Göta Canal

Today we did a little excursion north to a small village called Sjötorp. That's where the Göta Canal goes from Lake Vänern through Sweden to the Baltic sea. Göta Canal is often called "Sweden's blue ribbon" and is a popular tourist attraction. You can travel down the canal in your own vessel, or take one of the many cruises offered.
There are 58 locks on this stretch, 3 of them are here in Sjötorp.



We spent quite some time watching these locks open and close and we saw this red boat go through:



Here it's going into the first of the three locks:



Nearly there...



And here it comes!



We were also lucky to see the one of the big passenger ferries come through:





They were busy filling her up with water and emptying the trash:



The captain didn't look terribly stressed, smoking a pipe while he sailed in to the lock!





It got harder and harder to unload the rubbish as the boat sank in the lock!



We also went a few km away to visit Norrkvarn, where they had a little children's mini canal. It was pretty neat.



A play on words, pretty witty! (Normally it's 'puss & kram' = kiss & hug, this is 'sluss & kram', = lock & hug)



Mormor was there too!



There was a little church that the kids liked:



On the inside it looked like this:

Some crazy people I met today

Favourites

I enjoy the fact that the kids have developed their own favourites when we are "home" (we have many homes!) in Sweden. They have favourite places to go, favourite things to do - and favourite food!

Lucas' absolute favourite food is this, kassler = smoked pork loin:



To perfect the dish, it needs to be served with rice and loads of bearnaise sauce, and then he'll eat like a horse!





I was lucky the other day too, and got my favourite - pyttipanna (=something similar to bubble&squeak). You see, I don't crave much gourmet food when I'm home, it's these simpler dishes that I miss!

Green eyes

She has my eyes.

The summer hit

Normally the hit of the summer, at least on the Swedish radio stations, would be the recent winner from the Eurovision Song Contest. Last years song of the summer that got totally overplayed, was the Norwegian song 'Fairytale', with Alexander Rybak.
But it seems like this years winner (Lena from Germany) hasn't quite hit it home with the Swedes? Instead, it was this song we heard every time we tuned in to the radio, over and over again during our 2010 road trips:

Swedish souvenirs

I'm considering bringing home some Swedish souvenirs this year, in the shape of clogs. I've discovered this Swedish brand 'Swedish Hasbeens'; I really like the fact their soles are made of light wood, not dark like many of the other brands. You also know how much I like supporting Swedish companies, not only IKEA!
My only problem is - which ones? Help, quickly!

Fly away

We're thinking of Daddy who are in an airplane right now on his way home to Brunei. He should be approaching Dubai very shortly so we are awaiting some text messages to hear how it goes so far.

In a weeks time it'll be our turn. I can't say I'm looking forward to it much, that return trip is always the worse one, since it's a day flight.
Plus I'm ready to go, but not really ready to leave. Like always. Bittersweet.

The Princess and the Frogs

Linnea and Mormor found these in the garden today:



Two little frog babies:



Oups! Time to jump away!



Then she put them back into the pond, bye bye little froggies!

Sommaren är kort, det mesta regnar bort...

(="The summer is short, most of it is raining away"; free translation of a line from one of the more popular Swedish summer hits)

It seems like it's summer everywhere else but in Skara at the moment *sigh*. This morning back in the home town I woke up to grey skies and only 17 degrees again. Boo-hoo. Luckily sun came out a little bit later so I could go for a run, but it's not hot, really.

Mind you, we have been really lucky with the weather when it really mattered this holiday.
We had a great day in basking sunshine when we did Liseberg, 3 out of 4 days in Copenhagen were sunny and warm, our whole stay in Åhus was really great with super summer weather and now lately in Nyköping - four days of sun, heat and proper s-u-m-m-e-r!

I wouldn't mind though to have some sunny, warm weather this last week. It would be really nice to finish off the holidays on top, and I honestly don't think that's too much to ask. Come on sunshine!

Nyköping, part 2

We were in Nyköping last summer to visit one of Nathan's absolutely best mates, Sammy - and his family. It was such a great success that we decided to return these holidays as well, and we spent a few sunny days with them this week.
We were welcomed in style:



They had super summer weather on their side of the country; we could sit outside and enjoy our dinners...





... the kids could play naked on their trampoline...



... and spend hours in their pool...



We also went to their local swimming halls to enjoy some water slides and the wave pool; and Lucas tried a spring board for the first time:



The kids played with Maya's cool carpenter bench for ages, both thought that was great fun:



They also spent quite some time in the cute playhouse, having little picnics and pretending all sorts of stories!



