Random PhotosI

I have been wanting to write about this for a while, but just haven't.  The Boston Children's Museum has had a "Wizard of Oz".  N has loved it.  We read the book to get ready for it, though it focused just on the movie.

N and Z's building that they created and destroyed shortly after.

 More Pictures after the jump

Dinner with a view

This is where we bought the lobsters

Because of the funeral, we had to leave our holiday in the White Mountains early.  On the way home, we took the route through Maine.  Trying to make at least a little cozier, we decided that we needed to a nice dinner on the way home.  We found a lighthouse (M is a lighthouse fan) on our way home that we wanted to look at.  As we were looking for it, we saw these little blue signs all over the place for lobster.  So we just stopped and got some. 

A guy brought in his catch a little later while we were there, 1700 lobters

The lobsters were fresh and they cooked them for us.  Then we had a picnic on the rocks overlooking the lighthouse.  It was the perfect end to the holidays, even if we were not ready to end the holidays.

More pictures after the jump

An unexpected change of plans

On Sunday last week my Grandmother passed away.  I flew to Chicago for the funeral.  It has been 9 years since I was there.  I was born outside of Chicago and at one time, all of my family lived there.  Not anymore.  Now I have a couple of uncles and a couple of cousins, that is about it.  I must say, it was a walk down memory lane. 

The funeral itself was actually fun, as much fun as a funeral could actually be.  Lots of reminiscing and laughing.  I do believe that it is the type of funeral that my grandmother would of liked. 

I got home on Saturday morning and I am still recovering.  Not from the funeral, but from all the fried food I ate...and I ate a ton of fried food.  It was excellent though- fried pickles, tenderlions, fried chicken and onion rings. 

We did take some pictures, which I will post when I upload them a little later. 

Limited Posting

I would be shocked if we did any posting next week.  We might, but I do not think that our internet access will be that good. 

Funny thing this morning though.  I decided to make buns for breakfast, very nice of me I know, and when N woke up and saw them she said, "Buns, yuck!"  So much for being nice.

Making M Happy

The girls and I went out to Walden Pond yesterday (I love the way that sounds) and went for a walk around it after we were done swimming.  The walk is about 1.8 miles and I was amazed at how well they walked it without any complaints.  The best part though was waiting for us on the trail.  We found kantarell right on the trail.  If we found them there, imagine what we would find in the woods (not that I actually think that we are allowed to pick them in a State Park, but...).

My Daughter is a Nerd

Actually, she is probably more a geek, but I am old enough that they are the same thing.  She is totally into Spiderman.  I admit it, I think that it is great that she likes comic book characters.  The only problem is that I have never really cared for Spiderman at all.  It is not that I hate him, I just have no feelings about him what so ever.  Why couldn't she be into Star Wars or ...well, Star Wars.  That I totally could have gotten into.   It is not like I have not tried to get them both interested in Star Wars, but it has not stuck.

The weird thing about it is that I have no idea where it came from.  I do not think that we have a single Spiderman thing in our house.  M thinks it is from dagis, but that was over a year ago and it has come on suddenly.  The only kids she has been hanging around with recently were her cousins (all of them).  The two oldest are not into Spiderman at all and the youngest is only 1. 

What she really wants is a Pirate Spiderman?  Ever hear of a Pirate Spiderman?  Me either.  I emailed an artist about it the other day.  If I can arrange it, I think that she would like it.

I am a little nervous about school starting and her liking Spiderman so much.  She wants Spiderman everything for the first day.  I support it 100%, but I am just a little worried that she will come home when all the kids tell her that Spiderman is for boys only. I would be more worried if it wasn't Z.  She usually can handle that type of thing.  Oh the joy of being a parent.

3 Weeks

I can not believe it is just three weeks (and 1 day) until the girls start school.  I don't know what I will do with all my time (get a job...I hope).  I seem to be looking forward to it.  Grandma and Grandpa are sending new backpacks for the first day, which may be what they are really looking forward to. 

