Clothes for little Swedish Aliens

Ok - this is no fashion blog whatsoever - but I just have to blog about these adorable sweaters from Polarn O. Pyret. They've taken the traditional Swedish "dalahäst" and redesigned into an elephant, a crocodile and a piggie.  They are named "Swedish Folklore Top". So cool!

I love to get "Swedish" clothes for my kids to wear... Bamse, Pippi, Spöket Laban - not only to reinforce these Swedish book characters for my kids. But this is a whole new way to reinforce Swedish traditions. Not sure the kids would get the embedded message I see in these sweaters... but at least I would. And they are so cute!

"Dreams do come true"

I took the Daughter to Disney on Ice over the weekend. I have never been and was curious to see one of those shows and I've always liked ice skating. My Daughter likes princesses - but she has only seen a few of the Disney Princess movies (Ariel and Cinderella) - she is not totally hooked. It was a good ice skating show - nice to see a little dancing on the ice and the Daughter liked it.

But I really have issues with their "theme"... They kept announcing that "see, dreams really do true", after each of the princess story was played out on the ice.

What dreams?

Getting poisoned /spellbound and saved by a handsome prince you can marry off at the end? Really - what have these princesses actually done that makes them good role models for "making your dreams come true"? Can't they just leave them at being nice fairy tales? Or otherwise invent one that actually do some dream work and fulfill their dreams? It's 2009 after all...

I wish there was a Disney princess like Per Gustavsson's princess. She wakes up, gets dressed in one of her hundreds of dresses, puts on her tiara, looks fabulous and pretty, eats cake for breakfast - and then goes off to fight dragons, play ice-hockey - and SHE saves the handsome prince.  Now we're talking!

I love these books - the princess is still dressed in pretty pink dresses - but she is doing the action, not letting the action happen to her. I've written about these books before (and a new one is just out, the fourth one) but it seems they still only in Swedish... I actually sent off a question to the author - it would be so great if these books came in English too. Cross your fingers!

All the Disney princesses dancing on the ice in the big finale.

Halloween is over, long live Christmas

Halloween is over, the big trick or treat crescendo is done, and I'm happy. Halloween is one of those American holidays I really have trouble relate to. I feel kind of lost. And I never liked fall, don't like orange and yellow leaves on the trees - prefer them green all year around. I just don't want orange stuff in my house.

Every year I say to myself- next year I really ought to get some more Halloween decorations - at least for the kids. And here we are again - with five small mini pumpkins the kids picked up at Pumpkin Patch field trips...

But next year..

I grew up next to the largest cemetery in Northern Europe and for me the "All Saints Day" weekend is one where you head out in the dark and walk through the silence through thousands and thousands of lights, lit to celebrate the lives of those lost. It doesn't mix well with dressed-up monsters and skeletons.

Don't misunderstand me - I think it's pretty amazing to walk down the street on the night of October 31, meet all these happy people and kids on the street. It's like a neighborhood party where all the neighbors meet (well, they might not recognize each other - but they meet...) and hang out outside, in the darkness. But I'm not too sad when it's over. And now I can start thinking about Christmas - a holiday I love! Bring it on!

The Spöket Labolina dress I made for the Daughter - she was very set
that this was what she wanted to be dressed up as...

Cold mornings and warm days

"Winter" season is tricky here. We might wake up to pretty cool temperatures in the early morning hours, but as soon as the sun has been up for a bit, it heats up the temperature and we have Swedish summer temperatures all through the day. This year it feels as if the cold nights came earlier than usual (or then, my memory is really becoming more foggy so who knows... maybe we're just on target).

When you are heading out from the house in the morning you have to take into consideration that you might be sweltering hot in those socks, long pants and warm sweater that felt so cozy at 7 am. Dressing in smart layers is the key. Like not wearing a long sleeved sweater, but rather a top with a hoodie that you can unzip and eventually take off. Or not having a quilted jacket, but a layering wind jacket with a hoodie underneath.

I'm so glad Polarn O. Pyret, the Swedish clothings store has opened up their online store in the US. Their stuff is the best - love it! This morning I realized my Daughter's PoP jacket suddenly was too small (she hasn't been wearing it since this summer in Sweden - we haven't exactly had jacket weather here since then and she must have grown two inches since then). I went online and found one and hep - a fig colored, stretch jacket, perfect for layering is on it's way.

School food

Never again will I ever say one harsh words on the Swedish school cafeteria food (skolmaten). I didn't know what I was talking about. Now with my own kid in school I suddenly miss that school cafeteria food a lot... (and being an alien I find myself missing the weird stuff - like "lapskojs"...).

