Swedish Summer

Summer is finally here (we think). For the past few days we've had temps in the 70's and we are now getting strawberries from Sweden (the best strawberries in the world). Yesterday we went swimming in the lake by our house (literally a 5 minute walk from our apartment). The water was a bit cool, but the sun was warm!






Odin loves strawberries. Mom gives them to him whole and he enjoys the process of eating them himself as much as the taste!




Odin's favorite toy has become the jogger. He loves to pull himself up with it and then play with all the interesting parts...

Crawling and Teeth!

Here is a short video of Odin crawling out to the back deck. He is getting very fast!

Celia held Odin upside down and tickeled him to make him laugh so that I could snap this quick picture of his 4 upper teeth! He has two bottom teeth that you can't see in this picture.

Midsummer

Yesterday was Midsummer and here in Umea we have 24 hours of daylight (the sun sets around 11:10 pm and rises at 2:15 am). We celebrated the event with many Swedes by going to Gammalia (old city) for a picnic lunch and some dancing around the maypole.

Here's Odin playing with his very own maypole that Dad made for him.
Part of the tradition is to decorate the maypole with flowers and birch leaves before it is raised up.
After the afternoon celebrations we had dinner with our Swedish friends. We walked home from dinner around 11 pm. Odin was relaxing in the jogger on the walk home (notice how light it is outside and we didn't use the flash on this picture!).
This past week we purchased a cyclewagon for Odin. It goes behind Dad's bike and once Mom gets a bike should make travel around town much quicker! We took it for a spin today (Mom jogged along side Dad) and Odin seemed to really enjoy the ride...and then he dosed off to sleep;-) It has a mesh screen cover to stop bugs from coming in and toys from going out, and it also has a rain cover to keep him dry if it's raining or snowing.

My new toy!

Lund, Ystad, and Playing

Over this past week we traveled to a town in southern Sweden called Lund. Dad had to go for work, so mom and Odin came along to keep him company! This is a picture of all of us in front of a rune stone carved by vikings, commonly found in southern Sweden.
Over the weekend, we traveled to a small town on the southeast coast called Ystad with some great folks dad knows from work.

Odin chewing on a Swedish Flag. Saturday was a national holiday.

We were also able to see a different part of Sweden as the coastline can be drastically different in the south. It goes from nice sandy beaches to rocky cliffs. Though dad wanted to go swimming, it was still a bit too cold!Odin loves lamps! He studies them and then (of course) wants to eat them! ha!

Dad went with mom and Odin to the "Open School Nursery" where young babies of all ages get to interact and play. What fun! Odin got to show dad all of his favoite toys and new friends.

Watch Out... naked baby on the loose...

Mom went running with Odin using the jogging stroller around the lake by our apartment.

Odin and dad were there to support mom as she ran a 5K race called the Vår Ruset. This was a big deal as it was her first race since Odin was born.

9 months old

Odin turns nine months tomorrow. We can hardly believe how the time has flown by...He's growing and becoming so adventuresome! Recently he started pulling himself up to standing and he does it all the time! On Friday Mom thought Odin was asleep on the mat in the living room so she turned her head for one second only to find him standing using the chair as a balance. Here he is using the sofa...














Odin also LOVES pulling himself up using the dishwasher and then helping Mom with the dishes by pulling all the forks and spoons out and placing them on the floor! (We've learned to put the knives in the way back so he can't reach them).

Today was our first really warm day here in Umea, Sweden.

And finally, for those of you following Odin's eating...Mom is super happy to report that tonight Odin ate chicken, sweet potatoes, potatoes and carrots. That is what we had for dinner so Mom took a bit of each item and plopped them in the blender with some of the chicken juices and water...and made mush. Odin LOVED it. He enjoyed it even more when Mom let him eat it using her fork (I think he wants to do what we do and since WE don't eat with baby spoons why should he??). Tomorrow red lentils and coconut milk soup is on the menu; hopefully he will like that too.

Helsinki

We just returned from a 2 week long trip. The second half of the trip was spent in Helsinki (the capital of Finland).

Here we are enjoying some lunch at a cafe in the downtown area of Helsinki.














Odin without socks enjoying the warm weather.














On a national holiday, we spent the day helping some friends plant potatoes, onions and garlic at their community garden. Dad helped till the land by hand while Mom watched Odin get VERY dirty!

A short walk from our hotel brought us to a calm and relaxing botanical garden. Mom and Odin spent many hours walking around the garden while Dad worked.

We took an overnight ferry to travel from Helsinki to Stockholm (and then a flight from Stockholm to Umeå). Here is a picture Dad insisted on taking...as you can see it was very windy!!! Check out Mom's crazy hair!

At dinner Odin made his usual mess (b/c he likes to feed himself...). One of the wait staff noticed this mess and appeared a bit annoyed until Odin flashed her his winning smile. She immediately melted and started playing with Odin (which he throughly enjoyed).

Odin showing off his Sweden t-shirt.

Walk and Slide

A nice walk in the woods in southern Sweden, near Gothenburg.

Crawling in the grass is fun! Lots to check out and try and eat!

My first slide ride!

Hanging out on the grass in Gothenburg.