I guess the first day is one of those things that the parents are looking forward to and dreading all at the same time.  When they start, they will no longer be little kids.  Those "easy" days are done.

A child's perspective

On Friday we went to the forest and walked the slackline for the first time this year.  Actually it was the first time since we moved to Boston.  The girls loved doing it, so it was the perfect activity for the day.  Only thing was that when I was assisting one kid, the other took the camera to take pictures.  So here is their perspective of what is interesting in the forest.

It's raining

What a nice wet day it was yesterday.  I know that my parents were jealous of all the rain that we got.  It rained for about 24hrs straight...pretty hard.  After a rough morning (I was a little crabby and one of the kids were a little loud), we made up for it in the afternoon.  Right after lunch we went outside, during the hardest part of the rain, with all of our rain gear on.  We went to the school that they will be starting in a couple of weeks (where does the time go), then to the park and finally down by the lake where the big puddles are. 

Swedish Dinner

Summer is starting to come to a close (in Sweden, that week is long gone), which means that it is time for crayfish.  We had a nice Swedish crayfish dinner last night.  When the in-laws where here last week and I served some American (read Cajun) crayfish.  I have to admit, they were not nearly as good.  It is probably the only Swedish food that I miss.  So it is extra nice that you can get them at Ikea.

Last of the free lunches

I talked about the crazy free lunch program that we have here before.  This past Friday was the last day for it.  I think that we went 4 times during the summer.  Apparently it was usually on a Friday, though I never realized it.  I guess it makes sense.  By Friday my mental well being is usually in question, so I want to just get out.  Officially I still feel as though the program is a waist, both of resources and money. 

One cool think that happened on Friday is that the kids (18 yr olds, who are totally kids) that sat at the park made a comment about the kids.  They thought that N and Z were 6 and 7 respectively.  I asked why they would think that and they said that they were so good at the different things and how well they communicated.  Needless to say, I was happy.  This was the second time in two days that I received comments like that.  It will be interesting to see what happens when school starts.

What is that in your wallet?

We found this in Z's wallet.  We have no idea how it got there or where she got it.  Her explanation is that her friend Googie gave it to her (who, by the way, lives a very exciting life). 

Hummerlunch

Så var besöken från Sverige över för den här gången. Mamma och pappa åkte igår kväll. Det känns vemodigt att inte veta exakt när vi får träffa dem nästa gång. Darrin började tillbaka-till-vardagen-livet dramatiskt med magsjuka, innan mammas och pappas plan ens var i luften...

Vi fick i alla fall en mysig avslutning medan de fortfarande var kvar. De bjöd på lunch på Legal Sea Foods vid Kendall Square. Mamma, pappa och jag satt bredvid varandra och högg in på varsin helt nykokt hummer, komplett med haklapp och smör att doppa i. Helt klart min lyxigaste jobbdagslunch hittills i mitt liv - kanske till och med den lyxigaste lunchen alla kategorier! Mamma och pappa har hunnit med ett antal humrar sammanlagt under Cape Cod-vistelsen och framförallt under sin roadtrip till Maine. (Jag längtar tills vi också får möjlighet att äta lobster dinner och besöka Acadia nationalpark däruppe.)

Efter lunch gjorde vi snabb "walking tour" över MITs campus. Darrin och jag pekade ut den underliga Gaudí-lika byggnaden Stata Center och huvudbyggnaden MacLaurinhuset med Killian Court som öppnar sig ner mot Charlesfloden nedanför den berömda MIT-kupolen - men sedan tog min MIT-kunskap slut och jag kunde inte svara på några av deras frågor. Det skulle vara kul att gå en guidad vandring på campus själv någon gång.