In most American schools, kids bring their own lunch. If you're bringing you own lunch with no cooling or heating opportunities - it's pretty tricky to pack a nutritious, healthy lunch. And I think we have a harder time since we always have had a "cooked" lunch and it's hard to go from a fully cooked lunch to something that will work in a food box that a 6-year old must be able to handle. Every time I pack a cheese sandwich in my Daughters lunch box, I shudder a bit... (but then, if I was Norweigan - I would be doing fine right?).

There is a "cafeteria" in school, and if you buy lunch cupons in advance, the kids can get the food of the cafeteria. We just got the "menu" for November. And it's a constant reminder that the lunch box my daughter bring to school is pretty nutritious and healthy after all. It's just a matter of what you compare with....

Why isn't there a Amazon.se...

My Daughter cracked the reading code at 4,5 years, she now at 6 reads fluently (for her level) in both Swedish and English. Since it is so much easier (and cheaper...) to find "Beginning reader" books in English and we have fewer Swedish books - she has tended to read much more English than Swedish lately - a trend we don't like (a 50-50 ratio would be great). But with the start of the weekly Swedish school this September she has gone back to read Swedish much more. Swedish is actually easier to read and she can read longer without getting tired.

So suddenly she has gone through almost all of the "easy to read" Swedish books and I've been desperately trying to go online to see what I can order from Sweden. Books that are made for beginning readers that not necessarily are about football or horse riding. We have a whole box with "beginning reader" books in English - you can find them at your local bookstore - divided by reading level and they usually cost about $3-5. Not hardback books - but hey - they will soon move to a new level - so we don't mind.

I'm used to browse books using online stores such as Amazon.com where you can search and get review, good descriptions and recommendations - and are at total loss at some of the Swedish book sites that seem to lack any decent search function at all. Some books at Bokus.se only have a small picture of the book, it's name and author and price - and that's about it. For the price of buying it and having it shipped over here - that can be pretty bad purchase if you haven't done your research... Seems you have to know what you're looking for - before you go online on Swedish websites.

I'm assuming Swedish children who are beginning readers do read books? Or is the beginning reader an English phenomena? Maybe you just read any regular book that you happen to have in Sweden? Here you do have to learn "sight words" - words that you can never sound out and you just have to learn them. So beginning reader books are focused on different levels of sight words - thus divided into different reading levels. Makes it easier and don't discourage early readers to have a go at reading.

So maybe I'm looking for something that just isn't there in any major extent... But if there was an Amazon.se - I would know for sure...

Example from Bokus.se - the only info about a book... A picture and the
 title and the price... but you can share the info on Facebook and Twitter! ;-)

Exampel from BonnierCarlsen.se... You get 55 pages (!) to click through when you click
their link Books for 6-9 year olds... not even a "Next" or "Previous" function...

Today it happened...

I was going to write a date - in a Swedish text - and suddenly had to stop and think hard... Is today 102009 or 091020... It took me a couple of seconds to get it right (the right way in Swedish (and like most European countries and according to standard...) is 091020 as in year-month-date). I'm I loosing my European heritage! "Ve och fasa"! Why can't the whole world just keep to the standard... 

Found a long discussion on the topic on a Yahoo Answer site - doesn't make the thing more clear - but it was kind of fun to read.

And my Daughter, the little American, is very firm with me "The week starts with Sunday"....

The Fun Theory - from Stockholm

I love this video - testing the theory if making things fun will get people to change their behavior. One thing for sure - I would love to have stairs like that at home - if you could turn them off now and then...

Fun thing is - the experiments are done in downtowns Stockholm! The escalator pictured in the movie is one at Odenplan, not far from where I lived. I've gone up and down this entrance to the subway over and over again when I lived in Stockholm.

They have three more movies at the site "TheFunTheory.com" - all from Stockholm.

Gone with the Wind

When I was in 6th Grade in Sweden, I found a book at the library that hadn't been checked out for about 10 years (those were the times when you got a stamp in your book with the date you checked it out).  I was an early and avid reader, way ahead my class mates in types of books I was reading. I checked out the book and started reading. It was called Borta med vinden - Gone with the Wind and I was hooked... I was so hooked that I decided that I would not return it... Obviously it wasn't a very frequently checked out book so maybe they wouldn't really miss it.. It's the only thing I've stolen... *blushing*...

I guess the librarian would be sort of happy - because I  read that book so many times I can't even count them. So at least it came to good use. It was one of the books that I actually brought with me all the way here to California. It's actually right next to me, in the bookshelf.

So during my visit to Atlanta - I just HAD to go to the Margaret Mitchell House. The house where she wrote the book between 1925 and 1930.  It's not very big (the tour takes 15 minutes - including a visit to the gift shop). and not much is authentic (actually the whole house burned down right before the Olympic Games and have been rebuilt.

But it was still very nice to visit - I really like these "on site" museums (like the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas, the Ellis Island Museum in New York, the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam etc).

And I picked up a replica of the original version of the book. And paid for it...

