The autumn half-term holiday with Gran was special and enjoyable! We took her to see Karlstad where we visited the Värmlands museum. We read together, had cuddles, walked, lit a fire in a nearby wood, had a fika with neighbours and went to a local autumn market. In short: a fun time was had by all. Bidding farewell was tough for Vidar and Susanna in the same evident way. Rune, too, found it difficult but expressed that differently. In the week after she left he had a few bouts of homesickness. That was the first time he had felt it so intensively.
On the day that Gran left it was Halloween which meant that the boys had something nice to look forward to. Beforehand they had worked on decorating their own individual boxes with Axel, their little neighbour. In the evening they then went from door to door with five neighbouring children in search of edible goodies! We managed to stop at 6 houses in the village. Before we knew it, they’d walked some 2 km. The sweet donating proved generous so they all accumulated quite a stash!
Returning to school after the holiday was, briefly, a bit of an issue but fortunately both boys soon got into the swing of things. In Rune’s class the youngest children still had swimming lessons for a week which meant that it was nice and quiet in the class. That was something he really appreciated. In retrospect Rune admitted that he’d enjoyed the swimming lessons before the mid-term break because for at least half of the time they’d been able to play in the pool. On the first Sunday in November we all went swimming again in the same pool in Karlstad.
The children now have a fabulous short break to look forward to: we’re going to Legoland in Denmark! The trip is planned for the end of this month and Olivia and Jens will join us. Everyone’s so excited.
We still all very much enjoy the outdoor life despite the fact that it’s virtually become something that goes without saying. We try to take the boys out and about every weekend.
On Monday November 4th, whilst on their way to Molkom, Vidar and Susanna spotted 4 elks less than 100 metre’s away. In the photo it looks as if they’re further away. Okay, elks again you might exclaim but they remain such impressive creatures!
Every day Susanna goes for at least one walk. One of the benefits of having a shorter working week is that it’s easy to slot such walks into the daylight hours though—that said—the days are now rapidly drawing in. During one such walk she met a lady who lives 4 km away. Together with her husband, they own some 27 hectares of woodland. She encouraged us to make a habit of rambling through their land so that the footpaths can remain passable. The very next week Susanna, of course, had to explore the area. To her delight she spotted there the very last chanterelle of the season. That was on November 7th! A couple of days later, that same lady took Susanna and Vidar to meet another Dutch family 3 km further down the road who’ve lived in that spot since May of this year.
On Saturday November 9th there was a barbecue in Molkom for all the förskola children and their parents. It was good to meet various other parents. The assembled group conversed in four different languages: Swedish, English, German and Dutch.
Then, almost exactly 4 months to the day after having moved here, Vidar celebrated his birthday by throwing a little party. The young guests could hardly wait for it to start in the early afternoon and for the Super Mario celebrations to begin on that sunny but windy day. There was a cake that had been baked and decorated especially for Vidar, a treasure hunt and a ‘fishing for presents’ component (both latter activities being traditional elements of Swedish children’s parties). There was also time to play. It was a great success and Vidar had lots of fun with his friends.
On Tuesday November 19th our little chap turned 5. Since he has a preference for playing with grown up things that aren’t really toys and since he loves helping with things around the house we gave him a Morakniv knife for children (for whittling wood; later useful for scouting) and from Gran & aunty Olivia and his cousin Jens he got a proper child’s saw with a saw carriage. Via FaceTime we had present-giving moments with the respective grandparents.
Finally, the winter has definitely kicked in with a couple of seriously cold nights below -10 degrees. The ice is therefore rapidly thickening!
Instagram:
Facebook:
