ben typically gets home around 7… so it's hurry up and eat, and send the kids straight to bed.  Now we can take our time eating, or the kids can play outside late,  we can bbq with friends or go to a biergarten and stay as late as we want… no worries.

3.  My kids do chores.  Emily is a great help at home, but during the school year it was hard to place more responsibilities on her.  I mean, she goes to a full day of school, and then often times has either dance, violin, or homework after school, and I still need to carve out time for her to play outside and be a kid!  So, she usually didn't have chores during the school year.  Now that she has wide open days, she can make her bed, clean the bathroom, unload the dishwasher, etc.  And C is right there beside her happily scrubbing toilets (when will they realize scrubbing toilets is NOT fun?)

4.  When 2:30 rolls around, I don't have to put on my fresh mama face and gear up for Em's arrival and subsequent homework and music practice.  Ahhh, this is so nice.  In fact, at 2:00 these days J is napping, the girls are happily playing (since they've had a full morning of chores, music practice, and reading), and I am curled up on the couch with a book.  Bliss.

5.  Being outside.  Long warm days are enjoyable no matter what your age.  I love that Germany does not get too hot in the summer.  The month of June has mostly been in the sixties and seventies (although next week it's going to really heat up!)  Living on base lends itself to playground time, bike time, scooter time, etc.  I don't have to look too far to entertain the troops.  Also, there are some wonderful pools nearby for those occasional super warm days. And being at the pool is a nice outing if you have another friend squatted on a towel nearby to chat with. 

And last but not least, I have more time to read!  Reading is what keeps my insanity as a mom.  Since my full time job tends to be very physical… wipe up messes, fold laundry, sweet floor, etc… it is so nice to delve into a book and let my brain actually absorb and process and analyze and let my soul be edified!  My brother challenged us all to read the Book of Mormon this summer.  It's been great, even though I'm already behind schedule.  And I'm also reading Delivered From Evil… a comprehensive history of WWII. It's a beast, but if I only read ten pages a day, I will have it done by the end of summer.  I love it!