This big country

Going from the west coast to the east cost is a loooong way to go. It takes almost a full day to travel - and with the 3 hour time difference you loose hours going east. In order to get to Atlanta I had to do a stop over in Denver. The flight to Denver is about 2,5 hours and the flight from Denver to Atlanta is about 3,5 hours. And you're not even right at the east coast...

I was dressed and packed for Atlanta weather (mid 70s and partly cloudy) and not for Denver's 20F and snowing... I was freezing when I got off the plane in Denver... And when the plane was delayed for 2 hours on the tarmac not knowing it we would get to start - I was preparing for a very cold stay in Denver. But luckly - after a total of 3 hours delay we took off.

If you fly for 6 hours south from Stockholm (which is almost the only direction you can go), were would you end up - northern parts of Africa? And you would still be in the same timezone.

This country is huge.

According to Google Maps it would take 1 day and 17 hours to drive to Atlanta. That is if you would great and not take any bathroom breaks...

Atlanta

I've been busy the last week - preparing to be gone for a couple of days, visiting Atlanta for a conference. It was my first visit - I never set my foot in Georgia before. I knew the conference would be intense and all spare time would be spent working in the hotel room - so I left two days early to get some sightseeing done.

I didn't see as much I would have liked - but got the main idea of the city, visiting both downtown, midtown and Buckhead (where I stayed for my conference). I had a very nice dinner with Fia - a Swedish alien blogging from Georgia who drove in to Buckhead to see me.

I toured the CNN Center and got a picture of myself being a news anchor (not sure who would want that - but it was kind of cool to try it out), walked the Centennial Park and around downtown, took the MARTA to Midtown and visited the Atlanta History Center i Buckhead. I liked Atlanta - even though I only saw a tiny, tiny bit of it...

Downtown Atlanta.

Downtown Atlanta.

The CNN Center.

The brick ground in Centennial Park.

The Olympic Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta

The Olympic Rings in Atlanta.

Mix of buildings in Midtown.

My view of Atlanta from my Buckhead hotel window.

Swedish Midsummer with Luke Perry

I had not heard about this movie until I read the major Swedish daily online this morning with my tea. An American, played by Luke Perry (how on earth did he end up in Sweden doing this movie) comes to celebrate Midsummer with a bunch of Swedish friends with all sorts of issues... It got a grade 1 out of 5 by the newspaper (5 being excellent and 1 being... well... not so good). And after watching the trailer I'm not sure what to think...

It seems to mix English and Swedish (with subtitles in Swedish when they speak English). But then - it's always nice to watch TV-series and movies with Swedish nature - red houses, pine and birch trees. So maybe I'll pick up a copy when it comes on DVD in the future.

Early local traffic jam...

We're lucky enough to live withing walking distance of an elementary school. So we have the Daughter walk to and from school every day - unless it's over +33C or pouring rain (it's more likely that's it above +33C than pouring rain). I like the fact that she gets a sense of walking to places.

But Tuesdays and Thursdays we have to drive her. 1st Grade and Preschool starts within 10 minutes of each other - and even though both are within walking distance - they are too far apart to be able to make it in time to both walking.

So those are the days when we get stuck in the local traffic jam outside the school. The school, a K-5 Elementary school (which means they have classes from Kindergarten to grade 5) is located in the middle of a residential area, with regular houses across the street. Despite the fact that hundreds of kids are to be dropped off and picked up, the street isn't wider or there are no real "drop of" areas - except for school busses (which there hardly are any these days due to the major budget deficit in California which hits public schools especially hard). And Thursdays are extra busy since those are garbage days. Outside each house there are two major garbage cans - one for regular garbage and one for either recycle or garden garbage. They each have to be a couple of feet apart for the garbage truck, meaning that each set of garbage cans blocks one potential parking lot each. And since all the houses around the school comes with three door garages, parking spaces were limited in the first place. Let's just say it's a mess... and this is a small school... try to pass by the high school around 3 pm on a regular weekday...

I'm happy the Daughter is a "late bird" because at least then it's not as busy as with the early birds drop off... and that we only have to do this twice a week...

Birthday celebration

6 years ago today I became a mom. I remember how one of my worst fears was not being able to communicate during labor - not remembering English but only Swedish and no one would understand me. I had prepped the Husband, forcing him to read books and watching "Birth Story" on Discovery Channel to get the vocabulary right in case he had to be my advocate when I had totally forgotten English. In the end I had a c-section since my baby girl had decided to stay upside down, listening to my heart beat instead of being head down. And I didn't forget how to speak English, I did just fine. We brought home a perfect little baby girl - with very straight legs.

And that was six years ago. Now she is a 1st grader and I'm sitting here writing sentimental stuff on how fast time flies and how I still can recall that car trip to the hospital that beautiful warm September morning...

