Cissi, Gustaf, Hugo & Adam

Kroko has visited

2010-02-08T09:24:00.002+01:00

The mascot of Hugo's and Adam's class at kindy has visited for the weekend.

There is a lottery and Hugo won the right to take Kroko home with him last Thursday and keep him until Monday. Kroko has a diary in his backpack where you can write down what he has done over his stay with his different classmates.

Snow!!!

2009-12-12T22:44:00.003+01:00

Today we had the first snow fall. Proper snow that you could actually make snowballs out of. Happy happy happy and much later dinner than usual as later outdoor play was "needed".

Very happy Adam playing in the snow for the very first time.

Watch out for the snowball fight!

This years first snow lantern

Cold weather, finally

2009-12-02T22:59:00.000+01:00

The weather has finally cleared, and the temperature has dropped below zero. We're currently at -6 C and a crystal clear night with a full moon lighting the landscape. Magic.
This morning, on our way to day care, Hugo stepped on the ice that had formed on a puddle. When the ice cracked, he was completely awestruck. "Daddy, it's ice!". This revelation was then the conversation topic with the teachers that morning. Quite amusing to see him experiencing his first real winter.

Äntligen lite kallt och klart vinterväder. Minus sex och en fullmåne som lyser upp landskapet ger det hela en lätt magisk känsla.
I morse när vi gick till dagis klev Hugo på en vattenpöl som hade frusit. När isen sprack utbrast han med ett förvånat uttryck i ansiktet "Pappa, det är is!". Denna revolutionerande upptäckt var senare det som diskuterades med fröknarna. Det är onekligen ganska kul att se honom uppleva sin första riktiga vinter.

One year since Adam's Christening

2009-11-30T22:45:00.005+01:00

It has been one year already. Today we lit both Hugo's and Adam's candles from their christening ceremonies.

Adam didn't really grasp it but Hugo was excited and insisted we lit his candle as well.

November 2008, the Swedish Church, Singapore. Hard to believe. Time surely flies. Our minister, Katarina, is now on her way down to Afghanistan to serve as a military priest within Sweden's International Unit on site, Angela has had her darling little daughter Ishbel quite some time ago and we have moved from Singapore and miss our friends dearly but have settled down well back in Sweden.

November 2009. Adam fighting Hugo for some space on the same chair...

Pictures updated

2009-11-04T22:56:00.002+01:00

Please feel free to brows through the new pictures. August has been updated, and we've added September and October.

Visitors

2009-10-27T21:47:00.003+01:00

Now we know why the last sets of rose buds were cut off and had disappeared all of a sudden...

There were two of them but when they headed for Elisabeth's lovely flowers, I scared them off (would have been a nice photo though).

Autumn is here

2009-10-05T22:16:00.000+02:00

We're slowly but surely coming closer to the white season. The leaves are turning in all possible (and a few less possible) colours, and the temperature has actually passed below zero a few nights now.

We have been buying a lot of warm clothes to the boys, since shorts and t-shirts somehow seem inadequate when they spend most of their days outdoors at daycare. Both of them seem to be loving the time at school, and their motor skills are developing rapidly. Having a forest to run around all day in does help in this regard.

For Cissis birthday, we took a weekend trip to London. The boys stayed with grandma and Anders, and we spent the weekend shopping and sightseeing. Great weather to top things off, with a splendidly clear morning in the London Eye on Sunday. Pictures will follow eventually.

Vi närmar oss vintern, och höstens alla färger har kommit. Plus ett par som inte riktigt finns. Det har varit under noll ett par nätter, och vi har spenderat en hel del tid och pengar på att skaffa varma kläder till grabbarna. Av någon underlig anledning räcker det inte med shorts och t-shirt längre när de spenderar i princip hela dagarna utomhus på dagis. Båda gillar verkligen dagis, och deras motorik utvecklas snabbt. Att ha en skog att springa runt i hela dagarna hjälper en hel del på just den fronten.

