St Petersburg, Russia!!!

This is going to be a loooong post but I can promise you that it is worth watching the whole way through!!

May 20

We arrived to St Petersburg with the ship early Sunday morning and we took a cab to the hotel at which farmor and farfar (Kathy and Buddy) was staying. Marlee ran down the corridor when they opened their door. He was so happy to see them!! :-D

After some breakfast in their room we want out walking in the city to do some seightseeing. It was surely a lot of buildings to go visit!

Big paining on the Russian museum (unknown people in the front)

"The Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood"
Same church as further down, but from
a different day and angle

A big square where Marlee ran and ran and ran...
and so did farmor (she did not have a choice :-)



The Hermitage

 Pictures from a boat trip

During part of the boat trip Marlee got to run a little inside the boat and he played with anothe little Russian kid. In the exitement he tried to open the door to the captain and I was not fast enough to stop him. This resulted in the guide yelling at him in English in the microphone. It was the only part that was in Enlish, the rest of the guided tour was in Russian, but surely interested to realise that you could catch up some facts here and there even on a Russian tour!



Some tsar build this fort to hide in,
across the river from his real home
(picture above)



May 21

More seightseeing... What else should you do when being on vacation to a new city!!??

"The Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood"
from a different angle

Inside "The Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood"
It was decorations covering  both walls and the ceiling!

Time to leave St Petersburg... We got on the boat in the late afternoon and what a great evening we had on the boat, just wait and see...



Maybe not the most beautiful view from the boat
but I think this is pretty in its own way



Marlee playing with Lego on the boat

When we went outside on the boat deck Marlee put on a real show and really charmed the Chinese tourists. I do not know how many of them took picture and video and laughed. We had a lot of fun to, both wathing Marlee, and the Chinese tourists :-D These people were all very nice and friendly!


Question: How many Chinese tourists can you see
who are taking pictures of Marlee?



After a while the women started dancing, too, and they tried to engage Marlee in their show. He was not quite sure that he wanted to though...

Some fun and useful information for anyone who would go to St Petersburg:

• There are a LOT of very nice building!!
• Hardly anyone knows Enlish, not even people workin in tourist places such as the boat or hotels
• No ATM accepted any of our credit/debit cards, neither Americans nor Swedish cards
• In a lot of shops you can only pay with cash, no card
• Most shorter taxi trips in the city is 300 rubles, never less
• The three girls in the reception at the hotel worked in 24 hours shifts!! Only one of them new any English.
•  I am never been worried that someone would take Marlee but I never let my eyes off Marlee in St P.
• Minimum price we paid for a taxi was 300 rubles and most short trips in the city was 300 rubles.
• Everything on the ship with St Petersline was very overprized. However, the breakfast buffet was quite good!
• The playground on the boat was very good! It is possible to leave your kids there for 10EUR but I did not do that. 

Next stop Helsinki, Finland!

Arriving to Tallin, Estonia

We arrived to Tallin in the morning and got off the boat to walk around the city. Alex and I have been there before but not Marlee. It is a very nice city and the people is rather friendly. Marlee got to run as much as possible and we spent some time at a playground.We also visited a beatiful church and Alex tried to bow and arrow as well. The food on the shop was very expensive and not very good but in Tallin we had a great lunch in an Irish pub. A very nice day!

Marlee running on the big quare

Alex and Marlee on the same square, different angle

Alex is practising bow and arrow.
He was quite good actually.

The pretty church
(Alex and marlee in in front of the stairs,
to the right)

Alex and Marlee in front of the Freedom cross

A cool booger in the cabin on the ship

Coming soon: arriving to St Petersburg, Russia, to meet up with Farmor and Farfar!!!!

Baltic Sea trip (to meet up with Farmor and Farfar)

May 18

Marlee and I spend part of the day with my sister, Linn, who was in town. Good to see her again! When we got back home Alex and I fixed the toilet (= glued it back to the floor after I had broken it. I do weigh a little more now than before and leaning on the back of the toilet when trying to grab something on the floor behind it was mot a good idea... ;-) )

Anyways, we left home in the late afternoon to catch the ship in Värtahamnen, Stockholm. The boat had had a bomb threat earlier the same day and had been evacuated. However, the police considerd the threat as non-serious and all guest was boarding again. We left the port on time, heading for Tallin, Estonia!

