Whilrwind Europe Tour

I just got back from a whirlwind European tour -- well, at least two countries worth in just barely over 4 days.

I spent a few days in Denmark, speaking at a technology conference. I spoke about open source software design about how to make giving something away for free make money for you.

A few of my employees (Erica and Janae represented below) came to the conference because they were also speaking. It was great to have our little Bellingham studio represented.

Speaking was not the highlight of the trip; the highlight was definitely the once-in-a-lifetime visit to Noma. Noma has been rated the best restaurant in the world THREE times over the last five years. Getting a seat at the restaurant is like winning the lottery.

I just got freakishly lucky because one of my friends and subcontractors for my technology company hit the F5 button a million times to refresh once Noma opened up their reservations for the month and we got a table for 4 in their 19-table restaurant.

The experience was, of course, out of this world. The food was inventive, interesting and amazingly healthy. The chefs don't use any "tricks" like butter or cheese so it was easy to eat 25ish courses and not leave feeling too full. We felt satisfied but not miserable. My favorite dish was definitely the seaweed chip covered in fresh flowers, followed by the smoked quail eggs. The strangest dish was the onions with ants (yes, ants) on them, followed closely by the ebilskivers (small donut like things) with grasshopper sauce on them. Yup. Ants. And Grasshoppers. And I paid for this! =)

Technology is the best; I got to Facetime or Skype with Lily and Jamisen almost every day. It felt so good to see our little ones happy and healthy while I was gone.

I also took a quick trip to Norway for lunch with my family. It had been a while (7 years and 30 years!) since I had seen some of them so it was a blessing to have them take time for lunch.

Here I am with my Uncle Knut Johnny, Auntie Anne Margrethe and Auntie Wenche (yes, same name as my Mom). 

My cousin Martin and I. It was also wonderful to see cousin Jannike and I think I may have convinced her to visit the States and stay with us for a bit! =) Fingers crossed. It would be fun to have our kids play together.

We also visited Uncle Arne Henning's grave and Mormor and Bestafar's grave. That was meaningful and extremely special to see where they were laid to rest. The plots are in two gorgeous cemeteries, very peaceful and beautiful.

Finally, Aunty Anne Magrethe and I climbed to the top of the Norwegian Ski Jump (for the Olympics) and man were our thighs burning when we hit the top!

I was so lucky to get upgraded to first/business class on the Seattle to JFK to Copenhagen flights so it made things much easier for the travel. It's great to be a premier member with Delta. Thanks, Delta!  The short lines in security and customs with that really helped with a tight connection at JFK. I ran so far and so fast in that airport that I got 7000 FitBit points for the day. By way of comparison, on days that I run 3 miles in the morning and have a normal day with movement and kid time and office time, I average about 11,000 points.

It was great to wake up to the kiddos in the morning - despite a very early morning arrival home - and be showered with kisses and hugs. Our little ones light up my life.