Life in the Land of the Ice and Snow
Infiltrating Sweden one cinnamon bun at a time
This past weekend, my child was invited to a birthday party at an indoor play center. These centers are great, especially in places like Sweden where we don’t always have the option to play outside weather-wise. Many parents host parties for their children at these places, and I had to drop my youngest at one … Read more
As anyone living in Texas or the southern U.S. knows, BlueBell ice cream is one of the best things to come out of Texas. Most Texans eat nothing else. Recently, Bluebell had to shut down and recall all products due to listeria concerns, causing Texans and southerners to stare at empty grocery shelves (and lose weight). … Read more
So Google is introducing a new payment app where you simply tell the cashier you’d like to pay with your Google App and that’s it. No taking out a credit card or cash. A sensor detects that you have the app and sends the info to the cashier. This is an interesting concept, though I’m … Read more
Was looking around for places to eat when we go to Texas this summer. I found this image – http://imgur.com/SkUFVSM . Genius.
Upon learning that Alexander the Great conquered Persia and Egypt before the age of 25, my youngest son said, “Ugh. Pappa’s already 41 and he doesn’t rule ANY countries.”
I keep telling my husband we should stop in Canada one year on our summer trip to Texas. He’s reluctant, but maybe THIS will convince him! THE GOPHER MUSEUM
Regarding Eurovision last night, I suppose I have to eat my words from yesterday (which is much healthier than what I ate during the competition…. a milkshake, chips and chocolate). SWEDEN WON! So now of course Eurovision is great and everything is awesome! I have to admit, I actually did enjoy most of the songs. … Read more
Well it’s that time of year again. Tonight is Eurovision – the song contest between 40 European countries (where Abba got its start). Last year’s winner was a bearded drag queen from Austria, so the contest will be in Vienna (it’s moved to the winner’s country each year). CNN has a pretty funny article describing … Read more
“Burglar breaks into Cavender’s Boot City, steals boots” This headline is in the Houston, Texas news today. I don’t know why this makes me laugh, other than the question, Well, what else WOULD he steal?
Kids don’t like it when you try to add logic to their cartoons. I tried to be a nice parent today and watch a Pokemon episode with my son. These were my unappreciated observations: 1. Isn’t it cruel to catch these Pokemon and force them to battle each other? 2. How come one of them … Read more
I’m going to dinner this evening with one of my friends so I decided to take a look at the menu online. Looks like I can choose from nachos, salads, hamburgers, or “kangaroo filet.” At first I thought it was just a funny name for a burger or steak because it’s so spicy it’ll hop … Read more
My son’s school is having a week long program with children’s choirs from around the world. Our family is hosting two girls from the Netherlands. One of the things we have to do is to find and collect the kids at the end of the concerts. We were told to simply look for the flag … Read more
I’m helping some family look for a place to stay on vacation in London. This one advertised that it had a STUNNING garden! This makes me worry about Londoners.
Sweden knows what’s important when it comes to space.
A very loud and annoying Swedish woman was sitting in my aisle on the AIR FRANCE plane back to Stockholm. (Safety announcements given in Swedish, English and then a recording in Swedish….) Lady: Why can’t they have an actual person giving the instructions in Swedish? They should have a real person speaking Swedish and not a … Read more
We finally took the kids to Disneyland Paris last week. (You see, you have to wait until they are over 1 meter tall so they can ride things.) They loved it! Major success. We were the best parents in the world for at least one full day! The Disneyland Paris park is the same as … Read more
After our trip to Paris last week, our children have discovered the joys that are crêpes. Nutella crêpes, Honey crêpes, Maple syrup crêpes, chocolate and more than I can remember. We had crêpes every day of our trip for dessert. The best part was ordering a crêpe Suzette and making a bet with the children that the waiter would set it on fire. They didn’t … Read more
Yes, we take a lot of trips. At the moment, we are in Paris. You may say, “How come you can travel so much? Don’t people work in Sweden?” The short answer is, “Not all that much.” The longer answer is that we have lots of fun holidays and we are good at doing our … Read more
Well, did you ask them during the month of January? That could be part of your problem.
We are taking the kids to Paris today! It will be their first time there. I’ve been trying to prepare them for the past few weeks with movies about Paris. I’m not sure if they really learned anything from the movies I picked. The reactions went a bit like this: Hunchback of Notre Dame – … Read more