Grinda, again

We took a short trip to Grinda last week, an island in the archipelago where we spent a few nights two years ago. a last trip before our summer holiday ended. We spent way too much money, but we had a great time.

The same beach we went to last time:

This little blueberry eater:

Camping on Ljusterö

We had our first camping adventure as a family of four last weekend. We took advantage of Sweden's allemansrätten - "the everyman's right" - to camp in the forest on an island near us. We took a car ferry over to the island, drove until we found a beautiful area, then walked around until we found a place to put our tent. It was, by all accounts, a success.

I have better pictures to post eventually, but here are a couple snapshots.

Our home between the woods and the water (the bright area in the back middle of the photo is the water):

On the granite slab just behind the tent:

Watching fish, throwing pinecones, and enjoying the view:

Our evening nature walk to the end of our little peninsula:

August's first sail

Our neighbor, Henrik, took us out on Sunday for a quick sail. Agnetta, his wife, took care of Leif while the rest of us enjoyed a beautiful, calm morning on the water. I was worried August wouldn't like it - he hasn't enjoyed his previous boating experiences - but he really enjoyed himself. I was surprised that he was so comfortable. James had a primer in Swedish sailing terminology and signage, and I hoisted the jib. Now I'm working on ways to get us more invitations out onto the water...

He fell asleep sitting on my lap on the way out, so we laid him down below; he promptly woke up, of course.

Fishing for banana peels:

The way home:

My beach babies

I keep meaning to tell you how much we are loving our new place and the nature we're immersed in. We go for nightly nature walks, looking for slugs and snails and toads and ducklings. August loves it. Saturday it was finally warm enough (finally!) to go to the beach. (Our beach isn't quite ready yet, they are still landscaping the property, but this one is a short walk down the path from us and almost visible from our balcony).

Leif loved feeling the sand in his fingers (and between his teeth), and August loved running in and out of the water. It was such a joy to watch them playing and exploring outside.

Ahhh, life in the Swedish countryside...

The boy in the background, probably a bit older than August (maybe three or three and a half), was running back and forth in the water, pulling his boat behind him. There was another boy, maybe three or four years older, lying on the rocks and casually watching him. Shortly after we arrived, the two boys packed up their things and walked off down the path. They were at the beach alone! Totally normal in Sweden, but I'm sure their parents would have been arrested in the US. And we would have been reprimanded for letting our little boy play on the beach naked.