Getting Outside in the Early Spring

April 17th, waffles on the porch!

Initiating the porch in the spring time is a huge deal! It is wonderful when it becomes warm enough to eat outside. When we can open up our house, our world expands three fold. We have a fenced yard and we can leave the doors open and let the kids run in and out. The front and back yards are like new rooms to expand out into. And with the ice gone we return to 'street play'- things like chalk, stroller walks, and bike riding. And the neighbors who we have not seen all winter are out in the sun, playing and tending their yards, and the kids have friends to go see.

The first street chalk of the year!

A neighborhood walk, the nearby field we get snowballs from in the winter and wildflowers later in spring.

A stroller walk, parked next to the big pines for a nap

The baby swing, after the ice and snow but before the leaves return.

Digging in the potato beds and collecting yard waster in wheel barrows are fun spring activities

A little bird house in your soul

The hammock before the leaves

Now they are old enough to go out and play as sister playmates!

The 'fort' in the pines, a bed tent...

SwedeGirl made a sign declaring the fort her club house and invited the neighborhood kids over to play. We have two little girl neighbors the same age as SwedeGirl,one has a little brother, and we have a same age boy cousin living three doors up the street. It is wonderful to have playmates right next door!

Swingset fun in the backyard with the neighbor kids!

And solo ninja climbing.

Biking at the neighbor's house

SwedeBaby is in on the biking now she is 2!

With her sisters help it is even more fun.

Spring meant a return to bouncing

Static-y!

And SwedeBaby is a bouncer now too, by now she is very good and knows how to hold her own with the big kids on the trampoline as well.

A return to outdoor life was so welcome!!

The Pleasures of Snowy Winter Days

Neighborhood Walk

Coming from Florida, where I never even owned a winter coat, snowy white days are pretty exotic to me. I have one memory of sledding, and do not think I ever ice skated before moving to Sweden. So with all this snow, we have been heading out to enjoy the opportunities for outdoor play winter presents. When first coming back from Florida in early December, getting ready to go out into the snow was so overwhelming...the boots, socks, hats, for each of us everytime. All that bending when pregnant, and in bulky clothes, was so uncomfy! Now we have our routine, and our favorite gear handy, so it is simpler. I have some great snow pants and ski boots, which makes adventuring out much more fun, even if bending over to get the boots on is even tougher with my now 32 week pregnant belly, and the snow pants stopped buttoning up some time last week. Still, it is worth it to go explore, and get some sun when it shows itself.

Blue Sky and Snow!

The road behind the house

Staying warm

A meadow behind the house

For an adventure, and to give me a chance to wrap some presents in secret, dad took the kids to Folkets Park in Malmö before Christmas. There is little area that in the summer is a splash pool, and in the winter a ice skating rink.

It is free to play on, and you can rent skates if you do not have them.

My Big Girl skoots along pretty well, admiring the more practiced and graceful skaters.

The toddler just watches....

Nearby, warm all natural blueberry and raspberry soup is sold!

Yum treat for cold little people

Folkets Park has rides open in the summer, it looks nice dressed in winter white

Closer to home there are plenty of places to take a sled out.

We headed out yesterday for some sledding

There is a nice well used sled hill in the neighborhood

Even the toddler loves to woosh down the hill

And of course the big girl does!

Dads camera was not uploaded, but even pregnant me had a couple of fun runs down the hill.

I hope this snow play will be enough to keep us busy for the next few months, as it appears it the snow will be sticking around. If it is going to be cold, it might as well be snowy, it is way more fun to play in snow than being outdoors when it is just grey and leafless and cold.

Nordic Sunshine

The winter sun in Sweden is not as high or as golden as in Florida, but it is magical.

Especially as it shines down the snow drifts on the farmland of Skåne in the south of Sweden

Dotted with contrasting lines of bare trees

At home, the midday sunshine in the front yard over the neighbors house

Two PM, the sun is as high as it goes, not clearing the gables on the house

Good to be home. The day we returned the skies were blue, making a beautiful contrast against the trees and illuminating the white wonderland.

Lots of snow on the swings, you can see how much has been falling.

A wish come true, knee deep snow for the girl. Winter came a month earlier than usual, but it made her wish of returning to snow in Sweden from our Florida trip a reality.

Home Sweet Home

The Backyard

Sledding on our Street

I think we have a lot of winter ahead.