Tuesday 31 July 2018

Dinner with Ralph

While in Skara we were also invited for dinner at another of my cousins. A lot has happened in his life since last summer. Not only have Johan and Beatrice started building a house, they've also welcomed a baby boy - Ralph.
Kids were enchanted, of course.


Summer walks

I went on many, many walks this summer too. I so enjoy those hours of time just to myself where I listen to podcasts, get moving and enjoy the green landscape. I just inhale it all. It's pure bliss.









Not all days offered blue skies...








Monday 30 July 2018

A musical meet

Today I had another old friend over, from my marching band (oh yes!) days. We both played clarinet at the Skara Music School some 30+ years ago, and were part of the very first Skara Paradorkester.
Annika continued to study music and became a teacher, moved up north, met her big love and I haven't seen her in many, many years.

This summer our plans worked out and she came over for dinner with her family, here her eldest daughter Wilma together with Linnea. Let's hope it wont take another 25 years before we catch up again!


And here we are back in the day, although Annika is just to my left next to that teacher so you can only see her hair..! Snazzy uniforms though! We still brag about how these were actually made to our measurements since we were the original Skara Paradorkester!

Saturday 28 July 2018

A day with my cousins

Today we were lucky to get to hang out with two of my cousins, and their families. First we went out in the countryside to enjoy some animals, and the peaceful living. Stefan and his wife Martina have just bought their own house which they will move into in September, and their plan is to one day be completely self-sufficient. They already have lots of different animals, one of the latest additions was this Landseer puppy Nana:


The farm geese:


Very new baby rabbits:




Homemade cake, with own eggs from the farm and own berries from the garden:


Intense board game:



And in the afternoon we went to see the new house of another cousin, Emma. They bought this last summer but didn't move in until just after we had already left in August, so this was our first visit. Sixten was happy to show us his new sandpit.



Emma, Linus and Sixten are coming out to see us in September, we can't wait!

Be still my beating heart

Oh my, how cute is this? 

 

Friday 27 July 2018

On the hottest day of the year

Three weeks into the holiday and apart from the very first day of the holidays where the heat kind of surprised us, we haven't used any of our trousers, jumpers or jackets. The weather is absolutely amazing, but you can't just go swimming every day...
We also had other things on our to-do list, like the yearly shopping trip to Ullared! We ended up going... on one of the hottest days of the summer... *Duh*.



We thought that maybe most other people would be away enjoying the hot weather, buuuuut, it seemed like many others had the same thought we did - and sought out the cooler temperatures inside the big shop. So many people! We were still in good spirits though - especially Linnea, this is really one of her favourite days of the summer! Here we are, ready to rock!


Even though I managed to loose our cart (yes...) at one stage, and only found it again after we had already picked up all the items again, argh, we had a successful day. Linnea got "lots of stuff", and Lucas got his gaming keyboard that he wanted. It was about 300 SEK cheaper here than anywhere else he had seen it!


Cute flower pots!


After mission complete we sought out our overnight spot for the night, as per tradition by the nature reserve at Sumpafallen. We went down to the rapids, and as it was so warm, the kids decided to go for a swim. We had to share our spot with the sheep, but they weren't too intrusive.



Spot "Näcken" (The water spirit), ha ha! 



Before we tucked ourselves in for the night, we sat outside and had dinner in the enclosed sheep pasture, and even played some cards while enjoying the sunset. Bliss.



The kids got to share the top bunk this year, while us grown-ups slept below. The kids really enjoy these overnights, Lucas let out a "Detta är sååå mysigt Mormor" (=This is so cosy), while she was making up all the beds.


Driving home the next day it was hot, hot, hot in the truck, the thermometer showed about 34 degrees!