Our February

I feel like I have fallen off the blog wagon. So, I will attempt to review our latest antics with some photos:

The lake began to freeze. Then strong winds chopped the ice and created these great pieces clustered along the edge.


This is the same lake on the same day. We are heading to a garden to called "Ullriksdal Tradgard".

On the grounds of the Ullriksdal palace near the garden.


At the garden.


Ice skating at Vasa parken. This is a local park near our house. There are multiple ice rinks in the parks during winter.


Doing art with stamps.

So, it is a start. We are hanging in there. It has been a long winter. We are changing around our schedule. Saniya and I will take every Thursday afternoon together for an activity. Rob will be around more to spend time with Rowan. No job news. We are considering staying in Stockholm for the summer if there is no great job to go to. We will see. It is very much just a thought right now.

Yaz

Kid's stuff in Sweden

Ok, I just emailed this to an old friend. She wanted to learn about her son's swedish heritage to present in his school. It was fun to think about sweden for kids, so I thought I would just post it for you to browse:

First off, foodwise it is all about swedish meatballs (köttbullar). It is like a national pastime. They are served with a little gravy on top, lingonberry jam on the side and always with either boiled or mashed potatoes. You could skip the gravy with the kids and just have them dip the meatballs in the jam and see if they like it. Also, for every occasion there there are gingerbread cookies (pepparkakor). Especially around christmas, but really for any holiday or event they are always offered. Also, they love "bulle" a cardomon breakfast roll. This time of year they have there version of Fat Tuesday before Lent. Everyone in the country eats semla, which is a roll that is cut open, filled with whip cream and then the lid is placed back on top.

Kid's characterwise, Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren, is like a god here. I never knew such a devotion to a character before. She is the reigning kid ruler. Also, by the same author is "Karlsson på taket". He lives on a roof in Vasastan, Stockholm and is very messy and self-obsessed. There are lots of stories about his antics. Also, other authors that are popular are "Alfie Atkins", by Gunilla Bergstrom. There are a whole bunch of stories, but the most popular are Good Night Alfie Atkins, and Very Tricky Alfie Atkins. Also, "Pettson and Findus", by Sven Nordqvist is very popular. There are about 5 different stories revolving around these two characters.

What else, for Christmas their Santa is called "Tomten", meaning elf (or "Jul tomten" meaning Christmas elf). He is looks more like an elf than a Santa and is really mischievious and sinister. He is always putting kids up to tricks and getting kids in trouble. Also, Santa comes to the children's houses, knocking on their front door, on Christmas eve in the afternoon and makes the children do these tricks or pranks and then they get a present. It is very different from our chimney version. The kids kind of have to earn the presents.

In the summer, there is Midsommar. This is on the summer solstice and I think is their biggest holiday. They raise a maypole and have traditional songs and dance. It is all about being outside and celebrating summer and the sun that never sets (there is about 2-3 hours of dark at this point and in the north it does not set at all).

Ok, last, just because it is this time of year. Easter (Påsk) is a big holiday for the Swedes. It is like Thanksgiving for us in that no one works for 4-5 days, and lots of stuff is going on around the country. But, for kids, this is when they dress up like witches and they go to neighbors and ask for candies and treats. So, it is like Halloween, but at Easter and everyone is a witch. So funny.

Ok, I almost forgot the most important kid food here. It is pancakes! They are a staple for every swedish kid. They are eaten at least once a week if not more. There is a tradition to eat them on Thursday with split pea soup, but for kids it is anyday, anytime. They are very thin and are served with jam and whip cream. Here is the recipe I have been using lately:

2+ tbsp butter, melted
4 eggs
1 c. water
1 c. milk
2 cups flour

blend and add more milk if it is not pretty thin. Ladle into a hot pan and tilt pan until the batter is thinly spread all over. It will cook quickly, flip and enjoy. They can be rolled with the jam and whip cream inside, or served open with the good stuff on top.

Yum, yum!

You Deserve a Toddler Break Today

Ok, this just in: New Technique that works!

This is a shout out to all of our wonderful friends that have toddlers right now. Rob and I, just started doing this new technique to try to communicate with Rowan. Well, it really works. He will be in the middle of some protest and we will use the technique and it is amazing, a new Rowan appears that stops crying and becomes a cute little boy again.

Here is the article:

http://nytimes.com/2008/02/05/health/05well.html

Ok, good luck.
Yasmiene

Riga, oh Riga...Latvia, that is...!

We arrived home, this afternoon, from our weekend in Riga, Latvia. It is across the Baltic sea from Stockholm and is an overnight journey by boat. Holly molly, what a wet and wild ride it was! I have to say I am not completely turned off from winter boat travel, but it was not the "crusie" I experienced to Estonia, last Fall. We arrived at the ferry terminal and received an upgrade to an "A" class cabin. That was nice, it meant that we got a window in our cabin. We cruised around the boat after settling in. Saniya and Rowan immediately found the play area equipped a special room filled with balls and a slide. We had a few beers and a relaxing evening. Then, the boat a started rockin'....! Around 9:00 we went to put the kids to sleep and were going to stay up and have wine. Well, by the time we got back to our cabin the boat was tossing us around we could not even stand up. All of us, except Rob, had intense seasickness and threw up all night. This was a huge ship and was tossed around the sea like a toy boat. It was quite the experience. We woke the next morning with no sleep and felt like we were recovering in a bad hangover kind of way. I had read that the weather in Riga was going to be around freezing and windy. I never really equated that to mean that there would be wind on the sea as well.

Our time in Latvia was good. We found a self service pancake bar where you go up and choose your pancakes and fillings. It is there "fast food". Saniya was happy as this is her favorite food. Old Riga is beautiful. The buildings are all refurbished and feeling very similar to Tallinn. They had great prices for us to shop so Rob bought some shoes and we stocked up on a few things that are really expensive in Sweden.

Also, the boat is this funny "duty free" zone. Many people take the ride just to get tax free liquor. So, we bought some Cuban rum that we could not get in the States, and some gin because I just love gin and tonics. The ride back was funny, it rocked, but we were prepared and no one was sick. So, it was a funny weekend. We enjoyed getting away. I think I would like to go back to Riga and spend more time and not feel like I was recovering from a deathly illness while there. I now feel like an experienced sailor and realize once again the force that nature has on us.

Our ship, the SS Vana Talinn.


Our cabin on the ship.


On deck pulling into Riga.


The crew putting out the anchor ropes before docking.




In Old Riga.



A train, really only taken for our friend, Isaac, a lover of the locomotive.


Another Riga shot.


Outside of our pancake restaurant.


A Latvian police van.


Brrrr.

Statue outside of the of Dome cathderal in Old Riga.


The "Pupu Lounge", what a place to party!


Bye, bye Riga.

The archipelago after sunrise, on our way into Stockholm.

I have lots to relay about Saniya's birthday as well, and hope to get that up in the next week or so. Bye for now!