The best date ever

We are back in Australia since last Tuesday. It has been a very relaxed week as we had to recover from the flight and jet lag. We've been asked by many how it feels to be back in Perth and we have mixed feelings about it- as much as it's nice to back in our own home and we can kick back, it's also really sad to have had to say goodbye to family and friends. Thanks to everyone in Sweden for making our holiday truly fantastic!

Noah, as you would expect, doesn't remember our home here in Perth but seems quite happy with all the toys that he now is surrounded by. The other night we decided to move his cot in to the nursery and it has gone really well so far- the little man sleeps very good in his own room and last night he slept from 11.30PM to 7.30AM- HALLELUJAH!

This morning Noah and I had a date and we went to the movies together :-). They run a session in the morning when mums can come with their babies- excellent as I otherwise never would get a chance to go.
Today was the premiere of the Sex and the City movie (free Cosmopolitans for everyone in the theater except the bubs haha!). All fans of Carrie and the gals should be very pleased with this 2, 5 hour wrap up of the much loved series. The movie was much better than I expected it to be.

Anyway, it was lots of fun to have a "cinema date" with Noah! He was so well behaved all through the movie and it was really cosy to cuddle up with him in the theater. We'll be doing this as often as possible until he starts walking... :-).

Favorites

We have taken soooo many pictures on this holiday. Below we are sharing some of our favorites! Note that we have updated the blog today with 9 new entries (yep, took pretty much all day to do) so don´t forget to scroll down and read from the beginning!

Noah with mormor och morfar in Klippan in the province Skåne

Noah, morfar and pappa having lunch next to a lake

Noah and mamma in the province Småland

With godmother Annelie and pappa having coffee in Haga in Göteborg
Hello to everyone!

Mother´s Day

We didn´t celebrate Mother´s Day, however, Noah gave us all a little surprise gift: he rolled over for the first time. Morfar and Noah were playing by themselves on the floor and suddenly it just happened!Later in the day, Noah and mamma took a walk in Lundsbrunn, it was 22 degrees and just perfect for some outdoor playtime.

Bare feet in the grass- what a wonderful feeling!

The first bite

On Saturday the wait was over and Noah finally got his own plate with food! A tiny portion of delicious rice porridge with banana served in his own bowl with Bamse design. When the little man understood the food was for him, we had to hurry up; Noah squeaked and opened his mouth and reach out for the spoon. There was a festive feeling in the house as he ate it all with a smile on his face :-).

The best co-captain ever!

It´s lots of fun to help Morfar to drive the camper!









So where did we go? Well, we drove along the coastline of south Sweden for a week and some of the places we visited are:

Vejbystrand-
a small fishing village whose name means "Road Village Beach" in old Swedish. It has a population of 2764 and this is the village where Maria lived until she was six years old.Bjuv-
stopped and had lunch with relatives- great fun to catch up!Trelleborg-
has the second largest seaport of Sweden and is today often visited by people travelling from Sweden to Germany because of the ferries. We didn´t hop on the ferry to Germany this time and continued the trip after one night in Trelleborg.

Smygehuk-
a harbour and fishing village near Trelleborg. It's most known for being the southernmost point of Sweden and the beautiful view. (See pictures in the previous blog entries.)

Ales stenar-
a megalithic monument, from circa 500 AD, that is, the end of the Nordic Iron Age. It consist of a 67 metre long stone ship ormed by 59 large boulders of sandstone. Speculations have been made about the significance of these stones- one of those attributed is that the structure had an astroninomical and/or astrological purpose, based on the interpretation that the stones have been positioned according to the 365 days of the year and the 24 hours of the day. A pretty weird sight, with a beautiful view in the background.Kivik-
Kivik is known for its annual market usually taking place in July each year. It's also known for its abundant production of herring, apples and apple cider, usually sold in large quantities at the market. Since we missed the market, instead we visited the famous cider factory, yummy!









Glasriket "the kingdom of Crystal"-
a geographical area today containing a total of 15 glassworks in southern Sweden. The glassworks have become part of the culture of Sweden; examples can be found in many Swedish homes, recognisable by a small sticker at the bottom with the name Orrefors, Kosta Boda etc. (For you who can´t make it to Sweden, pop into David Jones (in Australia) and have a look at some of their selection of the Swedish crystal!).
When touring this forested province, it is normal to visit at least one of the glassworks. We stopped at two, visiting a glass museum, the glass blowing hall at Kosta as well the excellent shops with heavily reduced glasses, bowls, vases and unique glass ornaments. We had planned to buy something small to bring home as a memory but it was all so beautiful and it made it so hard to pick one item so that we ended up buying nothing instead!

Ullared-
the village hosts a huge department store- Gekås. It is one of the largest stores in Sweden and the growth of the store has made Ullared more or less synonymous with low prices among Swedes. As this was on the way back to Lundsbrunn, it was a given stop!

Good times

From Top Left: The three of us at the most southern point in Sweden (blue skys and jackets :)), Noah asleep in his pram, Mamma and Pappa in the sun, A long day on the road deserves a beer!!