Things You Just Don't Expect To Say....

The children were playing in the sandbox in the backyard. I was in the kitchen, making dinner and talking to a friend on the phone. Then the children came running in and I had to pause mid-sentence to exclaim "Where are your pants?!!"

Neither Tipton nor Lilli were wearing pants. I know for a fact that they were wearing pants when they went outside...

Tivoli

The weekend before last (yes, I am FINALLY up to date with the blog!) we went to Tivoli with my friend, Tracy, and her family (husband = Zane, son = Joel, 3 1/2, daughter = Zada, 1.) It was their first time to Tivoli. (They just moved to Malmö, from CT, this summer.) Tracy and I met through The Little Gym. Her son, Joel, is in Lilli's class. Tracy signed Joel up for Little Gym for the same reasons I originally signed up Tipton and Lilli: 1) He needed an outlet for his endless energy and 2) she needed to be able to have conversations with other grownups.

So anyway, we met them at the train station so that we could all ride over together.

Tipton prepares to take off on the airplane ride.

Lilli eats a hotdog as we walk to the next ride.

Dave took this picture of me and Lilli as he and Tipton prepare to ram into our boat.

Tipton 'driving' the boat.

Dave took this picture, of Zane taking a picture of me and Lilli as we ram into their boat.

Dave took this picture. He and Tipton were in the next car.

Dave thought this sign was really funny. It says "Roller Coaster Closed Due To Damages. Do Not Use!" It is funny because it was posted on quite possibly the world's slowest slide.

Lilli had to wait for quite a while to have a turn on this. It is a little seat, tilted at an angle, that you can spin around and around and around it.

Around 3:00 we stopped to have a snack - crepes with jelly/chocolate sauce and ice cream. Yum! Dave and Zane waited with the older kids while I waited for the crepes and Tracy strolled around with Zada. (It has occurred to me that I have no pictures of Tracy and Zada.) Here Joel and Lilli are trying to wait patiently.

Classic Lilli.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

"Hey Tipton, you have some on your face."

There was a giant cage with pretty songbirds in it near where we stopped for our snack. The kids thought watching the birds was as much fun as going on the rides.

Dave and Tipton on the big ferris wheel.

All in all it was a good day. The weather was perfect and it was spent having fun with friends.

Twister!

Last summer I bought Tipton a game called Body Boggle. It is like Twister, only instead of a spinner, you roll giant dice. One die is for hands, the other die is for feet. Lilli recently discovered the game, and wanted to play it constantly for about two weeks. It was especially funny watching Lilli figure out how to get her hands at one end of the mat and her feet at the other.

I've put it away for now. I'll bring out when she gets a little taller.

Dave's Birthday Party

Dave's birthday fell on a Monday this year. So we had some friends over on Sunday to help us celebrate. We invited the Scotts and the Trivelys. (The following pictures are courtesy of Ian Scott - who played photographer for us.)

We grilled out - hamburgers, hotdogs and pork tenderloin. We had mashed potatoes, lemonade, carrot sticks, chips, dips (queso, ranch & tzaziki) and beer (for the adults). The kids had a great time running in and out and around the house/playroom. The adults enjoyed the opportunity to have grown up conversations.

After dinner it turned chilly, so we decided to have dessert inside. As part of Dave's birthday present, I made him his favorite cake - a four layer coconut cake, made completely from scratch.

Martin & Betsty helped me put all 35 candles on the cake.

They also helped light all 35 candles.

And then, of course, we had to sing Happy Birthday!

I think Dave wished that next year I not put so many candles on his cake...

Martin and Betsy then helped me take all the candles off the cake. And of course we couldn't let any of the yummy frosting go to waste. Anna helped with that part, too!

It was a great party. Dave got a giant box full of beer and all the makings for a taco dinner (including the largest can of refried beans we had ever seen and Betsy's home made taco seasoning.)

Thank you to our friends for coming and helping us to celebrate!

Meet the Trively's

Dave's friend and co-worker, Martin, recently moved to Malmö with his wife, Betsy, and three girls Clare (10), Anna (7) and Mia (4). So recently, that when they had us over for dinner one night, they still had a room full of the packing paper and broken down boxes from thier move. The children had a BLAST!

L-R: Tipton, Mia, Anna & Clare (Lilli is behind the stack of boxes.)


L-R: Lilli, Anna & Clare
Mia & Lilli
Clare, Anna & Tipton

We're not exactly sure what they were doing, but they were doing it loudly. And they slept really, really well that night.

PYP Olympics

The first Friday of school the children participated in the PYP Olympics. (PYP = Primary Years Program = elementary school for those of you in the US.)

The children were divided into five groups, to represent the five rings of the olympic flag. Lilli was on the green team, representing Africa. Tipton was on the yellow team, representing the Americas.

First, there was a parade of classes/nations. All the children carried little olympic flags that they had colored in class. Tipton is standing next to his teacher, Chris (they call their teachers by the first name over here.)

Lilli is sitting in Luciana's lap. Luciana is one of her teachers. Her other teacher, Malin, is the one in the red shirt.
After the "parade" they children divided into their color groups and walked over the to the field next to Bladins. There they sat in circles, forming the pattern of the Olympic rings. It was very cool. I did not even try to take any pictures of that, however. The effect would be lost unless the photos were taken from a great height. Having said that, there was someone from the school taking pictures from the top floor of a nearby building.

After the photo the children went back to their individual class groups.

There were several events for the children to compete in.

There was the 'balance a ball on a paddle and race' competition.

And the 'run to the cone and toss the bean bag into the hoop' competition. This was by far Lilli's favorite. They had a little water break after this competition. But instead of resting, Lilli continued to do the event over and over and over again.

