Grattis Farfar!

After a long absence from this space, we have good reason to be back!

Grattis Bengt, pappa, farfar, på din födelsedag. Vi tänker på dig ofta, men lite extra just idag.

Många kramar till Dig.

Protection Island

Our third annual August trip out to Protection Island with the Newsteads has just ended, a little too soon for us all, I think. We had such a great weekend, and one of the best things, as always, is seeing how much fun your kids are having.



Anna and William especially enjoyed the weekend. They were two peas in a pod, and never tired of each others company. They even got to sleep next to each other, on the floor, at night.




Patrik and Curt took the kids out for a few adventures, and left us mamma's to knit, swim, cook, etc. And each of the adult couples also managed a bit of alone time, too. Nice.


The hammock was a popular ride, for young and not-so-young.


And the pool was popular with all of the wee ones.





We headed over to Newcastle Island for the afternoon one day. The kids looked like a couple of vagabonds after playing in the coal-tainted sand, and even more so after their icecream cones. But hey, what's a few layers of dirt when you're on summer vacation. And when you know that you have pool waiting for you back at the cabin.


William and Anna headed off to the "Little Diggers" on Sunday morning, when our neighbour, Farmer Jim, teaches all the island kids about growing fruit and vegies. Yesterday, they got to pick raspberries and make smoothies, and make a bean stir fry. In the evening, after supper, Farmer Jim invited them over to his personal garden to pick raspberries and carrots. When we were leaving today, William said that he didn't want to leave Protection Island because he didn't want to leave Farmer Jim. Sweet.


The ferry trip home was the last chance for the kids to milk one last 'holiday ice cream' out of their moms and dads. And milk it they did. Yum.

Camping!

Finally! Camping! We headed up to Porpoise Bay on the Sunshine Coast for a long-planned camping trip with some friends a couple of weekends ago, and it was so good, we have already declared it the first annual trip to this very spot.


Porpoise Bay is such a great spot for families because the sites are big and widely spaced, there is a playground, a long sandy beach, and lots of trails to meander through. Anna had such a great time wandering between the four side-by-side campsites that our group had, visiting her friends in each. She would be off with a "I'm going to see my Tanya-friend", or "I'm going to see my Bobby-friend", and we wouldn't see her for a while.




We were Sholto, Berit and Finn (who turned one on this camping trip!), Tanya, Tyler and Charlie (his first camping trip), and Bobby and Jen (who camped in their VW van, which Anna LOVED).





We spent the day down at the beach, and the evenings over dinner and a campfire. Our one bit of excitement was that we had a bear in our campsite for a good half hour in the middle of the first night. There's nothing like a piece of fabric between you and a big bear, in the pitch dark, to leave you feeling a little vulnerable. But hey, here we are telling the tale and having learned the lesson to put the cooler in the truck the next time. Doh!


Happy birthday Finn!

Happy birthday to Jen and Bobby

The July birthday's continued with Bobby's on the 10th and Jen's on the 20th. On the weekend in between the two, we celebrated them both with a barbecue at the beach.




And on Jen's actual birthday, we met up at the beach with Jen and Bobby, Jen's parents Ray and Ebbs, and Tanya and Charlie. Jen and Anna were the only brave souls that dared a swim that night, but all of us managed to eat some yummy (or jummy, as Patrik would say) cake. Go figure...

Bella's and Morfar's Birthday Parties

A few weeks ago, we headed over to Nanaimo for the weekend to celebrate two birthdays - Bella and morfar's. With the summer we've had so far, we were lucky to have great weather for both the first party in the park, and for the backyard birthday bbq that happened for the older birthday boy later.




We managed to get all five of the Johansson grandkids together for a few pictures - no small feat!



Happy birthday to the two of you!

Sommar

Sommartjejer...



....och lite 'sommar pa burk'...


Harligt!

Anna's House

A few weeks before we left for Sweden, Patrik started building a playhouse for Anna in the back yard. Anna just loves it and has been playing in it since before it had walls. The following are some photos of its evolution.

In Anna's words.

Anna is not a big fan of noise, and so she liked to wear her ear protection while she was supervising daddy.

The first tea party.

One of the first tea parties after the walls were up.

Some help arrived one weekend in the form of a big Stone...

...and a little Stone.

Anna planted her own flowers.

And helped daddy to paint.

As Anna would say: Ta da!

Now mamma just has to sew some curtains and it will be all done.

Sweden Part V - Stockholm

And then, somehow, it was already the last couple of days of our trip. We spent them with Jonken, Johanna, Love and Linus in Stockholm. As it was midsummer, they are usually up in Dalarna celebrating with family, but luckily for us, they stayed in the city with us.

The kids ran off some energy one morning in a sweet park just a few minutes walk from their place.

Anna and Linus on the motorcycle-go-round.

Anna playing in one of the playhouses at the park.

We headed out to celebrate midsummers afternoon locally. We danced around the Maypole, had fika (of course!), and just enjoyed each others company.


Jonken and Johanna also treated us to some fantastic meals at their new place. Over one of those meals, and perhaps over a glass of wine, we're pretty sure that we heard them say that they are coming for a visit again soon. Yahoo!




It was a lovely day to end our trip on. Thanks to everyone for being such lovely hosts while we visited. Our guest room is sitting empty at the moment, and we hope to hear that some more of you are thinking about coming for a visit sometime in the not-too-distant future?