Tuesday - no pics.

Ok, so the camera is out of action for the moment so there will be no new photo documentation, but here is a re cap of todays events.
I got to sleep until 8.39!
8.39 is unheard of.
Jenny's boys didn't have quite the same idea and had woken up at 6am. Not so great, considering that the food is down here, in the main house. I think they ate through their entire supply of emerency travel rations, like raisins and dry biscuits.
After breakfast, the children went tobogganing and ski-boarding. Yes, that's what they did.
On grass.
I really wish I had had a camera, as they were wearing wooly hats with their summer clothes and bikinis.

Kajsa has been dying to play tennis, so when we ran in to friends at Barnbadet, who said that their 6-year old just started tennis lessons... well, she was allowed to give it a go. Therefore, the plans to all go into the city was a no-go and Jenny and the boys took a taxi to Arlanda. The rest of usl went down to the tennis club, with pancakes, carrots and cheese, for afters. Axel decided that he was dying of starvation and needed lunch after about 5 minutes. So he ate 4 pancakes, and then I had to stop him, or the girls wouldn't have gotten any at all. Kajsa enjoyed playing and did really well, considering she has barely seen a tennis raquet in her life. Vera and Axel go to help with collecting the balls, which they were very happy to do.

It was pretty windy down at Barnbadet, but we braved the elements and the kids had lunch and then played in the sand with some other kids. We also had ice cream and went on the swings for a while. Axel and Vera are very good at sharing together, and our little thug is quite sweet when calling for his big sister to come sit with him. I wonder if it's possible to get those great tyre-swings to put up at home? They are great!

We went home to tidy up a bit and then go visit mormor. This is when things got bad.
The car key is gone.
Missing. Nowhere to be found. Not here. Anywhere.
We have looked and looked in all the most likely, proabable, unlikely and unprobable places.
No key.
I will not give up quite yet. There is a day tomorrow too. Maybe - and I'm grasping at straws here - some little boy thought it fit very well in his little bag and brought it to Paris. Or maybe it will just turn up tomorrow, in a place I'm sure I've looked at 5 times already.
Keep your fingers crossed, please!

Monday

It was a beautiful Harvest Moon on Monday night. Unfortunately, the camera isn't quite up to late evening pics of the moon...


It was a nice, though a fairly long day, so while the children had a picnick dinner at the Hen House, Jenny and I had some wine and checked out a few things online, while iTunes were playing smooth music. Ah, the joys of modern technology!

Axel and Rupert did manage to fit into the very small tub. The batteries died just as I tried to take another picture with Rupert looking our way, so we just get to see his curls.

It's freeeeeeezing!

1. Princess stories. The first one was read with expression, the last one a little less so...


2. A boy and his ice cream

3. On the beach. Look at the clouds. Very Swedish

4. Make a puddle and jump

5. Astrid, Kajsa and Jenny.

Today was a pretty typical Swedish, summer's day, with high clouds, a few showers and ice cream. We had to wait for the garage to send somebody for our friends broken down car and Jenny was the star-mum, playing games and reading stories. After a lunch of sandwiches - surely a first for our lot - we went to Barnbadet and had ice cream and of course, swam. It wasn't warm. At all. The children ate their food with varying success and then they quite happily went to bed.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a little warmer.

We have guests

Today our friends from Paris arrived to stay for a few days. From Skellefteå, way up in the north of Sweden. Axel, Astrid and I went to pick them up at the central station, while Kajsa and Vera got to hang out with their new best friends, the neighbours... Joy of joys, they got to go to the Älgö Tennis Tournament and watch Björn get beaten in mixed double, while eating pancakes with jam and whipped cream.
As well as our guests, another friend with her two children showed up so after an initial meatball lunch for the non-pancake eaters, they played and played and played. When it was time for Sophie to take her two kids home, her car wouldn't start. We lent her mormor's car and hope fully she'll be able to sort it out tomorrow. And we hope mormor won't mind.
After dinner we went to the grocery store - as you do at 6.30pm with 6 children - where I managed to leave my wallet, passport and mobile phone in the cart when we were done, and drive away... but since this is a Nice and Orderly Suburb in the Nice and Orderly Sweden, somebody named Martin had found them and was on his way over with them, when I rushed back into the store.
All children gratefully collapsed in their beds and fell asleep on contact, except Kajsa. Hopefully she'll sleep in tomorrow.

Hard work

You can't tell, but I have cleard most of the yard!





We had a much better day today. The weather was less great and when we were in town to make mormor's apartement look nice for her return home, it rained so hard all the car alarms went off!
It's also The Tall Ships' Race in Stockholm this weekend. Had I brought my camera... They were stuning!

Bloody awful day

Despite these cheerful pictures and the very coveted sunshine, it was a bloody awful day! The children have taken turns with wailing like banshees since 7.30am. Mummy is totally beat, especially since the last one didn't stop until just before 11pm.
Kajsa was very happy to have a play date with some friends from swimming school, though it was cut short due to miserable siblings...
It's another day tomorrow!

At Martin & Caroline's house

Today we had a lazy morning as usual, TT trying to finish the new HP, as well as find tickets for a cruise to Helsinki. After the usual pasta-with-broccoli-and-beans-lunch, we packed ourselves into the car and went to visit Martin & Caroline, Nora and Wilhelm at Tynningö. Very exciting, you have to take a ferry across the straight (5 minutes) and then a gloriously indulgent day. We had ice cream cones with marengues (?) and sprinkles, berry crumble with cream and vanilla custard, coffee and lemonade...
Nora was a little under the weather still and fell asleep, but the rest of the gang enjoyed themselves/ourselves in the sun.

For her fans...

We give you Mumsan, Astrid, AstaBasta, Astele... she looks good enough to eat!

Only Vera...

Poor Vera - she has no luck with mini beasts in Sweden. They ought to respect that she's an expert, with a certificate to prove it! She got a tic on her eyelid and of course it got very swollen... We did see a nurse, who said to give her neurofen and ice it. A few days later, she's as good as new.

Road trip

3 weeks ago, almost, we set out in the big family car to go to Sweden. It went better than expected, probably because our expectations were very low...



Leg 1: from London - Harwich. 2,5h



Our cabin on the ferry. It was fairly high seas, and twice we had to pick up a sleeping Axel from the floor!


Vera made a friend...

...and so did Kajsa!



From Gothenburgh to Stockholm we scored. 4 out of 4 sleeping!

July in Stockholm

I got to spend the the weekend in Stockholm with Kajsa, Vera and Axel and we had a great time. I took a couple snaps on my phone and it was really a perfect couple of days.