Tag Archives: swimming

Day 14 – Holidaying

Early morning on the ställplats was quite pretty. Number 3 and I even got a shower in and then Flo and I got to pack the tent without interruption as the kids watched the entertainment programme. Nah, life starts early on a farm so the tractor was already out and about but the first horse was led in the riding area under the watchful eyes of all the kids staying today.

Kid entertainment worked perfectly

It was good to get moving even though it was such a lovely place. No shade meant that it quickly got too hot for me. Both kids were tired out and fell asleep as soon as they were in the car seats. Haverud with its aqueduct was the first destination for today and a good drive away from where we stayed. About 45min into the drive, we stopped at a supermarket for a quick grab of things to eat during lunch today. By the time Flo was back, it was time to look for a good place already.

We tried to find a rest area with a view over the lake but failed and ended up in one of those giant campgrounds instead. Realizing our error, we retreated and stopped at a forest parking spot. The area was full of hiking trails so there was some space and a garbage bin for this break.

Number 3 was even quick enough with his lunch that he was allowed to explore the forest a little before we went back.

Number 3 on the aqueduct

The Haverud aqueduct was another hour away. Getting there was a bit of an adventure as Google brought us to the wrong side of the canal first and then, there were many “Drive careful, bike race” signs along the way. We made it to the parking lot before the bulk of bicyclists arrived though. Flo would probably be the better person to write about the engineering of it all but you only bet what I gathered: There’s an actual aqueduct as in an iron bridge for water from one lake to the next one, further down. It is part of a contraption with four (!) locks which are all automated by now but used to be manual mechanical locks. The cool thing is: You can walk over the aqueduct and along the canal and locks for a bit. Which is exactly what we did. The Agent was not amused that I wouldn’t let her walk while Number 3 was running and jumping around. I was just way too scared that she wouldn’t listen and accidentally fall into the canal. That’s just me though. 🙂

Number 3 was lobbying for having coffee time (or a second lunch really) right next to the canal. We had bought treats at the supermarket earlier though and they were waiting for us in the car. Plus, the campground was just another 30 minutes away and Flo and I were looking forward to arriving at a camp early for once. So, request denied. Onward, we pushed.

The last maybe 8km to the campground were much fun for Flo and the kids, not so much for me. Whoever engineered this road would have been better suited for designing roller coasters. Up and down, left and right…I felt thoroughly shaken, not stirred (Flo: Nono, for real. Like, 0G perfect parabpolic kind of hops and 2G turns – I had so much fun!).

Climbing out

The destination was worth it. We arrived to a serene lake with a trampoline in the water, grassy areas to camp and two lovely picnic bench-table-combinations right next to the playground. The reception was closed until 4pm (we’d later find out that the owner had to walk his dogs) so we had coffee at the benches. Afterwards, Flo checked us in and we set up at the hillside, overlooking the lake. At this point, Flo and I had agreed on staying here for two nights to just chill and relax…and well, enjoy our holidays. Number 3 and Flo went swimming for a bit. The Agent seemed keen at first but changed her mind as soon as her feet were in the water. Instead, she just wanted to walk alongside the lake as close to the water as possible but not IN it. No swimming for me then. It still seemed really cold so I didn’t mind too much.

Flo even cooked dinner before two tired kids went to bed. As soon as the sun disappeared behind the hill it got chilly, so we only blogged a little before retiring to the tent ourselves.

