bunk bed!

We finally got the bunk bed we wanted for our room. It is really cool. I (Jake) have the top bunk and Sam has the bottom bunk. I let Sam come up to my bed during the day.

We went to Ikea and the bed fit into our car while we got a ride with mormor.

Thanks dad for putting it together!

pumpkin patch update (this means war!!)

So the pumpkin patch was sailing along smoothly. Sixty nine cents worth of seeds, nine plants, a little dirt, a new continent to share Halloween with - man this is fun!

Entering August we were giddy at the first sight of 'mangos' - baby pumpkins with a whopping three months to mature between now and first frost.

Then the snails showed up. Not the escargot type snails in the shell. We're talking the big brown slug looking snails that eat their own if they met an untimely demise. The snails decided they liked to snack on the mangos. The baby pumpkin pictured in a previous post is toast. Nuttin but a rind.

Since then I've declared war. Been stepping over snails all summer. Nearly wrecking my bike to avoid them in the road. Not anymore baby. Now I patrol the yard with a salt shaker every night and watch them writhe. Put a salt ring around the pumpkin patch with some effect.

-Syndrome(to Mr. Incredible): 'That's a little dark for you, don't you think?'

-Mr. Incredible: 'It'll be easy, like breaking a twig.'

Mormor one upped me by suggesting I put out a frisbee full of beer. Within 5 minutes we had five slither up to the bar. Supposedly they can't resist the smell of the beer and they drink themselves to death.

Needless to say the pumpkin patch experiment has taken a discouraging turn. Here's to hoping we get at least a couple pumpkins this season.

superman and spiderman

Today is the first day of school!! We got to pick out our own backpacks, I picked Spiderman and Sam picked Superman.

sam's toilet paper roll cell phone

Can you hear me now? Man the ten second timer on the camera sure is a long time.

school days

Today is Sam's first day at daycare/preschool. He's never been before. Always been home with me. The school wants to take it slow, working up to a full day in the next week or so. Today he only goes in for an hour, but still, it's going to be a big hour.

Jake starts next Monday, kindergarten(optional in Sweden) and afterschool program. We'll see how it goes there too. I think the hardest thing for him will be getting over the language hump. He's a class leader and it's hard for him to not understand or be understood.

As far as the language hump goes, Dad starts Swedish classes soon too. I can sit down with a book and memorize a chapter but if I don't use it, it's gone the next day. Hopefully the classes will give a better understanding and perhaps introduce this expatriate to other expatriates.

(yet another) pumpkin patch update

The pumpkins have been flowering. I think they do it mainly at night time. This is 6ish and it's already starting to fade. Anybody know if night time blooming is true for pumpkins?
We have several thumb size 'mangos' on the ground.

More flowers and morning dew.

Next year: more room, more security. Something's been nibbling. They take a bite and drop it on the ground. Pumpkin leaves, vines are all very prickly. Good natural defense but not enough to stop the taste testers.

We are considering a Halloween party at the end of October. Already our neighbor is on board to provide a tractor ride for the kids. Hopefully we'll have a good yield of pumpkins too. Best sixty nine cents we've spent since being here.

new raincoats

School starts next week for the boys. Some required equipment is raincoats. The teacher told us the kids play in all types of weather. And with the stack of raincoats by the school's front door, we believed her.

Boys have been wanting to try them out on a rainy day ever since we got them. Today was the day.














All right, so you may see some redundant cuteness. Sam reminded me of the Tyler-Davidson fountain.


















A little Saturday Night Fever action.














And of course, jumping in the puddle.

painting our room

One of the things Mom and Dad promised us before we left Ohio was that we could fix up our room when we got to Mormors house. Well, after patiently waiting nearly three months since we have been here, we finally got to do some painting today. Not done yet, but the process has started. Mom and Dad keep talking about this store called IKEA.

I wanted blue.

Sam wanted orange.

pumpkin patch update

It's official - the pumpkin plants have merged to form a 'patch'. Hard to distinguish one plant from another. One plant, the most photographed, has grown nearly a meter in the past week. No kidding. Now if we can just keep the snails off of them. The patch is located on the base of a former small greenhouse the family had. It's almost too small for the plants and we have a lot of growing yet to do. We're going to rethink the location next year.