Copenhagen Zoo

The day after our Midsommar celebration, we went to Copenhagen Zoo (June 23rd). Melwin and his parents accompanied us. The kids were excited as were we to go on a little adventure. We left around 10am and weren't back home until 7-ish or so. Can't quite remember. Needless to say, it was a full day and everyone was tuckered out at the end of it. Aleksander was a trooper, as always, and napped a WHOLE 15min...crazy kid! 

Aleksander was annoyed with Enzo here, he didn't want Enzo sitting behind him but I wanted to take a picture.

 At the petting part of the zoo. Aleksander likes cows and was thrilled to pet and brush it.

Enzo is not usually so keen on petting animals but this time around he went into the goat pen and pet the goats. Way to go Enzo!

 About half way through the zoo...starting to lose our momentum.

 Would have been nice to lay like this hippo and just sleep!

A tired Aleksander with Mattias.  

When looking at the different animals it put me in awe! I mean look at this rhino, a strange looking thing, but with purpose and built/created in a specific way, this could only have been created by someone greater than us all!  

Melwin pony-riding. Enzo wasn't interested. 

Had to show a picture of these tigers, because a couple of weeks after we were there a 21yr old boy had been at the zoo, after hours and climbed into their area. Needless to say, he was eaten alive. Not sure what he was thinking, obviously he wasn't...imagine that phone call to his parents - tragic! 

Midsommar (Mid-Summer)

We celebrated Midsommar at our place this year. Midsommar is celebrated on the fourth Friday in the month of  June. We had planned to go to Limhamn, a neighboring suburb, to see the traditional celebration but in typical Swedish tradition it rained and we stayed in doors. Everyone came over to our place around 3pm instead of the original 11am, due to the above mentioned rain. It was the Månsson/Yeo (Melwin and crew) family, Svensson family and Rosenquist family...which summed us up to 8 adults and 6 kids in our 3 bedroom place. Needless to say, it was fun. We barbecued chicken, shish-kebabs, corn on the cob, and asparagus and we had potatoe salad and green salad. And for dessert I made a meringue cake with a lemon curd and raspberry filling, it was DE-LISH and gobbled up in no time. 

Thought this picture was hilarious of Mattias and Maria. Maria being her silly self but beautiful in her homemade Midsommar head dress with fresh flowers and Mattias's expression was great!  

Dan with his Liv's pink bow. Liv and her father look so much alike, it's crazy. I believe there is a pic of Liv at the bottom. Fyi, she's our goddaughter.  

Henrik and Enya cuddling.  

 Enzo and Melwin plahying on the Ipad. One of Melwin's favorite things to do. It's quite funny...he is usually always the one playing and Enzo watching...this by choice on both their parts. Enzo likes  being the spectator.

The cake...YUM!!

 As the weather cleared up we went outside to play in our "backyard". The kids parents sure needed to run free and feel the open space. 

Mattias doing helicopter or airplane with Melwin!  

Melwin's dad, Mattias, tossing Enzo up.  

Liv.

Enzo Loses A Tooth Or Two...

June 21st Enzo lost his first tooth. . His buddy Melwin had lost his first tooth about a month ago. Enzo was disappointed that he didn't have any loose teeth nor had he lost a tooth. So that evening after we had been with Melwin when he lost his tooth I began to inspect his mouth for loose teeth. And sure enough he had two loose teeth. But they were semi-loose.

The weeks passed with frequent check-ins on the teeth. And they eventually became wiggly. Then one day we were at Västra Hamnen, climbing the rocks, just him and I and I offered him an apple to snack on. And sure enough, first bite and tooth was off. Blood was coming and the tears began to flow. Enzo was scared, not because it hurted but because he saw blood and for him that means something isn't quite right and probably should be hurting...aka he doesn't like the sight of blood which he somehow inherited from his father. How can something like that be passed through genes?! Anyway, I was elated! Thrilled, really! Was proud of my baby! He was slowly quickly turning into a big boy. I couldn't stop smiling ...ear to ear, picture it. After about 2-3 minutes, Enzo realized that this blood wasn't a bad thing and that it was actually an exciting thing, a milestone. He became super excited. Immediately called his Pappa to share the news.



Tooth number two fell out a week later but this one needed a little help as it was barely hanging on and completely irritating him. So I took a napkin and began to grab it and it just fell out. It just needed a little nudge or maybe a bite of an apple to help it fall out...

The crazy thing is that his big boy teeth had already began to sprout up so the void is already filled with new "grown-up" teeth.

Hanging at Västra Hamnen (West Harbour)

We love hanging at Västra Hamnen. Sometimes we think we should have moved to that area instead of Ribersborg. However, it doesn't matter since they are practically neighbors, the two areas flow into each other...share the same water and the open fields flow from one area to the next. It's one in the same pretty much. But what classifies Västra Hamnen is it's unique architecture, an area compacted with a variety of homes (apartments, condos, townhouses/duplexes (don't really know the difference between these two) and a few houses) as well as the Turning Torso not to mention, more upscale stores and restaurants, which = tourist attraction. Ribersborg, on the otherhand, where we live is, more chill, not a constant stream of tourist, older buildings with a lot of charm, stable, a mixture of retirees and young families...it's calm and safe. We like both areas a lot and truthfully we have the best of both worlds...we live in Ribersborg and can walk across the fields (our backyard) to Västra Hamnen whenever we want. Life is good!! 

Enzo loves climbing the rocks. He can spend a whole day here, climbing, dipping his feet in the water, eating some yummy Italian ice cream and then climbing some more. It was on these very rocks he lost his first tooth. Post to follow. 

Sweden's National Day

June 6th is Sweden's National Day! And since I love sweets and so does Enzo, I may add, I find excuses to bake. Enzo was thrilled! We took a box cake because it is simple enough for him to whip up himself with a little supervision. Of course the cake had to have the Swedish colors, so we dyed the batter! Enzo says he likes to bake but I know the truth, he likes to dip into the batter, like the spatula, and eat the finished product, all the good stuff that comes along with baking. 

 All ready for the oven! Yum!!!

Enzo Has A Desk

Enzo has a desk. It was our old desk that we had at our old place which we thought would be fitting for his room since it was cheap and can take a beating without us giving a hoot! He loves having a desk. Sometimes it's cleaned and he has space to create all sorts of little ideas that run through his head and sometimes the mountain on his desk is high with papers that you barely know that there is a desk underneath it all.

Most importantly, he has a place to write all his lists (he loves making lists), and draw pictures, and create boats and ships out of the recycling. And he loves tape! He tapes all his pictures up on the wall, his walls and his brother's wall.  I'll have to post pics of this later as I have yet to take a picture of his decorating. He uses tape as if it's the new thing! I guess it may be for him.