Unexpected Fun at Ulriksdal Slott

We still pinch ourselves when we stumble upon treasures like this, just a short drive from our home and just minutes away from the city of Stockholm. The Ulriksdal Slott was built in 1640 in an area now known as Ekoparken -- the world's first National City Park, established in 1995. Ekoparken extends from the heart of Stockholm north to Ulriksdal and it encompasses 27 square kilometers of green parkland and beautiful buildings like this palace. The grounds were laid out in the mid-17th century and showcase some interesting sculptures.

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On this past Sunday, we toured the grounds of the palace and enjoyed fika (Swedish for coffee break).  We saw other people enjoying the day on their bikes, on horses and walking their stick-carrying dogs.  We were surprised to come upon an enclosure of sheep grazing on the grass.  They were surrounded by a flimsy fence that we discovered was supposed to be electric according to the signs, but actually wasn't as Graeme could attest to after having grabbed onto it without getting a jolt.  The sheep never looked up at us, despite the kids calling.  They just kept at their task, busily munching the grass.  Were we ever surprised when one little sheep slipped his head under the fence to get a taste of the clover on the other side then followed through with her whole body!  There was an escapee!  None of the other sheep even looked up to notice this risk-taker.  The five of us looked at each other and laughed, then wondered what would happen to her.  Would anyone else notice?  Here she is, the bold escapee, carrying on as if she wasn't aware of her freedom!

   

We looked at each other with a bit of guilt and wondered if we should assume some responsibility for this situation, but live and let live! So we carried on our way. We explored the vegetable gardens and other statues then found a quiet place to sit near the water at the front of the palace. The kids played with rocks and Kris and I sunbathed in the strong late summer sunshine.

 
This day proved to be another great find that we added to our evergrowing collection!

Simple Pleasures

The novelty of having apple trees in our yard and blueberries in the forest near our house has sent me into a baking frenzy.  You may be able to tell that we are not the kind of people who regularly grown their own fruits and vegetables, so the sight of firm, red and tasty apples hanging from their branches makes us giddy! 

So on any given day, the oven is preheating, the scent of cinnamon is in the air, and our fingers and teeth are blue.  Now, if only I could invite you over for a taste! 

Reading Between the Lines

We really enjoyed our hike in Riddersholm last spring, and we hoped to recreate that idyllic day this past weekend.  I dug out my guidebook and searched for an area close by that would meet our needs.  I settled on Angarnssjoangen, described as one of Stockholm's finest bird lakes with much to offer everyone, including "enticing walks along shoreline meadows, treeclad heights and grazing land".  Whoa, back up a minute, did I just write "grazing land"?  What the heck does that mean?  According to my Oxford dictionary, graze means cattle feeding on growing grass.  I should have read that description a bit more carefully on Saturday morning!

We packed a hearty lunch and slipped on our sturdy shoes in anticipation of our walk.  We found the promised nature centre (closed) with no problem.  There were a few cars in the parking area, but other than that, it was pretty quiet.  We left our lunch in the car and started out on the trail, hoping to complete the 6.7km walk around the lake before enjoying our picnic.  The beginning of the trail was well marked and there was evidence of lots of use.  We soon came upon an observation tower and climbed up for a look.  The lake stretched out before us and when we were quiet enough (not very often) we could hear the birdlife.

  

The kids occasionally complained of their hunger, but for the most part they enjoyed trudging through the woods.  Our suspicions that this was not a typical "walk in the park" began to be aroused when we started having to step around large, fresh cowpatties and when the trail route had us climbing up and over electric fences via these handy ladders as in the photo.  After we crossed over a dam at the outlet of the lake we entered a pasture occupied by large, munching cattle.  We skirted around the small herd and had a laugh at the two calves that had their curiosity piqued by these five strange creatures in their midst.  I did note that the docile creatures did have horns, but they completely ignored us and we were quickly out of their field and on our way. 

I must admit, though, that that close encounter with such large animals did get my blood pumping and my adrenaline flowing.  I had devised an emergency plan involving tossing children over the electric fence and rolling myself under the lowest wire.  When I saw how little our presence affected the cattle, I had a laugh at my overreaction and put it out of my mind. Elise demonstrated to us that she was pretty uncomfortable with the situation as well, but she bravely carried on.

