Midsummer madness

Well it's been a few weeks since my last post, and time seems to be moving very quickly here, even if the pace of life is a lot slower than we're used to. I remember everything being a rush in the UK, whether it was driving, drinking (not together of course), eating, or relaxing, everything seemed to be time boxed and had some urgency about it. Here it seems that you can take you time over things and relax, if it doesn't get finished today, it'll still be there in the morning. If the guy in front is driving at 20, sit back and enjoy the view, don't bib your horn and search desperately for the first place to overtake him. It's refreshing, especially with Isabelle being so young to be able to take time and find a nice balance to things.
Work on the other hand has never been so busy. It's great because I'm enjoying what I'm doing, but it seems that the more you achieve, the more they want to throw at you, and if you're not careful you can quickly become over-booked or over-worked .You have to remember... This move is about better quality family time as well as better quality work time.
A couple of weeks back we took a brief vacation back to the UK to see family, catch up with friends and - most importantly some would say - to see Peter Kay at the LG Arena. We enjoyed being pampered by our parents, taking the three of us out to the Severn Valley Railway, Hatton Country World and the Monkey Forest, and it was nice to catch up with friends over a beer (or 5!) even if we did not get to see all of them. Our next trip back will have to be better planned to make sure we do not miss anyone out!
Isabelle particularly enjoyed the animal attractions, even if it took her a while to warm to the extremely noisy sheep at Hatton. I've never seen a child so excited and so scared at the same time, but she really enjoyed it once she had stopped crying and calmed down. To be honest I think it didn't help her that Laura was also scared of the sheep... I'm sure she could sense the fear in mommy!
The Monkey Forest was also a hit with Isabelle, and if you've never been it's a great half day for the kids. You get to wander around a monkey enclosure where the monkeys roam free. You're not allowed to touch them (actually if you can get close enough before they move away I'd be surprised) but you do feel a little like the lucky kid picked out at the zoo to help feed the animals in front of all the other guests. Isabelle was once again enjoying the wildlife, I just wish she'd cut the association between monkeys and "dadee!"
I'm starting to get a complex now!
Finally on our mini vacation we saw Peter Kay at the LG Arena and he was awesome. So very, very funny, but I wont bang on about him because I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen him yet.
Also by this point I think we were pretty done in after several days on the go constantly and were looking forward to a little R&R to get over our vacation back home in sunny Sweden (yes sunny... It was 32 degrees today!).
Last weekend here we had Midsummer which apparently is as big a deal to the Swedes as Christmas. There's no present giving (Laura was disappointed) but it's a time for family and friends to come together and watch people dressed in old clothes struggle to stick a big pole in the ground (a falic symbol so I'm reliably told) so that the older generation here can dance around it before the kids get too bored and start tearing around the field like they're high on coke and chocolate! Then when everyone is totally knackered after chasing their kids around and dancing like frogs (that has to be seen to be believed) they drink copious amounts of schnapps and eat herring whilst throwing logs around their back gardens. Confused?... We were!
At least we had a vacation day on the Friday to make space for these activities.

  


Well that's it for today. Next we have visits from both sets of parents to look forward to so I'm sure that'll provide me with plenty of ammunition for the next post. We're looking forward to having you here!

For everyone else, take care, we'll be in touch soon.

Love Ben, Laura and Izzy x x x