Hoppas du far en fantastisk dag! Saknar dig!

Time for our annual holiday in Sweden! A small change this year. We went straight to Stockholm, not to my mums as usual. Met up with my sister, staying in my lovely friend Ninas flat in Söder, amazing place!
Yesterday we went to Skansen, where they were preparing för Allsång på Skansen. They were rehearsing the full 7 hours we were there, mad!



Today i got up early and took Isabella with me for a photowalk around Hagaparken. We were there by 930, and already at 10 it was so hot! The park is fantastic, and I was thinking of how fortunate the people of Stockholm are, who are so close to water and beacher all around this beautiful city.

We walked around the castle buildings and the butterfly park. Not so impressed with the butterfly section, felt quite abandoned, but the old coppar tents from 1700 something were stunning.

Toddlers and kittens dont mix. Or is it toddler who mixes kittens too well?

Stupid cat woke me up at five. Prrr, prrr, prrr...

Oh well at least it got me chance to admire the view from the balcony. What a sky, what a day ahead of us...
And to reflect on the sounds of silence in a house with a sleeping husband, three kids and a teenager on visit. I think that is def the price for getting up early... Being in the stillness of everybody elses sleep...

Tonight I read Pippi Longstocking for Milla for the first time. And she was absolutelly smitten by this unconventional redhead who sleeps with her feet on the pillow, lives on her own and can carry a whole horse. After i read the book from cover to cover to her, she spent another half hour just going over the crazy pictures again, giggling to herself...

Today we are studying for February exams. Me and Maja ared doing ICT and learning about webpages. Quite fun. Gives me the opportunity to show her how to blog. The Maltese school system is quite tough on the kids. From the age of 8, they have exams twice a year on what they have been covering so far. So first now in February and then again in June. But they quickly get used to it, my kids have not complained a bit this year. They know they have to go through it. Plus that they do know most of their curriculum. In a way it is still more of a revision, school has prepared them quite well.

Dear friends,

I am writing to you to ask for your help. Yesterday, in a split second, we lost our dog. One second he was there, the next he was gone. We were walking just near our house, an area he knows very well. As we live in the middle of the country side, he is used to run around freely with his sister Trisha when we go out for hikes. But yesterday he just never came back home with us. We have no clue what could have happened to him.

 

PLEASE PLEASE if you live in Malta: forward this blogpost to anyone you know and maybe we might just find out what has happened to Tramp. We miss him beyond what any words can describe, and just want him to come home to us again.

Thank you

Anne

Sep 23:
Girls went back to school today. Well Maja and Linni did, I still have Milla at home for another week!

I think this was one of my best summers ever. It has just flewn by, full of fun, sun, love, relaxing. A summer that creates memories for life.

So now I am sitting here. My 4 year old is watching Peter Pan, I am browsing on the computer, wondering when to go shopping and whether it will rain today... A nice day indeed, a perfect way to spend my day...

The rumours had been flying the whole week. It will rain this Friday! On the day, we did see some clouds, and we did catch some precious rain drops. Nothing that stopped anyone from enjoying the beach though. The storm unfolded late at night instead, with flashes lighting up the sky for miles and miles.

The heat is simply not lifting... sooo manana all day long, impossible to stay alert before 9 in the evening!



We go down to the beach at 4 - 5 in the evening. The water is like a blanket, so warm... so soft... We stay late, sleep late, get up late.... Summer is at its peak....

My niece, Isabella, told me that i should update my blog more often. She is so right... But it does take a lot of time, wish there was an easier way to quickly upload some text and pics.... And it doesnt get any faster as I have started to shoot my photos in RAW. So all images are enormous, which means i have to convert and resize them before i can upload them here.  But i do find that RAW does give better quality. I know that the debate of Jpg versus RAW is never ending, but i did the shift a month or so ago, and although it is a space killer, i am happy. So i just bought a back up of, get this, 1 TERA byte! How big is that!??

Anyways, we are still in Sweden, yesterday we had a fantastic end-of-summer day with sunshine, clear cool air. We went to a nature reserve in the morning, where they had free pony riding. Milla went seven times... She was so happy, trying out each and every pony they had!

In the afternoon, Isabella took us to her stable and showed the girls how to take care of a horse. We also had a mini photosession in the hay!





Nowadays they pack the hey into giant plastic cubes for storage. They look like huge sugar cubes stacked on top of each other. We had fun climbing them!



On Saturday my little god daughter is turning 16. Happy birthday Isabella!



All photos above are straight out of the camera, no post editing. And all shot with Canon 50 mm lens.

In Sweden. A real breather from the heavy Maltese heat. At my mother´s place in Västergötland. Milla and Linni are sharing a drink

Stunning. She is so beautiful. Due in only four weeks

Summer holidays... finally..

Break needed from studies - out for walk with happy dogs. And happy kids too. What weather! Been absolutely fantastic! It's like a Swedish summer, fresh, cool, too cold actually for the beach. I can breath, think, function!

We got some drama too: Trisha, always the one to get into trouble, had to jump down an old, empty watering pool. She then couldn't get up. She tried and tried and nearly made every time. Must have been way over two meter deep.



We all started to get nervous. The more she jumped, the more tired she got. I just couldn't see myself getting her up on my own. And the farmers around us are not really that fond of any of us, dog, kid nor grownup, so doubt we would get any help if we asked them...

We then started a massive cheering campaign: 'Come on Trisha, you can do it, come on, come on!!!'



And you could just about see how she took a deep breath, focused on the task, aaaaaaaaand......!!!!!!



Hurraaaaah she made it! Good dog! Did you learn anything? Nah, didn't think so...



We also discovered a tree full of these berry looking thingies:



Anyone out there who has a clue what they could be? We didn't dare eating them, although they looked really yummi. A bit like bramble-berries. But i thought berries grew on bushes, not on trees?

Gnejna beach was amazing this morning. All empty, just me and Ewonne, Lucky, Trisha and Tramp

The girls have been quite at each other lately. Tit for tat. Maja gets this, Linni gets that, ITS NOT FAIR!!!!!!! And huge dramas to get homework done, chores done etc etc. So today i blew, and had a looooong lecture of the need of showing respect, of loving your family, how we all have to accept that we have to put in an effort to get somewhere in life. Ladidadida. After my long speech, i had two silent girls in front of me, Maja looking at me, Linni looking at her toes. I asked : So, what do you think of all this, any comments?

Silence.

Then Linni looks up at me with her big blue eyes and says:
Ma: if i hold up the middle toe, does it mean the same as if i hold up my middle finger?

Parenting is such a joy!

Had a wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL weekend! Fantastic weather, fantastic kids, fantastic husband, fantastic friends - all at once! Can it be better?

Ladies and gentleman: the terrace is open for summer:



And what better way to open it if not for an amazing Valborg bbq lunch with some great friends over. 7 adults and 10 kids - someone for all to have fun with!

The mini moke is off for a total re-vamp. Boy is it needeed! Hope to get it back soon!

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