Photos

I have taken SO many photos this summer that I need a break. The last couple of weeks I haven't really felt like picking up the camera at all, but I am sure that will change soon. Until then the blog updates will be text only.

Jakob is good but has a cold, hopefully not the swine flu. He has a runny nose and is caughing a bit but he is happy playing like normal, even though we try to take it a bit easy with him.

We are about to book a trip to France. The plan is to fly to Paris and stay there for a few days, and then take the train to Brest to see my friend Karin and her family. I have read a bit about the swine flu and I have to say that the more I read, the less I worry about it (I dont't mean reading newspapers or watching the news, that would make anyone scared). I am not going to have the vaccination and I am not going to stop living life because of it. If I get it I get it. And it is not going to stop us from travelling.

Very tired

The wedding last night was beautiful and we had lots of fun.

Adam dropped Jakob off at our friends place at about 2.30 and that went well. He was happy and didn't get upset at all when Adam was leaving. At 8.30 we got a message from our friends that the night had gone perfect, the kids had played nicely together and that Jakob fell asleep about 8.20. That was great news for us!! after the wedding I went to their house and slep in a bed in the room where Jakob was sleeping and he woke up at 7 really happy and told me lots about what he had been up to the night before. I am so glad that his first sleep over at a friends place went well and was a good experience for him. I am also thankful to have such great friends who helped us out with this even though they have a 4 months baby and a 3 year old in the house.
Adam had a quiet time at home in the morning and when I got home at lunch time (after a visit to the riding club with Jakob) I went straight to bed and slept for over 3 hours!

Busy busy

Tomorrow Jakob is having a sleep over at a friends place for the first time. My cousin is getting married and because all the normal baby sitters (mormor and morfar) are going to be at the wedding we decided to ask our friends Maria and Andreas if they could have Jakob for the afternoon and night. I think it will go ok. I hope so. We have talked to him quite a bit about it the last couple of days and at first he just said No, I am going to sleep at home with mummy and daddy, but today he started to be much more positive about it all. I talked about the games he can play with Alice, that he can bring one of his favourite dvd's and show Alice, that he can play with their cat Simba and so on. I think if we just keep being positive about it he will be ok. He normally goes to bed without any problems and I will go there at night after the wedding so I will be in the room when he wakes up in the morning. Keep your fingers crossed for all of us for tomorrow...

Back to work

This week was my first week back at work after 6 weeks off. I have had a great time but was also ready to get back to work again and I am really enjoying it.
John and Jane left Tuesday morning and are now back in Adelaide. They have seen the best of northern Sweden weather wise but also had time to see a lot, meet lots of our friends and family here, and of course spent lots of time with Jakob. I also got the chance to go out on my own a few times and Adam and I had a couple of dinners without Jakob too. Jakob has loved having people here to play with all the time and playing with the trains with poppa has been the best during these last few weeks. I was a bit worried when they left and he had to go back to day care but it has all gone really well. He has been a bit sad when dropped off in the morning but yesterday when I came to pick him up he was crying because he wanted to stay at day care. He seems to understand that poppa and grandma have left and that he has to get by with just me and Adam. So far so good.
Jakob's English improved a lot over the last few weeks and even though he mainly spoke Swedish back to grandma and poppa he started saying more and more English words as the days went by. The most important thing is that he understands pretty much all English and hopefully he will get more confident to speak in a couple of years. Anyone got any advise on this?

Jane's birthday

Jane's birthday was celebrated with a lunch at a very nice restaurant on the water.

The view.

Christening number 2

Jane and John got to experience a Swedish christening during their stay in Luleå. Jakob's cousin Lucas was christened in Örnäset's church. I was a bit worried about how Jakob would behave after our last experience in a church, but he did great this time. Haven't got any good photos from the ceremoni though. The weather was once again perfect so at the reception at their house kids and adults could spend most of the time outside.

Boat trip

Finally we managed to plan in a boat trip this summer. Our friends Stina and Martin have a boat and picked us up from the mainland and took us all the way out to Brändöskär, one of the island that is the furthest way out in the ocean. We picked a great day with clear blue skies and nearly no wind. Coulnd't have had a more perfect day. Har to believe that Stina is 36 weeks pregnant on the picture... She looked great...

The boat...

Exploring the island

The old chapel at Brändöskär is really nice and sometimes used for smaller ceremonies.

Group photo outside the church.

The view of some of the fishing cabins on the island.

Grandma trying to stop Jakob from jumping from a big rock. Not an easy task.

Enjoying life the Aussie way, with a beer!

Adam, John, Martin and I also had a last swim from the jetty. The water was actually not so cold! Some of the boys struggled to pull themselves upp to the jetty and had to go to the back of the boat and climb on the ladder....