Today we got up early and woke up the Daughter with cake with candles, birthday balloon, the Swedish birthday song and gifts to open in bed. The Swedish way. And the Daughter who promised me she would be awake all night and never would be able to sleep - was sound asleep when we opened her door. And no, we haven't hung a Swedish flag in the window.

Alpaca farm field trip

Last weekend we headed out to a local alpaca farm - the first field trip with the Swedish School. Not sure how common alpacas are in general in California (to me they're something you encounter in South America rather than North America - but maybe I'm wrong). I had never seen any so it was a fun experience. You could go in to the enclosed field where they kept them and say hello and they were really friendly and let you pet them.

The Daughter got to make a small pouch out of alpaca fur - a really interesting procedure. Too bad it was so crazily hot... +37 and absolutely no wind. We were melting away and felt sorry for the alpacas who had fur...

TV show week

Last week was the traditional week of TV series permeiers in the US. Every fall the networks launches new shows the same week - the week of the fall. Not all will survive - some disappear after the first week. I'm not a big TV watcher in this phase in life - but I like to have a TV-show or two to follow - if nothing else when I'm on my excercise bike (at least that's usually my plan... I usually end up not watching TV nor using my exercise bike... but hey, it's great for hanging clothes on!).

After reading up a bit I decided to check out Fast Forward, Modern Family och CougarTown. Fast Forward because it seemed like a interesting concept, Modern Family because maybe, maybe it's a new Arrested Development and Cougar Town because I wanted to check out Courtney Cox from one of my favorite series, Friends.

Of course I missed all of them. I have no time to keep track of days and times for TV-shows... In comes Hulu.com - a website where you can check out your favorite shows with only limited commercial (usually only a 30 second break now and then) - and I can watch it on my computer in bed, or on the big TV (since we have a computer hooked up to our TVs) when I like it.

We'll see if I keep watching. The Husband sort of liked Fast Forward (if it will increase it's speed a bit) and I liked Modern Family (sure can be a new Arrested Development, we'll see).

Here are the previews of the shows. Maybe some of them will make it to Sweden in a couple of weeks or so.

Swedish School and floor ball

This fall the Daughter is attending to Swedish School down in Sacramento. They meet once a week for 2,5 hours, learning and reinforcing Swedish. My Daughter is bilingual and Swedish is still her strongest language - but she needs to practice writing and interacting with other Swedish kids. She uses Swedish school material - the same as you would use in a Swedish classroom when you have "Svenska" (Swedish). She likes it a lot- but Mondays are tough days. Not only does she has 1st grade all day and then heading out to continue school for a couple of hours.

Luckily they have fun breaks - some of the other parents have "innebandy sticks" so they play "innebandy" (floor ball)on the breaks - a new favorite for my Daughter. It's something you don't see played often around here. I'm going to try to get a couple of sticks to have on our cul-de-sac to play. I might even join a game - it's fun to play "innebandy"!

Is this woman for real??

The last couple of days there has been lots of buzz in Sweden around a woman named Anna Duck - oups - Anna Anka that is, married to the famous Paul Anka (anka = duck in Swedish). She is in some show called "Swedish Hollywood Wifes", broadcasted on Swedish television and the other day she wrote an... article...? on Newsmill, one of the newssites in Sweden (then later it was debated whether she actually had written it herself or if one of the editorialists had written it) (either way it didn't make it better).

This woman, born in Sweden, moved to the US and eventually marrying Paul Anka, has the most weird view of American men and life in the US compared to Sweden. I'm way to lazy to translate everything she has written but here is some of the stuff:

A real American man panics if he is alone with the child for more than 20 minutes. American dads don't cook and don't iron, they work and supports their families. American men appreciates their wifes however, they are very romantic. They write notes, calls and leaves love messages on the phone. Swedish men never do that. In return they get women with style. As a housewife you are to support in any way. You should be good looking and stylish. Sexually it's the womans duty to make sure the man is satisfies, if not she can only blame herself if he is unfaitful.

Maybe she is trying to provoke or be funny or just get attention and earn a lot of money in the process. The only funny part is that her last name is Anka.

When you read this stuff I'm glad it's in Swedish. You feel embarrassed being a Swedish Alien when reading this womans rants... rich Hollywood wife or not...

Starting out fall with swine flu

One would think that working from home would keep you pretty safe from catching the flu - after all you don't meet that many people during the week except your family and you can keep hand washing and other germ techniques pretty controlled. On the other hand - maybe that's why you catch it more easily?

Let's just say that now I know what it feels like when you get the swine flu. And it's not pretty. I have been confined in the guest room and guest bathroom away from the rest of the house, with a cough that made my head explode, wheezing air pipes, fever and chills.

Why wait until there the real flu season begins or until the vaccines are available when you can start off your fall with a little H1N1 virus?

