Ven

On Friday, May 2nd, we went to the island of Ven. First we drove to Landskrona, about an hours drive. Then we took the ferry across to the island of Ven. When we got off the ferry, we walked up a steep hill and rented bikes. We got a child size bike for Tipton, and adult size bike for Dave, and an adult size bike with a trailer attached for me and Lilli.

We got off to a rough start - Tipton hadn't ridden a bicycle in a long time and was having major issues. But after a while he settled down and we were on our way. Because of Tipton's bicycle/confidence issues, we decided to stick to the main road. The main road goes straight through the middle of the island, from one side to the other. (There are several bicycle paths that will take you all over and around the island, but they are not paved.)

About halfway across the island we stopped for a picnic lunch. We sat on a bench in front of the Tycho Brahe museum.

Lilli is always looking to see what Tipton is doing - she wants to be just like her big brother!

There was a rope along the road in front of the museum. The kids had a great time playing with it (not much car traffic along the road.)

Tipton and Mommy find where we are on the map and where we're going to go next.

This is the main road.

Standing in front of the Tycho Brahe museum. The museum is housed on an old church. Tycho Brahe was a famous astronomer. He used to own the entire island of Ven (it was a gift from the Danish goverment/monarchy/whatever.)

There are giant fields of these bright yellow (Raps) flowers all over Sweden. So bright they hurt your eyes.

That building in the background is the entrance to Tycho Brahe's underground observatory. He built his observatory underground so that the inclement weather (wind, rain, etc) would not destroy his instruments. We took a little 'tour' of the observatory. Really, we stood in a little glass enclosed room and looked out into the observatory while listening to "Tycho Brahe" tell us about all of the instruments.

More bright yellow flowers. I'm telling you - they are everywhere!

Not sure if you can tell from this picture, but in you can see Denmark on the left side of the river and Sweden on the right side of the river. The island of Ven is centered in the river between the two countries. I thought it was really neat that you could see both countries at the same time.

The kids pose with a giant statue of Tycho Brahe.

There were all sorts of scientific-themed games in the field behind the Tycho Brahe museum. The kids were particularly excited about this one, although we never could figure out exactly how to play it. (The instructions were in Swedish and Danish.)

We rode our bikes to the other side of the island and walked around outside a church. The church is on a cliff. Here's the view:

Here's the view of the church from down on the beach.

We walked along the beach and Daddy tried to teach the kiddos how to skip rocks. Lilli was content to just throw the rocks into the water for a big splash.

Tipton searched for the perfect rocks for skipping. Then handed them to Daddy to skip.


He had a great time running around on the beach.



The hill back up from the beach was very steep. And the bikes were very heavy. I was struggling to push my bike (with Lilli and all our stuff in the attached trailer) up the steep hill, so Dave voluntered to trade with me. I would push his bike and he would push mine (with the trailer.) Sounded like a good deal to me. So I was walking along next to Tipton and he was also struggling a little, so I reached out to steady his bike. Tipton miscontrued my attempt at helping as a desire to push the bike for him, so he let go. And he ran up to help Daddy push Mommy's bike up the hill. So I went from pushing one bike, that although was heavy was still only ONE bike, to pushing TWO bikes up the hill. Two very heavy bikes, of different heights. Dave thought this was hysterically funny, especially since Tipton was helping him to push the bike & trailer.


I just love this sign... Is it a warning or a suggestion?


After we returned the bikes we walked down the hill to wait for the ferry. And had some ice cream.



This is the ferry boat.


This is the line to get onto the ferry. You can see the Biljettkontroll sign (tickets.)

Our last glimpse of the island as we boarded the ferry.

Of course, the kids favorite part of the day was riding on the ferry.

You can see that Lilli really enjoyed her ice cream (she was still eating it as we got onto the ferry.)

Goodbye, Ven! Thanks for a great afternoon!

K'Nex

Grandma Suzie gave Tipton a giant box of K'Nex for his birthday. It has over 1000 pieces. It came with instructions on how to build a roller coaster (it came with two roller coaster cars, too.) So over the Valborg holiday, Tipton and Daddy put it together. It took several days...

Tipton is very proud of his tower. He shows everyone who comes over. It's taller than he is. We've had to remove the big sign from the top, however, it was giving him nightmares.

Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis Night)

April 30th is Valborgsmässoafton (Walbpurgis Night) - Sweden's celebration of the coming of Spring. They celebrate by singing and dancing around giant bonfires. (Much alcohol is usually consumed.) In an effort to experience more of the Swedish culture, we decided to go to the Valborg celebration at one of the nearby parks, Pildams Parken. Sam and her kids (Aaron and Selena) went with us. We all walked from our house. I brought the wagon and some blankets.

We got the park in time for the Children's Show. Pretty much, it was music that was fun to dance to, so of course my children danced!

Lilli is wearing the little horse backpack that her daycare teachers gave her for her birthday. She wore it all night long. Tipton is wearing the 'special' glasses that were handed out when you entered the park. Pretty much the special glasses make rainbows appear around everything. The kids thought they were REALLY cool!

The kids wanted to get a better view of the bonfire (not yet lit) and the band. Here Aaron is riding on Sam's shoulders.

And Tipton is riding on Daddy's shoulders.

Lilli was riding on my shoulders. Unfortunately, there was not another adult to carry Selena, so she just stood in the wagon.

As the sun set, the children got cold. So they huddled together under one of the blankets.

Except for Lilli. She wanted to ride on my shoulders so that she could see what was going on.

After a short program (which we didn't really understand), they lit the bonfire. And just in time - it had just started raining.

