family summermiddag.

zoe and moa thought that they would start the day out right with a bit of a swim to combat the heat.
all the grown ups after a yummy meal of smoked salmon and ny potatis. no idea what we were talking about, most likely complaining about the heat. ha ha.
the kids loved the puppies. farmor and farfar still had four of them this weekend, so they got to come along as part of the family.
as the oldest cousin, emma is constantly being mobbed by one or more little girls who adore her and always need her for one thing or the other, but i managed to get a shot of her enjoying a little peace and quiet of her own.
here she is hiding out with linea, enjoying the shade.
thomas had the brilliant idea to do a tips runda about the thoren family history. we divided up into families, and even though towa couldn't make it, and kajsa was too busy swimming, rikard and elliot aced the questions, well at least compared to the rest of us (anita and ingvar didn't count as they had a whole generation on us!).
here els-marie and lars are laughing together at how difficult they made the questions.
cilla, "yah, yah, easy as can be, we got these questions, don't you worry!" (i won't mention with place they came in!).
almost all the kids in the puppy cage, well, at least we knew where we had them...
all the girl cousins being silly in the garden...
and a little bit of lar's flan with ice cream and strawberries was a yummy way to end an enjoyable day...
thanks to everyone for coming, we had a great time. and thanks for all the lovely presents and plants! happy summer 2010 to you all.

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.

last day with farmor and farfar...

so we decided to treat ourselves to the k.l. aquarium today, they had so many fish! i got in trouble a few times, cause i kept stopping to take pictures and the rest of the family started getting a little tired of waiting for me.but then we came to the tunnel. i could have stayed in there all day, it was so amazing. we had huge sharks and rays and napolean wrasses and well you name it, swimming around us. of course on the one good family shot i got in the tunnel (the lighting was very challenging) there were no big fish swimming by at the moment. but trust me, there were lots.
still cannot believe all the things we saw, it was about what i could see if i went diving 1000+ times and was really lucky! then there were the seahorses! okay, so i felt sorry for them as there were quite a few living in such small tanks, but at the same time, it must have been nice for them to not have any predators. so i have to put up a picture of one of the little guys.
we had lunch at the central market and then treated ourselves to a foot massage while zoe took a little nap. then it was back to the hotel for final packing and then sadly it was time to give a warm send off to farmor and farfar. safe travels!

checking out the big city

so now we are in the big city doing big city things. of course high on the priority list was shopping, so anita could get some last minute presents, and there just happened to be a big pool of doctor fish. lars and thomas were brave enough to actually try it. thomas could not stop laughing for the first couple of minutes, apparently it really tickled.then we headed over to the petronas twin towers, the tallest twin buildings in the world. after listening to basically a big comercial about petronas, they let us ride up on the elevator and spend 10 minutes checking out the views from the bridge the connects the two towers. it was a
pretty cool view.


we ended the day with a tasty dinner in a steak house (no, i did not eat steak). tomorrow is farmor and farfar's last day. we are going to miss them.

good bye bunaken, it was a blast...

today we left bunaken village. it was not an easy thing to do, we had had such a great time there, though we are looking forward to being able to properly dry all our possessions out again here in kuala lumpur. our last few days there seemed so quite without acem, they are really missed. but we did manage to get lars to go on 5 more dives, here is thomas and him checking out one of the reefs at bunaken.
then our last night the "house band" came out and played again. they had put on a great session for emma's birthday earlier in our stay. we sang and had a great time till we could not hold our eyes open anymore.
zoe said her goodbyes to the staff, but i know that she is really going to miss her ica. ica is the one holding zoe in the pic. she usually watched zoe while we were out diving, and i am sure zoe did not like her just for the chocolate she got from ica while momma and pappa were away, but i am sure it helped.
the boat ride was a bit bumpy but not too bad for those of us who got to sit inside. poor angelina got soaking wet standing on the bow while navigating the way to manado. hope she doesn't get sick again!

so now it is just the five of us hanging out in k.l., trying to stay out of trouble. going to be really quiet when farmor and farfar leave in just a couple of days.