Birthdays in Sweden according to Parents Magazine

According to an article in the latest issue of Parents Magazine we have a very old tradition in Scandinavia when it comes to birthdays.

"The national flag is hung prominently from a top window of the birthday child's house to mark his special day. When neighbors see it, they stop by and offer their congratulations".

Someone must have missed to inform my parents and all my family and friends of this. Imagine the congratulations I could have gotten over the years....

10 years

This weekend the Husband has lived in the US for 10 years. He moved out to California with one suitcase and a pallet slowly making it's way by boat. He had been offered a transfer from the Stockholm office to the headquarters in Northern California and decided to try it out. It was his second visit to the US. I traveled back and forth for many months until California became my base too.

10 years, one house, two kids and lots of experiences ago.

It feels like yesterday and an eternity ago. No wonder we feel things have changed and view Sweden from a different perspective - we've been away for 10 years.  If someone would have told me that I would emigrate to the US and  have both my kids here I would have thought they were trying to be really funny. And here we are.

Happy Anniversary!

Swedes in space

We watched the space shuttle Discovery return to earth - landing in California, east of Los Angeles at the Edwards Air Force Base. It's a pretty impressive thing, the space shuttle. And I can't help but find it pretty impressive that among all these American astronauts is one Swede. Of all the countries in the world - there is a Swede on board. Christer Fugelsang did his second space trip on Discovery (and judging by the interviews after - it was his last). A day to feel proud to be an Swedish Alien in America.

Enough already

HOW come Jon and Kate Gosslin has become such major "celebrities" is really beyond me. Jon and Kate Gosslin, for those in Sweden not familiar with these people, have eight kids, one set of twins and one set of sextuplets and have a reality show on TLC called "Jon&Kate plus Eight". This spring they got divorced - very sad considering they have EIGHT kids together. After the season premiere of their reality show this fall, they've been everywhere. I don't even watch the show but I still know way more about these two people's divorce than I want to know about.

Isn't there anyone who can stop both of them and help them - it breaks my heart to see two parents break apart and do so in public. I'm not on anybody's side (even though it seems Mr Jon has gone a little too wild considering he is a dad with EIGHT kids...). I just want peace for the kids - and to listen about real news when I tuned in to the news channels...

Last week it was Kate who was on every talk show there is and this week Jon is out talking about how he "despises Kate" on Good Morning America.

Enough already.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend is the official start of fall in the US. Every first Monday of September is off and the American people head out to beaches, trails, neighborhoods for adventures and barbecuing. Almost like the Swedish Midsummer, but without the Midsummer pole.

For us it's one of those weekends we tend for forget about. Despite 10 years in the US, it seems it always come unexpectedly. We're just to long weekends in the Spring, but fall in Sweden is just one long stretch of ordinary weeks and no days off.

And working for a Swedish company it's a regular day - nothing special, work as usual. Next year we really should save a vacation day for this day and enjoy this last weekend before fall. That way we will have Midsummer as the long weekend after a long spring and the start of summer, and Labor Day as the long weekend before the long fall and the end of summer. The best of two worlds!

When Swedish and English collide...

My bilingual daughter got a little stuffed dog the other day. She instantly loved it (as with all stuffed animals...) and decided on the spot that she would call her Pussis... Now this is when bilingualism gets tricky.... "Pussis" because she wanted to kiss it all the time - in Swedish "pussa". And when we all started to laugh a bit and couldn't really instantly explain why it wasn't such a good name, she broke into tears, thinking we were laughing at her...

Not wanting to introduce bad English words too early, but at the same time wanting her to change the name was a tricky thing... One of those challenging moments as a mother...

We really didn't want her to run over to the very religious neighbors and call (in English) - "Look I have a new dog - it's called Pussis"...

In the end we agreed to rename it Knatten which should be a safe name in both languages...

(If you don't get this post - grab an native English speaking person and I'm sure they'll explain it...).

Scary fires way too close by

Fires are every day life in California during the dry season - in other words most of the year. We haven't felt any smoke today - the wind have been blowing the other way - so it was a shocker when we turned on the evening news and saw the devastation of a fierce, forceful and quick wildfire up in Auburn about 30 minutes car drive from here. As of now 60 houses are gone in a residential area more or less like ours - it only took hours for the devastation to take place.

People have lost everything, literally... My thoughts go out to all those people - and the firefighters working so hard right now. And no, we won't see any rain until late October usually...

(click on the picture for a link to one news report earlier
today on one of the local channels or click here. )

A day at the Circus

The circus came to town over the weekend, converting our basketball area to a circus arean filling it with clowns, acrobats, circus princesses, elephants, horses and tigers. It was the Ringling Brother's Zing Zang Zoom Show that had arrived.

