Summer Break: Week 8

Summer in Houston is HOT but it's always good to be home again after a long trip. We were all especially excited to see our pets. Here's a peek at some of what we've been up to lately:

Since we were all jet-lagged and up before the sun, we took Ruby on a very early morning walk at the Houston Arboretum. We saw a night heron at the pond (can you see it behind Henry's right shoulder?).

Ruby loves the Arboretum!

We also found a huge frog.

We visited four different libraries last week! Love my big readers. 

We were at the vet last week, and the boys played with the kittens the entire time. Of course they thought we needed to bring one home with us! (We didn't.)

Pool visit to beat the heat

Henry requested a visit to the Art Car Museum too. 

We also celebrated my birthday a few days early. We had garlic shrimp, Gene's baguettes, roasted squash and a caprese salad.

Crave cupcakes for dessert, of course!

We are looking forward to more summer fun this week!

Sweden 2016: Day 10

On our last day in Sweden, we ventured out to Skansen, an open air museum and zoo. Opened in 1891, it is the world's first open air museum and showcases historical buildings from all around Sweden.

One of our first stops was the glassblowing studio. The boys are always entranced by glassblowing and could have watched the artists for hours. 

Bakehouse

The Alvros Farmstead

We found rocks to climb,

chickens,

and goats and cows.

 Brown bear

The Vastveit Storehouse is one of the oldest building at Skansen, with parts dating from the 14th century.

View of Tivoli Grona Lund and all of Stockholm

Gardens

Engineering Works

Another labyrinth

Henry said that Skansen was his favorite place in Sweden because everything he wanted to see was in one place. It was fantastic and we could have stayed all day, but we had to gather our bags from our airbnb flat and travel out to the airport hotel. We had a very early morning flight the next day and Stockholm's airport is 30+ minutes from the city center, so we spent our last night two minutes from the airport. Our room was a family room with awesome pull-down bunks for the boys.

And best of all, the Tooth Fairy paid us a visit in Sweden! Henry had a stubborn wiggly tooth and he was determined to lose it on the trip, so he yanked it out on our very last night!

The Tooth Fairy found us and left Henry 10 crowns (about $1.20). 

We made so many wonderful family memories in Scandinavia! It is the perfect place to visit in the summer. Nearly everyone we met spoke perfect English, the Danes and Swedes were so friendly and interested in chatting with us (they wanted to know what we thought about Donald Trump), and our kids were welcomed everywhere. It's a place I'd happily return to in a heartbeat as there is still so much more to see and explore. What a tremendous trip!

Sweden 2016: Day 9

The boys loved exploring Fjaderholmarna so much that they both kept asking if we were going back to the Archipelago, so that's exactly what we did. There are thousands and thousands of islands in the Stockholm Archipelago, and most are not easily accessed for a day trip. After a fair bit of research, we settled on the island of Vaxholm, which is one hour by ferry.

We were on an early ferry to Vaxholm and arrived before the town was quite awake. We passed some time playing chess at the town square before gathering maps and brochures from the visitor center.

As it turns out, Vaxholm is quite different than Fjaderholmarna and there were fewer rocks to climb and more shops in which to browse. 

One of the big attractions in Vaxholm is the Vaxholm Fortress, 

which is on its own tiny island that is accessed only by boat. We took the cable ferry across.

Looking back at the ferry and Vaxholm

Once again, we arrived before the museum opened, so we walked around the island and explored. There has been a fortress on this site since 1548 and the current citadel was built between 1833 and 1869 and has been, at times, instrumental in the defense of Stockholm.

 

No rocks to climb, but it was still gorgeous!

We found lots of artillery and cannons.

 

Inside the citadel

After touring the museum and eating lunch, we noticed ominous gray clouds overhead and decided to take the next ferry back to Stockholm. 

We ended up getting back to Stockholm before the rain came but then got caught in a torrential downpour on way to get ice cream at FRYST, which our airbnb host said was the best in town! We dried off back at the apartment and ventured out for a final dinner in our little neighborhood. We ended up at an Italian restaurant that was delicious (the boys ordered carbonara) 

and then it was back home to pack up and get ready for one last day in Stockholm!