Hiking along the coastline forest

The team allowed for Mom to rest up during our vacation and instead decided to go on a little day-trip along the coastline on a rainy day. 

W showing off along the trail, during a brief intermission in the family "pine cone war".

Photogénique in the woods.

"Look! We can make this into a house for the two of us! We can even sleep here tonight."

 The wind pounded us as soon as we left the forest and came up in the sand dunes. The kids were happy to wear wool under their windproof jackets.

Potential album cover pose.

"Let's look for driftwood and pirates on the shore!"

Hiking in Halland

Some warm days (low 80ies in Fahrenheit, approx. 27-29 degrees C) where the kids and I (Dad) took a trip through the wonderful beach forest on the slopes of the Hallandsås ridge (Osbecks bokskogar). In the middle of the forest, the trail cuts across summer pasture fields where cows and sheep are always grazing (in fact, we had to walk right across one field with the cows watching us intently nearby).

The green light from the sunshine on the foliage is breathtaking. Add to that a few old stone bridges from the 18th century, an old deserted hamlet from the same century and some babbling brooks along the way with plenty of wildlife (big and small), and it makes for a pretty neat hiking experience for the kids (and their dad too!).

L wanted to be carried through the first stage (where we were surrounded by pine forest).

The lookout point, our first stop where we had a snack!

It's good to be carried...

W and L found Wood sorrel (Swe: "Harsyra") and other eatable plants, and started to munch on them... very proud to show when they found new plants along the path. They liked wood sorrel the best.

Happy to be in the shade on a day like this.

"It's nature water..."

When we were almost done for the day, we encountered some more cows, but this time there was a barbed wire between them and us. L posing for a Kodak moment.

Canoe-time in Sweden

During a very hot summer day, we decided to go with W on his first canoe-trip in southern Halland (read about it here, in English).
The teams: Grand-dad and Tara in one canoe and Dad and W in the other.

 We stopped for lunch after a few hours and as we started to paddle out on the lake again, we were suprised by rain and thunder. It literally soaked us in less than 30 seconds. Tara and Grand-dad made landfall on the starboard shore and Kim and W on the opposite one. After 15 minutes the weather changed, the intense rain stopped, and we had to get back into the canoes again to go back to camp for some dry clothes. (There would have been dry clothes for us in a backpack, if it had not been for "Someone" tipping that canoe over once they tried to step out of it. That incident also sent Grand-dad flying into the water! Nice job, Mom!)

Abercrombie & Fitch pose with paddle in nature...

I'm the NRA - daughter style

Hi Daddy! I'm the NRA too!

Nothing spells sibling tenderness better than to blast your brother with a fully automatic water gun, and a stock of magazine clips to replace for more ammo. 

A glimpse of our new arsenal.

It's called a Super Soaker Switch Shot Blaster. There is a reason for that. With its pump-action feature it will either give a direct hit with a strong stream, or spread water around to hit everything at close range.