Daily Jamie

July 25th

July 26th

The Tail End

It's my last weekend before heading back to work, so we did it up properly with a boat ride and a little birthday party for Jambo. Yesterday we took advantage of a few hours of sunshine with an impromptu fishing trip. We didn't catch anything and had to head back to shore after a bunch of black clouds moved in over the lake, but we had such a good time while we were on the water.

Today we had a little party with some of the neighborhood kids to celebrate Jamie's birthday. We blew up balloons and hung up decorations and then had a bunch of screaming four-year-olds over for cake. The Swede and I had fun and the kids seemed to have a blast if the state of our house afterwards was any indication. Jamie was really happy to get to see his friends after the long vacation; so happy, in fact, that we could have skipped the balloons and cake altogether and it still would have been an awesome afternoon.

Now it's back to the grind!

Daily Jamie

The Boy's Birthday

A few days ago we told Jamie that he could decide himself what we would do on his birthday and then started dropping hints about the zoo that we love and have visited every summer since he was born. He told us that he was going to wait and surprise us the day of and - surprise, surprise! - yesterday he let us know that he wanted to go to the zoo!

This zoo is particularly awesome because it's also part dino park and part amusement park. Jamie was most interested in the robotic dinosaurs, until he actually saw them, that is, and promptly freaked out. The amusement park was a huge success, though, as The Swede won some awesome prizes for the birthday boy including the much-sought-after gigantic package of candy.

We also got a lot of loving messages from family and friends here and in North America. Thank you, all for thinking of Jambo on his big day! Yep, it was a good one. 

Four Years Old

Happy birthday to our - ohmygoodness, how can it be? - FOUR-year-old!!! He is half sweet, cuddly baby and half willful turd. He can do everything himself except the things I want him to do so he's lucky he's so cute. Is it just me or does this kid have the best smile ever? He has a really clever sense of humor and has The Swede and I laughing constantly. Also, he still thinks we're funny, which feels like a gift that we get to enjoy every day and which brings out the best, most playful side of all of us. Jamie is a joy to converse with and it always telling us about things he saw and did when he was younger. Some of the stories are actually true and we're blown away at how good his memory is. It's a terrifying reminder of how careful we need to be when speaking in front of him. Long gone are the days of saying whatever we want; he's keeping us honest. The bottom line is, this is no longer a baby - even a toddler - in any sense. We're dealing with a real live kid here, people, and we're feeling the high stakes in all kinds of ways. Meanwhile, The Swede is the most creative, gregarious father and we seem to compliment each other well in our parenting. I can't wait until tomorrow, when Jamie wakes up in the best mood, says something hilarious, asks a thoughtful question, and continues to make my life so much more complex and so, so much more joyful.

Daily Jamie

Whoops

Ugh, I lied. I didn't have the energy to blog today between the laundry and the unpacking and two new episodes of Masters of Sex and whatnot. Sorry!

Daily Jamie

July 16th

July 17th 

July 18th

July 19th

July 20th

July 21st

Home Sweet Home

What a week it's been! We've been all over southern Sweden since last Thursday and now we're home, at least for a few days. I'll catch you up with all of our adventures in the coming days, which shouldn't be too hard to manage as it's raining out and we don't have any other plans. Now, a little vacation from vacation.

Daily Jamie

July 14th 

July 15th

Our Own Paradise

For the third July in a row, our little family checked in to the big red hotel on the hill overlooking Siljan and neighboring Leksands Sommarland. 

There are a lot of places I love on this planet, but this place makes me so, so happy every single time we're there. Just the view and the relaxed vibe and the proximity of fun things to do get me - all of us - year after year. 

Part of the reason we went this year was that Erin and her family were renting a cabin there and we wanted to spend Tuesday with them in Sommarland.

The boys had a ton of fun together and we enjoyed having some additional backup and another couple to chat with.

We spent the morning in the pool at the hotel and drove home this afternoon. Now we're doing laundry and repacking our bags for our next adventure!

Daily Jamie

In Heaven

Today I did something totally amazing and it's all thanks to our friend Gurra. I've known for years that his passion is gliding and that he loves to take passengers up with him and The Swede, who flew with him a few years back, has been encouraging me to try it for a while now.

I was a little nervous, I'm not going to lie, but there isn't a person in this world who I'd trust to keep me safe in the air more than Gurra. He told me all about the glider and how the flight would go before we went up and even encouraged me to test the controls once we were in the air. An old propeller plane pulled us up to twelve hundred meters, just above the clouds, then we released the line and just floated, silently. 