Well, it turns out that my evacuation plans were not too far off the mark.  As we continued on our walk with rumbling stomachs and grumbling children, we began to doubt that we were going the right way.  Surely it couldn't take us more than an hour and a half to walk the 6 kilometers?  We backtracked and found another way that turned out to be the right way and we resumed our walk full of confidence that we would soon be enjoying our lunch!  A narrow boardwalk led us over another electric fence and into another herd of grazing cattle.  This time, though, our path took us extremely close to the animals!  We could hear the grass ripping from the ground and the grinding of their teeth as they consumed their feed.  I repeated my mantra of "Keep walking, don't look at them, just keep walking" to the kids and to myself, hoping to keep us all calm.  When the path turned a corner near what we hoped was nearing the end of the walk, we were confronted with a cow directly on the boardwalk, mooing menacingly at us and standing her (his?) ground.  This was too much to bear...Elise was overcome with the stress of it all and began to cry loudly.  Renee began moaning about being lost and never finding our way home again.  Graeme said, "What's the matter with the girls?  It's just hamburger!"  Kris was sure that we could all climb over the electric fence and carry on our way on the side of safety.  He started to lift Graeme up into the air in preparation for the toss, when I stopped him.  I envisioned the kids safe on one side and us on the other, unable to scale the heights of the fence.  I suggested a more realistic solution to backtrack and cross over some fields in the hopes of reaching the nearby road that I could hear.  Kris wisely agreed with this plan and we turned around.  I barely restrained myself from running away from those large animals, and wouldn't look back for fear that we were being chased!  

We made our way to the road and began trekking along in the most logical direction.  We stopped and asked for directions at a farm and were reassured that we were heading back to our car, but were still about 1.5km away!  When we neared the crossroad about 500m away from the car, Kris left the kids and I at a charming church and he ran ahead for the car.          

Finally, at 2pm, we sat down to have our picnic.  Interestingly, when the kids were scared by the cattle, they actually lost their appetites!  By now, their hunger had returned with a vengeance.  The lunch that I had made hours before had never tasted so good!  We all had a good laugh over our cowardliness and made the decision never to hike in cow fields again!!  You can bet that the next time Kris gets the urge for a walk in the woods with his family, I'll be reading all the fine print that my guide has to offer and Elise will be making arrangements to spend the day with a friend!

Elise turns Eleven-teen!

Some time has passed since Elise's 11th birthday, but the celebrations were stretched out over the last few weeks so I'm just now getting a chance to write about it. Elise turned 11 while we were spending the weekend in Karlstad for a wedding. We celebrated in a low-key fashion with one small gift at breakfast (the pair of earrings from Aeropostale that she just had to have!) and her choice of dinner out that night. The real party happened back in July, in Canada, with six friends and the "best birthday I ever had" at the cottage on Charleston Lake.

We finally got around to giving Elise her breakfast in bed this past weekend, but still she remains present-less! We have decided to give her a cellphone this year and she desperately needs a new bike. Elise is being a good sport about the slow arrival of her gifts but enough already, let's get this birthday behind us...she's almost 11 and 1/12!!

School Days Are Here Again!

Although there isn't a hint of fall in the air, and even though I don't feel the urge to tackle new projects and start scratching items off of my to-do list, the new school year has arrived and there's no going back! It feels strange to be gearing up for fall activities and discussing homework and gym clothes in the month of August. I feel cheated somehow, knowing that if we were in Canada, we would still be enjoying the hot, sticky days of late summer. But...your day will come! And when it's early June, and we're finished school...whoo-hoo! (Or "boo-yaah", as Graeme would have me say!) So, it's back to stuffing backpacks full of healthy snacks and signed consent forms, back to rushing around in the morning with a toothbrush in one hand and a hairbrush in the other, back to raised voices saying, "Hurry up, Elise" and "Graeme, stop bugging Renee and go wait by the car"!

We've started at a new school this year and we are heading into the city to get there. Our routines needed to be orchestrated like a battle plan so we could maximize the amount of sleep the kids could get in the morning and coordinate the pickup of three children at three different times each afternoon. I can't wait for our routines to fall into place and for the newness to wear off! The kids quite like the morning commute...digging their passes out of their bags...people-watching on the subway and bus...standing, bracing their legs as they sway in the crowd of commuters. The days are long, and they are happy to return home for a rest before the afterschool activities begin.

Graeme has started this year off in a quiet way. He hasn't made friends as quickly as he did at his old school. It seems that the other children are also quietly adjusting to the new school and new language for some. It's only a matter of time, I'm sure! For now, having two good friends in the neighbourhood is enough, he's not lacking for social time. Renee has begun to display an amazing confidence that has made this transition very smooth for her. She has approached this new situation head-on, and even having to wait by herself at the school for 90 minutes until her classes start wasn't daunting. Elise has found herself in a class full of bubbly, happy girls, just like herself. Her teacher looks like a surfer and rides to school on a skateboard, but we think he'll keep her on her toes. They're off to a great start!

So, while I'm tacking up schedules and labelling gym clothes, measuring last year's running shoes and rinsing out tupperware, hunting for pencil sharpeners and filling out forms, I'll be thinking of you back in Canada. Enjoy your last breath of summer and make the season last as long as you can!

