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.

Happenings in February

February’s theme has been sniffles and head colds. We have all taken turns with a bout of whatever seemed to be going around. It feels like we have only been blowing our noses all month, many toilet rolls worth, but thinking about it February wasn’t all bad.

First a tradition, every year the 2^nd Tuesday in February (also known as “fat Tuesday” = ‘”Mardi gra”) we celebrate in Sweden with a pastry known as “semla”. It is a cardamom bun with almond paste and whipped cream. I ate two…. and they were good….

Next was the annual chess tournament for all the 4^th graders, which Malin’s class participated in this year.  February 9^th, about  400 4^th graders competed in Västerås.  Each student played 4 games. It was fun to see them so focused, sitting at rows of tables concentrating on their games.

On February 16^th, Jesper and some of his team mates were asked to be referees in a few games when 7-year old boys were playing hockey.  Jesper was nervous at first but really enjoyed it at the end. I was not able to be there so there are no photos.

Last weekend, Malin and I went to the art museum in Västerås, they have an exhibition with designer dresses made by Lars Wallin. They were gorgeous and some were fairly extreme. It was like entering a different world. There are people that actually have occasions to wear these outfits. The first one was Malin’s favorite and the 2nd was one of the ones I liked the most.

 

Now it is time for spring break, time to get rid of the germs and charge up the batteries again for a hopefully more energetic month, March.

Temperature roller coaster

One month ago we left Singapore with temperatures above 30 °C and we came back to a wintery Västerås with temperatures around 0 °C. We changed clothes but other than that no concerns. About two weeks later the temperature dropped, when we woke up on Saturday morning the thermometer showed -26 °C.  It was a very nice sunny day and by lunch time the temperature had climbed to only -14 °C, so we went cross country skiing and it was a great feeling. 

 

We skied a lot that week both cross country and downhill. Then it turned warm, +3 °C and rain and almost all snow disappeared. Not much to do then.

Last Saturday we went up to Romme, about 1.5 hours drive north of here and went downhill skiing for the day. Again a sunny day and only -5 °C in the middle of the day. Sunday was equally nice so before Jesper’s hockey game we went out on Lake Mälaren to skate. The lake was like a mirror, you could skate anywhere you wanted.

 

 

Now this week, I think we have gotten at least 30 cm of snow so now it is time to get the skis out again. It has been modest temperatures, around -5 °C.

It is amazing how the body can adapt to the various temperatures.
We really enjoy the winter even though it complicates the daily routines; needing more clothes, snow shoveling, scraping car windows and taking kids to school since it is difficult to bike……

More snow

For those of you how have not experienced all aspects of snow....

I usually show how we on beautiful winter days are enjoying the snow in so many different ways, well this time I thought I would show you another experience that comes with snow.

Coming home, after a full day at work, it is dark since the sun sets around 3:30 PM, it has been snowing all afternoon, it is about -5 C and windy....then you need to shovel the driveway.

It is still snowing, so what you know for sure is that you have to do the same thing tomorrow morning before going to work.

Let's hope that the temperature stays below zero so we can enjoy the snow this coming weekend once we have gotten it out of the driveway.

Happy 2013!

It is time for the Irwin’s to surface again.

It has been hectic since the last blog both privately and at work. We have done plenty that should have made the blog. One factor to the lack of time is that I now travel more for work. I have been to 12 different countries since the last blog and twice to some of them, not only for work though.

I will make another attempt to blog more frequently, the title of the blog is Daily adventures not yearly….I cannot promise daily but maybe weekly or at least monthly….
 
We are just back from X-mas break. We started with winter activities in Alfta together with family and traditional X-mas celebrations. This year we were 21 for Christmas Eve and I think 31 for Christmas Day.

Then we headed for summer temperatures, this time to Singapore. We have close friends from Singapore and now it was time to visit with them there and to see the rest of their family. After a week it felt like we had been there for at least two weeks. We experienced so many new things, tried new food and sweets and met with nice friends.

We went to Underwater world on Sentosa Island, ate Indian food at home and in Little India, made offering in a Hindu temple, saw the Marina Bay area, tried Mangosteen and Dorian fruits, strolled through Chinatown, experienced Orchard road by night and finished with the Singapore zoo both by day and by night.

In the middle of the trip we went to the island of Bintan in Indonesia for some beach time. We went outside the tourist comfort zone and saw a world of contrast to the opulent areas of Singapore.

 

It was around 0 C in Stockholm when we landed which was nice, that made it only a 30 C difference in temperature that day. Now the laundry is done, the X-mas decorations are stored again and everything is back at its place and it is time for our daily routines again.

 Happy 2013!