The iGeneration

Out of office

Suffering from a bit of "back-to-Brunei-blues".
Will be back in a few days.

Dalecarlian

I found this phone cover in Sweden and I knew I just had to have it:



It's a pattern inspired by the wooden Dalecarlian horses, one of the more famous symbols of Sweden. Feels like carrying around a little bit of home.

Reminiscing

(Sorry, this is a post in Swedish, consisting of all my status updates from Facebook during the holidays. It posted these mostly for my Scandinavian friends, sharing how I enjoyed the small things.
My posts all started with 'Lycka är...' = Happiness is...)

Lycka är...

- att motionera runt i Stenumsskogarna, med 'Sommar i P1' i öronen och solen i ansiktet!

- böljande sädesfält och nyfikna kossor!

- att vakna först och ligga och lyssna till den absoluta tystnaden.

- hundkex och klöverblommor i dikeskanten; barfotabarn och sommarskratt.

- sill, färskpotatis, gräddfil och gräslök - sommarmat!

- en skogspromenad trots lätt, lätt duggregn och lungorna sprängfyllda med frisk luft.

- smörstekta kantareller till lunch. Njöt varje tugga.

- goda vänner och ljumma sommarkvällar.

- trollskogar, egenodlade morötter och Max hamburgare.

- grillmiddag, marängsviss, jordgubbar, och 'Allsång på Skansen'.

- vackra björkstammar, knarriga grusvägar och nybakade kanelbullar.

- lyckliga, sovande barn efter en lång dag på Skara Sommarland.

- att ha en dag av väninneshopping framför sig, utan barn.

- att komma hem till två rara barn och stora kramar.

- doften av nyklippt gräs. Måste vara min favoritdoft alla kategorier, mmm, den och doften av syrener om försommaren!

- att spela krocket barfota i gräset en sommarkväll.

- strålande svensk sommarsol och bad i liten insjö!

- små fräknar som dykt upp på näsan, luft som är klar och frisk att andas och att det är ok att äta glass varenda dag! Hallon-Lakrits, mmm!

- tjejmiddag med vänner man känt riktigt, riktigt länge!

- koldskål med kammerjunker. Uhm!

- att känna sig hemma i många länder. Danmark er dejligt!

- Marabou choklad. Mmmm...

- att höra sonen sjunga med i "Sommaren är kort" framför 'Lotta på Liseberg'. Han är svenskifierad!

- att hänga ut härligt doftande tvätt, solen som står lågt över fälten och plocka sallad i eget land.

- den känsla som infinner sig när jag känner sågspånsdoften från cirkusmanegen... Åååhhh!

- att vakna till det högt smattrande ljudet av regn när man ändå hade en inne-dag planerad.

- att vara lite spänd och nervös inför en ny utmaning!

- att äta smörgåstårta till middag!

- att få Zumba igen efter nära fyra veckor!

- att sitta uppe och dricka vin och prata med goda vänner tills klockan är alldeles för mycket.

- att vara nöjd med sin semester.

An important call

I had a call from my bank earlier today. It started out with:
-"Hello Mrs Watson, we just need to verify some of the recent purchases on your card..."
So I thought, oh ok, here we go... This will probably take a while since I have done quite a few (well...) purchases the last couple of weeks:


(And that was just a few of the receipts...)

But no, the lady was just interested in one specific transaction - the £5 (that's only $10) charge for the internet connection in the hotel on Saturday..?
I wonder why those $10 were so suspicious..? Maybe it was the lowest amount I spent? :D

Home sweet home

We're back in the Abode.
We had such an easy and uneventful trip I was convinced our bags were not going to make it, I'm so used to drama on my travels, something had to happen. But no, we all made it back, bags and all!
Now to battle the jetlag...

Check!

Guess what I have been doing the past two days??



Well... I have finally ACCOMPLISHED something! :)
Yay for me!

Sawdust and laughter

Tonight Morfar took us to the Circus!
Circus Wictoria performed in a nearby town, just the thing for us! We met the clown before the show started.






He also did numerous performances during the show.





There was ponies, cats and camels performing. Linnea liked the cats the best.











Lucas liked the clown. He laughed so much. Especially when the clown got scared of a crocodile and fell into Mummy's lap..!











