midsommarsafton

cannot believe that it is already midsummers.  time is just flying by.  in preparation of heading to the annermalms, we made a big salad, and our little mini quiches.  eijla was a great help with the quiches.  she was so focused, just check out that tongue!

then of course we had to pick wildflowers.  midsommars is just not midsommars without them, luckily they grow on the side of the road almost everywhere around here, but you had to be quick between the massive downpours, ah swedish midsommars, rain, rain, rain.

the girls hopped into the pool almost as soon as we got there.  good think it is heated, or they would have been icicles. 

after a dip and some food, the girls decided they wanted to go on a wildflower hunt, zoe volunteered me as the adult chaperone, which was my honor.  luckily it had stopped raining but there were plenty of puddles to splash in.

here are the girls with their find,  enough daisies to make daisy chain crowns for everyone.

rebecka found a leash that was small enough for eijla baby puppy, and she had great fun taking it for walks all afternoon.

then it was time to decorate the midsommars stång.  everyone added their own little unique touches.

zoe, our little flower princess, helped to make sure amanda´s crown was just right.  amanda sure was patient with her, i think it took zoe 15 minutes until she was satisfied with her work. :)

due to rain, and food being ready, we missed the dancing around the midsommars stång this year.  though maybe christer and jessica got up in the middle of the night and did is just for fun when the rain stopped!  ha ha.  after a delicious dinner it was snuggles and dessert.  i think eijla wants to go and live with rebecka!

valborgsafton

valborgsafton has come to röke once again.  the annermalms drove up for the fun.  after a yummy bbq, it was heading down to the big bonfire, where the kids ran around like crazy and wore themselves out.  the lokal school band even played a few songs this year.  took me way back to my years in middle school jazz band!

 then it was home for roasting marshmallows.  zoe and rebecka were quite the team, zoe found the perfect sticks for us all, and rebecka carved them just right, made the marshmallows taste even better!

fall harvest, birthday party, and missing teeth

yep, the summer is over. there are freezing temperatures at night.  so we harvested all we could from the greenhouse.  here is eijla proudly showing off our last pickings this year...

then we headed south for the weekend again.  for a lovely evening with the annermalms, though we all we so tired we crashed way too early.  but the next morning was a birthday party for mathilda.  eijla and zoe joined in the festivities.  apparently rebecka and eijla won the popcorn game!

then there were goodies and ice cream cake, you  know eijla and her little sweet tooth loved that!

 then today we lost tooth number two.  zoe had let it hang so long, that when she finally let me pull it out today,  it barely touched it and it fell out.  pretty cute smile she has now.

 

last day of vacation

our last day of fun.  we stopped off at monkey tonkey land and the girls built themselves a bit lego fort.  which they then destroyed. 

 then we just had a few hours of waterslides and splashing about. 

 eijla even insisted on going on some of the slides all by herself!  "kan själv!"

this mini vacation was a blast,  it was so much fun and the annermalms were great companions.  but then it was time to head home again.  definitely going to have to try and do this again sometime.  glad we have such water babies!

LEGOLAND!

an off another couple days of adventure.  this time to legoland, which luckily was literally just across the street from lalandia.  and legoland is definitely full of legos.  everything was made of legos.  zoe posed in front of the lego zebras...

 then thomas and eijla blew me kisses from a lego boat.

 the first ride of the day was great fun for the girls with frogs sits that went up and down and up and down, and they laughed the whole time.

 then there was wild roller coasters, made of, yeah, you guessed it... legos.

 i finally made it to mount rushmore, but not sure it counts cause yeah, it was made of legos!

 however the merry go round was NOT made of legos,  might have been the only thing in the park that wasn't.  eijla had a great time going on a ride all by herself.

 

then there was a 4D movie.  it was pretty fun.  though it feels a bit strange to have the characters in a film spray saliva at you!

 had to get a pic of the girls with lego scubaman!

 there was even an amazing aquarium with huge amounts of fish, sharks, rays, and lego scuba divers...

 the crabs however were not made of legos...

 there was even time for an ice cream break.  eijla and thomas shared what is one of the biggest ice cream cones i have even seen in my life!

 in the lego wild west there was fun canoe rides,  here are thomas and zoe about to get splashed!

 zoe even went panning for gold!  look how much she got.  she even got it "melted" into a medallion.

 more rides...

 and even a picnic lunch and a concert...

 zoe and thomas danced to brian rice...

 there were pirate water fights.  poor jessica against these four crazies.  hmmm, i wonder who got soaked!

 then there were tons of mini lego lands.  they had huge villages, copenhagen, los angeles,  and much more. they even had a star wars exhibit.  the details are amazing.  little wedding groups in front of the churches,  tiny cows on the hills.  it was incredible.

 time for some fun for the little ones at the lekland.  zoe and eijla were beginning to run out of steam at this point.  it was a lot to do in two days.

 had to get "our" pic with the statue of liberty! (made of legos, of course!).

legoland was much better than i expected. we had a great time, and there was so much to do.  the kids had a blast.

splish splash with the annermalms in denmark

so away on a little vacation with the annermalms to lalandia in denmark.  two days in a row we splashed and slid down all kinds waterslides. and oh, were we pretty even under the water...

 

or were we????

 we had a great time.  the water was warm, the kids were happy and the parents were relaxed. here we have crazy christer and his gorgeous mermaids...

 zoe and rebecka had to share eijla, but they managed to find a balance...

  mathilda played in the waves...

 

and we somehow managed to get all of us in a photo together.  check out the  crazys slides it  the background.  they were a blast.

 

 and of course we had to stop and snuggle with the goats on the way back to the cabin.  which was great.  plenty of room for the eight of us.  tomorrow awaits legoland!