As a part of the 'inskolning' process at dagis (mentioned below) the parents get to sew little rag dolls that are supposed to look like their kids.
Here’s the result. See the resemblance?
Thursday, August 23
Ethan and Hudson - Rag doll style!
As a part of the 'inskolning' process at dagis (mentioned below) the parents get to sew little rag dolls that are supposed to look like their kids.
Here’s the result. See the resemblance?
Sunday, August 19
Another giant leap for Harrison-Helinkind
Over the last two weeks we’ve been getting both Ethan and Hudson settled in to their new day care and we are happy to say that our two little butterballs have been true troopers throughout the whole ‘inskolning’ process. Inskolning in Sweden is when you attend day care with your child for the first week or so to gradually get them used to their new environment, friends, routines etc.
We were also incredibly lucky to have Grandpa Keith here at the same time, which helped so much as he was able to do inskolning with Ethan whilst I was doing inskolning with Hudson and Shaena started her fulltime Swedish class.
So far we are very impressed with the new day care and all the staff and both Ethan and Hudson are doing fantastically well and are getting great feedback… and it also helps that this one is only a 1 minute walk from our flat compared to the old one that was about a 10-15 minute walk. It all adds up! ;)
Another giant leap for Harrison-Helinkind taken!
Saturday, August 18
Tallinn baby!
Another Baltic country to check off the list, yes sir! Estonia – Check!
Camp Harrison-Helin including grandpa Keith boarded the ‘MS Baltic Queen’ last Saturday afternoon, excited as ever and ready for an awesome 40 hour cruise across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, Estonia. Grandpa had never been on a cruise ship before so he was a bit gobsmacked by the size of it and all the different entertainment options that were available.
We dropped off our stuff in our 10 square meter cabin (yes, 3 adults and 2 kids can actually fit semi-comfortably in such a cramped space) and headed up to the buffet for a feast. And what a feast it was! Those buffets are deadly!
It’s really lovely to be able to just sit down and enjoy a meal whilst cruising slowly through the archipelago and enjoy the view over a glass of wine. After dinner, there was live music and an Aladdin-show in the ‘Starlight Palace’ theatre and the night went on. Some of us went to bed, some stayed out for a bit more entertainment in the disco, piano bar, karaoke, cigar club, and whatnot. Good times! When we woke up, we were almost in Tallinn.
We headed up to the Old Town in Tallinn, which was only a short walk away, and scoured the streets for an open restaurant. We were starving! After a lot of asking and seaching, we managed to get a bite to eat. Wasn’t easy to find a decent restaurant that was open before noon, that’s for sure! The Old Town was beautiful and a bit ugly at the same time and we had a nice time just strolling around, looking at its unique old buildings and taking pictures.
A few of hours later, we were back on the ship and ready to sail back home again. Tallinn is well worth a visit and going there on a cruise is cheap, easy, effortless and fun!
(Oh, and I mentioned before that our blog was full and that no more pictures could be uploaded. Well, I managed to squeeze in a few more somehow, but now it’s definitely full!)
Camp Harrison-Helin including grandpa Keith boarded the ‘MS Baltic Queen’ last Saturday afternoon, excited as ever and ready for an awesome 40 hour cruise across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, Estonia. Grandpa had never been on a cruise ship before so he was a bit gobsmacked by the size of it and all the different entertainment options that were available.
We dropped off our stuff in our 10 square meter cabin (yes, 3 adults and 2 kids can actually fit semi-comfortably in such a cramped space) and headed up to the buffet for a feast. And what a feast it was! Those buffets are deadly!
It’s really lovely to be able to just sit down and enjoy a meal whilst cruising slowly through the archipelago and enjoy the view over a glass of wine. After dinner, there was live music and an Aladdin-show in the ‘Starlight Palace’ theatre and the night went on. Some of us went to bed, some stayed out for a bit more entertainment in the disco, piano bar, karaoke, cigar club, and whatnot. Good times! When we woke up, we were almost in Tallinn.
