Monday, May 9, 2011

"Busyness" as usual

After weeks and weeks of sunshine and blue sky, the English weather is finally back to normal. It has been raining cats and dogs and even little icy haildrops, while the sun has gone into hiding behind dark, gray clouds. The farmers are pleased. I am not. I begged for someone to turn the sun back on, but was rewarded with nothing but angry thunder and lightning. So I gave in, accepted that we would be stuck in our house for the rest of the day, dug deep down into our arts and crafts box, we all turned into creativity mode and tarraaaa, here are some of the results:


Our obligatory quaterly handprints. One from S.

...and one from I.

Modern art, bids are welcome!

Very hairy and "leggy", yet incredibly charming

Artist at work...

Not so artist at work. One finger-full in my mouth, one finger-full on the paper...

... one finger-full on my clothes, one finger-full in my mouth... Well, I guess you get it.

Our fingerprint animals. What they are is up to your imagination alone.

Flower power?
 Mind you, we might not be the most artistic family, but at least we had fun. What do you do on rainy days. Inspire us!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Wales, Wales and more Wales

Rhossili bay and Worms head

I love being at Rhossili beach!


View from Cafe Vista in Tenby - which served not only stunning views but also the best pie I had since we live in England. If you ever go try the Heidi pie. Yolladi-yolladi-yioladi-hoo. 

Tenby beach
We had a serious amount of digging going on...

...when S. was trying to reach the other side of the world



Peace and rest in the hotel room? Why would we want that? Aaaaaaand action.

Hiking up and down the dunes
Not much can top a nice picnic


On the way back to the beach





Will she manage to throw this rock into the sea? Or one of the other 2472937 that she tried?




We are so funny, are we not?

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Beach again! Hooray.

This time we picked the southern part of Wales, after a recommendation from a friend.

Since we were late out with our room bookings, we ended up in a hotel in Swansea, called the Village Prem. After reading some of the reviews, I was a bit uneasy about going, since people had complained about terrible breakfasts, long cues for check-in/ breakfast/elevator and shabby and untidy rooms, but luckily we did not experience any problems at all. Our room had an ok standard and it was definitely a good base to stay for the week. We also had access to a pool and the gym, which was a real treat even though we did not use it very extensively. 

The first day, the weather was a bit so-so and we decided to wait with "beaching" and visited Cardiff instead. Neither one of us knew much about the welsh capital, and it was therefore a really nice surprise to find a busy, easily accessible town, where innovative architecture sits alongside historic buildings. We especially liked one of the gallerias, with cute little vintage stores, cafe´s and a french/italian flair.Very charming.

After strolling around for a bit, we had a nice lunch in one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants. The food was not mind-blowing (yet good!) but the interior design of the restaurant and the staff were awesome. The place was super child friendly, with a great variety of food to chose from and crayons and coloring paper to keep the little guests entertained. Once the waiter arrived at our table S. introduced our family by telling him our first and last names and that we were from Sweden. He looked at her quite seriously, took her hand, shook it and told her that he was pleased to meet her and that his name was so-and-so (I cannot remember) and that he was from Ireland. After some more chitchatting S. got a bit disappointed in him, when he did not know, where the playground was, but he made it up to her, when returning with directions scribbled on a piece of paper just a few minutes later. It was hilarious. 

After lunch, and a stroll through town, we went to visit the castle, which is located in the heart of the city. How it was? Well,  have a look and judge for yourself.


Princess Knight

The main building

What a nice idea, maybe we should get one for home. ;)

Princess S. charming the dragon.

Inside the main house

Lovely the details   

All right folks, that is it for now, our apartment requires my attention, as it looks like it´s been hit by a tornado (or two).