  • Kid entertainment worked perfectly
  • …not just for our kids 🙂
  • Haphazard lunch in a forest parking lot
  • Number 3 was still tired and asked for cuddles
  • But you’re supposed to eat, child!
  • Finishing up lunch before exploring the forest
  • Haverud aqueduct in the background. Pouty Agent in the foreground
  • This is the upper lake. From gere, there are two locks to the aqueduct
  • Hiking path along the upper lake
  • The Agent learnt how to wave
  • Number 3 on the aqueduct
  • Three layers of transport: The aqueduct, the train tracks and the road bridge
  • Roller coaster road
  • Balancing act
  • Campground with trampolin in the lake
  • Jumping
  • The Agent walking
  • The Agent, refusing to put her clothes back on, stole raw spaghetti out of the pantry and ate them before dinner
  • Feet in the water, it was that clear
  • Splish splash
  • Trying to persuade the Agent, while also capturing Number 3 going in AND our tent
  • Jumping…and losing a floatie XD
  • Very happy child
  • Climbing out
  • Coming out or going in?
  • Back in!
  • Flo and Number 3 were swimming though, admittedly, it was cold

Day 12 – The flavour of Sweden is Pear

I was happy with the campsite for one night even if it got cold in the evening and thus also in the morning. During breakfast, Number 3 was adamant that he wanted to go swimming in the lake. Flo and I both didn’t take him seriously as it was really quite too cold to consider swimming. We decided to take advantage of the facilities and all shower before we leave. As an out, Flo offered that Number 3 could undress at the tent and then see if it would be too cold to go swimming. Our child undressed and declared that it was not too cold. He wanted his togs and floaties now, please. Flabbergasted, we gave them to him and he seriously went swimming in the lake. My jaw dropped. I mean, he swam as well as a 3 year old does: Lots of running around and splashing and stuff but he was IN the water.

“Ouch, the stones are so mean!”

Afterwards, he was rather blue-faced and we were off to a hot shower. The sun came out and packing went smoothly. We even managed to booking a time for laundry at 9am, complete with drying our clothes in the dryer and dryer cupboard (very Swedish). Keeping in mind our adventures this morning, we left at an okay time at 12.30pm. At the reception, we decided that we’d skip lunch. The Agent was asleep in the car already, Number 3 also looked very sleepy and we had an hour to drive to Nora. Thus, Flo came back with a bag of crisps which substituted our meal. Off we went.

Nora turned out to be a charming little town. We stopped right at the ice cream parlour, woke the kids and had ice cream. Nora Glass has three flavours per day. Today it was pear, hazelnut and vanilla. Number 3 opted for hazelnut with sprinkles; he looked very happy with his choice and didn’t want to waste ANY of his sprinkles. Flo and I shared a large cone which automatically comes with a scoop of all three flavours. We each chose a topping: Flo went for crushed hazelnuts and I chose chocolate sprinkles. 😀 The Agent helped us finish our ice cream with some gusto. This was the decidedly better of our two Swedish ice cream experiences, for sure.

Family out and about

Afterwards, we wandered through the streets, got to the lake where we strolled along docks to stumble upon…trains! Number 3 was so excited that he did a little happy dance. 😀

It was time to get back into the car to continue driving to Örebro. This was the only town with a castle that we’d visit this trip. As we realized in Malmö, we were more for the outdoors in these holidays so we skipped all of the old castles and ruins along the way. Örebro Slottet would only be looked at from afar, as you can only go inside with a guided tour.

We arrived and plugged into the charger, then walked half way around the castle. It started pouring. Meh. Luckily, the cafe that I had picked was right there. We stepped into Hälls Konditori, sat down on the couch and plushy chairs and had cake. Originally, the plan had been to share some Princess Cake with Number 3…alas, Princess Cake was already out when we arrived. So we all had cake in the same style but with different flavour combinations from the original. Number 3 went for blueberry and chocolate, I had raspberry and white chocolate and Flo pear and dark chocolate. It was…way too much! After all our fika treats made out of yeast dough, like kanelbullar and the like, real cake with lots of cream just seemed way too sweet and rich. Number 3 couldn’t finish his. I ate mine but couldn’t finfish his and Flo struggled as well. It was long enough of a break that the sun was back out when we left, though.

Road into the future

Back into the car and onto the last stretch for today: We wanted to reach Tiveden National park. Flo had picked a campsite almost in the National park which read like a lovely place. The drive (in sunshine) was very nice and the forests around here looked lovely.