I helgen fyllde Cissi år, och vi tog en weekend på tu man hand i London. Pojkarna fick stanna hos farmor och Anders över helgen, medans vi shoppade och strosade runt. Kalasväder var det också, och vi fick en fantastiskt solig och klar söndagförmiddag i London Eye. Bilder följer vad det lider.

New web server

2009-08-31T23:36:00.002+02:00

We have moved the site to a new web server in Sweden. Uploading the pictures to the Singaporean web hotel we've been using just didn't work well enough to be feasible in the long run.

If you have any problems with the site, please let us know.

Vi har flyttat hemsidan till en svensk server eftersom det tog oändligt lång tid för oss att hantera uppladdning av bilder etc till det singaporeanska webhotell vi använt oss av tidigare.

Om ni får några problem med siten, hojta gärna till.

Starting day care

2009-08-26T23:19:00.009+02:00

The standard in Sweden when starting at a new day care is for two weeks of acclimatization, both for the kids as well as for the class/teachers/parents. This is of course especially true for young ones like Adam, where the transition from always having mum or dad around to spending the whole day with lots of other kids and adults can be quite a change to cope with.

Starting Tuesday this week, we have been doing the acclimatization of the boys at the local day care. The pre-school is located a short walk from our house, and most of the kids are staying in the village. They have a HUGE yard, which is basically a forested ridge running behind the school building itself. A lot of the time at school is spent outside on the yard, regardless of weather/season.

The first day we just spent a little over an hour at the school before we left. The rest of the day was spent at home playing in our yard as well as a trip to buy a bicycle for daddy. On our way back, we stopped for a snack and watched the harvest for a while. Countryside living does have its perks.

Today was day 2, and Hugo is mainly wondering why he can't stay the whole day. For Adam, the slow pace is probably quite good, but he hasn't shown any signs of getting too upset with the situation. The school has age integrated classes, which means that Hugo and Adam are in the same class. Within each class, they do have age groups, so Hugo is with the oldest kids (age group "Lynx") and Adam is the youngest of the class (age group "Ants"). To have big brother with him at school definitely helps.

It was a very wet day, so we all had our rain gear on. On our way home, the absolute highlight of the day was to run and jump in the puddles on the school parking lot. Daddy included.

Det är dags för dagisinskolning, och igår tisdag drog det igång på lokala dagiset som ligger en kort promenad hemifrån. De flesta barnen kommer från byn, och de har en mycket stor gård som i princip består av en skogsklädd ås bakom själva byggnaderna. Det är mestadels utomhusaktiviteter som gäller året runt, även om det inte är ett 'ur & skur'-dagis.

Hugo har ju vanan inne, så han undrar mest varför han inte får stanna längre om dagarna, men för Adam är det bra med lite mjukstart. Dagiset har åldersintegrerade avdelningar, vilket innebär att Hugo och Adam går på samma avdelning. Grymt bra för Adam som på så sätt får en trygg punkt i den mycket annorlunda vardag som börjar nu. Inom avdelningen har de viss uppdelning i åldersgrupper, så Hugo och de största barnen är i gruppen 'Lodjuren' medans avdelningens junior Adam tillhör 'Myrorna'.

Igår var vi hemma och lekte i trädgården efter dagismorgonen, och sen åkte vi och köpte cykel till pappa. På vägen hem fikade vi i bakluckan och tittade på en skördetröska som gjorde sin grej. Det finns vissa tydliga fördelar med livet på landet.

Idag var det regnigt värre, så vi hade full galonkostym på oss alla tre. På vägen hem var höjdpunkten att springa och hoppa i vattenpölarna på perkeringen utanför dagis. Pappa var med och plaskade också... :)

Finally some new pictures

2009-08-21T23:32:00.002+02:00

After a lot of problems getting the uploads to work, we have finally managed to get the pictures up for May through August. So surf on by the picture page and enjoy!