Me, I was just enjoying the smells of the sawdust, the cotton candy and the animals; and bopping to the cheerful rhytms of the circus orcestra!

Hursty-börst-börst

Swedish "cooking" at it's best:


Swedish 'Smörgåstårta' - best dinner ever! I had to wait until the second to last day, but hey, we made it! Mmmmm... and it was gooooood too!

Playground fun

Hanging at playgrounds is one of our favourite things to do here in Sweden. Yesterday it was a gorgeous summer day with plenty of warmth and sun (today it's been rainy and above all windy all day), so we went to discover a new one in one of the towns nearby. Really nice, newly made, with lots of different things to play on and with.






We are going to miss our playground fun, for sure!

Hard at work

After a long day on the train, we came back to Mormor & Morfar this afternoon. As soon as they had kicked off their shoes, the kids were hard at work building their new sets from Uncle Thomas.


Lucas built a Star Wars box, and Linnea a Toy Story one. It took them a fair few hours, but they both were right into it and very dedicated.


Linnea finished her Star Command ship all by herself, and it was from 7 years! I actually think it was the first set she built herself at all, not bad!

A day with the Dehlis

This morning it was time to meet up with some friends especially the kids have been very anxious to catch up with. They were ecstatic when we found out our families would actually cross paths in Copenhagen this weekend (their summer house is in north Sjaelland), and we could fit in a date.
We met up at the apartment they were borrowing to wait out the rain with some coffee and Danish 'wienerbrød', then we took a long walk along the lakes in central Copenhagen.













The Dehlis moved from Brunei to Dubai in November last year, and we have missed them lots since. Especially Lucas I think, he and Malthe were really close friends. This morning on the way over to meet them, Lucas said:
- "I'm so excited Mummy, I think I might cry when I see Malthe!"



















Well, turned out it was Anne and I that shed a few tears when the kids saw each other, reunited and gave each other the biggest hugs! They were so cute!





















We also had time to let the kids run around the playground for a bit. They had a blast, of course!















































It's a bit sad to say goodbye when you don't know when you are going to see each other again - but hopefully we will have time for a quick trip to Dubai this fall. Until then, we will relish the memories of our day together in Copenhagen!

Tivoli Gardens

After lunch we had a date at Tivoli with a couple of other friends, and their kids. Last time we were here was also three years ago.
Even though it was a Saturday afternoon during summer holidays, it was actually not too bad with the queues. We went on quite a few of the rides. We didn't go on this one though, one of the 2011 news - it looked horrendous, an upside down and rotating airplane going around and around!






Wise from our somewhat terrifying experience with 'Tranan' at Skara Sommarland, we stayed with the rather peaceful rides!
Here's Cecilie and Lucas in the classic 'Farfar's bilar', a ride that used to be MY favorite when I was a kid:









A little break to sugarfy the kids..:









Waiting patiently in line:








Katja and Dorthe:








It's really nice that all our friends here now have kids (or kids on the way) too. We were always hanging with this group of friends when we lived in Copenhagen, in kind of a "Friends-series" kind of way - and now there is a "Skygang" 2nd generation!
It's very cool!

We finished off this great day with a BBQ at the Viby residence in Frederiksberg, somewhat a summer tradition by now! Yummy food, some of their left-over wedding wine (!), nice conversation and many laughs.

Some of us got a cool ride back to the Metro at the end of the night! Thanks for a really nice day guys!

Lunch & Lego

We started our Saturday with a visit at the Carlsberg Silo, and Lucas' Godfather and "Lego-Uncle" Thomas, and family.
Only two out of the five kids were home, and first Lucas and Konrad were happily building some Lego together, but then Konrad escaped, put a tie on and went for a picnic/party with Linnea, while they played "Mummies & Daddies"... :)













We were even so lucky to get invited for lunch, and we sat outside on their big balcony, in the lovely sun! Fab!

Another day...

... another elephant!

We've had a fantastic day, and bedtime sure was no issue once we got back to the apartment! I'm pretty shattered too, so the rest of the photos will have to wait until tomorrow. I need some energy before another busy day.

Torture

By the time we walked down Strøget tonight to catch the Metro back to the apartment, this was closed.
Poor Lucas pressed his whole little face against the window for a long time...