We headed up to the Old Town in Tallinn, which was only a short walk away, and scoured the streets for an open restaurant. We were starving! After a lot of asking and seaching, we managed to get a bite to eat. Wasn’t easy to find a decent restaurant that was open before noon, that’s for sure! The Old Town was beautiful and a bit ugly at the same time and we had a nice time just strolling around, looking at its unique old buildings and taking pictures.
A few of hours later, we were back on the ship and ready to sail back home again. Tallinn is well worth a visit and going there on a cruise is cheap, easy, effortless and fun!
(Oh, and I mentioned before that our blog was full and that no more pictures could be uploaded. Well, I managed to squeeze in a few more somehow, but now it’s definitely full!)
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| Steaming out on the Baltic Sea |
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| A cowboy on deck? |
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| 3 generations of Harrisons |
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| Morfar enjoying the fresh ocean air |
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| Ethan had a blast on deck! |
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| And Hudson had a blast in the kids play room |
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| Entrance to the Old Town through the city wall |
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| Two hundred and something steps up to the view point - No thanks! |
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| There were plenty of beautiful churches of all shapes and sizes in Tallinn |
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| Trying out head gear at the market |
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| A city wall turret and a church spire |
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| An old clock that we saw in the tourist brochure on the boat. Must be a landmark. |
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| "Aaand pose!" |
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| Another Peter-church! |
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| Street vendors |
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| Market in the Old Town main square |
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| 'The Broken Link' - Memorial for the 852 people who died in the 'Estonia' ferry disaster |
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| The light in the memorial park was perfect, so we decided to snap some family photos |
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| Outside the 'Life in Soviet' exhibition - a typical Soviet Lada car in mint condition. |
Thursday, August 16
Sorry, we're full!
They say that you can never have too many memories, but in our blog’s case, it seems like you can. Computer memory that is. We have now officially used up 1021Mb of our 1024Mb of picture storage and pretty much no more pictures can be uploaded until we upgrade our account to a fancy pants paid account, at the hefty cost of $5 per year.
So, hang in there peeps…
Tuesday, August 14
Yet another day, yet another castle
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| Drottningholm Castle |
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| Grandpa is posing on the right side of the ropes. Ethan is not. |
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| Taking a break from walking |
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| Ethan and grandpa checking out the Chinese pavillion |
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| Grandpa Keith's hidden skills: Talented photographer and talented Instragramer! |
Saturday, August 11
Ethan and Hudson's Rockin' Disco Party
Last Sunday the boys’ long awaited for birthday party finally happened! The weather was gorgeous, the Facebook event invite list indicated it was going to be a packed house and we had a full day of fun planned! Our outdoor communal area was fully decorated in Thomas the Tank Engine streamers, the splash pool and slip n were slide set up, we had prepared a wicked disco playlist, the barbeque was ready to go, and Shaena had baked a delicious red velvet birthday cake, rice crispy treats and double chocolate chip cookies! In other words: It was on!
The boys had a fantastic day with all their friends and they were all sugared up well and good come 4pm when the party was coming to an end. To top a great day off; Ethan and Hudson also got showered in gifts!
Thank you very much to everyone who came and made this day special!
The boys had a fantastic day with all their friends and they were all sugared up well and good come 4pm when the party was coming to an end. To top a great day off; Ethan and Hudson also got showered in gifts!
Thank you very much to everyone who came and made this day special!
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| Red velvet cake! |
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| Ethan and Raul |
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| Thomas-themed decorations all around |
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| Daddy and b-day boy #1 |
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| The pile of pressies just grew and grew |
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| An athlete in the making |
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| ...and there it goes! |
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| "Twas a Swede, a Canadian and an Aussie, standing by a bbq..." |
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| Hayden and Huddy |
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| Our 'venue' |
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| Captain America and The Johansson's |
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| The party in full swing |
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| Sam on the slip n slide |
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| Hud Man |
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| The decorations were awesome! |
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| Jerome and Fletcher testing the water pressure? |
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| Proud morfar and tired barnbarn... |
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| ...after lots and lots of this! |
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| "What do you want me to do with the candles again mom?" |
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| Baby Ossian |
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| Quick poll: Do the grandpas look alike in this pap shot? |
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| Adorable Olivia |
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| Hud Bud |
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