Grandma and poppa!

After weeks of waiting grandma and poppa finally arrived all the way from Australia. The trip had gone really well but they were of course very tired. When we got home we started with a tour around the house.

Then they handed out some really nice presents to all of us. This one was Jakob's favourite present!

Jakob was very excited to have grandma and poppa here and was only shy for about half an hour. Here he is eating and ice cream, and watching Tom and Jerry while the rest of us got some peace and quiet to talk in the kitchen.

The travellers did really well and stayed up until about 8. Jakob went to bed at about the same time. Hopefully the will all have a good sleep and feel better tomorrow.

Cleaning cleaning

This last week I have done a lot of cleaning and organising around the house to prepare for grandma and poppa arriving from Australia. Mormor and morfar have helped a lot with the cleaning and we have also taken turns in looking after Jakob as everything takes 10 times as long if he is involved.

Jakob's lip is looking much better finally but I think he will end up with a small scar on his lip. I thought he would learn something from this nasty experience but no, he is still the same and jumps as much as before the accident.

Back at the riding club

Jakob and I haven't been to the riding club for a long time so the other day I decided to go there. It is pretty much closed during summer but there were a couple of horses and people there to look at. Jakob looke so cool when he walked around, he acted like he owned the place!

Sleeping beauty!

Jakob is so cute when he is asleep. Just had to show you all a photo of him...

Jakob's first boat trip!

Today we were invited to go on a boat trip in Piteå with my friends Maria, Mattias and their boy Felix. Adam had to work :-(
Jakob was a bit scared and in the car on the way to the boat he one second said he didn't want to and next that he wanted to. The boattrip went really well and even though he sat in my lap the whole time he seemed very happy with himself.


We went out to a small island with a really nice beach and the weather was great. Maria and I decided to have a swim...

This was my first and probably my last swim for the year.

Jakob and Felix enjoyed playing with the sand, walking around in the shallow water and just watching the boats and other people. It was a really nice day.

Injured angel...

After having a snack at the table Jakob started playing his favourite game, jumping. This time it didn't end so well. He jumped backwards and hit his lips on the seat and started bleeding heavily. The poor thing got really scared when he saw all the blood on his naked body and on me (I was in a bikini) and it probably hurt a lot as well. Mattias called his parents who were in a boat not very far away and they picked Jakob and me up, took us to the mainland and drove us to the hosiptal. They were amazing!!

At the hospital we got to meet a nurse straight away who looked at Jakobs lip and imformed us that there is not really much to do and that it looks like the teeth are not damaged. He said that he might have trouble eating for a day or two but that it should heal quite quickly. Jakob was so brave through the whole process! in the boat just after the accident he was very quiet but didn't complain and even started talking a bit by the time we got to the hospital. After when we were waiting to get picked up he played happily with the toys at the hopsital. He passed out in the car on the way home and was happy to get an ice cream at mormor and morfars when he woke up. He doesn't seem to be in much pain and talks more about the boat trip than the fall and his lip.

Saturday night at Marie's and Paul's

Tonight we were invited to our friends Marie and Paul (Paul is from New Zealand). They have a great big lawn to play on and since the weather was quite nice we sat outside the whole night.

Jakob was the only child but he did great sometimes playing on his own and sometimes involving us in his games. When the rest of the group were about to hit town, Adam, Jakob and I went home and it took Jakob about 2 minutes to fall asleep when he put his head on the pillow.

Ale

Today Adam was doing some painting at home so I decided to take Jakob for a daytrip to Ale where I knew that mormor and morfar were. As soon as we got there Jakob wanted to go and see the sheep so after a quick lunch at Maggi's Åsa and I took him down to Åsa's place where she keep a few sheeps.

Jakob gets so excited and a bit scared at the same time when he meets animals, so he oftens runs up to the really quickly and scares them, and get scared himself. I am trying to teach him to be calm, gentle and not scream around animals. He is getting better and better at it and noticed that when he stood still the sheep came closer but ran away as soon as he moved fast.

We saw some horses, lots of dogs and also some cows on our trip to the country side.

We also walked down to a little cafe in the village and Jakob played with the swings for a while before he got an ice cream and also ate almost all of my cake.

Ikea!

A couple of days ago I spent a day at Ikea with my friend Stina. It's about 1 1/2 drive from Luleå so I don't go there as often as I went to Ikea in Adelaide. Jakob stayed with mormor and morfar the whole day and had a great time. They took him to a nice outdoor playground and also to a place where they have animals to look at and lots of space to play outdoors. When I came home in the evening and asked him what he had been up to all he talked about was how he helped morfar to take the rubbish out. It is so funny. You do all this fun things for the kids and sometimes what they appreciate the most is the little things.
Our day at Ikea was great. The place was full of tourists from Finland, Norway and of course Sweden but to be there without Jakob is so relaxing that it didn't bother me at all. We did some good shopping and had a nice lunch. On the way home we stopped in Kalix and visited Adam at the golf club. After hearing so much about the place it was nice to see it with my own eyes.

