Searching for trolls at Sigesta Gård

Today we went to a beautiful farm a couple short (car) ferry rides away, Siggesta Gård. We go less for the animals and more for the food and attractions. August (and Leif) played mini-golf for the first time today! And we walked a short forest trail searching for trolls.

The troll hunt:

This guy would have much preferred to start the afternoon at the cafe. The trolls terrified him!:

But this guy had a great time, leading the way on the trail and finding all the trolls (sorry, didn't get any good pictures of them!):

James got him to kiss the little animals and high-five the trolls:

Mini golf was a success if you measure by fun, but not if you measure by actual amount of mini-golf played:

This was after lunch, so Leif was totally happy to join in:

We didn't let them get this close to each other with putters again (no one was hurt):

More pics from our camping excursion

Way back in July, at the beginning of our 5-week family holiday, we went camping on Ljusterö. I'm finally getting the rest of the pictures from that trip posted.

Tomorrow, August goes back to dagis, James catches a flight to Baltimore until Saturday, and Leif and I go back to doing whatever it is that we do all day. Summer's over, just as it's finally getting started weather-wise. I suspect it's going to be a rough transition for all of us in the next few days, especially August. This morning after we read some books in his bedroom, I told him that tomorrow he starts school again, and also that James is going on a trip for a few days. He seemed fine with it, but then he walked into the living room and started crying.

We are so lucky to have had this time together--five weeks of hanging out as a family, going on trips, going to the beach, being at home. It's a part of the Swedish lifestyle that we hope to take with us wherever we go.

Now, back to camping.

Notice the falling carrot!

A day on Dartmoor

We're back in Sweden now, but I have several days of posts for you from England. Last Saturday we went with friends to Dartmoor and did a beautiful walk. It was a gorgeous day and we were thrilled to be outside.

August entertained our friends' baby by roaring at him like a lion:

The little figures right of center are me and Leif, and left of center are our friends:

Can you see how much Leif loved being there?

Superdad:

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:

Beaches in paradise

I keep asking James, "what is this magical place we live in?" The weather is phenomenal, the scenery is beautiful, edible wild berries grow on every path, roses grow wild in the forests. Families play together on beaches and in parks all summer long. Our neighbors are always happy to see us. Of course we know the other side to this paradise - the immeasurably long winters, the relentless darkness, the closed-off Swedes. But for now, right now, we are happy.

This is one of three beaches within a few minutes' walk that we've been frequenting.

Both kiddos stuffing their faces:

Oh, autumn!

Every time we have a nice day, I think, "Oh, it's our last nice day of the year! Let's get outside and enjoy it before winter comes and we're mired in grey funk and gloom for another six months!" Tuesday was one of those days - warm(ish) temperatures, sun shining, the last leaves still on trees. In the morning we all went to the local park (where Augie attacked other children with his hockey stick), and in the afternoon we took another long walk around Långholmen. We feel so lucky to live where we do and have a park like Långholmen in our backyard. It's always fun to take Augie to a playground, where there are swings and slides and sandboxes, but it's also nice to go somewhere outside where he can run free and explore, and use his imagination to make his own games.

I've had trouble narrowing down the photo selection for this post, so I'll just put them all up.

"Boo!" - we played peekaboo around this tree forever!

Autumn in Stockholm

I blinked, and autumn is here. No, that's not quite right: I birthed a baby and then cocooned for a week, and when I emerged, autumn had arrived. We went on our first family walk this afternoon, to the top of Långholmen, and admired the leaf-littered trails and colorful trees. Ah Mah left today, so now it's just the four of us. It was so helpful having her here, and I know that Augie loved getting to know her; he's been calling for her all afternoon! I imagine he will for the next few days, even though we explained that she was leaving and she said goodbye. It was great for us, too, to see the relationship building between them and to see him get attached to someone other than us. It was also great to have our tummies filled with delicious food every day! Thank you for visiting us Ah Mah!

We're having so much fun with Augie these days, who's an absolute delight and a real funnyman. I'm hoping to write more about him in the next few days, as I haven't done a proper update in ages. We're reveling in the little boy (person!) he's becoming just as we're reveling in getting to know the little guy who came to us last week (name coming soon!). As exhausted as we are, we also know how blessed we are to have these two little souls with us.