Som avslutning fick de följa med upp på mitt kontor, i vad mina jobbarkompisar klassificerar som den fulaste byggnaden på USAs fulaste campus. Jag kände mig som vanligt i den situationen lite obekväm. Gränsen mellan privatliv och jobbliv är nästan överstigligt skarp just nu, och att ta med sig mamma, pappa, Darrin, Nova och Zoey in på kontoret mitt på blanka onsdagseftermiddagen kändes verkligen som ett stort kliv över den gränsen. Men, det blev bra. Vi råkade stöta på PSFC-chefen Miklos i korridoren och han hälsade glatt. Jag hade gärna velat ta med mamma och pappa och visa dem labbet också, men det får bli en annan gång - säkerhetsföreskrifterna säger att man inte får ta med barn in dit, och det var för svårt att tvinga Nova och Zoey att vänta medan vi gick iväg. Plus att de började få bråttom till flygplatsen.

That's my girl!

Three parks today in three different cities.  The second one was the best.  Both girls were doing so well with their climbing.  At one point Z was climbing when three boys were watching her just being amazed.  One boy asked, "aren't you scared up there so high?"  She was quick to respond, "Nope, I'm not scared of anything!"  A little later the mother of the three boys came up and said that her boys were just shown up by Z.  I had just texted M and said the exact same thing.  When she found out that she was only 4, she was really impressed. 

A Picture Book Tour

About an 1.5 hours away from Cambridge is the perfect picture book tour one could imagine.  It is excellent for people that are not familiar with American children's literature and for those who grew up reading it.

It starts off in Amhurst with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. It is one of my favorite museums (which is saying a lot).  I tried to take N into the actual gallery and she said that she did not want to.  I asked if she liked the museum and she replied, "Yes Daddy, but that is the boring part of the museum."  As long as she liked it.

We headed 15 miles west to North Hampton for some ice cream and the R. Michelson art gallery.  M thought we were going just for the ice cream.  I was going for the art...and the ice cream.  I found too many pieces that I would like to have in my collection (or the lack of a collection).

Finally we went to the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden in Springfield MA. 

It is fun to take the girls, but it was fun to take the in-laws.  I don't think they knew any of the stories, but the girls did and so it was fun for them as well.  When we got home, we started to read all the books and I do mean ALL the books that we had. 

Mexikanska pengar

Jag är fascinerad (och imponerad) av Zoeys fantasi. Hennes låtsaskompis Guggi måste vara en av världens coolaste låtsaskompisar (nej, jag är inte alls partisk). Han bor i Afrika. Han kommer regelbundet flygande på sin flygande matta för att hälsa på Zoey. Hans lillasyster är död, men hon hann göra många spännande saker innan hon dog. Guggi jobbar med lejon. Zoey har bara fått hälsa på honom i Afrika en gång, men hon vill flytta dit så att hon kan träffa honom lite oftare. Han bor i ett blått hus med vita prickar.

För tre veckor sedan var Guggi i Mexiko. Han skickade Zoey en 100-pesosedel därifrån som souvenir. Det mystiska med den historien var att Zoey faktiskt hade en hundrapesosedel i sin plånbok idag, och Darrin och jag har ingen aning om var den har kommit ifrån. Zoey försäkrar envist att det var från Guggi:

- Det var faktiskt, faktiskt Guggi, mamma. Han har blivit riktig nu!

The Ironic Part of a Car

I think that the purchase of a car by our family has had a different result.  When I think of people purchasing a car, I imagine them walking to the store less and generally getting more lazy.  This is part of the reason that I was some what resistant to getting a car.  It seems as though the purchasing or the soul has had the opposite effect on me.  Since we have a car, I want to go climbing, biking, hiking and kayaking.  Which means that I need to get into better shape.  It also means that my want list has dramatically changed since I write it in June. 

Ok, time to go do some push-ups or something

Cape Cod- Last of the photos

 You can see the last of the photos from Cape Cod after the jump.

Tired of me Complaining

I think that my father is tired of me complaining about the heat in Boston every single time we are on the phone.  So we received this in the mail.  It is an industrial strength one and makes it feel like we are in a hurricane. 

Cape Cod- National Seashore

Cape Cod was amazing, but the best part of it was the National Seashore.  It is basically (for the most part) a national park.  Kennedy created it in 1961 (which means it is the 50th anniversary this year).  It basically is the eastern coast of the Cape.  When it was created, the area was already settled, so people actually live within the seashore boundaries. 

