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!

Lately: It's Almost Christmas!

Our last week before the long holiday break was jam-packed with fun activities. Here's a peak at what we've been up to lately:

Our winter Cub Scout campout was at Texana Park, but last weekend's forecast was a rainy one, so we loaded up the car and headed down to the park on Friday night. Several of our Cub Scout friends joined us and we spent the evening running, playing and exploring. On Saturday morning, with bellies full of breakfast tacos, the boys went fishing for the first time! We also completed a three mile hike and a service project before heading back to Houston.

Will's week was a touch stressful. He competed in the grade-level spelling bee on Wednesday morning.

He spent hours practicing and did really well, but misspoke when spelling "pomposity" and was eliminated. I was SO proud of how hard he worked!

Will also had his Name That Book team tryouts this week, which ended in a tie-breaker on Thursday morning. We are excited that he is on the team again this year and he is already busy reading and rereading the 30 books required for the competition.  

This monkey lost his tooth on Wednesday, so now he can sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

The boys had their holiday parties/service projects at school on Thursday. They enjoyed a pizza lunch after decorating and filling bags for Kids Meals, Inc.

The boys also brought home ornaments that they made at school. Will decorated this wooden heart

and Henry spent over two weeks sewing this felt ornament.

On Friday night, while out to dinner with a group of friends, Santa walked up to our restaurant and sat down to listen to gift requests! We were thrilled since we hadn't see Santa yet this year. Will asked for a robot and Henry asked for Magformers.

Yesterday, we were invited to a showing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens at Studio Movie Grill.  

We ended the evening at the Houston Arboretum's Winter Solstice Party. We enjoyed dinner with Gramma and Grampa, walked the trails and looked at the night sky through telescopes and made these cute cork reindeer.

Now that school is out for the winter break, the boys are counting down the days 'til Christmas!

Summer Break: Week Five

Last week, the kids and I visited the library three times, went to the Children's Museum and the zoo and the movies, listened to a concert at Miller Outdoor Theatre, played hard, and celebrated the Fourth of July with friends and family!

The boys love the Children's Museum but it is always so crowded, especially in the summer. We got there right at opening last Monday and it was busy... but the boys played hard and had fun and we left before it got too insane.

Henry lost his second tooth last week. It was wiggly and he asked Gene to pull it out Monday night. The Tooth Fairy visited our house two times in three days!

Did you know there was a leap second last Tuesday? We watched the extra second as it was added to the clock. Check out Henry's toothless grin!

On Wednesday, we were back in the Museum District to go to the Houston Young Artists' Concert at Miller Outdoor Theatre. The young musicians were incredibly talented and the show was phenomenal. The only bummer was the heavy, sideways-blowing rain that reached our seats, even though we were well under cover!

We spent Thursday morning at the zoo. It was warm but not too hot.

Summer = relaxing on the grass, head on a football.

Henry and Gene picked up some Crave cupcakes on Friday, just because.

We celebrated Weezie's 14th birthday last week too! She is such a good cat and was curled up with Will's How Things Work  book. Doesn't it look like she's reading all about levers?

Henry has really been into creating his own games lately. This is Monster chess, which is similar to regular chess but with some wacky rules. He's also created a monster card game, but we're still tweaking the rules on that one. 

And finally, we had a wonderful Fourth of July. We celebrated with Gene's family in the afternoon and then went to our friends' annual Fourth of July barbeque and swim party. It is always a good time. This year, the boys are finally good swimmers, so they had a blast jumping off the diving board and swimming around. The evening ended with sparklers and fireworks.

I hope your Fourth of July was full of barbeques, waving American flags and sparklers on the driveway!

Summer Break: Week Four

The kids were at camp at the Houston Arboretum last week. Will and Henry aren't huge fans of camp in general, but they love Nature Trekkers camp, which is full of hiking, hands-on activities, and getting dirty! An added bonus is that we just go in the mornings, so there is plenty of lazy time at home too. Last week's theme was "Wet and Wild," so the boys went pond dipping and fishing. The highlight of Will's week was actually getting in the pond, up to his waist, to help pull out lily pads that were taking over the pond. He could not stop talking about that service project. The boys had a great week at camp!  

When we weren't at camp, we played a lot of games, like chess and Monopoly.

On Thursday, we had a friend over for a playdate and spent the afternoon at the MFAH, where we visited galleries and worked on art projects.

 

These sculptures were inspired by The Hydrospatial City by Gyula Kosice. 

We could not miss the Shadow Monsters exhibit.

Henry's space utopia.

Will went to a birthday party on Saturday at Sky Zone. This boy is really good at dodgeball, but he also loved the foam pit.

And finally, I'll leave you with a picture of my toothless boy! Henry asked Gene to pull out his wiggliest tooth on Sunday night. Henry has been watching his friends lose teeth for years, and he's finally joining the toothless crowd. It's immensely exciting for a seven-year-old to finally have the Tooth Fairy visit his room.  

What a way to end the week!