There was the sack race. I got a video of Lilli competing in this event. They had to climb into the sack and hop out to a cone, then turn around and hop back. Tipton did great. The younger kids, the ones in Lilli's class, were just too funny to watch. Most of them could barely see out of the bag. And then they 'hopped' it was more like they were just jumping up and down, so there weren't really going anywhere. Like I said - it was just too funny!



There was a frisbee throw competition.

There was also an obstacle course. I didn't get any good pictures of that, though.

When the events were over, there was a closing ceremony. The ceremony included each child receiving a laminated certificate saying that they participated in the 2008 PYP Olympic games.

I like how Lilli is checking out Savannah's to see if she got the same thing.

First Day of School! (Wink! Wink!)

The first 'real' day of school was Tuesday, August 19th. (The 18th was just an hour long 'meet the teacher' kind of thing.)

Both kids were very excited, but I definitely think Lilli was MORE excited than Tipton. Lilli was finally going to get to go to school at Bladin's (aka Tipton's school.) Here they are all dressed and ready to go. Of course, it was raining.



(I just love Lilli's expression in this one.)

I had no problem dropping Lilli off at her classroom. In fact, I had to call her back to give me hugs and kisses. She already knew several of the kids in her class (through Little Gym) and was not at all sad to be leaving me for several hours.

And of course, by now Tipton is a pro at the whole 'school' thing. He knew to change into his 'indoor shoes' and to hang up his coat and take out his folder and to line up at the door. Such a big boy.

What happened to my babies?

The next day we were home after school, having snack, and Tipton and Lilli were making faces at each other. It was a few moments before I realized that they weren't just making silly faces - they were WINKING at each other. It was just too funny.

Jet Lag

Our first full day back we went to McDonald's for lunch, then walked around Malmöfestivalen downtown. We bribed the kids with a ride on the carousel. We knew that we all needed to get out of the house and get some fresh air if we were to be in any shape for work/the start of school come Monday morning...



However, we drew the line at riding the rollercoaster set up in the stortorget parking lot. There's just something about seeing the whole thing propped up on wooden blocks that just screams "UNSAFE!"

Back home the children rediscovered all of their "stuff." Lilli was especially happy to be reunited with all of her dress up clothes.

The next day Dave setup the Wii Fit. Tipton tried out a few yoga poses.

Coming Home

The kids always want to play Elf Bowling whenever we go to Grama and Pappa's house. After about three days Grama had gotten sick of it. So she taught Tipton how to play a different game. One that didn't have an annoying soundtrack. I don't know the name of the game, but it is one she plays on AOL. Tipton caught on pretty quickly and had become quite good by the time we left. Here he is playing one last game on Grama's computer.


The flight home was uneventful - the very best kind. It took a while for the kids to settle down, but eventually they fell asleep. Sadly, Lilli only slept for a couple of hours.

The kids were very excited to be home and to be reunited with all of their 'stuff.' Lilli headed straight for the dress up box. After Dave and I had unpacked the suitcases we decided that we could all use a little rest, so we put on a video. And rest we did.

Tipton and Lilli passed out before the opening credits had finished.

And Dave wasn't too far behind them.

Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh. It's good to be home.

A Visit With Great-Grama

On our last full day in the US we went to see Great-Grama again.

But first Lilli had to do Grama Kay's hair and nails. I just love Lilli's expression in this picture. She must have been explaining something to Grama Kay.

We took Great Grama to lunch at one of her favorite restaurants (and mine, too!). I forget the actual name of the place (I always refer to it as The Yellow Duck because there is a big yellow duck on the front of the building.) They have the BEST lemon chicken and crab rangoons that I have ever eaten! The kids did really well. I had brought a peanut butter sandwich for Lilli to eat (she was on a peanut butter sandwich food jag.) For Tipton we ordered sweet & sour chicken with the sauce on the side - so it was like eating chicken nuggets. They were both very well behaved.

After lunch we took Great-Grama back to Westminster so that she could rest. Dave and his Dad (aka Pappa) went out to buy a small (dorm) fridge to put in Great-Grama's room. Kay (aka Grama Kay) and I took the kids to Toys R Us. Kay wanted to buy them a treat to keep them occupied on the plane for the flight home. Tipton chose a handheld electronic Transformers video game. Lilli chose a little disney princess flip cell phone, with carrying case.

When we got back to Great-Grama's, Lilli made herself right at home... Kicking back in Great-Grama's chair and talking on her princess phone.

Great-Grama showed Tipton and Lilli the blanket that we had given her for Christmas the previous year. We had taken a photo of all of her Great-Grandchildren at Thanksgiving and had it made into a polar fleece blanket. She loves it and shows it to everyone who comes into her room.

Then Lilli and Great-Grama called each other on their cell phones. Great-Grama shows Lilli her cell phone.

Lilli shows Great-Grama the carrying case for her disney princess cell phone.

Then they dialed each other's phone numbers.

Then they talked and talked!

I love this picture of Lilli watching what Great-Grama is doing. Great-Grama shows Lilli how she turns off her cell phone after she's finished talking on it.


Here is a nice picture of the kids with Great-Grama.


And here is a silly picture of the kids with Great-Grama. I love how they are all laughing. They really did have a good time playing together that afternoon.



That evening we played out in the backyard/on the deck.

Lilli played with Pappa with the ribbon wand. In this picture Lilli is explaining to Pappa exactly what she wants him to do.

Pappa wrapped Lilli up in the ribbon, then "unwound" her.

Pappa talks to Cinderella on Lilli's princess phone.

It was a fun, relaxing evening.