(There are actually seals in this picture, but they are kind of hard to see. I regret not bringing the good camera)

We ended up going twice to the seashore.  The first time was on a Monday late afternoon and then the last afternoon.  Both were excellent for their own reasons. 

I can not wait to get back to the northern point.  The nature looks wonderful, but I am especially looking forward to taking the bikes up there.  There are bike paths everywhere.  We didn't do any biking, but we did take a walk along the coast to a lighthouse (I should point out here that M is fascinated with lighthouses).  The walk was along the beach the whole way...we think.  We actually never got to the lighthouse.  Instead we just walked along the beach.  The best part of it was that we were being followed and watched almost the entire way.  A pack (I wonder if that is actually the right word) of seals were watching us from the water.  At one point 23 of them were sitting their heads out of the water watching us.  Plus, we found some super cool shells and stuff (like stuff off a shipwreck and starfish).  Next time we just have to find the lighthouse. 

The last day we took route 6a (which is the scenic route) to the southern part of the seashore.  There we did get to see the lighthouses (the three sisters).  Mostly we played at the visitor center and the bookstore there.  We did get our National Park Pass as well. 

Update around the house

This picture might not seem like a lot, but it is.  When we moved, we lost over have of our storage room size and our bike room.  Not to mention that we have about a forth of the closet space we had in the old apartment.  Plus the kitchen has about half the cabinet space.  We also got rid of the 6'x6' bookshelf.  So for the past year this room has been a bit of a fight, to say the least. 


The secret to the success, storing stuff of the ceiling. 

You want what?

Time for Z to get a new helmet. She has determined that she wants a yellow one (ok) with flames on it (ok), with a spiderman (ok) and one small monster. No problems. Should be easy, right?

Cape Cod- Bird Watching

I have never considered myself a bird watcher, though I think that I could easily get into it. I love watching animals in nature, so it would not be a stretch if I became one. Cape Cod would be an easy spot to start since it is so easy to spot and identify birds. We loaned a little book with common animals along the cape, which was extremely helpful (not just with the birds, but with mammals and sea life as well).

The highlight of the birdwatching were the Osprey. We had two nests right beside our house and they would fly over us all the time. I got a little carried away with the photo taking of them, so deal with it.



At one point I was watching eight of them flying over the house. Of course this is when I did not have a single camera in the house.


One of the cool things about this photo is that the Osprey is sitting on a fly catcher. Each one of these blue boxes catches 30,000 flies each summer.

Körkort!

Nu har jag TVÅ körkort - mitt Massachusetts-körkort kom på posten idag. Jag klarade uppkörningen medan vi var på Cape Cod, trots att jag körde sämre än jag gjort kanske hittills i mitt liv. Nova och Zoey tycker inte det ser ut som jag på kortet, men det spelar lika lite roll som att jag körde dåligt på uppkörningen - det är jag, och jag körde tillräckligt bra för att få godkänt. Darrin och tjejerna må ha två pass, men jag är den enda i familjen med två körkort, och det måste vara coolare!

(Att slippa fler körkortsprov är förövrigt en stark motivation till att hålla sig i Europa-USA i framtiden...)

Cape Cod- Part 1

We are back from holiday and I have to say, we love the Cape. Yes, it does surprises me. Neither M nor I are beach people, though N and Z both are beach kids. I was looking forward to the trip, but I was not really sure just how much I would like the Cape. In the end, it was fabulous. We are already planning our next trip out there.

One of the things that made our trip better was our lodging. The in-laws had rented a house for the week and what a house it turned out to be. We had a view of the beach and a view of a salt marsh that was full of animal life. The house itself was gorgeous. In fact, I would consider renting the exact same house again.

The only "negative" was that we had no internet. We could not even find a cafe that had internet. It was not from a lack of trying. M needed it for work, so we carried her computer around everywhere.

More posts later. Too hot here to sit at the computer and "work".