At the playground the last day, Lucas very proudly finally made it to the top of the climbing net! Happiness!



Thanks Dunlop family - we had a groovy time!

A day for Lucas

I actually had no idea until I browsed a few of the newspapers online tonight - but today is "International Lefthanders Day"!
Lucas is lefthanded, so I guess we should have celebrated him a bit today! Well, he's actually ambidextrous, but he mostly uses his left hand, plus he writes with his left - so I guess that pretty much makes him a leftie?

I even discovered this special web page created just to celebrate this day, and it had lots of funny facts about people who are lefthanded. Did you know for example that:

Lefthanders adjust more readily to seeing underwater.

Lefthanders excel particularly in tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing.

4 of the 5 original designers of the Mac computer were lefthanded.

1 in 4 Apollo astronauts were lefthanded - 250% more than the normal level.

Some other famous lefthanders are: Barack Obama, Rafael Nadal, Bob Dylan, Lady Diana, Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Mc Cartney, Sting & Bart Simpson, ha ha!
I guess Lucas is in good company!
Happy "Leftie Day"!

Kolmården Zoo

We have spent the last few days in the eastern part of Sweden, at our friends the Dunlops' place in Nyköping. We've had absolutely perfect summer weather - it's been sunny and hot (yay!) and the kids have enjoyed their swimming pool over and over again.

Yesterday we did Kolmården Zoo, a park I had never visited before and one of the more well-known ones here in Sweden.
Although we saw elephants, zebras, gorillas, tigers etc - the most exciting part was the mini-zoo where the kids could go inside the enclosures and pet the goats, pigs and sheep. Linnea and the pigs:



Lucas and Maya:


Linnea chatting with a camel:



Checking out the savannah:



Linnea and a rhino ('s butt...):



We had a lovely husmanskost (=traditional Swedish cuisine) lunch, with great views:





And of course we saw their famous dolphin show, very nice:





There was also a huge playground where we spent quite some time:



Linnea and Jack:



And Linnea met Bamse (a popular Swedish cartoon character) and we saw a theater at Bamse-land:



All in all, a very nice day!

8

It's been eight years today - since the start of our life as we know it today, and the best party of our life!
Happy Anniversary Sweety!



(This was the picture on our wedding invitation!)

Summer complete?

The Swedes are wrapping up summer this week. Not only is the weather really bad and it's not looking like it'll get any better any time soon (yes sorry, my weather-optimism is fading a bit...) but it seems like all the Swedes are taking stock of their summer at the moment.
A lot of them returned to work this Monday, the summer TV-shows are finishing, the fall clothes are all out in the shops, school is starting soon - summer is finished.

Ah well, we still have a few more days together and for us it's still summer (even if the weather says different...); and still holidays.
We haven't completed our summer just yet!

Pizzanight!

Mormor is on an excursion all day today, so what do we do, us left behind?
We have pizzanight! It's Sunday after all... and they do have pizzas in Sweden too - AND pizza salad of course! Mmm!

In the countryside

I would've liked to have called this post "At the crazy cat-lady's house", because today we went to see one of my good old friends (that I hadn't seen in a very long time) and it turned out she and her boyfriend has eight cats! But as they were all very frightened (probably by the noise we brought with us...), we actually didn't see any of them, ha ha!

Linnea took another few shots, here's the view from their balcony:



And here's one just for you Paula!



The lived in an old family farm out in the countryside. While driving there, I tried to explain to Lucas what "the countryside" was, since he wondered which city they lived in, and how far it was to "the countryside"... Apparently, "the countryside" is a bit of a difficult concept to grasp...

Here's me and Elisa:



While we were having coffee and chatting away, the kids got entertained with an old classic, a Stiga ice hockey game from 1985!

Summer theater

During a couple of weeks this summer, a group called 'Charlies Teater' do a Summer Theater performance for the children. It's outside, but only if the weather allows it.
Yesterday it was a nice day, we were blessed with sunshine all through the morning and into the afternoon so come just about 3 o'clock we packed the kids up and went into town to watch the show.
Waiting for it to start:



The theater play was based on the childrens books about 'Bella & Gustav', four stories written by Eva Eriksson.



It was really nice stories and the actors did a good job; the kids seemed to have a good time. It was nice to do something different for a change, we're not really spoiled with cultural happenings for the kids in Brunei...

Yes it hurt...

(Lucas) - Daaaaaddyyyy, Linnea poked her tongue out at me!!
(Nathan) - Oh dear... *ironically* Did it hurt..?
(Lucas) - Yes! It hurt my feelings!