Life in the countryside

2009-08-14T21:22:00.002+02:00

We haven't forgotten our blog, though it's been a while. A long long while. We know. It's just too many things and too little time. As usual.

We're trying to get our garden going and our roses have finally come into bloom since a few weeks. They're called Ingrid Bergman and they are fabulous! Grass is getting better and now we have started all over in some spots with the watering around the clock as we have moved some patches around to give space for some new plants. Elisabeth has planted some lovely yellow flowers for us by the guest house (storage house more like it at the moment... but we're staying optimistic).

Soon we will have our own tomatoes! They are starting to change into red. Sorry the focus are on the leaves and not on the tomatoes. I blame trying to focus on Adam playing in the ditch in the back of the house at the same time. He is definitely not afraid of sand like his big brother at this age.

Hugo is getting more adventurous by the day. Living next door to a six-yearold is probably one reason. They have been playing across the road at what is still a construction site, and not behaving all that well. He got told off in a very nice way by the site manager and completely lost it. Big tears and hid beneath the table. We're hoping it will stick. We might ask the manager to come again for some other issues... as he doesn't seem to bother with us at all. A good thing that came out of playing with older kids is that he has finally started to use is likebike (2-wheeler with no pedals) instead of the tricycle. It's his "motorcycle". He has almost outgrown it so it was about time. Both kids have grown like nothing else since we got back. We haven't measured them but Hugo has put on one kg and gone up 2 sizes in clothes and Adam was 1,5 kg heavier yesterday then when we left Singapore and are going through the sizes in record speed. We're digging out Hugo's oldclothes for when he was 2 years old. Pictures will come! Soon. Any day now. Promise.

We're moved in!

2009-06-19T00:51:00.002+02:00

OK everyone, it's official: we have moved into our new house. And since you can read this, we even managed to get the internet connection to work as it should... there will be pictures posted soon from the new crib, but for now, please be patient. It's Midsummer's Eve after all, which means lots of herring and spiced aquavit (a.k.a. vodka for non-Scandinavians) for all true Swedes :-)

The Big Day went well, all things considered, but a SNAFU at the movers caused the truck to arrive at the house not one or two hours late but a rather impressive four and a half. The guys that came were not to blame, they were just as much victims of bad planning as us, and they did a splendid job at getting all the stuff in. Unfortunately, there was one small detail we had forgotten to check before deciding on the house: would our bed fit up the stairs? The answer is no, so now we have an interesting problem to resolve in the coming weeks...for the time being, we'll borrow the beds we've used in the apartment for the last month.

Japp, nu är det klart, vi har flyttat in i vårt nya hus. Eftersom ni kan läsa detta innebär det att vi till och med fått ordning på bredbandet. Det kommer givetvis bilder på hela härligheten vad det lider, men nu är det midsommar, så det är mer fokus på sill och nubbe just nu. :-)

Den Stora Dagen gick bra, men flyttfirman hade sanslös usel planering vilket gjorde att flyttgubbarna kom inte mindre än fyra och en halv timme för sent. Inget som flyttgänget hade orsakat dock, och de gjorde ett grymt bra jobb med att plocka in allt flyttgods som legat i förråd de senaste fem åren. Tyvärr var det en grej vi missade att kolla innan vi köpte huset: kommer dubbelsängen uppför trappen? Svaret är nej, så nu har vi ett intressant problem att lösa de närmaste veckorna... tills vidare kommer vi fortsätta låna de sängar vi sovit i i lägenheten den senaste månaden.

Swedish Update

2009-06-16T09:18:00.004+02:00

We really are too slow on the update at the moment. We have tried to organise our life back in Sweden and it seems we have managed with most things without too many setbacks. We started out in high speed with Cissi running on job interviews and landing a job within the first week, going back to work by the same time as the kids start pre-school in late August.