We sat up, unfortunately we had to stay with the campervans as there was just no level area for us to park on at the tent spot. Still, it was quiet and Flo and I managed to sneak off to the bar in the evening to blog and have a drink. I was also looking forward to the morning. We decided to cook this night instead of eating out in the restaurant to feel justified in having the breakfast buffet in the morning instead. I love breakfasts. 😀

  • Good morning, sunshine!
  • Stroll to the lake
  • Brrr, cold! Notice the woollen jumpsuit and the winter jacket?
  • Breakfast with a view
  • “Ouch, the stones are so mean!”
  • O.O Seriously?!?
  • Pier run
  • Just keep swimming
  • Aaaaand…into the opposite direction now
  • A bit blue-lipped now with wet hair. Such a brave boy!
  • Poor cold little one
  • He actually pushed the Agent in the swing. Such a good big brother!
  • On the way to the Tiveden National Park
  • We need to escape the rain! Go faster!
  • Picking up his ice cream with sprinkles!
  • Happy chap
  • Family cone to share with the Agent. And me 🙂
  • “There! I need to get to the square!”
  • Through Nora
  • Family out and about
  • Boats. Look at the boats! The coolest!
  • Trains! No, this is the coolest! *happy dance*
  • Crossing the tracks
  • Wooohoooo!
  • Church in the background
  • First glimpse of Örebro castle
  • So. much. cake.
  • Now in sunshine: Örebro Slottet
  • Road into the future
  • Almost there
  • Looking forward to camping in this landscape!
  • You have arrived at your destination
  • Camp for tonight
  • Hej there yourselves
  • Evening mood from the bar
  • Local cats out and about
  • Blogging to write these beautiful entires 😛

Day 12 – Go with the flow

Since we left home with only a couple of days notice, we keep on deciding on our route while we go. We’d probably do the same if we’d had more time, to be honest, but it still feels a little more ad hoc this time.

REFRESHING!

Our morning was lovely. We had fresh bread rolls from the campground. Number 3 finished a whole one with yummy cherry jam we had bought in Piuro on our first day in Italy. Our intial plan said to only say here at Punta D’Oro for one night, but we really wanted to spend a day here so it was nonchalantly abandoned. Looking at maps and places to go we realized we weren’t actually that keen to camp at Lake Garda next. Maybe we might be a little lake-d out after another day here at lago d’Iseo. So, we decided to stay here and enjoy what we have, head a little south tomorrow to be close to Parma which we want to see on Wednesday, do a little tour of the cities we still want to see and then loop back to Lake Garda on our way out of Italy. We’ll see how much of this plan survives in the future but for now this looks good.

Clouds gathered in different formations all day

And it gave us a whole day at Punta D’Oro to relax. Number 3 wanted to go swimming but when we tried in the late morning, the water was too cold for him and the Agent of Entropy. We had a lovely midday nap after our warm shower, took advantage of the coffee place on the campground and (mostly Flo) chatted up our neighbours on the campsite. Lots of people were interested in the EV or our roof tent plus our immediate neighbours were Germans on parental leave as well.

The day ended for Flo and me when the kids were in bed and we had a last espresso and some cookies sitting on the retaining wall looking out over the lake.

  • I tried to make some tea … the Agent was scheming
  • she was, to put it mildly, not convinced
  • Safely back on dry land … for now
  • Ok, you can dunk me in … but only in full leech mode!
  • all in, but Number 3 took some more convincing
  • Papa needs to demonstrate its safe … after som fussing about
  • wohoo … now we are all in
  • REFRESHING!
  • What’cha got there? Gimmeee
  • Look at the picture … who took the shot? He is getting much better!
  • Clouds gathered in different formations all day

Day 9 – That summer feeling

We call every day where we don’t move camp a rest day on our trips. Most of them end up being everything but. So if you imagine a quiet afternoon with a good book on the beach … not quite us. We move at a brisk pace, especially for a family of four. So we always have 5 more things to do on a rest day, because you know: We got time, right? That is on top of everything that made us stay in the first place.