There aren't even words to describe how magical it was. I was at the front of the glider and could see all around and Gurra had such precise control over the aircraft that he could point the wings toward things he wanted to show me on the ground, like a number of churches, towns in the distance, and The Swede and Jamie waiting at the airfield below. 

We were in the air for nearly fifty minutes, but it felt like ten. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The landing was so much fun and so smooth and I could totally understand why Gurra flies whenever he can. After we landed, Gurra had a fika prepared for us and even showed us the glider he built himself, which he usually flies when he doesn't have passengers.

It was such a cool experience and, if you have the opportunity, I cannot recommend it enough. I want everyone I know to try it so we can just sit, speechless, and shake our heads over how incredible it is.

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

July 10th

July 11th

Meet Hugo

Of all the new things introduced at the training in Hamburg this week, the one that made the biggest impression was a cocktail called Hugo. The Swede and I took a seat at the bar at our hotel right after we arrived and I watched the bartender prepare a drink of elderflower syrup, prosecco, and sparkling water with mint and lime and, because of my policy never to turn down bubbly, I was forced to try one. It was magnificent. I'm typically a mojito girl in the summertime, but this drink, which is apparently very popular in Germany when it's warm, will be my new go-to. It's not too strong and very simple to make and would be just as delicious with alcohol-free bubbly. If you can get your hands on some elderflower syrup, mix one up with one part syrup, one part sparkling water, three parts bubbly (I suggest a dry one since the syrup is so sweet) and a couple of mint leaves (you don't muddle or squeeze anything, so I skip the lime since a slice isn't going to give you that much flavor). Now you and Hugo go have a nice time.

Daily Jamie

Adventures

The Swede usually picks up Jamie from preschool and then I get to hear about their afternoon adventures over dinner when I get home. Jamie and I are on vacation this week and The Swede is working, so when he got off today he picked us up and I got to be part of the day's adventure. He drove us to a nearby castle and we walked around the grounds. It's been raining a lot, so it was nice to get outside and especially to see The Swede use his awesome imagination to show Jamie a great time, sending him on treasure hunts and giving him challenges and letting him explore.

Daily Jamie

July 5th

July 6th

July 8th

Hamburg

The Swede and I got to go to a two-day training session in Hamburg, Germany this week! It was kind of last minute, so we were very fortunate that Mama and Papa Swede hadn't left on their summer vacation yet and were able to watch Jamie for a few days.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and the training session lasted until Tuesday afternoon. I won't go into the details of the meeting, but it was intense and informative and we were very fortunate to be able to attend.

Our hosts, the Swagelok distributorship in Hamburg, took all of the attendees on a boat tour of the port, which was both beautiful and interesting. Just the day before, UNESCO had given some of the old warehouses world heritage status so it was really special that we even got to walk around the warehouse district.

After the boat tour, we had dinner in crooked old building along a canal. It was built in 1686 and very charming. Naturally, we had hamburgers.  

The best part of the trip was the company. Our colleagues were a lot of fun and it also felt like a super long date with this guy.

Daily Jamie

Pirates

It was a hot one again today. Jamie and I spent the morning in the yard splashing in the kiddie pool and freaking out over the snake our neighbor discovered living under her front porch. The Swede and his dad were out on the lake competing in a fishing contest so Jambo and I went to the clubhouse to meet up with them after it was over and Jamie was lucky enough to catch a ride back in Papa Swede's boat. Since we don't have much else planned for the coming three weeks of vacation, this may be a preview of how we'll spend July. 

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

July 1st 

July 2nd

Nostalgia

One sweltering summer day nine years ago, Cary and her mom Petra and I spent the afternoon on the terrace of a restaurant in the suburbs of Cleveland and had peaches soaked in wine. I will never, ever forget that afternoon, not because anything happened, but because nothing at all did, the hours stretched on forever, and it felt like we were on an island paradise even though we were just minutes from home. Afternoons like that are hard to come by in any case an nearly impossible as a parent. Case in point: today I was on actual vacation, at home alone with Jamie, it was sweltering, we didn't have any plans and yet it was nonstop action. I'm going to try to recreate the refreshments from that afternoon on the terrace, anyway, and after Jamie goes to bed I'll drink out of this jar and think of Cary and Petra.