Ms Fix-it

Linnea has inherited a pair of slim jeans from Lucas. They fit her nicely now, but unfortunately they had a little hole on one of the knees.
Easily fixed though, with a Hello Kitty patch and the help of Mormor!

Step 1, place the patch.



Step 2, hello 'Hello Kitty'!



Step 3, iron for one minute.



Step 4, check how it fastened.



Step 5, and also do the back side.

Joppie!

Yay - I'm going to be a University student again! I got in!!!
1st of September, I'll be starting this! (There was over 3000 applicants for only 2000 spaces on each course, so I feel lucky.) Joppie!

Luxury

One of the things I appreciate most being home in Sweden in the summer, is all the lovely berries.



I love fresh berries! In Brunei we can very rarely get (imported) strawberries and blueberries, which are super expensive and doesn't taste of much. Apart from that, we don't have many berries.
At the moment here, I can just go out in the garden and pick lovely redcurrants, blackcurrants and gooseberries - and at a friends place today, I could pick cherries of the tree and my favourite... raspberries, mmm!
We can also buy (or self pick at the farms) locally grown strawberries in the shops, which are yummiest eaten just with milk, cream or au naturel.
I love berries!

A rare sight

She is almost 4 years old, our little girl, but her hair is still not growing with any great speed. I try and try in vain to put it up with hair clips and elastics, because I think it makes her look so cute - but she doesn't like having things in her hair, at all.
This, is a very rare sight:





Of course this hair do only lasted until the photo session was over...

Kladbullal

It's yet another rainy day here in western Sweden, so this morning the kids and Mormor made some yummy chocolate balls (or 'kladbullal' as Linnea says) for 'fika':

Last day in Stockholm

My last day in Stockholm we decided not to go in to city again, but just stay in the little suburb where Erika lives.
We took a long walk in the absolutely fantastic weather, had a yummy lunch and did a bit of the last shopping (yes, couldn't help myself..!).
Summer is so short here in Sweden, that everybody really enjoys it to the fullest while it's happening. It's so nice to see!

In the afternoon/evening we went for another jog AND I managed to keep running for a whopping 4 km this time! New record for me, yay! It was so nice, and such a nice run - I really, really enjoyed it!

We decided to do a picnic down by the water, and went to get some easy food from the store - grilled chicken, potato salad and fresh strawberries - mmm!







Food just tastes better outside!

Thursday in Stockholm

After another power shopping day in central Stockholm (it's impressive how efficient you can be, when you don't have two little ones to look after and consider at the same time!) we met up with an old (we're talking known-each-other-since-7th-grade-old) friend of mine, Jenny.



We figured, we hadn't seen each other since my wedding - seven years ago!! But, it's amazing, with friends like that, time is of no importance. It was just... normal, and same as always.
We took a long walk from the Central Station, passing the Opera House...



...and the Royal Castle:



We walked all the way up to the 'Moderna Muséet' (=Modern Museum) where they had cool live jazz musicians performing in their garden.
We had a lovely, healthy dinner there and had planned to stay on for a while; meet up with some of Erika's friends, have some wine, and enjoy the music. But I felt really rotten all of a sudden, and we had to cut our evening short, and just go back home.
A shame, but at least we got to meet!

First time is always easy

Last Friday I went for a jog, as you know, along the road by my parents place. I managed to actually run non stop for over 3 km, and I was so pleased with myself that the first time went so well.
The next day when I met my friend Katarina, she was happy for me, but also said "Well, the first time is always easy..." And my god, was she right..!

Yesterday Erika and I went running along her route up here in Stockholm (yes, kudos to me for bringing my running clothes even here!!) and I thought it would be really easy since it was a route I didn't know.
It was beautiful (...) along water all the way, but easy? No. I found it really hard to find some sort of rhythm with my breathing, and had to walk a lot more than I wanted to.

Ah well, we will do it again tonight - and if nothing else, I'm proud of myself for sticking with it, even during vacation!

Meanwhile, at Mormor & Morfar's house

While I'm in Stockholm living it out with my friends in the absolutely awesome weather, the kids are having a ball too with Mormor and Morfar.
They go to the playground every day, Lucas has learned how to play badminton and yesterday they went for a trip on the old museum steam train. Lucas told me over the phone that it had been really fun, and they got ice cream!











Lucas loves playing badminton!



Washing dirty feet, from running around barefoot:

Estocolmo!

I am in beautiful Stockholm!
Visiting my best friend!
Shopping, jogging (!), fika (=coffee breaks) - and chatting all night!
Without kids!

Yay!

Beautified

Being 35 years old, it's been about time for quite a while I learned how to apply make up properly. My usual beauty routine have forever only consisted of mascara, and on festive occasions maybe lip gloss!
My friend Erika and I have talked about for years, to do a make up class - and today we had booked in for a session at Make Up Store here in Stockholm.

We had an hour each with a make up artist, and we got to try all their different products, and I was shown (on request) how to do gorgeous party eyes.
We forgot to take a before-photo of me, but here I am during the transformation:





And this is how I looked all done:



Erika wanted to be shown a make up to apply for a wedding she will attend, here is before...



... and after - super babe!



Of course we purchased some of the products too, so now we are going to look this good every day! :)

Hide-and-go-seek

One of the kids' absolute favourite things to do, here, home and everywhere - is to play hide-and-go-seek. Neither one of them is really good at it but nevertheless, they love it!
Today they played with Mormor outside, and I caught Lucas counting - and cheating..!

Spidergirl returns

We spent quite a few hours in town this afternoon, in the central playground. It was sunshine, yay! For the first time since I've taken my kids there, it was actually full of kids! Fantastic!
There was even a few teenagers hired to entertain the kids, as their summer job. So whilst Lucas found a friend, and played some pole tennis...







... Linnea eyed up the face painting.



There was a catalogue with inspiration, and even though I tried hard to get her interested in a pretty flower, butterfly or a fairy face - she ended up with this:



"Hm... how is it again..?"



"Like this!! Swwooscchh!"

Wild strawberries

On my walks I had noticed wild strawberries growing along side the road. Today we went for a short walk, and the kids helped us pick some, that we had for snack afterward. Yum!

Along the road

I've been out now three out of four days on my vacation, walking/jogging the country road by my parents house. Even though I don't have much choice in routes - it's either turn to the left or to the right, it's really enjoyable. I love breathing the fresh, forest air; not sweat instantly I put my feet outside; listen to the birds and the insects while I walk and admire the green summer fields I walk along.




The Swedish summer evenings are really special. On one hand it's a bit difficult to get the kids in bed here, since it doesn't go dark until very, very late ("but Mummy, it's not bedtime - see, it's not dark!!"); on the other hand, I really enjoy the light evenings myself. Today I was out walking between 8-9 in the evening! Bliss!

Go fetch!

We did a quick visit to my Aunt this morning, to see my cousin and Irmeli again before they went back to theirs.
Linnea went outside and played with their puppy Harry, and he loooved her - because she never got tired of throwing the ball! Neither one of them was going to give up, until we had to stop the games to go home.





But even Lucas was allowed to get a turn:

Rain, rain, rain...

It never stops! It has been raining, nearly non-stop, since we arrived in Sweden. It's very, very boring - and very, very cold!



So, what do you do to pass time? Well, you paint, you play, you build Lego, you play hide-and-seek and you teach Mormor how to play UNO!
We played UNO over and over this afternoon, even Linnea know the rules and can play - and won most of the times..!

Garden games

The kids are not very impressed with this endless raining at the moment. All they want to do is to go outside and play, poor things.
Today they blasted outside every time there was a slight pause in the rain, and Lucas amused himself for a long while playing some garden games: