Wednesday Aug 14

We woke up with no agenda today so I let the kids choose what we would did.   Steve had mentioned to Smith that there was a cool park with a zip line not far from our real apartment.  I called Steve for details and off we went.  The train travel was easy, it was after exiting the station that caused some issues.  Steve told me to look for the street Pilgatan and take that down to the water.  The problem, I never saw that street.  I switched data roaming on, pressed google maps and navigated my way down.  My poor kids were dragging behind me as I now realize I took the longest way possible.  But...  we found it!!!!  

This park was amazing!!!  It was surrounded by water with boats and floating restaurants.  The  bike path and running trail circled the water and there were so many people exercising , picnicking, playing on the grass or just sitting and enjoying the day.    The problem, it started raining the second we got there.  Like I mentioned yesterday, we acted like Swedes, ignored the rain, got soaked and had a great time.  As usual, the rain stopped after 20 minutes, just long enough to soak the place then out came the sun.  I knew good stain remover was hard to find here so I packed a bunch of stain sticks and Shout spray, however, this can be a housewarming present for everyone that plans to come visit us.  Chase's shorts are so dirty I'm not sure they will ever get clean.  I'm certain my supply will be gone by October. 

The zip line was the first thing they went on.  Look at the smiles!  

The parks here are incredible.  I know I keep saying that, but I am amazed at how many things there are for all age groups.  I took a ton of pictures today so you could visualize the scene I'm describing.  The favorite of the day was the race track around the mini pool.  All the bikes, tricycles and pedal toys remain in the park.  Nobody steals them at night or rides away with them.  There's this  unspoken honor system.  I love it!!!!  The boys raced around this track for one solid hour.  There were lots of other kids playing too.  This picture of Chase's face makes me laugh so hard.  Jake was on their tail.  

 

Of course Smith's favorite section was the giant, free standing rock walls.  Here's a picture of one of them that he will surely conquer one day.

This park, along with most all of them, have big soccer goals and an area for free play.  Jake thinks this is the coolest part of Stockholm.  There were ramps for skateboarding that the boys loved running on.  Jake is excited to bring his skateboard back and give it a try.  

They also spent a huge amount of time doing obstacle courses.  They climbed, jumped, balanced and ran for hours.  I'm so excited that this park is walking distance from our new apartment.  

As I was sitting and watching the boys play,  I was surprised to see that I was one of three or four moms there.  The rest of the kids were with their dads.  I'm not sure how it works exactly, but dads are out and about with their kids as much as the moms are.  There were also two American dads and their kids sitting next to me on the bench.  They both live here.  I know this because I was eves dropping on their conversation.  After not having a clue what anyone is saying all day long, when I hear English, I'm going to eves drop!

I went for a short, pre-dinner run tonight and felt brave enough to venture off the usual path to explore.  Now that I know a few basic street names, it's getting easier to find my way home.    During my run, I inhaled more second hand smoke than I cared to.  For such a healthy country, why does everybody smoke? 

 Swedes seem to be nice people and I really appreciate how helpful they are, but I can't get over how rude they are on the streets.  Some lady elbowed me as I was running and I had to catch myself from falling into traffic.  About a mile past that, I was running on MY side of the street and another lady throws her car door into me.  No apology for either incident.  I know I have to get past this, but I'm struggling with it.  It's just general courtesy towards others.  

Last night at dinner, Steve and I were having a drink talking about how different this move would have been if we did it 10 years ago, pre children.  I would be blogging about restaurants, night life, spontaneous weekend trips and living in an apartment with an amazing view of the water; instead of blogging about parks, playgrounds and kid friendly eateries.   We both looked at each other and realized how blessed we are to have these crazy boys in our lives and how amazing this experience is going to be for them.  I'm ending with this picture of Jake and me with a beautiful backdrop.  His big hug around my waiste is priceless and every time I am frustrated with them, I will look at this and remind myself how wonderfully they are accepting and adapting to this major life change, and how lucky we all are to be living in this beautiful country.