Both kids enjoyed having the place to themselves

I tried to be smart though and venture a bit into multitasking. So after our breakfast, we packed a few essentials and moved to the lakeshore. I was able to finish up the two blog posts in our back-log while Number 3 (and, to the extent that we let her, the Agent, too) enjoyed the lake. We were the first ones out and had the lake all to ourselves. Small mistakes were made, but overall this was a great success. In hindsight, we just should have told Number 3 to take off his clothes all at once rather than waiting for him to get first his pants and then the undies wet. He had a blast, though, and even made new friends with the 5 and 8 year olds kids of the campers two lots down from us.

This is why we went on this trip. We get to spend so much time with our little ones – who are ever so slowly turning into remarkable little characters. Many times a day, I get this flush of emotion when realising just how much I love them and how blessed we are to get to knowing them.

A sit-on toy digger…how precious

We somehow managed to squeeze another load of washing into our lunchtime window, although naptime was a bit of a challenge, probably because of the heat. Oh, and Number 3’s digger addictions. There was a sit-on toy digger on the camp’s playground and he found it. Getting him off that playground took a serious bit of convincing.

So naptime dragged on a bit, organically transitioned into coffee time – all the while, promises about things we can do started piling up for Number 3. For the first time on this trip, we decided to split up. I am not much of a water nut, so Nina and the big brother decided to go for another (real) swim, while I took the Agent of Entropy out for a shopping run. I had added “cooking risotto from scratch” to get rid of our remaining fresh zucchini to the long list of to-dos for the day. Oh, and it was finally time for ice in our icebox – the butter demanded so, or at least that was my excuse.

Little airplane

A brief stroll along the lake later, it was now 4.50 pm, we all joined up again. Number 3 had turned slightly blue from an hour in the water while I was a bit hot from my walk in the sun. We equalized things by a minute or two of cuddle time 😀

I got to work on the risotto – and it was around that time that things turned south a bit. Our hero up to this point lied to his Mum about me having approved it and walked away from his sous-chef duties to play with the damn digger again, all on his own. When dinner was ready, tantrum ensued and he outright refused to join in the meal. Slightly soured by that turn of events, I maybe were not the most patient dad at bed time – and it had maybe 35°C in the tent – so that took almost exactly until it was time for us to hop in the car, start up discord and play our regular Friday night game.

Rest day, eh?

Side note:

– to avoid another disappointing take off, I religiously forced the car into “drive” mode every few hours to force it to charge the 12v battery. That works fine while it is charging the main or when the charger is disconnected, but leads to weird behaviour when the main is at 100% but the charger not disconnected. It seems like some software optimisation is still required. We’ll find out if all that at least had the desired effect, tomorrow –

  • A good morning starts with an encounter with a garbage truck 🙂
  • First, sitting by the lake was fine
  • Both kids enjoyed having the place to themselves
  • Second, feet went in and Number 3’s pants got wet
  • He continued without pants as he needed to throw small pebbles into the lake
  • Then, his sleeves were wet and needed to come up
  • Happy as can be
  • Blogging is serious business, you people!
  • A big rock doubling as a steering wheel
  • Number 3 dropped it into the lake (on purpose) and got splashed. This is his “oops but so worth it” face XD
  • More splishing and splashing
  • Her second nickname is “mountain goat”
  • Only a couple of toes left on the ground
  • Number 3 made friends with other kids
  • Chasing ducks
  • Watching the escaping duckies with dad and Number 3 approaching in the distance
  • A sit-on toy digger…how precious
  • Found some bugs!
  • “Mama, wait, I can climb these, too!”
  • On the playground, things for her age are not interesting
  • Rather, she’d imitate her brother
  • “Oooh, this is fun, too!”
  • So proud when she got there
  • Happy Agent
  • On the way to the grocery store
  • Found it!
  • The trip was long enough to make the Agent fall asleep
  • Warming up Number 3
  • Little airplane
  • Cooking session
  • Risotto from scratch with fresh zucchini

Day 308 – Opportunities

Using some time after breakfast for blogging

Using some time after breakfast for blogging

What a blissful night! The bed was really fantastic. Our hosts had to leave for work early, but kindly allowed us to sleep in and take the time we needed. When I got up, I had a text telling me that they even left some breakfast outside for us. Thank you so much!