Marlee had a great time on the boat - looking out the windows, playing in the playground and finally going to sleep!

Finally sleeping!

All the talking in the speakers even
bothered a little booger

Mulle visit and first bath in the baby pool!

May 10

The daymum had a small happening together with the other two day mums where parents were invited to come to the forrest and have some fun with the children. We had a hotdog bbq and after that it was three different activities - make your own phone (with a string and two plastic cups), build something with chickpeas (kikärtor) and toothpicks and see what floats and sinks in water. Marlee's favourite was the water activity and he got really wet :-) While being in the forrest, Mulle came to visit, which was exiting but also a little scary!

Building something with chickpeas
and toothpicks

Marlee is playing with a friend in the water

Saying good bye to Mulle

May 15

Marlee has had a hard time to go to sleep at night lately and he is very active in bed. It can take him up to 1,5 hour to calm down. He is not sad just very hyper and talks and plays even if we leave him alone. Finally he calms down and sometimes fall asleep in the middle of doing something.

Going to sleep sitting up reading

May 17

Norway's national day but also the first dip in the baby pool for the year! I have a good video but since he is naked it might not be appropriate to post it...

Taking a dip!! Such brave little booger! (Snapshot from the video)

Getting dry after

My own little floor ball player!

Making sure the bowl gets clean
after making merengue

Marlee went to the ktichen drawer
himself to pick out the spatula.
He is such a smart boy!!

Visiting moster Linn and Johan

This week I had some extra time off work beacuse of Valborg/Mayday and I took the chance to go on a little trip with Marlee to visit my sister Linn and Johan. And their big New Foundland dog Bosse. We had a very good time and here some snapshots from what we did.

April 28



On the plane, Marlee exploring the seat



Well in Skåne we had some ice cream at a
Ben and Jerry Ice cream stand. Yummy!!

 April 29th

Marlee fell asleep in the car on the way to some
friends of Linn and Johan...

...just like he did a year ago.
This picture was takenMay 18th 2011.

April 30 - Valborg
We went with Linn to her work, which is a center where they have classes / courses in how animals and nature can improve your health.

Marlee watching the rooster and the chickens....

...and the lambs that arrived while we where there.

Bosse

Some friends came over and we sat by the fire at night.
Marlee did not want to go to sleep and stayed up quite late.

May 1
Linn, Marlee and I went to Copenhagen, Denmark with the train and ha a lovely day with sunshine, yummy lunch, shopping and ice cream. Unfortunately it does not seem like I took one single picture. Hopefully Linn did...

May 2
Linn and Johan had to work and Marlee, Bosse and I stayed home and watched the "house". Linn and Johan have recently torned down their house and are now building a new one, but so far it is only the foundation made, which has to be kept damp. Because of the construction work a big part of the garden looks like a giant sand box. Not a problem for Marlee!!

Playing in the sand

Emptying some sand...

Marlee got really dirty and since we did not have hot water
I decided that he could play in the sprinkler, which he
really enjoyed, even if it was freeeeeezing!
However, it was very warm in the sun!

View of the construction place and Marlee playing in the water :-)

I have a very cute video of Marlee playing in the sprinkler but since he is all naked it might not be a good idea to put it online... Ask me when you see me if you want to watch it!

The Gardener visiting IKEA

This is a while ago, the end of April, when me and Marlee was replanting some of our small plants. He really wanted to help and was a very good supporter!

Later the same day we took a ride to IKEA with mormor. In the restaurant there is a playground which is perfect, we can eat in peace while Marlee is exploring :-) One of my projects right now, except for taking care of all the little plants we are growing, is to adjust Marlee's room so that he can move in "more". Right now it is only a play room but the intention is that he should sleep there, too.