Thirty ninth weekend

During our thirty-ninth weekend here, we had visitors from London! We stayed around town, took a few walks to the kids' school to play at the park, and had a nice time visiting. We brought out the charcoal grill and had some amazing supper. Why is it that the first BBQ of the year is the best one?

 Allyson and Nathan brought some fun prizes for us; the boys got two Where's Wally books and Svea got a Princess Sofia book, and they were all very excited. The Where's Wally books are quite challenging, with about 22 items to find in each picture, plus apparently there is one unknown item that is in all the pictures. I don't have any idea how you'd figure out what that one is! Hours of entertainment await.

 When we were at Legoland, we got two slushies in these massive .51L containers. Torben loves (LOVES) milk, and decided a half-liter of that was a good idea. He and Anders actually had a race, to see who could finish their drinks first. Anders had orange saft-vand. They both decided that was probably not such a fantastic idea, when they had minor stomach aches shortly thereafter. But, sometimes you have to learn by experience.

 This weekend was Mother's Day, and it turned out that all the tulips were in full bloom. So I sent the boys outside to pick a bunch to make the table beautiful. They built their bouquets one flower at a time. They'd go outside, pick one, bring it in and put it in the vase, then go out and get another, and so on. There were only two of the orangey ones in the garden, and they argued over whether to pick them or not. I think ultimately they left one out there.

 It was a beautiful weekend to be outside, so we went to their school and played on the playground, and also went to a couple of the parks in town.

 I still cannot believe the strength Torben has! He climbs these poles like it's no effort whatsoever.

The flowers blooming now are so incredibly gorgeous and fragrant! All three kids, but Svea and Torben in particular, frequently point them out to me and want me to take a picture, and also to smell the flowers. If we're not careful, as soon as we tell them a flower is beautiful, they will pick it for us. I love how generous their hearts are. 

 Perhaps he's a bit too big for the baby swing, but he thought it was fun for a minute or two.

 I love that at this playground, Svea can climb up and slide down all on her own. At the other park where we went first, the slide was too steep and she couldn't do the steps. So this one is more her size, and she loves it!

 No sandbox? No problem.

 Svea still hates having dirty feet. While running through the sand to the slide and swings, she got sand in her boots. So she had to sit down, take them off, and try (in vain) to get all the sand off her feet.

 It's hard to get them to be still for a picture, but if we let them climb on top of something, they almost beg for photos to be taken!

 It turns out that rain boots make for excellent buckets to fill with sand.

 Jeff helping Svea with her sandy feet, again.

 Photos like this one demonstrate why we have gone through so many little socks this year. Long ago I gave up reminding them to take off their socks if they removed their shoes.

 This see-saw is a great size for any number of kids. Svea can even make it move just on her own, but it's also designed in such a way that she's not totally off-balance if Anders is opposite her.

 Running with sand, of course.

 I love this pathway through the trees. It seems to go on forever, even though it's only about 50 feet or so.