Monday, February 27, 2012

Andrew's School

So this post is going to be Inara light.  Deal with it.

I figured it was high time for me to post some pictures of my classmates doing all the awesome class stuff we do.  Or in this case two things, of which only one has to do with class.

Let's start out with something light, a dinner party...

Okay so these were already up but now I'm gonna start naming names.  On the left closest to the camera is Merijon of Albania, next is Eftun of Turkey, followed by Paul of England, then Oliver of Ireland and finally Mehdi of Iran.
Closest the camera is Nic the Greek then Jacopo the Italian.  Down at the end there is Paul's Swedish fiancee (financier?) Betty.  Betty appears bored but its probably more her trying to understand Oliver.
Here we see a Swedish mother protecting her young.  Notice the concerned expressions on the the Greek and Italian's faces.  They know not to approach her in her agitated state.

Here we are at the base of an Enercon wind turbine.  On the left closest to the camera is Haseeb of Pakistan and on my right in the picture in the brown coat is Åsa the Swede.



We got to climb up inside the turbine.  It was surprisingly roomy inside.  And warm.  It is about 240 feet tall.  We only got to go up to the second floor though.  I did promise not to tell if I was allowed to climb the rest of the way but no dice.

Standing next to some of the inner workings of the turbine with the Swedish technician who helps maintain the park.  He will remain nameless to protect his identity.
Me, heroically, climbing down.
Konstintina the Greek gets her own picture since she apparently refuses to appear in pictures with everyone else.  Or it could be most of these pictures were taken by her.  One of the two...
We are watching the turbine re-start after we'd been inside. Either that or someone is about to jump.  I don't recall which it was.


 I actually had more pictures but when I looked for them I was unable to find them.  I promptly blamed Maria who blamed Inara.  Inara is asleep now but first thing tomorrow I'm going to get the truth from her.

Andrew

Friday, February 24, 2012

Finally!

A video of Inara crawling:


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Super Awesome Weekend

Last weekend we got on the ferry, rented a car on the mainland, picked up my friend Ragnhild and her son Iwo in the middle of Stockholm (not as easy as it may sound) and headed to Dalarna (county northwest of Stockholm, pretty much the epitome of "Swedishness"). There, my friend Moa and her family had arranged for all of us to borrow a cabin on her parents' property for the weekend. It was great seeing everybody and getting to blab away most of the couple of days that we were there. Between having just learned how to move around and being around so many people, Inara also had a great time. 

On the ferry


Saying hi to the horses
The place (hard to see the main building in the middle, bit it was very pretty)
Moa
I love how this horse looks like it's smiling
Inara's first horseback ride!
Ragnhild and Inara

Sigge and Inara with Moa's parents
They each got a rattle and kept switching them back and forth




All of us


Helping dad drive
We stopped by a castle on the way home and met up with my friend Rebecka
And now we're back home and the snow is melting. Andrew only has about a month left of classes and then he's supposed to work on his thesis until June or so. Time really has been flying by and we're looking forward to seeing what comes next for us. Ideas?

Oh and now with MOVIES! (Maria forgot to add them, so as usual Andrew has taken over.)  The movies are as follows: Inara riding an Icelandic horse, Inara riding a sled pulled by an Icelandic horse ridden my an Icelandic man.  Oh and Andrew is there too.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Crawling...sort of.

Just a quick post to let you know that Inara is now crawling. Not just moving at the pace of a snail in a small area, but actually getting places. She leans forward from a sitting position and then uses one leg and both arms to move, while the other leg just kinda drags beneath her. As a result, she has been absolutely thrilled and absolutely exhausted today. Now we're off to bed to catch an early ferry to the mainland tomorrow morning!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Famous

One of the benefits of living in a small town: If you just get outside enough, sooner or later you will end up in the local newspaper. So, here we are, Inara and I at the library. They're asking me how long I've been on parental leave as part of a report on how more dads are taking advantage of the 460 days of paid parental leave available to parents in Sweden. Of course they managed to misspell Inara's name (surprise, surprise) although I watched the guy write it down.


Inara had what they call a "three day fever" last weekend and was not a happy camper. She lost all energy and just wanted to be held. It was pretty much the first time she's been sick, not counting the bad jaundice she had when she was born, so we've been very lucky that way. Here are some pictures from those few days:


A couple of days later she was back to her normal happy self:



She now knows how to clap her hands and how to wave, although she's still pretty inconsistent. She also gives big, slobbery, open mouth kisses with lots of tongue. One of her favorite pastimes is looking out the window, so now our windows have little paw prints smeared all over them. She's also getting very close to crawling, as you can see in the first video. The problem is, that what she really wants to do is walk and she would prefer us to constantly help her do so, crying if we sit her down. In the second video she is almost standing on her own for a while, only holding on to a sweater hung over the edge of her crib, not actually providing any support. We'll see if she ends up crawling or walking first.





Thursday, February 9, 2012

Traces of Inara

Every night around 7.30 our home goes quiet as Inara falls asleep and we look around, wondering how a person so small is capable of making such a huge mess. And every night we tidy it all up, wanting to give her a clean slate, I suppose. The funny thing is that in everything she leaves behind, I see her and her unique little personality. 










Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The Funny and the Dull

I want to begin by assuring you that I'm feeling well again, as I'm sure Andrew's detailed description of me being under the weather had you worried. Winter has finally arrived here, bringing a bit of snow, colder temperatures and recurring dreams sandy beaches and palm trees. 

Inara went sledding for the first time. She was... uninterested? Indifferent? Bored? You decide.




We invited Andrew's classmates over for a dinner party between the hours of 5.00 pm and 8.00 pm. The first arrivals, the Greeks, were 35 minutes late. The rest trickled in 45 minutes late. All were made to leave on time though, as Inara's beauty rest is very important to all of us.

The hostess.



After getting a taste for blogging, Andrew now thinks that my posts are so boring in comparison to his that I might as well not write anything. I think that since he thinks he's so funny, he should probably just stop going to school and make a career out of being such a comedian. We'll see who laughs then. Not to bore you further by my complete lack of humor, I leave you with these pictures:


Getting bigger.
Inara sits with her feet crossed most of the time.