Birka

Yesterday we had a gorgeous day out at Birka. First an hour boat ride on Lake Mälaren and then a guided tour of the archaeological findings on Birka.

During the Viking Age, Birka located in Lake Mälaren, was an important trading center and is regarded the first town in Sweden. The archaeological sites of Birka is on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

 

 

Power Meet

We have shown Marks parents a different side of Västerås today. Power Meet, an event where hundreds of american cars invade Västerås and cruise the streets. Part of the experience is also to eat langos.

Summer Break

The kids can now look forward to a 9 week long summer break. Last day of school yesterday; with speaches, songs, entertainment and NO rain. Always nice to see all the kids dressed up.

Finally a Trampolin

We finally gave in and bought a trampolin. I think we were the last ones in the neighbourhood to get one. The kids love to have a trampolin of their own. I think we will have an active summer.

Science Fair

The kids had Science Fair at their school yesterday. They have been talking about their projects at home for many weeks now so it was fun to get a chance to see them.

Jesper's class has been working with electrical circuits. You were suppose to put one wire on the question and the other on the answer and if you got it right, the light came on.

Malin's class has been building cars. Malin's group used elastic force to make it move. The name of their car is BIT.

Bonus Winter Month

After sports break we thought we were going to come home to spring, but boy were we wrong. It turned out that we got another bonus month of winter.

We enjoyed sunny days on Lake Mälaren and then a second week up in the mountains skiing.

 On the way back home to Västerås we stopped at my dad’s place for a couple of days. One morning we woke up to more snow…April 7^th.

When we came back to Västerås, the ski slope was still open so Jesper got to try his new snowboard for a couple of hours.

But now maybe we can count on that spring is here.

Malin got some new shoes to show for it.

Spring break.....

….or Sports Break as called in Swedish.

Time to get some exercise and some fresh air; Vemdalsskalet next.

Skiing from morning to late afternoon for 6 full days. One day we went to another ski resort nearby, Björnrike. My dad and sister also joined us. Temperatures were unseasonable warm, around 0 C but kind of windy at the end of the week.

 Jesper alternated between slalom and snowboarding, the rest of us kept to slalom. Malin tried snowboarding one afternoon; she managed the lift well this year, got the balance but is still struggling with the turns. It looks easy but it’s not.

It is a great feeling coming back to the cottage after a full day of skiing, just crashing on the couch. You feel tired in a good way and I think what is good about it is that it is OK to be tired. You can just give in to the tiredness and do not have to do anything else than just crash on the couch.

A Swedish chocolate company has found a great concept for marketing, they have a characteristic trademark and they place different big letters out in various places in the ski slopes. The kids (and some adults….) then get a map and should then ski around and stamp their map by these various letters and answer some questions regarding the ski resort, the company or the general area. When you are done, you turn in your map and get a gift and some chocolate.