SKYNI

Did I mention that we had a lovely visit from my sister. It was fantastic that she dropped by and spent the weekend with us. It was really great to have family over and thank you so much for the visit. Kiss Kiss. Hope you liked it.

For those considering a holiday, please do consider a trip to the Baltics. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are really beautiful countries. and they are not so touristy.

Experienced one of the most amazing sunsets.

My 2 weeks summer vacation officially started on Monday, 20th July.

I finally get to spend some quality time with the kids and they have been having a great summer vacation so far with Nicke. I really missed out on a lot of road trips, visits round the country to see friends and just relaxing having fun. Unfortunately, July happens to be a difficult time for me to take vacation.

So this week, whilst Nicke is away in Florida, I took the kids to the safari in Stockholm, went to Junibacken and today we went to the Natural History Museum. It has been great listening to their thoughts, watching the silly prangs they do but not so great to intervene when things get out of control with them.

I cannot imagine what it will be like it if I leave these 2 alone. The only thing they do is fight and scream at each other.

So i invent a teamwork competition. They will score points and win prizes if they are nice to each other and help each other out.

So far after 3 days…2 points for Jon and 5 points for Linn.

Of course I am all prepared that this will not work.

Jon has started an interest in taking photos of his favourite toys…i think they are pretty cool.

In our usual tradition, the Walls went to Darlarna for Midsummer and celebrated the special festival the traditional way.

The weather was good surprisingly and this time round, we went to Tällberg and Rättvik. They are simply beautiful and we had a great time.

Grattis Elin on your studenten. We are so proud of your achievements.

May you enjoy your new adventures!

The kids have just finished their school term and are starting their summer vacation.

It has been a good year for the kids. Linn made good improvements in her reading. She needs a bit of pushing for her maths and she says she loves natural science.

I am proud of Jon’s achievements as his learning disability and focus issues can be difficult. But his handwriting has improved and is able to read some simple words. It is great that he is making small progressive steps.

Well done Jon and Linn!!!

We have built a little STUGA in our own backyard as a little ‘timeout’ place for Jonathan.

It is not big but i had lots of fun doing it up. We still need to paint it and all but definitely ready for guests.

Our humble STUGA is open for bookings in spring / summer. Winters are not recommended for obvious reasons.

Here we were in May, BBQ marshmallow in the forests.

Linn has grown to love the outdoors due to her scouting adventures. She takes after Nichlas.

Whilst Jon, just like his introvert Mother, loves the indoors, watching TV and just chilling by the bed.

So, our challenge is to strike a balance and do both indoor and outdoor stuff together as a family.

The family had a nice little vacation recently in Gotland, a small island 3 hours away from Stockholm by boat. We have not been there for almost 9 years now. Jonathan was just 10 months old when I first visited the island. Nicke lived there for 3 years and it remains special to him. Now that the kids are alittle older, he wanted us to see where he lived when he was a ‘hardworking’ student.

Gotland is even more beautiful than I remembered. We spent 2 days in the south of Gotland, listening to birds, enjoying the great outdoor and stayed in a farm which was great for the kids

We couldn’t have better weather. Sunny but windy at times.

Simply a fantastic stay.

To be honest, it is not easy to keep this blog going. You probably noticed that the postings are rather sporadic and i tend to blog after big holidays and special events.

During the ‘normal’ daily lives, we try to get through from one activity to another – out of bed, breakfast, school, catch the bus, work, catch the bus home, grocery shopping, prepare dinner, clean up, homework, household chores, bed. It is not mundane, but time just breezes by. It is already difficult to find time to do my own thing. I wish i have the discipline to write weekly to report on the kids’ progress and what we have been up to. But it is definitely not an easy task.

At times, i do feel like giving up but when i read through all the old blogs, it does bring such wonderful memories to me. I really want the kids to keep their childhood memories, how they celebrated their birthdays, what they did during their school holidays, their naughty pranks, the seasonal holidays and the sweet memories of spending time with their family. I have to keep reminding myself that this is the purpose of the blog, to keep these memories alive and to share these with our dear family and friends.

So i hope that i will persevere with this …to keep this blog alive. I do think that it helps to keep track of my English which is deproving quite a bit. Not that my swedish is getting any better. I am embarrassed by the numerous grammatical and spelling errors and for the lack of content at times. But maybe i shouldn’t care so much after all….this is OUR BLOG!!!

It was the Easter break and I took my last batch of official ‘paid’ maternity leave before they ‘expire’ in June 2015.

How should I keep a very active Linn entertained and happy for the week? We went to Junibacken, a fantasic playground at Marieberg, Tekniska Museet, and watched a really girlie Cinderella movie. It was fantastic and we had a lot of fun.

Time really passes and I do enjoy spending time with the children. It is very interesting to find out their new thoughts and interests. For example, Linn shared with me her fears as she gets older. It is not always easy to come up with the right thing to say but at least, we can try to conquer her fears and find a way to help her be positive with the changes that she will go through.

Jonathan loves to take videos and will always take my phone to do film his Godzilla movie. He gets angry these days when he does not get his ways. He spent a wonderful long weekend with Farmor in Köping and we noticed that he is calmer when there are ‘less to do’ and ‘less gadgets to play with’. In Jonathan’s case, ‘less is definitely more’.

This is a little city close to Köping. I must say that it is quite nice. We had a great lunch and walk around the city. Specially under the great blue skies.

The children love rock climbing but of course, i get a little anxious to see them climb so high.

Jon and Linn take after Nicke. They love the outdoor and love running around the forests, Unlike me. I have been living and breathing the city for too long. I just need to get out there more often and enjoy the clean fresh air.

I guess it is never too late…and i really enjoyed it.

We had a fantastic time this Easter at Farmor’s house. Linn went around the neighbourhood collecting easter ‘godis’. Her cousins and her dressed up in traditional costume and wore very interesting makeup. I did not noticed it but an old childhood friend of mine, Pang Kai Wei pointed out to me that they look like russian dolls.
True indeed.