Hanging with the girls in the backyard

While I've been recouperating, Tawni and Stella come down to hang out....


Look at that hair! Those Pig-tails are killing me!


Stella with my garden gloves on...my hands really aren't that big! She's just so little!

Happy girl at her little table...

Grammie pulls out the the squirt guns and Stella likes me to shoot the water into her mouth.

Totally Random Continued...

I don't know about you, but when I'm not feeling well, I try to focus on special moments or memories that make me smile. Fortunately, I have so much to reminisce about with my trip so that is what I have been spending the last 10 days doing. My leg is improving, but the doctors aren't doing very well at getting my blood under control. It's been frustrating to say the least and sometimes it really gets me down. But, I'm still fighting to get strong again and back to my very active life. Here are so more random pictures for you to enjoy....

Oh and the new classical editions on my playlist were inspired by our visit to Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wofgang Almadeus Mozart and also, our room in Venice at the Tribute to Music Inn was the Johann Sebastian Bach room. No, there wasn't a town, hotel or special place in Europe named Johnny Cash, I just remembered how much I liked this song so I added it!
Luv Ya!

Are you kidding me? Look at those two little pig-tails on top of her head!!

Stella looks like "Maggie" from The Simpsons, especially when she had her binky in her mouth.

The beautiful pathway through Henriks forests to his neighbor Niels' house. It is such a cozy walk and the trees smell so good as you walk along. Henrik planted and grew all of these trees, grooming this path along the way..


One of the small country roads we traveled on. Some of the roads were wide enough for one car only. This one was in Austria shortly after leaving Liectenstein.

A view of the alps and a mountain lake from inside the Neuenswanstein Castle, Bavaria

Stepping into the Courtyard of the Neuenswanstein Castle


A fish market along the winding streets of Venice...

Diving through Densenazo Del Garda, Italy

Cort and Michelle's new adopted dog Enterprise. He's a cutie!

My wheelchair escort! Rocky has been my taxi driver this week, taking me into the office for the few hours I have been able to work and picking me up when I've had enough. Again, I have the best friends on this earth!

Totally Random stuff...

Miss Smarty Pants checking out her new garden furniture at Grammies house

Michelle and Stella sharing rice. Don't you love how we have to open our mouths when we are feeding children? We all do it!

Stella stands up against the arm of the chair, because like her Daddy was, she always has to be ready for a quick get away.

Hummingbird in the bushes

For sure one of the baby hummingbirds

I'm a big girl now! I FINALLY weigh enough to be placed in a front facing car seat! She was still so light legally she had to stay in her infant seat which always faces backward. Her long little legs were so crunched up and she was so ready for mental stimulation looking forward. Stella and Tawni's life both improved drastically when we picked this up this week. Originally I had offered to buy it for her 1 year birthday. Instead I bought it on her 17th month birthday! HaHa. She looks so grown up!

Even though I didn't catch it in this photo, when Stella is without shoes, she ALWAYS walks on her toes. This doesn't surprise us because it's exactly what her Dad did. But he would curl his toes under and then run from carpet to linoleum and then back to the carpet! She has dancers legs already!

Not so sure why Grammie LaLa wasn't up running around being the normal crazy Grammie that she is. Stella came and laid her little head on the pillow where I've been resting my leg. If that isn't good medicine, nothing is!

Learning to climb in my chair.

A Sugar Smack party sitting up to my new table. She thinks she is such an adult!

I'm feeling better today and have actually managed to bathe, wash my hair, drive my car and do some laundry all by my little self. Now, I am wiped out and have resumed the laying down position that I have been doing for 7 days now.

I have some pictures that were on my camera card and I also took a short walk into my backyard today and took some photos of some baby hummingbirds that just learned to fly from the nest. Cort and Michelle have been watching the nest since I was in Europe. It's in a small bush in the backyard. The nest is barely 2 inches across. It's been amazing to watch them grow and now to see them flying. Funny, Funny story today. As most of you know I am petrified of birds. Absolutely petrified, even if they are hummingbirds. Well I'm out back with Momma and two babies buzzing around me and they would stop and look at me and then fly to another bush or tree. They make the strangest little chattering sound to each other. So I'm figuring they are as afraid of me and I am of them right? I happened to catch one of the flying about 4 feet away from me about 8 feet in the air so I hit the zoom then find the bird in my lens and get a fun picture. I took the camera down from my face and the little B**tard was 1 foot in front of my face hovering looking right at me!!! I screamed, crouched down and limped as fast as I could limp away. He scared the S*hit out of me!

