The week Christian came to visit

This past week flew by in a blur! With Julie's brother, Christian, in town we were busy from sun-up and way past sun-down cramming in as much as possible. We tried our best to let him experience our every day American life and to see the things our city has to offer. I had so much fun playing host mom/tour guide. Here's a recap of some of the things we did!

Thursday, April 21st
Christian spent the day with Julie at school-- just what every 21-year-old guy wants to do when he visits America, on his Easter holiday no less! But it was good for him to see what Julie's been up to while she's been here and he even ended up with homework. More on that later. That evening we had planned on going to the Royals game so he could experience some baseball, but the weather was terrible so we lucked out that our hockey team had a play off-game instead! Christian's a hockey player (he even played on Denmark's national team!) so he explained a lot of what we didn't understand!

Friday, April 22nd
With the little kids and the Danish siblings, we all crowded into the car to go visit Derek at work and then headed over to Oklahoma Joe's BBQ, which was the one place Julie really wanted him to eat. Kansas City is known for the having the best BBQ and Oklahoma Joe's is definitely my favorite. Christian was pleased as well, as his comment was "This is the best sandwich I've ever had." That night we grilled burgers and then Julie and Christian went to a birthday party, where they serenaded the birthday girl with the Danish birthday song!

Saturday, April 23
The day started off with the Easter Egg hunt at church. After lunch, we headed up to the city. Christian was eager to tour the World War I museum (the only one in the country) and then he and Julie went to the top of the Liberty Memorial tower for the great view of the city. We headed over to the Hallmark Visitor's Center next and even go to see a Danish greeting card in the international display case! Before heading home, we stopped at Yogurtini. YUM!

Sunday, April 24th
We got all dressed up and headed to church for Easter Sunday. Christian was a good sport as he was succumbed to posing for pictures!

We headed to Wal-Mart on Sunday afternoon. As a Dane, he was excited to go as he's just heard so much about this empire called Wal-Mart and as an American, I generally have a bad attitude about going into the ginormous store! Christian was even more excited as he realized exactly how much cheaper items are here in the states than at home. Later on Sunday evening, we had friends over to hang out and Christian got to experience making and eating a S'more!!!

Monday, April 25th
This was a busy day! First, Christian had to go back to school... to teach a class!! He is studying mathematics at the Univeristy of Copenhagen (actuarial mathematics, to be exact) and so Mrs. Dahmer invited him to teach Monday's lesson to the Pre-Calculus class. I would shoot myself if any vacation I took involved pre-calc, but he seemed to enjoy it and did a great job!

Per Christian's request, we had more BBQ for lunch. This time, Arthur Bryant's. He agrees with me; it's good, but not as good as Oklahoma Joe's. Then we headed over to do some shopping at the outlet malls, where he and Julie were super excited about the strength of the Danish krone to our dollar- specifically at Tommy Hilfiger, Forever 21 (for his girlfriend), Converse, and Banana Republic.

Before leaving the shopping center, I took them into Cabela's. In the parking lot, I told them both that this store was unlike any store they'd ever visited. I'm getting a good chuckle just remembering their faces as we walked in... to see the mountain (literally) of stuffed animals that used to be alive, enough camouflage to clothe an army of hillbillies, and a wall full of hundreds of guns. The guns, specifically, were amazing to him as Denmark (and most of Europe) doesn't have the same appreciation for our second amendment.

Tuesday, April 26th
This is the day Christian had to fly home. But on our way to the airport, we did stop at Dilliard's for one last item to take back home for his honey. Julie was super bummed to say good-bye, but reality is that she will be on that same journey in just a few weeks. We heard that the flight out of Kansas City was delayed so he missed his connecting flight to Frankfurt. But it all worked out when he ended up traveling to a different route; he was only three hours later than expected and he got a first class seat on his trans-atlantic flight. You've seen how tall the guy is- I am so sure he totally loved all that leg room, especially on that long flight!

We had such a good time! I has taken a couple days of recovering to get all rested up from our super busy week. Julie, Christian, and any one of their family will forever be welcome in our home! And anybody who ever wants to visit, actually!