Last night I got a message from a good friend about a job currently on offer in Frankfurt. After having missed the opportunity to fix up my application papers in Oman while staying with Lina, I thought I would leave any job hunting until we reach my dad’s place in Würzburg. This one really was too good to let slip, I had to admit. That meant I would have to call them at some point today to get some more details. Then, I probably would need a day dedicated to writing the cover letter, wrapping up a German style CV and gathering all the required documents from their various storage places.

Isn't Tiny cute? She pretended to sleep but kept an eye on us while we packed

Isn’t Tiny cute? She pretended to sleep but kept an eye on us while we packed

After a brief discussion with Nina, we decided that a nice campground on the Turkish Mediterranean coast would be just the perfect place to do so, provided Nina would be allowed to buy her next book. 😉 So we packed our bike, said goodbye to “Villa Naz” and headed towards Kaş.

We were hoping to find a place somewhere along the way, or if not to go to the campground we heard about in Kaş. Of the attractions along the way, the only one marked as a must by Nina was the sunken Lycian city of Simena. Although this was best accessed via Üçağız, only 35 km from Kaş, so we could also do it as a day trip from there.

Beautiful coast

Beautiful coast

None of the other bits along the road really tickled our fancy that day, apart from the scenery on the coastal road section. But these were taken in anyway. We had our lunch picnic in the woods near the road after first failing to find a nice beach and then refusing to pay 40 lira to get to the one we saw from the road.

So we rolled on, with the mood getting a bit better along the coast, but my mind constantly drifting towards the job offer. What to write, what to say, how not to bumble like the fool when trying to sound professional in German (remember, no practice for four years). When we came to the turn off to Üçağız, we gave it a pass and pushed on to the campground. It was late enough that I would need to call Germany soon before they would go home for the day.

The view from our tent

The view from our tent

The campground offered a pretty cool location. Lucky for us, not too much is going on right now. The arrangements of the camp spots has a lot in common with the locally famous sardine dishes … but it was only maybe 15% full. The host is also a bit quirky, refusing to let us get our bike down to the spot. So we had to strip the bike at the entrance without shade and have him taxi all our gear down in a cartoonish electric trike.

We finished setting up the tent and I had my call. Afterwards, I only was more excited for the job. Needs must, tomorrow I would need to set my application straight. So excited!

During dinner, cats appeared looking very hopeful

During dinner, cats appeared looking very hopeful

Dinner was another sad fail, on both the main and the dessert part, unfortunately. We went to a fish restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet. The place managed to go down to abysmal quality and raise their prices in the short time since our edition came out. Quite the feat. The fries were half raw and dripping and the anchovies soggy and bland. To make up for it, Nina felt like having a waffle. We both nearly choked, though when we heard that it would cost 15 lira, for a single half-cooked waffle with way too much cheap Nutella knock-off slabbed on top of it. Welcome back to tourist land …

We did jump into the sea at out campground, which made for a pretty lovely end for a very mixed day.

Day 263 – Last weekend at “home”

Demo shot - we did not bring the camera when we had a swim ;)

Demo shot – we did not bring the camera when we had a swim 😉

We already collected two real homes each. Maybe we should not be too liberal with adding new ones, but Michael and Lina were such amazing hosts and we felt so comfortable here, it is hard to call it by a different name. Come Sunday, it will be time to leave once more (the Omani weekend is Friday and Saturday).

Regarding today, there was really nothing on our agenda. Gladly, we are all the kind of people who can enjoy a cozy day at home. Thus the day was gently going by with us watching videos, listening to music and a whole lot of good conversation.

We did break the rut once in the afternoon for a splash in the both enormous and refreshing pool of Lina and Michael’s condo complex. Simple times!