It sure was a show, never a quiet moment. It was a good balance between funny clowns and beautiful acrobats and fantastic performances and an impressive "behind the scenes" logistics to get it all to work. After two hours you're really done with circus for a bit... The kids were in awe and very happy afterwards and now we just have live through "circus performances" in the house for a couple of weeks...

Ice cream for dinner

One of the advantages when you travel without kids is that you can toss routines and healthy eating, clocks an food times and just improvise as you please. We had almost forgotten about this during our stay in San Diego - but quickly caught on. By the third day we had ice cream for dinner...

And what a fantastic ice cream it was... we found this place called MooTime Creamery in Coronado that makes the most FANTASTIC ice cream... Ice cream to die for...

Too bad we have a 8 hours and 14 minute drive (without traffic) there according to Google Maps.. If you pass by, you just have to try one of their unbaked sundaes... aaaaaahhhhh...

A trip to San Diego

I surprised the Husband with a four day visit to San Diego, celebrating his 40th birthday. I had planned it for over six months and thought it all was ruined when United made an automatic itinirary call three weeks ago and I didn't get to the phone in time... But since the ticket United called about was only for me (I had a airfare voucher since my Frankfurt incident last year) the Husband didn't connect the dots - and thought I was going somewhere or that it was a mistake. I really thought the surprise was ruined and it was only when we got to the airport checking in, I realized he really didn't know where we were going. He learned about the four day trip a week in advance - but I never said anything about where (silently thinking he already knew...).

We left the kids at our house in the care of our wonderful nanny who had taken on the kids, bracing for lack of sleep... Since we don't have family around - going away without the kids is really rare - actually it has never happened since our Daughter was born in 2003... Now we were going to get four days, three nights with uninterrupted sleep... (so we were a bit bummed when we were wide awake at 7.13 am the first day... even the kids back home had slept in until 8 am...).

Unfortunately the ship wreck dive in Wreck Alley in the pacific I had organized for the Husband on his birthday was cancelled due to rough waves that days. But we quickly made other plans and in the end I think the birthday turned out pretty good.

We had four wonderful days, exploring San Diego and its surroundings with our rental car and with Coronado as our base camp. We stayed at Lowes Coronado with a fantastic view of the bay, the San Diego skyline and the sea from our balcony. At the end of the four days we were checking out real estate listings - wouldn't it be nice to have a house with beach access...

In today's paper...

Surprise barbecue

The Husband, who for months have been receiving membership invitations from the AARP and ads for "pre-paid cremation" is getting closer to the big 4-0. Since he is not going to be at home on his birthday next week, his parents and sister with family decided to pay a surprise visit, planned for months.

And since the gift they brought with them was a new, cool Weber grill, a super duper Geneis 320, the surprise was also a barbecue - once the Husband had assembled the grill...

The kids were mighty impressed with the size of the package. I was very impressed by the wrapping... And the Husband was happily surprised by the far away visit and the grill that he has secretly dreamed about.

Absolutely cool

Absolut Vodka might not be Swedish anymore, but the label on the bottle still says "Country of Sweden" - so I'm going to claim them as Swedish still.

This is a video from one of their art projects. They have a Facebook page where you can see more videos. I think they're pretty cool, even thought I'm not a vodka drinking person.

The Kissing Hand

My Daughter brought home this excerpt from a book yesterday from school. I had never heard of it - but isn't it a lovely story! The kids all had a small white card with them home and were to trace their hands on it and the moms were to kiss the card (with lipstick...) and the kids could then keep the card in their desks at school and bring out when they get homesick. I finished my Daughter's card last night and wrote a secret message in Swedish along the hand. She was very pleased this morning (I was too - I'm not really the artistic type - but it turned out ok).

"But you're not going to miss me in school so you don't really need it", I told her, knowing she loves school and can't wait to spend the days there. "I know, but let's pretend I need it mom", she said.

The Kissing Hand
- by Audrey Penn

Chester Raccon stood at the edge of the forest and cried.

“I don’t want to go to school”, he old his mother. “I want to stay home with you. I want to play withy my friend. And play with my toys. And read my books. And swing my swing. Please may I stay home with you?”

Mrs Raccon took Chester by the hand and nuzzled him on the ear.

“Sometimes we all have to do things we don’t want to do”, she told him gently. “Even if they seem strange and scary at first. But you will love school once you start”.

“You’ll make new friends and play with new toys. Besides,”, she added, “I know a secret that will make your nights at school seem as warm as cozy as you days at home”.

Chester wiped away his tears and looked interested. “A secret? What kind of secret?”

“It’s called the Kissing hand”, she said.

“The Kissing Hand?”, asked Chester. “What’s that?”

“I’ll show you”. Mrs Raccon took Chester’s hand and kissed right in the middle of his palm.

Chester felt his mother’s kiss rush from his hand, up his arm and into his heart.