Stella, well, this little angel has helped so much with my not feeling well. Tawni has been so good to take me to get blood tests on almost a daily basis and being able to be with Stella and see her smiles have made it so much better. Tawni takes her out of her car seat and tells her to go take my finger to help me walk. Stella does the funniest little gimpy walk like she's imitating my limp. It is so funny to watch. Let me tell you, when Stella walks into a room. All eyes are on her. Not only is she so adorable people are drawn to her, but she just has a command of her presence that says "okay folks, I'm here, the fun can now begin". Does that remind you of any one that any of you know?? HaHa... She does need some more Learning To Play Well With Others Training and Tawni is really working on that. She is so good at recognizing when Stella needs some special attention and she is so good to give it to her.

Muah!

Dinner at Niels home with Peter, Astrid, Henrik and myself.









Careful or you'll miss the entrance to the country house!










The Neushwanstein Castle in Fussen Bavaria, Germany. This is the castle inspired Walt Disneys castle for Tinkerbell and the Logo of all the Disney properties. It's actually a Schloss not a castle. Castle had a military connection. a scloss was a residence. We walked through a beautiful forest tp to the top of this hill and toured the Schloss. I bought Stella a very special music box from here.





Another view of the Schloss









A very old church that was actually in Denmark. The grounds surrounding it were amazing.








Hugs and kisses and many thanks for the calls, emails, flowers! and prayers this week. Some of you may not be aware that blood clots were discovered earlier this week in my right leg. I have not had a occurence of these for at least 15 years so what a shock it was. Right now I am at home taking daily injections in the stomach to thin my blood along with Coumadin which will be the medicine I will be using for the rest of my life. The kids have been great taking care of my every need. I should know more on Monday about how long I might be out of work.

I am anxiously awaiting Henriks arrival again. He says 3 weeks sooner if he can. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

I'm adding a few more pics mostly for me to see again!

Love, ME

Reality Bites!

I love this picture! It reminds me of all the good things on our trip. It was so relaxing for me, as Henrik did all of the driving. I sat in the passenger seat, window down and feet hanging out. This picture was taken outside of our hotel in Telfs, Austria at the Greek sidewalk cafe where we had drinks and dinner.

Most of the following pictures were taken in Northern Italy as we headed from Venice towards Trento, Italy and into Austria. The landscape here was full of vineyards and olive trees. Shortly after crossing the Austrian border we came to Innsbruck which is situated so beautifully in the Alps.

Every chance we got, we ate and drank outdoors at fun little places. Some were neighborhood bars, others were modern located in the center of town.

Have you noticed my complete transformation from perfect hair and makeup to the shower and jump in the car with wet hair and drive with the window down look???

Oh, and check out my beautiful Venetian Glass bracelet from Henrik.

Another little roadside watering hole in Italy!

On approach into Innsbruck, Austria

More of the Austrian countryside

A beautiful vineyard in the Italian Alps.

Lake Garda is Italy's biggest lake. It took us over 3 hours to drive from the southern point to the top along the eastern shoreline.

Back home in Tindbaek, Denmark. the beautiful brick wall that protects the courtyard of the farmhouse.

There is so much to tell and show, and I'll try to put some slideshows together at some point. I seriously had to pinch myself to make certain I wasn't dreaming the whole thing. Henrik drove us around for 10 days and about 2000 miles. The final list of countries that we visited was Denmark, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Leichtenstein. What a treat. In the beginning I told Henrik that after being locked in a car together for 10 days, that we would either kill one another or share a wonderful experience. Other than a couple of "intense negotiations", no one died and we discovered that we have even more in common than what we knew before.

So, it's back to reality...the good and the bad. Of course it was great to see my family again and to see little Stella get so excited to see me after almost 3 weeks. She is growing so fast, she's a toddler now, not a baby. It's just about time for another one if you ask me!

Love,

Glenda