We stayed, in the rain, until the last song. Then we headed for home. It was almost 10:00pm - the latest my kids have ever stayed up/awake. Tipton and Lilli rode in the wagon on the way home. And of course, they both fell asleep. Dave and I considered just rolling the wagon into the hallway and calling it a night, but we were responsible parents and actually got their teeth brushed and jammies on and put into bed.

It was a very late night, but I'm glad we went. It was nice to be a part of something that is so widely celebrated over here.

Six Years Old!

Has it really been six years since I brought this little guy home from the hospital? He's not so little anymore...

Tipton had his birthday party at the beginning of April (a joint birthday party with his friend, Keisuke.) So his actual birthday was a little low-key. Sort of.

The day started with presents. Lots and lots of presents. First opened was the present from Grandma Suzie. Tipton had been hearing about how cool this present was for over a month, and he couldn't wait to see for himself. He agreed that it was indeed very, very cool - K'Nex that you can build into a roller coaster!

The way birthday parties are 'done' over here, is that intead of each kind bringing a gift, all the parents chip in some money for one big gift (or gift card or cash...) Tipton opted for cash (and lots of it!) A few days before his birthday Grandma Suzie and I took him to Toys R Us to spend his birthday money. Tipton is all about Playmobil Knights right now, so that's what he spent his money on. One of the things he got was the Playmobil knights treasury wagon.

Grama Kay and Papa got Tipton a giant Playmobil Knights mountain castle. I think he likes it.

Another thing that he bought with his birthday money was a Playmobil knights take-along castle.

Tipton also got some extra Playmobil knights (to go with all of his castles) with his birthday money.

Lilli gave Tipton a Bump 'n Go Spiderman. Spiderman rides a motorcycle, and when it bumps into something (a wall, a foot, a chair, etc) it turns around and zooms off in another direction.

Mommy and Daddy gave Tipton Star Wars Legos.

The take-along castle came with a catapult that would 'fling' balls of fire. Lilli gathered up all the little balls of fire and put them on her toes. We're not exactly sure why. But it sure was funny!

Grama Kay and Papa sent musical birthday cards for the kids. We hung onto them until Tipton's birthday, then let the kids open the cards at the same time. Lilli's plays Rockin' Robin. She loved it! She dances every time she opens the card.

Tipton's was a Star Wars card. When you opened the card it played the Star Wars theme.

He took his birthday card to school for Show & Tell.

When we got in the car to go to school, this is what we saw:

It seems that my car has a calendar/reminder feature. And Dave had programmed Tipton's birthday into it. We all thought it was very cool that the car wished Tipton a happy birthday!

Because it was Tipton's birthday, I made cupcakes and brought them in to school. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures. Tipton requested the same cupcakes he had for his birthday last year. Strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The cupcakes were pink. So we tinted the frosting bright/neon blue. Then I sprinkled green sugar on them in what I hoped would look like shields (staying with the knights birthday theme.) Then I sprinkled six silver candy balls/decors in the center of each 'shield.' Everybody loved them. In fact, one little girl asked me if I could make them again!

After school I invited all of Tipton's friends to John Ericsson park. We'd already had the cupcakes at school, but I had other munchies. Here are Sam and Mom watching over the muncies. (Sam is Aaron's Mom.)

And here's Mom and Me - because we never seem to get a picture of the two of us together.

And here's my friend, Nami, who was kind enough to take a picture of me and Mom. Nami is Keisuke's Mom.

Earlier in the week I had bought some new outdoor toys. I figured Tipton's birthday was the perfect opportunity to try them out. Here, Keisuke and Tipton are playing with the disk launchers. You pull a string and the little disk spins around and takes off like a helicopter. The kids had LOTS of fun with these. Not sure if you can see the little yellow disk just above and to the right of Tipton's head...

When we got to the playground, the sand pit was empty. Like, all of the sand had been dug out of it. About 20 minutes after we got there, a big truck drives up and starts dumping in new sand. We all stood around and watched. A big mechanical scoop would scoop up sand in the back of the truck and swing out and drop it (very precisely) into the sand pit. The guy in orange used a big joystick type controller to control the scoop. When he had finished, all the kids jumped into the new sand.

Keisuke shows Lilli how to make a little ball out of the new sand.

Lilli must have been awfully tired, because she had to lie down in the sand...

Then she laid down in the field...

Then she laid down in the daffodils. I guess she just couldn't get comfortable.

Meanwhile, the boys were having a great time! (L-R: Aaron, Tipton, Alexander and Keisuke)

Bubbles are magical - it doesn't matter how old you are, everyone wants to play with the bubbles! (L-R: Tipton, Keisuke, Alexander, Aaron, Nicolas)

Well, everyone except for Lilli...

...she just wanted to sit in the daffodils.

Tipton wanted to go to Burger King for his birthday dinner. So we invited all of his friends to come along. And they all did, except for Aaron who threw a MAJOR tantrum and so wasn't allowed to go. Here's Aaron and Tipton playing with the helicopter/disk things.

As I was labeling the kids in the pictures it occurred to me that I didn't get pictures of all of Tipton's friends. Some of the girls came, but they left early to go to the Talent Show (being performed at Bladins.) Also, Finn came late to our afternoon at the park. The kids that went with us to Burger King were: Keisuke, Alexander, Nicolas and Finn (and Tipton and Lilli, of course.) Mom, Tipton, Lilli and I went home really quickly before we left for Burger King. Lilli was absolutely FILTHY from rolling around (in the sand, in the grass, in the flowers...) and required a complete change of clothes. (I would have liked to have gotten her in the tub, too, but that had to wait until after we got home from Burger King.) Dave pulled into the driveway right after we did, so he was able to join us at Burger King for the birthday dinner.

When I tucked Tipton into bed, he said that he had a GREAT birthday. I can't believe my little boy is SIX years old!