last bit of fun before baby boy thoren arrives...

well, it is really coming down to the line.  the baby is due the 10th of april, so it is just a waiting game now.  the girls are so excited to have a little brother.  and i am always a bit nervous about the delivery, but is going to be fun to have a baby around again.

the österströms came over for an early spring picnic and a bit of playtime.

 farmor and farfar came up to give the belly a good luck belly rub!

 and the girls are just waiting, waiting, waiting...

 but zoe keeps losing her teeth.  wonder if she will have any left before her little brother comes!

farmor and farfars last days on the beach

all good things must come to an end, including farmor and farfar´s vacation.  however we had the most fun we could in those last days.  lots of laying around, eating good food, swimming, and relaxing.  not a bad way to spend your days.

eijla seemed to think that licking zoe´s face tasted better that drinking their coke.

 and of course dinner that last night was crab, which satay had the guys fix up super yummy for two of his favorite customers.

 thanks for another great trip farmor and farfar.  looking forward to another one next year!  safe travels!

goan adventures with farmor and farfar

while farmor and farfar visit we make sure to do hit all the fun activities nearby, including the anjuna market, where  you can buy almost anything...

 and the local chaudi market, with their yummy and oh so cheap vegies.  zoe loaded up on her beloved snack, peas.

 and a visit to the nature reserve and butterfly park.  see, we did not spend all day, everyday at the beach!  :-)

life at the beach

the days slip easily away into weeks when things are this good.  get up in the morning, put on your swimsuit, maybe go for a swim or a walk.  throw yourself down in the restaurant and wait for some yummy food.  perhaps some snuggles while you wait.

 then maybe a swim again, then soon it is time for farmor and farfar to take all the kids for ice cream.  yum.

 then again you can pass the time taking silly selfies with some strange hot guy on the beach.

 showering off the saltwater after some morning fun in the sun. perhaps your showering facilities are not quite what they are at home,  but that doesn´t really detract from the experience.

 then it is time once again to chill in the restaurant and await your lunch.

 there are tons of creative outlets, including building a small fairy town in front of a nearby bungalow.

 then maybe some exercise with living weights before it is time to enjoy a tasty dinner once again on the beach.  really, one cannot complain.

games and education, on the beach...

life doesn´t stop just cuz you are in paradise.  zoe has been really good about keeping up with her school work while we are here.

 

even thomas has gotten in the mood and is reading.  that only seems to happen in india (when else would one have the time?)

 

and what is an evening on the beach with good food and sand between your toes without a friendly game of uno.  i think zoe and farmor are cheating cuz they keep winning!  zoe and eijla have decided they want to name the baby uno.  not so sure about that one.

love that there is a fireworks celebration nearly everynight. it is fun just to celebrate nothing but the fact that we are alive and life is good.

Off to india!

off on a new adventure.  this time a lazy month in the south of goa!  farmor and farfar hanger med för ett par veckor med!

well behaved children on our long flights!  we were lucky today! 

Julafton! time for presents!

Tomten har kommit och hälsat i röke igen i år!  with tons of presents for our princesses and even some goodies for us boring adults.  super mysig with lots of fun, yummy food and dear family.  happy holidays to all!

did i mention way too many presents?

 

and farfar even got an ipad from farmor, which eijla was happy to show him how it works!

a real weekend

i think this just might be the first weekend in two months that we both have been off work and home.  so nice to have a real weekend. (okay so thomas had to work sunday night, but we will take what we can get).  spent saturday cleaning, and playing in the garden,  the girls admired our first tomatoes of the season before they downed them.  yum.  cannot wait for more!

zoe loves picking the sugar peas in the greenhouse.  nice and fresh and oh so yummy!

and sweet little eijla, she always wants to help water the plants, but luckily they are finally getting big enough that she does not destroy them with her vicious water methods so much anymore.  still, i adore my little helper.