We have also bought a car, a new booster seat for Hugo (he's growing up!!!), and Adam has inherited Hugo's car seat that we bought last year. We are borrowing an apartment from relatives and are very lucky to have had empty closets to fill, a washing machine, several bedrooms and a fully equipped kitchen! And a parking space. We also got to borrow a small car until we bought our own. So, life has been good!

Then the house. Tomorrow is the day! After some idiotic events around trying to sort out the bank (seriously, we are in awe how much trouble one person can make) we managed to sort everything yesterday, so tomorrow we'll get the keys and all our old stuff that have been in storage for the last five years will see the light of day again. We wonder if it can take it... We don't remember half of it so it will be very interesting.

Landed!

2009-05-21T12:47:00.006+02:00

So we made it to Sweden. The trip went really well, and both boys were able to sleep through most of the night. No wonder, after the hectic final days in Singapore with the apartment move and such.

We're now moved into an apartment in the Nacka township just outside Stockholm, but have not had the energy to unpack everything just yet. But of course we've managed to get online to update the blog ;-)

Nu är vi framme i Sverige efter en smärtfri resa med alla mått mätt. Båda bröderna sov bra under nattens flygning, vilket i och för sig inte är så konstigt efter senaste veckans härjande med flytt och annat.

Vi har flyttat in i en lägenhet i Finntorp i Nacka, men har inte haft energi att packa upp allt riktigt än. Men givetvis har vi lyckats ta oss ut på nätet för att uppdatera bloggen ;-)

The Final Countdown

2009-05-13T08:49:00.002+02:00

We had the salvation's army over today to have a look at the final furniture to go, and they were picky! They didn't want our perfectly splendid sofa bed. I cannot believe them! So now we've put up one final ad and we're hoping someone wants it before we need to throw it out.

Now time really flies and there are lots of "last time" of different things, which make us really sad. We had one last dinner at Spizza a few week-ends ago. They still remember us! Last playdate with Atticus. Not that Hugo knew this then because then it would have been impossible to get him home after.

Last Girl's Night Out last night, which unfortunately resulted in yet another gluten disaster, but was good fun until the food reached the tummy, which happened about two hours after eating it. Why oh why is it so difficult that no flour means no flour?! We've had explanations like "but it's only a little bit of flour", or "but you need some gluten to bake bread" or "but it's only plain flour" (which is the same as wheat flour in the commonwealth it seems, hence full on gluten shock).

Hugo is coming to grips with the reality of us leaving and has realised that he is going to miss his friends from school. Although he now wants to watch dvd's in Swedish instead of English if there is a choice, and is looking forward to getting new friends in Sweden that will speak "like we speak" (which is to say Swedish as opposed to "like his friends speak" which is English).

He also asked how to spell Fågelparken (which is "the Bird Park" in Swedish) the other day, and started by himself with the "F". He got Fågel ("Bird") right after just asking which the next letter was, except for the G that was mirrored, but then he restarted with PA for "parken" in front for some reason and didn't have room for the other letters. We're very proud of him anyway!

And then some...

2009-05-08T11:43:00.002+02:00

As we've been so lousy when it comes to updating with pictures, or just plain updating the web overall, there are now some pictures from May as well. We're moving back to Sweden soon (less than to weeks now) and the remainder of time might get a little hectic. Sorry for lack of correct spelling. This is what comes from sitting by the computer too late at night. Last pictures are from yesterday's Sport's Day at Hugo's school.

Nu finns det bilder från Maj också, eftersom vi snart flyttar tillbaka till Sverige och kanske inte får så mycket tid att uppdatera webben på slutet. Senaste bilderna är från gårdagens idrottsdag på Hugos skola. Ursäkta alla stavfel. Det tog alldeles för lång tid att ladda upp bilder och gjordes alldeles för sent på natten.

Finally, some pictures!!!

