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Petalling, v. – riding my cruiser and buying flowers for the garden – two of my very favorite things to do.
I'm trying to make more of an effort to get in some me time. I decided this week that I'll schedule in an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays to do something for me. Maybe go to the rec center. Or get back to sewing and painting. Today it was reuniting with my beloved cruiser bike...
Anyone know German? We couldn't help but notice all the ads showing vegetables wrapped in condoms around Wiesbaden. It looks like it's AIDS-related. Definitely attention-grabbing!
This is why it took 15 hours to drive less than 1000 kilometers. Hee-hee.
Actually, that's us waiting to board the ferry between Germany and Denmark on our road trip to Wiesbaden. Now Sophie has been on every type of transportation except a helicopter and motorcycle. (Don't get any ideas, Lewis!)
Lewis' mom and stepdad moved to Wiesbaden a few months ago for a job with the U.S. military. The town is very cute, and we were really envious of their location. They are surrounded by many more cute towns, and Wiesbaden itself is quite large. We went to a huge farmers market on Saturday, where we found fresh gnocchi, comte cheese and chanterelles. I found tons of cute children's shops, where I picked up some great gifts for Sophie. We also hit some tasty bakeries for pretzels and rhubarb pie. And we took walks through fields and fields of wheat right outside their door.
Oh, and the beer!! I have been converted to wheat beer. It is nothing like what they make in the states. I never really liked wheat beer, but I had only tried things like Sunshine Wheat by New Belgium. I plan on going to the Systembolaget and seeing if they have any of the delicious beers I had. I would have brought some back, but then Tilly would have had to ride on the roof.
Here are some more pictures of the trip. It's starting to look as if she lives in her Baby Björn. She does spend a lot of time in it when we're walking around, and I'm really thankful my sister gave me her old one. It hurts my back, though, so I'm hoping she'll fit a bit better in her Ergo carrier soon so I can carry her around in that.
Our 10-hour drive to Wiesbaden, Germany, turned into a 15-hour adventure after we hit major traffic on the autobahn. Yeah, 15 hours for Sophie to sit in "the bucket" as we call it. Poor thing. She started to lose it at the 14-hour mark. Luckily all it took was a quick feeding, and we were back on the road and finally made it.
We're having a great time with Grandma and Poppy. And we've found some adorable German toys for Sophie that we're setting aside for Christmas and her birthday. The Selecta duck on a push stick pictured above has these leather feet that make it waddle. Cracks us up every time it moves. Here's what else we found:
Die Lieben Sieben ball
Haba Flori – which was my ultimate find at a secondhand shop for just 2 euros!
Hey, c'mon... this is BIG news! We finally found a yummy vegetable: avocado. (We have also tried sweet potatoes, parsnips and corn.) It's been pretty hilarious over here the past two weeks with all the grimacing, gagging, shivering and spitting.
Incidentally, the Swedes advocate adding fat to the purées. A dab of butter or some oil. I can't bring myself to do it. It just feels wrong, and none of my U.S. baby food books say to do it. I've felt really lucky to be able to pick and choose the things I like from each country's philosophy. But in this case, it's left me a bit stumped.
We hit our favorite beach spot yesterday... a quiet area a few miles south of Åhus. (For those of you in the area, you drive past Åhus and turn left at the Åhus Missionsgård sign. Then follow the parking signs.) Lewis came too, with his laptop in tow. I thought it was going to be a huge disaster (sand + bright sun). But he actually got a lot of thesis work done, and his Macbook survived the trip.
I've been a bit bored around the house lately and feeling a little bit of an itch to go back to work. Although, after seeing all the IKEA employees waiting for the 5 p.m. train yesterday, I was glad I spent the day at the beach instead of at a desk.
I hope to hit the coast a few more times this summer. But with gas around $10 a gallon, it definitely makes it tough to leave Älmhult. You guys in the U.S. have nothing to complain about (yet).
I didn't think our life in Älmhult was boring until we left it. But now that I've been in the U.S. for the entire month of June, partying with friends and family, the pace seems even slower here than I remember it. That's partly because the whole country is on vacation now. Sweden shuts down in July.
The trip was great. I think Sophie enjoyed it the most. She seemed to thrive on the adventure. So now my mission is to try and continue that with weekly outings to new places. The girl clearly likes being on the go.
I realized a few things about myself on this trip too. Or at least how Sweden has changed me. When I arrived in the States on June 1, the thing that struck me the most was the large number of "no-good-niks" hanging around and the high level of poverty. We don't see that in Sweden at all. We drove by our old house in Denver and decided we were glad we sold it. The neighborhood seems scarier than when we left it. I don't think it's changed. I think we have.
By the end of our whirlwind tour from D.C. to Indiana to Denver to San Antonio, Sophie made a few discoveries/observations as well:
1. Big toes are good for sucking
2. White wine is a refreshing summer drink
3. Airports get boring after 8 hours (we were stuck in the San Antonio airport after a canceled flight)
4. Being carried in a Baby Björn is a great way to see the world
5. Americans love babies
6. Mom and Dad actually have friends
7. Carpets are much better to play on than wood floors
8. Sunrise at 6 a.m. (instead of 4 a.m.) makes it easier to sleep in
9. Mom can discreetly whip out her boob anywhere, even running through the Copenhagen airport
10. The fist STILL won't fit!
Cousin Brittany reading Goodnight Moon
Trying to go after my wine!
Dad makes airports more fun
