a party weekend

thursday was valborg´s afton, a holiday here in sweden celebrated by lighting huge bonfire in the middle of the village park. we have made it a bit of tradition to spend it with maya, tom, and monica, but this time we decided to scale things down a bit and just had a small fire in our garden. it was very cosy, and much warmer than standing down in åparken freezing. we even roasted marshmallows, which was a first for nearly everyone there. the girls preferred just catching their sticks on fire, rather than the roasting, but a good time was held by all. it is always a good time with the österströms!
then on saturday was a big thoren family birthday party. four members of the family had turned the big something-O, so they decided to put all them together. els-marie turned 70 this year, anita turned 60, and both rikard and pär turned 40, so it was a 210 years birthday party.
it was a lot of fun, and great to see some of the family members we had not seen for years. there was gaming early on, zoe took her turn at a game called boule. love this action shot. she actually managed to throw those balls, which are a bit heavy, a few meters.




then of course there was the visiting of the sheep. some of the sheep just had lambs, so it was very exciting for the munchkins.








then there was the kiddie disco to round out the evening. zoe, emma, and moa are busting a move here. it was a great time watching them dance. zoe would wiggle her bum a bit, then run into the snack area and grab a couple of chips and then run back and wiggle her bum some more. she kept up the cycle for hours. she was so happy to play with her cousins again.