2009-05-08T03:06:00.001+02:00

It sure took some time but now the pictures from March and April are out on the web. Lots and lots of them, so beware. We got a new camera, that's why.

Brothers in arms

2009-04-18T15:08:00.003+02:00

The best toy is always the big brother, if it weren't for the big brother's toys... or both at the same time. Adam, now moving around, has given a new dimension for Hugo if he wants to keep his toys to himself.

Here "they" are watching Toy Story 2, Hugo's all time favourite. Adam is focusing more on getting to Hugo's new toys, brought home from Disneyland. Hugo is trying to both watch the movie and at the same time keeping toys out of reach from Adam. Not always successful.

It's been a while... Sorry

2009-04-14T08:24:00.002+02:00

We have been very lazy when it comes to updating the website for the last couple of months. There will be pictures out from the trips to Sydney and Hong Kong shortly (yes, I know we said that before...) but here is a small contribution from the neighbourhood for the time being.

"Private land ... Trespassers will be prosecuted"

Isn't this an adorable little triangle. Why on earth they didn't put some plants on it we'll never understand. It must have cost more to fence it in. We will try our very best not to trespass...

In the Fragrant Harbour

2009-04-05T04:33:00.001+02:00

In the Fragrant Harbour

We're in Hong Kong for a long weekend, and have so far spent a few days in the city. We've gone to Stanley for a shopping raid at the market, which resulted in several costumes to play dress-up with. We have also taken the peak tram up to Victoria Peak, although the view was slightly limited due to the weather.

Yesterday we went on the Star Ferry across to Kowloon, but the waiting line for high tea at The Peninsula was beyond ridiculous so we did not stay for a nibble there. We settled for a more regular 'fika' at the neighborhood Starbucks instead. At least there was no line there... Dinner was found in SoHo at an italian place we found last time we came to Hong Kong for vacation.

Today we'll finish off the stay here on Hong Kong island and regroup for the final part of the trip. We're going to Disneyland!

An update long overdue...

2009-04-01T17:26:00.002+02:00

Well, apparently that was March... So what happened during that month? Well, among other things we managed to take a trip down under to Sydney. Gustaf was going there for work anyway, so we figured we might as well go all of us and have a bit of vacation while we're at it.

Unfortunately, pretty much everyone in the family came down with the flu right before or during the trip. Poor Adam was unable to eat for a bit and became noticeably thinner. Not thin, mind you, just thinner. Sometimes that Buddha-like belly comes in handy... but the trip was not a total loss, we managed to get some touristy things done such as Manly and Bondi beaches, Blue Mountains and finally wine tasting in Hunter Valley.

It's getting more and more apparent that we're actually moving back to Sweden soon. We've had a visit from the movers that estimated our stuff to be about 5 cubic meters more than our allowance. *doh* So right now we're working on downsizing our "stuff", mainly by selling off some of the furniture that we considered bringing back with us. There's no way we're paying extra money to ship IKEA furniture from Singapore to Sweden. Period.

Right now we have a visit from grandma Birgitta and grandpa Anders. Tomorrow we're off to Hong Kong for a few days, which will culminate in a visit to Disneyland. More details about that later on. Guaranteed.

And yes, we will post pictures from the trip to OZ soon...

The golf career is launched

2009-02-22T07:44:00.004+01:00

Hugo has been nagging us to get to borrow our golf clubs. We've been to a minigolf course a few times now (it all started during the trip to Phuket) and he was enjoying it so much so we decided to let him have a go for real. He is now enrolled for down at the closest Kindergolf centre (down at United so very close) to take golf lessons once a week. It all came with a golf attire so now he is equipped with tartan shorts, a white collared T-shirt and a cap with Kindergolf's logo. We also got him a small putter to practice with at home so he doesn't go looking for our clubs.

Picture is still with daddy's putter. Hugo's is small and blue (his favourite colour, as he has mentioned about a hundred times) and very cute. Now he also wants a hole. We're trying to convince him that it would be highly unpopular with the people owning the building if we were to make a hole in the floor.

