Tag: Birthday

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Summer is coming to an end…

Summer vacation is slowly coming to an end, and Adriana has been busy wrapping up the last two summer camps: cake baking, and tennis. She enjoyed both – especially tennis, where the got to play with the daughter of our former neighbors.  Now it’s time to start thinking about all the summer homework assignments incl. the dreaded book report.

Bella spent the week in Honolulu together with Andrew. She’s not back at Santa Clara college until mid-September. Pia, on the other hand, was first back. She moved up to Varsity cheerleading and lost her captain position – at least for this year. Not sure she’s missing it. 

As a Christmas present, Ella got a ticket for an outdoor music festival called Outside Lands. This year was their 10th anniversary. Seems to be a bit of an older crowd, so among the list are many “mature” bands. Still, good times and transportation luckily never got to be an issue. The week before, she spent the week in New York and on Long Island seeing two of her friends from school.

Olivia, John, and Adriana hosted the McGregors at Casa Bellamia in Carmel Valley. They are a British couple with three children that used to live in Burlingame. They were fellow St. Catherine’s parents, and it was good to catch up after they moved back to the UK in 2014. As usual, the kids spent almost the entire day in the pool and had no trouble falling asleep.

Before leaving for Carmel, Adriana, Pia, Olivia and John celebrated Penny’s 75th birthday together with Adrian  – and Penny, of course – at John Bentley in Menlo Park. It continues to be one of our favorite places to go to dinner. 

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CPH/CDG

John flew to New York from San Francisco while Isabella was picked up in a car from school. They met at Newark Airport and quickly checked in at the SAS counter – each with their own row of seats. January and February remains a great time to travel if you like room to spread out a little bit… They got to Copenhagen very early in the morning and met Mariane for breakfast at the Hilton – just across the street from the airport. It was good to catch up – after all it was more than 2.5 years since Isabella and her had seen each other. 

Mariane and Isabella at the Copenhagen Hilton

Once breakfast was over Isabella and John set course for the hotel. The room wasn’t ready so they explored Copenhagen in fairly decent weather. Ending up back at the hotel around noon, they watched the many famous – some only in their own mind – people who showed for the Copenhagen Fashion week. Among them Gerald Butler who was visiting to endorse Boss perfume. Meanwhile the room was ready and an afternoon snooze seemed like the right thing to do. The evening was spent with Nikoline, Albert, Pia and Carl at their home in Værløse. 

Saturday started with breakfast at Meyers Deli. A great little breakfast place with nothing but fresh and organic food. Lunch was spent with Hans Ole and Trine at Bistro Royal followed by a visit to some of the famous Copenhagen shops. Nothing was so tempting that they had to buy it so it was back to the hotel for a quick refresher before heading out to have dinner with many of the friends Isabella has met over the years. Good opportunity to celebrate Isabella’s 15th birthday regardless of the lousy service at Cocks & Cows. 

Isabella & John left the hotel early Sunday morning. Isabella wasn’t quite sure why, other than she’d been promised a surprise… They ended up in front of the departure gate for Paris and flew down to the French capital for the day. Fantastic weather and they slowly made it by foot from Notre Dame / St. Germain to the Eiffel Tower. Along the way they stopped to leave six roses at the place Lyne’s ashes were spread. Somber moments but good nonetheless. The Parisians and many tourists were out enjoying the spring weather and it was not until the end of the day that all the rain that was in the forecast finally showed. Back in Copenhagen around 9:00 p.m. Both slept well with no broadcast of the Super Bowl available to grab the attention all night. 

It was time to leave the beautiful D’Angleterre hotel Monday morning and after check-in it was back to the Airport Hilton to meet Birgit and Mogens for breakfast. It was nice to catch up with them as well. Isabella and John parted ways at the Copenhagen airport. Isabella flew back to New York while John headed direct to San Francisco. But not until some tax free candy were purchased as well as a new set of B&O earphones that Isabella received from the family. Big smile on her face and very thankful. Many treated her to little gifts all weekend and she was lucky to get spoiled so far from home.