Mrs Raccon smiled. “Now whenever you feel lonely and need a little loving from home, just press your hand to your cheek and think. “Mommy loves you” and that very kiss will jump to your face and fill you with toasty warm thoughts”.

Chester loved The Kissing Hand. Now he knew his mother’s love would go with him wherever he went.

That night, Chester stood in front of his school and looked at his mother and grinned.

“Give me your hand” he told her.

Chester took his mother’s hand in his own. Next he leaned forward and kissed the center of her hand.

“Now you have a Kissing Hand too”, he told her. And with a gentle “Good bye” and “I love you”, Chester turned and danced away.

First day of school - and lunch box packing

American kids start school by the age of 5. The first year is spent in Kindergarten, which is usually part of the elementary school. Elementary school usually goes up to grade 5 or 6. My Daughter finished Kindergarten this spring and today it was time to start 1st Grade. She will be there for 5,5 hours every day, five days a week. You have to pack a lunch box since lunch is not provided (as it is in Swedish schools). There is a small "cafeteria" where you can buy "food" (pizza, corn dogs) if you forgot or didn't have time to pack your bag. It's kind of tricky to pack a lunch - it has to last for a couple of hours and usually you can't really heat it up - so it has to be cold.

Well, we better get used to the habit - we're going to be doing this for the next 12 years...

Having fun at Six Flags

As an "end of the summer" treat - we took the kids to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom for a day of play before school starts. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is a huge amusement park - they have all kids of rides - combined with a zoo and a aquarium. You can see "shows" with dolphins, sea lions, elephants, tigers, killer whales, you can see giraffes, camels, butterflies, sharks, turtles. You can ride huge roller coasters or hang out in the Looney Tunes area for kids. It is a full day's entertainment and you have to pick a day when it's cooler - our you will melt away in the heat since it's located in a valley and the cooling wind will have problems to find you.

After a day at SixFlags you are totally exhausted and done with amuesements parks for a full year...

The Ugly Truth

I took off for the movies on my own the other night - and decided on a chick flick. The Ugly Truth had just been released so I picked up tickets for that one. I had really no idea what movie it was - but funny enough, it takes place in Sacramento. Nice! Not really sure exactly where they shot all the outdoor scenes - but judging by them, this is a pretty nice place to live.

The movie thrived on male-female stereotypes and under the belt jokes. There were some points where I had to look around and see if the more prudish Americans would be laughing...

Oh, well, it was a nice evening out and nice to get some areal footage of Sacramento.

Orbituaries

One thing that fascinates me when reading the morning paper is the obituaries. The are presented under a section called Remembrances and each person deceased is presented with a photo and a short story, where they were born, what they have been doing in their life and who will miss them. This usually takes up a full spread and you can read some fascinating stories there. Sure, you can find obituaries in Swedish newspapers too, but they are more rare. In the major newspapers, it's usually more short notices, a symbol, the name and family members' names. They're more of an "announcement" compared to these small life stories.

Back to work

After almost two months away, working in Sweden and vacationing both in Sweden and here - I'm back at my desk in California, trying to remember how run my desktop after weeks of using my laptop. I opened my calender the first time in weeks and Outlook took a long time to download all messages from late June.

But summer is far from over - the heat is still on - and will be for a couple of months to go. I can head off to the pool after work or enjoy the warm evenings outside - despite being back on my "fall schedule". And for another couple of weeks most people at work will still be away. Summer holidays are long in Sweden - even though the sunny days are few.

Swedish books in American press

A week ago the Swedish book "Grabben i graven bredvid" by Katarina Mazetti was reviewed in Entertainment Weekly. The title translated to "Benny & Shrimp" (for those of you who read the book in Swedish you know that the female character is called "Räkan" i.e. "Shrimp").

"Here is a romance novel for the hip and smart - a zingy, gently, funny ode to sex and love and the emotional awakening of a self contained man and a woman", the reviewer wrote. The book got a A-, which is a pretty good grade. Maybe I have to read it again... Or watch the movie I'm pretty sure is in my Swedish DVD library. Must have been over 10 years since I read the book. I really like the fact that it might become a hit here - always nice to see Swedish authors at Borders.

This week, the second book in the Swedish author Stieg Larson's trilogy, "Flickan som lekte med elden", title translated to "The Girl Who Played With Fire" got a full page in Entertainment Weekly. The book got a B-.

Great month for Swedish authors in the US!

Apollo 40 years ago

There is something about the Apollo adventure that has fascinate me the last decade or so. I have a bookshelf with books and DVDs and have read most of the astronauts memories. On Monday, July 20, it's been 40 years since those first steps on the moon and this anniversary is being noted a lot at least here in the US. The book stores are filled with books on Apollo and the moon adventure, the news sites have special Apollo coverage and the science and history channels show programs.