Jakob stayed on the jetty with grandma.

Jakob exhausted after a day on the sea....

Getting ready for dinner

After a super nice day on the island Adam and I took the opportunity to go out for dinner together when we had babysitters at home. We had a great night with Carina and Andreas and also caught up with some other friends at restaurant a bit later on.

Lunch at Maria's

Maria is the girl that I went to university with and she is also the one I went to Australia with to do my thesis together with. She never got the chance to meet Adam's parents when in Austrlia but she got to meet them a few times during their stay in Luleå. She very kindly invited us all over for lunch one day.

Storforsen

A must when visiting the north of Sweden is a daytrip to Storforsen, the great rapids. The settings are beautiful with water and rock formations everywhere. And lots of spots to sit down for a picnic.

As always we broguth too much food and couldn't stop eating. Had to keep a close eye on Jakob to stop him from jumping from a cliff.

Melvin's Christening

One Saturday we were invited to Melvin's Christening in Gammelstad's church. Jakob had never been in a church before and he had so much fun. He talked loudly, he stood up and clapped his hands after the songs, also telling everyone what he was doing. And laughing. I got really stressed and started laughing too. Couldn't stop. It was extremly embarassing. Adam had to take the freak out a couple of times when it all got too much.

After the church they had a reception at their house with lots of food and a nice cake!!

Luleåkalaset!

The last weekend of July Luleå had it's yearly summer festival going for 4 days with lots of fun happening. One night we all went in to the city and started by looking at all the fun rides. Jakob loved watching them, but was not interested in trying anything himself. Good for us, soon enough we will probably be right in to it.

The older boys trying to win some chocolate...

Daddy trying to hold on to Jakob who was in the mood: Ha ha, I can run faster than everyone else and before you know it I disappear in the crowd of people...

The beach

The weather has been great the last few weeks and we have spent quite a lot of time at the beach. Jakob likes playing in the sand and in the shallow water but doesn't want to go to far. One day he fell and got really scared from getting his head under water. He relaxed after a while and played happily. Then Adam and I deceide to go for a swim when Jakob was playing with poppa. Jakob didn't seem to care at all when he saw us walking out, until I went in to the water. He paniced and started sreaming for us to come back. I realised that he probably thought I fell in to the water and was drowning. I went back in quicikly and sat with him on the beach when Adam was having a swim explaining to him what was happening and after that he seemed ok. Poor thing.

Visiting Lola and Jan

Last time mum and dad came to visit us in Australia, they had a couple of friends, Lola and Jan with them. They travelled around a bit in Australia but stayed in Adelaide for quite some time. We spent a lot of time together and they also met Adam's parents and stayed at their house a couple of nights. Anyway, the other week they invited us all to their beautiful summer cabin outside Luleå.

Jakob had lots of fun running around, climbing on things, playing with their grandkids toys, eating ice cream etc.

They didn't only have one cabin but about 4 I think. Apart from the main cabin there was a guest cabin, a sauna and a shed.

Jakob taking in the views...

Blog...

I have been very bad at updating the blog for the last few weeks. From now on I will be better. I was going to put in more photos today but it doesn't seem to work properly, have to try 2 or 3 times before I manage to attach the photos. Very annoying. I will try again another day because I have LOTS of photos of from the last couple of weeks with Adam's parents. They left yesterday and should be back in Adelaide in a few hours. Hope the trip home went well!

Jakob and Lucas

Jakob loves his little cousin Lucas and he was just so proud when he got to hold him the other week. Look how cute Lucas is holding Jakob's hand.

Friends over for dinner

One night we had our friends Maria and Andreas and their kids Alice and Melvin over for dinner.

A trip to Korva

My best friend Karin's mum Anneli invited us to come and stay at her summer place in Korva, right on the river between Sweden and Finland. I spent a lot of time there as a child so being there brings back lots of nice memories. On the way up we stopped a really nice picnic place to have some sandwiches and Swedish cakes that mum and dad had brought.

Once we got to Korva we relaxed for a while, had some drinks and let Jakob play a bit before hitting the roda again.

The place has two big houses in a great spot by the river.

Finland!

Staying so close to the Finish border we just had to make a trip over the bridge.

Jakob high up in a viewing tower in Finland.

Beautiful views by Torneå river

Next to Annelis place in Korva their is a big place that sells cucumber and tomatoes. We went and bought some to have for dinner.

You pick what you want, weigh it on a scale and put money in a little container.

Korva at night

John having a beer with Torneå river and Finland in the background.

Anneli and Jakob
Dinner at Korva with nice views over the river.

Korva in the morning

The next morning we woke up to another beautiful day. Jakob had a morning bath...

...and got out all the toys from the shed.