Night at home with friends

One night when Lotta was here we decided to get some friends together for dinner. Sigrid and Niklas came with their 10 weeks old baby girl Vina and also Jocke who did all the cooking. Lotta, Sigrid, Niklas and I all went to highschool together and Jocke also became a good friend around highschool time and we had lots of fun together, and still have, same but different. Adam came home from work aorund 9ish and joined us all. It was a great night with great company and great food!

Fun at Leos

The other day Jakob and I went to Leo's together with my friend Lotta and her kids Linnea and Elias. As always Jakob had a great time even though it was a bit too crowded with older kids sometimes running over the little ones. For the first time Jakob managed to climb up to all slides himself which is great (I can't keep up with him...). Still have to run after him everywhere of course but at least I don't have to climb up everywhere.

Another nice day

This morning Jakob woke up at 9 am which is the latest he has ever slept in. Adam had the day off so we have just been at home the whole day playing at the back of the house, realxing and having fun. Later in the afternoon the neighbours grandchild Filippa who is 5 came over and asked for Jakob. He got SO happy and ran out to play with her. She took him to the playground for a while, kicked the ball with him and looked after him so well. After dinner (we had take away pizza, yummy) she came back with some more family members and played in the pool and the water slide. I was cold just watching them but it didn't seem to bother them and they had so much fun. Jakob LOVES Filippa.

Lotta and the family coming to stay!

Last night Lotta and the kids came over for dinner and to stay for the night. After the kids being a bit shy in the beginning they started playing and having fun with the water slide and playing basket. Jakob loved hanging out with the older kids.

When we finally managed to get the kids inside (it was gettin late) they started playing with the pool table...

... and contiuned in to the bedroom where they played like crazy... we all had great fun!

The beach!

The other day Jakob and I met up with Lotta and her two kids Elias and Linnea on the beach. Lotta and I have known each other since we were about 12 and we also went to high school together. She now lives in the south of Sweden and is only here for holidays.

Sara and Kalle

Yesterday a friend from the old days at the riding club came over to visit. She now lives in the south of Sweden on a farm with cows and horses and they are just buliding an indoor riding arena on their farm. What a dream!! I haven't seen her for quite a few years even though it feels like it was yesterday. Not only because I follow her blog, but because I think that's just the way it is with some old friends. You just take over where you finished last time. That is so nice and something I missed during my years in Australia.

Home sweet home!

After a few days away it was nice to come home again. The day after we stayed hom the whole day apart from a trip to the grocery shop and did some washing, vaccuming (Jakob followed me around with his little vaccum cleaner, so cute) and and played outside. We had a great day the two of us. He is so fun to be with and talks all the time. Sometimes he puts his arm around me, looks me in the eyes and says: I have to hold on to you so you don't fall down mummy. It sounds so adorable. He is still very active which we think is a good think, but can of course be quite exahausting. He only sits still if he has an ice cream in his hand :-)

Piteå caravan park!

On Sunday last week Jakob and I drove to Piteå which is about an hour south of Luleå. They have a great big caravan park right next to the ocean where we used to go a lot as kids. Anders and his family had stayed there for a few nights in mum and dads caravan and on Sunday mum and dad took over, and Jakob and I. Adam was working. Jakob got to play with Moa for a abit before they left and after that we went straigth to the beach.

Jakob loves playing in the sand and he makes sand cakes, fill up buckets with water and drive around with trucks etc. Luckily he is quite happy doing it on his own so I don't have to be too involved. Mormor and morfar also spent a lot of time playing with him on the beach.

Most days were warm and nice and the beach is really child friendly with shallow water and lots of little puddles with quite warm water.

This nice shirt with an elefphant we bought Jakob in Thailand nearly 2 years ago. Doesn't he look good in it?

The 3 days in Piteå went really quick and it was a great break from city life, and also nice for me to not have to worry about cooking, celaning, washing etc. Jakob loved the caravan life so I am sure we will do it again soon, hopefully with daddy.

A day at the caravan park

The days at the caravan park were filled with playing on the beach, playing with other kids and mormor and morfar, reading, eating (mainly ice cream...), and a little bit of sleeping.

Jakob having a chat with morfar.

One night we had hamburgers and sasuages for dinner.

The only way to get Jakob to sleep during the day is to take him for a drive in the car. Here is in a deep sleep in his new car seat.

Jakob and I shared bed in the caravan, something that we have never done before. It worked really well and Jakob loved sleeping in there. It was nice waking up next to him in the morning.

The nights...

Every night at the caravan park we took a walk down to the "centre" for an ice cream and som fun.

Jakob was really scared of all the rides but one night he tried the train with mormor. He was really scared but still did it and he has talked about it a lot after.

Walking back to the caravan. It looks like it is in the middle of the day but it is around 8 in the evening.

Last day in Piteå

Tuesday was the last day in Piteå for me and Jakob but mormor and morfar stayed for another few days. Maggi came to join them and she also brought her scissors so that Jakob could have a haircut. It wasn't quite at easy for Maggi to do the job this time because Jakob started walking around after a few minutes but the end result was still really good.

Morfar getting rid of all the hair...

The night was beautiful and warm and Jakob and some other kids on the street played and had great fun together. When I finally managed to put Jakob's pyjamas on and get him into the car at 8.30 it was still 27 degrees outside. Jakob fell asleep within minutes and woke up 8 am the next morning. Not bad.