since thomas has been working very long nights, his clock is all off, not to mention he is sleep deprived, so he slept most of the day, but he did come out on rest and snuggle with the girls on the lawn in the afternoon.  mysigt. then on sunday farmor and farfar were able to come up for a short visit.  they brought their newly made fläder saft with them, so we filled our freezer with delicious concentrate.  mums.  after dinner, it was time for a bike ride.  zoe wanted to show them what she could do.  she is not quite there yet, but oh so near riding by herself without training wheels. (and yes, auntie zita, she does love your black outfit afterall, stubborn monkey!).

eijla was pretty proud of her bike "riding" skills as well, as that is just what she does, ride.  has not quite figured out to pedal forward and often tries to do so backwards, which of course brakes the whole operation.  farmor did a great job pushing her along.  always nice when they can come up for a visit.  but tomorrow it is back to work.  boo hoo.

sweden´s 4 th of july is on the 6th of june

today was sweden´s national day, so we were all free from work.  so we convinced farmor and farfar to come up for a visit. they have not been able to come up since we were home, so we were pretty excited to show them what we have been up to.  eijla and farfar chilled in the hammock and traded snuggles.

 zoe showed farmor her new sparkly butterfly tattoo, and well, um, snuggled.

 after lunch the ipad came out; fun for the whole family.  zoe taught farmor and farfar how to play her games,  right now she is really into these games where she buy and sells and takes care of fish.  she is an expert at it.

 then for dessert there was pappa´s homemade blueberry sorbert.   it was a pretty popular item, i am sure eijla would have put this bite in her mouth if farfar would have let her!

 and with blueberry sorbert, comes purple mouth!  yeah!

thanks for coming up and visiting farmor and farfar, it was a real treat.  kramar.

morsdag, the real one.

our weekend of fun continued with a visit to farmor and farfar. since farfar has not been feeling so well since his operation we have not been able to see them so often, so it is a real treat with farmor and farfar snuggles. plus it was swedish mother´s day, always a good excuse.

 zoe of course found flowers,  lots and lots of them...

 we even stopped by and played with farmor´s lambs for a bit. 

 then there were of course more snuggles.

it was a lovely weekend with great company and yummy food.  not to mention i got some lovely plants at the hög greenhouse for mother´s day, including a good sized wisteria, which thomas has promised not to kill this time.  zoe got me a really beautiful petunia, i will have to and get a pic of one of these days.

here come the lambs...

we are readjusting to life back in sweden.  but heading down south to visit farmor and farfar every chance we get.  super excited that he is home from the hospital, and of course the girls thought it was great checking out the first of this year´s lambs.  a cute little fuzzy white guy. 

 ended up having a little mini foto shoot with the girls in the sheep enclosure.  i cannot help it, i think my kids are adorable!

thanks for the sheep visit, lovely company and good food, farmor and farfar. it is always a treat to visit bjärred.

farmor and farfar´s last days in india

we decided farmor and farfar could not come to india without riding on the train at least once,  so we got up way too early and were dropped off at trivandrum train station, where we then had to wait for our train.  but all went well, and we piled on into a sleeper wagon number six. it was only a couple of hours, but there was plenty great scenery and buse, mostly from the boys!

 the afternoon was spent relaxing on alleppey beach with a bbq served on the veranda to top off the evening.  then a lazy morning and a bit of a swim.  we headed to our favorite restaurant Hot Kitchen for farmor and farfar´s last lunch.  we ate and ate and were all boogasprang!

 then it was off for a short backwaters trip on our own little boat.  very chill and relax, except for trying to keep eijla from falling overboard of course.

 farmor and zoe spotted all kinds of birds and found them in their bird book.

plenty of kingfishers, which just happens to be the bird of india, go figure.

 one last shot of the happy, young couple just before they leave us all alone in paradise...

then it was back to the hotel on the beach, and last minute packing, dinner on the veranda and our last game of UNO before waving good bye to farmor and farfar´s taxi as it drove them off to the airport.  it has been a brilliant three weeks with all kinds of fun and adventures.  thanks for sharing it with us farmor and farfar, we miss you already!  stora kramar.