our last hurrah with acem

today was acem's last day with us, so since they are flying tomorrow, there was no diving today, instead we all headed into manado for a little adventure, angelina, the female half of the owners of bunaken village, where we are staying came with as a bit of tour guide. blond heads and blue eyes are still a bit of a rarity around here, so i think that moa and zoe recieved way more attention then they would have preferred, but they were good sports about it. we rode in horse taxis, check out the shopping areas, bought a few souvenirs, and did our best not to overheat.after a few hours we all crowded into a small mini-van called a bimo, and headed back to the boat.
zoe decided to do a little bit of posing on the boat before we reach the island.
after the hot day in manado it was great to get back and cool down in the pool. and finally on acem's last day here, zoe started swimming around the pool with only her puffers. no more squeezing my thumbs until the fall off! way to go zoe! we are proud of you.
then of course it was time for the final group shot. bye bye acem, we are going to miss you! it has been a ton of fun!

a day with the girls

did some diving this morning, but decided to stay up with the girls and cilla in the afternoon. we were going to go for a walk down the beach, but then of course, it being rainy season and all, it decided to start raining, heavily. so it was back to the resort, but i did manage to get a couple cute shots of moa and zoe on our very short walk.
while waiting for the rain to stop, the little ones thought it was great fun to empty our foot rinse bucket with their shoes. buse flickor!
even emma decided to get in on the fun.
then i had to put this shot up, not only for the reflection of the girls in the pool, but zoe's attire. there are ladies that come along the beach selling bracelets and sarongs, etc. and one day we were down checking out there wares when i look up and there is zoe with a hot pink sarong around her neck, smiling sweetly saying,"me här den sarong mamma". what could i do. so we bought it for her, and ever since she has been walking around like a princess in it. also note the socks. we finally found a use for zoe's socks in the tropics. they have that grip stuff on the bottom and around the pool was super slippery tiling, so after a few head meeting tile accidents, cilla came up with the great idea of socks!
i guess it was a lot of work today playing hard, the girls passed out early, and we all thought it was so cute that zoe had her arm on moa.

some water fun

living it up in my dive dreamland. everybody seems to be getting the dive fever, even moa and zoe, those crazy girls.took emma for another bubblemaker session yesterday, went really well, she even managed some really nice summersaults.
then, in the evening, anders, cilla, anita, and i went on a mandarinfish dive, since we never really saw them at lumbalumba. We certainly did here! i even got a couple of shots of them mating. fishporn, you gotta love it!
then today we finally got zoe to swim in the pool without holding on to somebody, she was not happy and it was less than a meter, but it was a milestone! tomorrow we head over to bunaken for our last days of luxury and family.

saying good bye to lumbalumba and a family portrait soaking wet

we left lumbalumba today to head to the other side, lembeh strait. since it was our last day we took advantage as much as we could. there was diving and a crazy fun time in the pool, where we had quite the time trying to get a family shot, but i think we finally nailed it.

then ended the day with a bit of a party saying good bye to the dive staff,which involved sampling many the crazy local moonshine varieties, can't say we will do that again! now we are staying at a super fancy hotel, kungkungen, in one of my dream dive destinations. yipee!

north sulawesi tour day

yesterday we all went on a tour around the northernmost area of northern sulawesi. how is that for north? we went to a market, but we were a little late, so most of the stuff what closing down. then we drove around the countryside a bit, until we arrived close to the top of a volcano. we had to climb the rest of the way up a muddy path, but we all made it. it was really foggy while we were there, but just as we were about to head back down, it suddenly cleared up and was beautiful, you could see clearly all the way down into the crater.
after climbing back down we headed off to find some gado gado (a delicious local dish made with vegies, tofu, and peanut sauce), but we never found any, but luckily we did find some food, then we drove through more amazing countryside, and around a big lake with fish farms.
i have a million and one pictures, but i will control myself and only torture you all with a few. we were so many people, the big thoren family and guides and family members of guides, that we had two cars. thought this was a sweet moment of zoe waving at the car behind us that had emma and moa in it.

we even went to a pottery village, where anita got to check out all the local techniques. we arrived back at the hotel around 1930, hungry and tired, but happy. of course lumbalumba provided another delicious meal. then today we went diving, and i finally got to see pygmy seahorses again. when they say pygmy they mean pygmy, tiny, miniscual, maybe the size of zoe's little fingernail, and then they are hiding out on a coral that looks exactly like them. you take your eyes off the seafan, it can be quite difficult to see them again. i will close with a shot of one of the little guys.