Our Visit to Varmland

We spent 3 nights in the sunny city of Karlstad last week. From our home, it is about a 3.5 hour drive. We really miss having the van when all five of us go anywhere together! With one car seat and three growing children squished into the rear, it is a recipe for aggravation! We packed a lunch and stopped at a roadside picnic area to enjoy it (very Swedish--they don't do roadside restaurants). Kris and I regretted forgetting to fill up our thermos with hot coffee! We made our first stop in a lakeside town called Karlskoga, about 45 minutes outside of Karlstad and in the area of the country known as Varmland, which translates as Hot Country. They do receive lots of sunshine here, and it is common to see the typical Swedish red-painted barn-style houses and fields full of cows and horses. We planned to have a visit with Kris' former boss from home, a Swede named Jonny and his wife, Inga-Brit. They welcomed us into their amazing home on a steep hill over a lake, the name of which escapes me. Kris and Jonny got caught up and discussed common acquaintances, and the kids explored amongst the rocks and gardens on their property. We spent the afternoon enjoying their gracious company, then scrambled back in the hot car to finish our drive to Karlstad. We were booked into the Scandic hotel and the kids were thrilled to discover an indoor pool there. Kris and I were apprehensive about how the five of us were going to get any sleep in the tiny room, which contained only two twin beds (movable, at least) and one murphy-style twin bed. Somehow we managed! We left the car at the hotel that evening and walked a short way into the downtown. We ate dinner outside at a pizza place and enjoyed watching the local pastime--cruising around town in refurbished cars, windows down, music playing! We said NO! to ice cream (promising some the next day to celebrate Elise's birthday) and walked back to the hotel, swatting at mosquitoes and jumping out of the way of cyclists the entire way. On an aside, we almost lost Graeme to one of the many cyclists zooming along the waterfront pathway....He let go of Kris' hand, and like a flash crossed over into the bike lane to get a closer look at something that caught his interest. A woman had come up silently behind us on her bike and she had to brake hard to avoid hitting Graeme, who never noticed her but stepped directly in front of her when Kris yelled his name. She was obviously startled and Graeme cried at the close call. I hope he learned his lesson!

We spent Friday touring around Karlstad. We explored the city park called Mariebergskogen, a child's wonderland of animals, play structures and beach. We grabbed a hot dog for lunch and after a few wrong turns arrived at the parking area for a short hike that would take us to overlook Lake Vanern, the largest lake in Sweden. There were lots of people laying out on the smooth rocks, sunbathing and swimming in the cool, reddish-brown coloured water. Our next stop was the beach so that we too could cool off in the refreshing lake water.

We were up bright and early on Saturday. We had come to the purpose of the trip...to celebrate the wedding of Kris' coworker Shahin and his beautiful bride, Lovisa. The kids woke up with butterflies in their stomach this morning, for today was the day that they were meeting a family that had kindly offered to keep care of them while Kris and I enjoyed the child-free wedding. Kris had sent out an email back in the spring to a couple of friends that lived and worked in the Karlstad area, asking for help and suggestions with babysitting. Two very kind offers of help came back and it was decided that the best solution was for the kids to spend the day and night with a family that had two small children. Jan-Erik and his wife Susanne had offered to entertain the children for the afternoon and keep them overnight. We were thrilled by their kindness! We drove from Karlstad to their gorgeous home in Blombacka in time to enjoy a delicious lunch and give the children time to get comfortable with their surroundings. Jan-Erik and Susanne were so welcoming and so thoughtful, and their children so interested in playing together, that Kris and I had no worries about our children. Elise was a little emotional about our departure, but as the big sister who felt a tremendous responsibility for her younger siblings, that was to be expected. We left her with a cell phone in hand and promised to call later. We were hardly on the road 15 minutes, heading to Rottneros park and the wedding, when the phone rang and it was Elise informing us that she had applied sunscreen to herself and her brother and sister in preparation for their afternoon at the beach! She was looking after them very well, indeed!

The wedding of Shahin and Lovisa was a relaxed, lovely affair. They celebrated with both Swedish and Persian ceremonies. Lovisa made a beautiful bride, and Shahin looked very handsome in his white waistcoat! The Swedish ceremony was very similar to a civil ceremony at home, but the Persian style of celebrating was fun to witness with it's sugar and honey. We made and received many phone calls that night from Elise, but they were so well looked after that we never worried. Jan-Erik returned the children to us at the hotel the next morning. Kris and I tried to express our thankfulness for their excellent care of our children. We hope they take us up on our offer to come and visit us in Stockholm!

So our mini vacation to Varmland was over. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing the countryside and lakes of the area. We returned home very thankful to sleep in our own beds and looking forward to not having to spend time together in the car again for a while!

Summer Vacation 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We thoroughly enjoyed our summer vacation in Canada! Thanks to everyone for sharing it with us. That's all I'll say...the pictures can do the talking!