Month: August 2015

Didn’t manage to stay home very long before we wanted to get away again. This time a visit to our second paradise in the archipelago. My sister and her girls came along too and we were hoping for a sunny day by the sea.

We got a rainy day indoor but it was a great day anyway. We managed to pick a bucket full blueberries in between the showers and made a crumble with vanilla custard for afternoon coffee. Yum! My mother-in-law had prepared a great lunch and dinner and the kids spent the day playing board games and relaxing.

Now it’s time to enjoy the last “Allsång på Skansen” for this summer. A true sign fall is on it’s way and that summer is coming to an end.

Back home again and we had a lot of work to do today to get organized again. The garden looked like it’s been abandoned for – hmm – say four weeks.. Lol. The grass was 10 inches high and a real drag to cut. My husband had to go over it several times. 

Me and the boys have been picking red and black currents and I have also done some more laundry. A visit to the hospital for allergy shots has also been on today’s schedule. A quick coffee with my parents was a nice surprise too!

A thai take away dinner was really appreciated – we haven’t had it since before we left. Don’t think there are any thai food places on Öland.

Got up this morning and went for our morning swim – 18.6C in the water – the highest temperature in the morning all summer. Lovely. I am so glad we have been able to keep up our routine all summer – we haven’t missed one single day!

Since we had packed and cleaned so much yesterday we had a pretty straight forward morning after breakfast. Just the last couple of things left and after two hours we were ready to go back to the city.

6,5 hrs later we arrived at home – the traffic was ok all the way up until the last 20k which was pretty slow. They had warned on the news about tons of people going back to the city this particular day so we wanted to get an early start.

We have been busy bees for a bit cutting grass, doing laundry and getting dinner on the table. Now some well earned corner-time before it’s time to go to bed.

What a day. It was actually above 18C in the water this morning and 22C in the air. Lovely!

A thunder rain woke us up during the night but it passed pretty quickly. We received some more rain before lunch but then it cleared up again so me and my niece decided to take one last hike. 10,5k in 1hr 49 min. Yeah.

We finished all the leftovers in the fridge for dinner and then we decided to get busy and prepare some of the things we need to get done before we leave tomorrow. So we cleaned the houses, emptied the water heater and packed down the outdoor shower and cleaned up outside. Then we packed most of our things and tried to organize everything so we can pack the car nice and easy tomorrow morning after breakfast.

It’s been a great vacation and I am so glad we have been able to spend four weeks together as a family. The sunset tonight was just about the most amazing one so far – great memory to keep for the long winter.

Another amazing day has come to an end. My best friend left after lunch today and then we got busy putting away all the outdoor furnitures and the trampoline, did some laundry and cleaning the houses, defrosted one of the fridges and turning it off. Getting ready to leave our paradise and go back to the city again. Tomorrow they have promised rain so we wanted to get most of the stuff done today.

When we were done we treated ourselves dinner at Pappa Blå in Borgholm – and this time it wasn’t full! After a great dinner we took a last look at the stores since most of them are closing for the season and have a lot of stuff on sale. We found a pair of shoes for my youngest which was great.

Now we have crashed infront of a tv-show with a glass of rosé waiting for my brother-in-law who is on his way down for the weekend.

My best friend came down for a couple of days to visit. A tradition we started a few years ago that we both cherish very much. 

And what a day we have had! Finally a whole day with sunshine and no wind. I even swam in the ocean this morning even though the temperature was only 17.5C (or something like that). During the day it got closer to 19C so we have managed to get a couple of more dips in the ocean as the day went by.

We drove up to the local grocery store for some bits and pieces and then drove back along the coast to just enjoy the beautiful scenery. Tonight we have bbq:d chicken and oven baked new potatoes that we have grown ourselves. Luxury in life!

A couple of movies ended a perfect day – the last one was a real feel-good movie with Melissa McCarthy that I really love. “Identity Thief”. See it, if you haven’t already!

This picture was taken a couple of days ago – and today it was the last day this summer that we all went down for a swim before breakfast. 25 days in a row. Yeah. Usually in an ocean with a temperature between 15-17C. No rain at any time. Sometimes sunny and most of the time really windy. It’s been a great summer so far in the sense that we have been able to take our morning swims. But today my parents left paradise and my best friend arrived instead – mixed feelings!

We have had a great day with sunshine! Tonight we could enjoy dinner outside and then continued with playing boardgames outdoors and then after the sunset indoors. A good day in our paradise even though it was sad so see my parents off.

A long lazy Tuesday with sunshine and clear blue sky and a chance to put our feet up for a minute. With a view like this it is not a big sacrifice! 

Tonight we went to get a take-out dinner – “kroppkakor” – since my sister wasn’t here the last time we enjoyed this dish. Yum!

No walk today since we walked so far yesterday. My body feels ok though and I am proud of myself to have taken these walks this vacation instead of just being lazy. Unfortunately the scale is not my friend right now.. But, one need to enjoy the good in life sometimes. And who can resist the home made gooseberry crumble with vanilla custard?

Long walk today.. We decided to go the full distance and 11k and 112 minutes later we arrived back to our paradise. Tired but ok. It was summer today – with clear blue sky and crystal clear water – so quite hot (about 75F / 25C) to walk that far. We had brought some water along and that was probably a good idea.

The rest of the day has been a long lazy day in the sun – enjoying the lovely warm weather and sunshine. I will probably suffer tonight.. lol

Last week in paradise has begun. Let’s make the most of it!

Today we had another reason to celebrate a names day – August 2nd is Karins day. Since both my niece and my sister are named Karin we went into Borgholm in the afternoon for a treat at Ölands Glassbar – yum! Thank you mom and dad!

It has been a quite sunny day, 17C in the ocean this morning. Nice with a bit of summer feel again! The weather prognosis is quite good the rest of the week with a few exceptions.

The sunset tonight was spectacular – good for the soul! Let’s hope next week will bring us lots of good things for our souls to get us through the winter since it is our last week in our paradise for quite a while.