Hugo har tjatat om att han vill spela golf en längre tid och speciellt enträget sen vi provade mini-golf på semestern i Phuket. Istället för att han ska gå till förrådet och dra fram våra klubbor så tog vi med honom på en provlektion på barngolfskolan i närmaste shopping centret. Han tyckte det var jättekul så nu ska han få börja gå golfskola en gång i veckan. Han fick en liten golfskoleuniform på skolan, med rutiga byxor, vit pikétröja och keps med Kindergolfs logga på, och så har vi skaffat honom en liten putter att öva med hemma så vi får ha våra klubbor i fred. nu vill han bara ha ett hål. Han har med näppe accepterat att vi faktiskt inte kan göra ett hål i golvet åt honom.

Korpslingan - progress report

2009-02-10T15:58:00.003+01:00

Today, I took some time off during lunch and went down to Segersäng to sneak a peek at the house. It was erected on Jan 12th, and there is good progress. They were finishing off the concrete floors (on which they will put the wooden flooring) on the ground floor when I came there, and started putting in the floor heating in the upstairs bathroom. I took lots of pictures that will be made available later, but here's a teaser.

To the left of the house you can see the carport and to the right is the small shed (for lack of better term right now). On the ground floor, the kitchen is to the left of the front door, and the living room is to the right.

Dagen bjöd på lunchfärd till Segersäng för att beskåda ägorna. Huset restes 12 januari, och det verkar som arbetet rullar på bra. De slutförde betonggolvet på markplan när jag kom dit, och satte igång med golvvärmen i badrummet på övervåningen. Givetvis tog jag en hel del bilder, som kommer upp senare men ovan kan ni se en liten försmak.

Till vänster i bild ligger carporten och till höger om huset syns skjulet/friggan/vad-det-nu-ska-kallas. Till vänster om entrédörren ligger köket och till höger är vardagsrummet.

Adam six months

2009-02-10T03:21:00.003+01:00

Adam was celebrating turning six months with a tooth breaking through (painful), being 8,6 kg and 73 cm tall. He is now both heavier and taller than his brother at the same age.

He is working very hard on sitting up, has just discovered the fun of balls, even if they tend to run away from him, but the best amusement of all times is still his big brother. Food is also fun (hence the weight gain) and he eats loads, so we're finding ourselves very quickly weaning him off milk as only food and going into solids. So far mostly veggies and baby rice ceral but also some chicken, and he tried salmon the other day. And by the way, whoever said that an evening bath would calm babies? Not so much. Lots of splashing and water all over the bathroom floor more likely.

Adam har fyllt "halvår" och har nu gått om storebrorsan vad gäller både vikt och längd. Han äter så det förslår och gillar det mesta. Mest grönsaker men också lite kyckling och fisk. Roligast för tillfället är att öva på att sitta och så har han upptäckt bollar (även om de lätt försvinner från honom) men bäst av allt är fortfarande storebror. Och kvällsbad med storebror är höjden av lycka. Totalt frispel och vatten över hela badrummet.

Pictures from January

2009-02-02T06:55:00.004+01:00

There are new pages out with pictures from January. Mostly from Volvo Ocean Race and our trip to Phuket over Chinese New Year (end of the year of the Rat and start of the year of the Ox; Adam is a Rat, Cissi is an Ox, Hugo a Rooster and Gustaf a Dog by the way).

Hugo now wants to go back to Thailand. There seems to be a preference for Australia still, as he wanted to move there after our vacation in Margaret River/Perth. He only wanted to have more holiday in Thailand.

We forgot to mention that we've been back at the fire station again. Hugo loved it as usual and this time Adam seemed to enjoy it as well.

A comment on the last post. Hugo was not only confused with kids speaking Swedish all around, but also that not all kids speak English. Very annoying when there are potential friends who speak neither...