One of the cool websites on this is the We Choose the Moon website, by the John F Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum - where you can follow the Apollo 11 mission second by second - hearing the live transmissions etc.

Pretty cool. If you're an Apollo nerd...

Michael Jackson R.I.P

Michael Jackson was part of my childhood and him passing was sad news. It sure was an icon disappeared. I was in Stockholm when the news came, an early morning right before leaving the island for downtown. The next few days I followed the news and I had the chance to catch the memorial in Los Angeles live on TV once back in California. I've gone through my mp3 library and made a Michael Jackson playlist, each song bringing back memories....

Last week a dance group in Stockholm organized a street tribute to him, I saw the video clips on different news sites and on YouTube. They've put together their own "official" video - from two of the events the same day. You get a glimpse of Stockholm - and the changing weather. OK weather at midday, then pouring rain by night.

Mini vacation to the coast

After resting, sleeping off the jetlag, getting the son a twin size bed making night time rearrangements a bit easier, we packed up the car and headed out to the coast.

There is nothing as soothing as the sound of waves and the smell of the ocean. The weather in Monterey, a mere 3,5 hour car trip away from us, was nice and cool (compared to our glaring heat) and we enjoyed the beach and the aquarium.

These are the times when I love living in California - to have all this so close by, so easy to get to.

Exhausted

After five weeks of being on top of things, trying to stay ahead, and at the same time not being home but far away, I have realized I'm pretty exhausted. Taking the kids across the world and back, is hard work. Not ever getting to sleep through the night isn't really helping the situation and when the Husband got down with the stomach flu when we got back, didn't really help either.

I need a vacation from vacation and need to find a shady, quiet place with a comfy chair with a good book and spend a couple of days alone to regain some energy...

Things I will miss and things I enjoy

Things I will miss from Sweden: magazines! I'm not sure why there is such a difference - but I just love Swedish magazines. I bought them by the dozen when in Sweden. It's not the language... it's just different... more features, more articles... Most women's magazine over here are pure fashion oriented with few features.

Things I enjoy in the US: milk in one gallon jugs! After five weeks with one litre tetras I LOVE being back to our big one gallon jugs, knowing I can pour myself a big glass of milk and not emptying out the stock and these days I actually prefer the American milk taste (yes, they do really differ).

Happy 4th of July

This year's 4th of July was a quiet affair. The house was full of jetlagged people - so we just hung out in the backyard, barbecuing and just enjoying being back.

I had ordered t-shirts for the kids from my favorite t-shirt store, Life is Good, and we took pictures of the kids in front of the flag, like we do every year. That was about what we had energy for. I was sound asleep before the neighbor started the firework crackers on the street outside.

Speaking about the flag - when we checked out our hotel room at Arlanda Sky City, we had a view over the shopping area where they have a flag "wall". We happened to have our room right above the American flag. My daughter happily turned around and told me - "Look mom, there it is, our flag"...

Lufthansa with kids

For the first time I flew Lufthansa with the kids. Our "usual" route with SAS through Chicago is out due to the cancelling of connecting flights from O'Hare. That means an 11 hour flight on a jumbo from Frankfurt to San Francisco - and then a car trip for about 2 hours. If there is no traffic... (we arrived the day before the 4th of July weekend - and the Daughter got car sick - it took us over 4 hour in the car to get home from the airport...).

The Lufthansa flight has no in flight system. They show two movies on the cabin TV screens. Two movies on an 11 hour flight. I was prepared with my own entertainment - bringing my netbook loaded with kids' movies and shows. Only to get blue screen and demand for the boot CD. With 5 hours to go.

The kids' meal that was served smelled so bad that the Daughter got nauseous (it was three "purees" and one big cold (?) meat ball). Luckily enough the food I got was edible so I divided it among the kids to eat. The hour between 6 pm and 7 pm (Swedish time - you arrive in San Francisco at 12 noon, 9 pm Swedish time) was the slowest hour I've ever, ever experienced. The kids did good- it was just their personal entertainer - oups, I mean mom, that was exhausted...

Oh, well. It's going to be another year before I do this again - and by then I will have forgotten all about it... hopefully...

Time to go home

It's finally time to pack up and head home to California. Five suitcases need to be closed. The last night I'm spending at Arlanda Sky City - our plane leaves at 6 am and every hour you can save before the long trip is valuable.

I sure will miss the wonderful Stockholm I've seen the last two weeks, but I can't wait to get back to my house, my world, my routines - and my Husband. Even though these weeks are extremely important for the kids, and each minute they get to spend in Sweden, meeting family, speaking Swedish, experiencing Swedish culture is crucial, it has a price. Family means team work and after five weeks I can't wait to be reunited all of us together again. Being alone, living out of suitcases, living as guests, moving places is hard work.

First I just have to deal with the looooooong trip back home.