we have officially reached capacity at adventurefidfam so if you're keen on more fidfam adventure follow us at fidfamadventure.blogspot.com newly christened as ice cream motorcycles. we promise more ice cream, more books and more pics. . . hope to see you there!
much love!
cara, michael & owen
new blog!
good night sweden (with dreams from the basque country)
tomorrow morning we start our trek back to california after our 6 week "adventure" abroad. we've been lucky to have weekend excursions during our stay in karlstad and even a week with my parents bookended with trips to uppsala and gothenburg. and the last week in basque country has truly been the sweet ending to our sweet-en stay... literally paid for by the weeks michael's spent living overseas with hotel points and airline miles (and somewhere in there we get double miles for freeway time done along the 241 and 91). and i've started a few posts trying to mark the moments but either abandoned them due to blogger-block (no different than whan i was seven and keeping a hello kitty diary and if i missed entries exhausted myself trying to "catch up" and by then it all seemed silly and outdated) exacerbated by too many tram rides in too many days or simply by inconsistent hotel internet connections. . .
look for delayed posts when we return from san sebastian and helsinki and i've put the slideshow up to the right from biarritz. we found ourselves (not suprisingly) taking less pictures but being more thankful for our time together. the basque country was simply amazing--the people warm and beautiful, the water clear and serene, and the paella and sangria marvellous. as we took our two busses along the bay of biscay heading south towards spain it seemed that we could have gotten off at any stop and spent another week on the beach or sitting in a local cafe. we weren't sure what to expect from a "resort town" but the cobblestoned french streets, the patisseries and the boulangeries, the crenellated buildings, the wrought iron gates and the magical cliffs were right out of a french fairy tale in the heart of a basque surf town. i found myself jumping in the sea and dancing around in my bathing suit (something suprisingly i hadn't done in years despite how often we go to the beach) just as happily as i eyed my boys building sand fortresses out of sand pebbles while i read didion on a stolen hotel towel. . . ah, i hadn't meant to write anything at all, what with all that blog block but i suppose with no pretention or motivation here's a bit of what i couldn't say all week and why after a failed internet connection i gave up on turning on the laptop altogether. . .
i'll end this with two of my favorite owen-isms from the week and our one family snapshot taken while travelling.
oh, and this picture of owen trying on a beret holding a bull in the tourist shop--by the time we left he had mastered "bonjour! je m'appelle owen" (which he recited no less than 37 times in the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel and i'm convinced his recissitation of this to the front desk is what got us an amazing corner room) as well as delighted the french madames with his sincere see-voo-plays and mair-cee-bow-coos.
in helsinki next to a rather dour couple owen looks at me and rather loudly asks: "mom, why don't ALL adults have little boys like me?". i giggled.
in biarritz owen stopped at a rather sexy mint green vespa and shouts: "oooh! an ice cream motorcycle!"
¡Ole!
unable to post any pics from the hotel in Helsinki... but here's where we've been and where we are today...
at the glasseria
thoughts before packing up sweden
today i'm packing up our things and it seems we've only just arrived here in karlstad. summer is lovely here as the city comes alive after being in a winter sleep (with only a few hours of daylight half the year, this isn't simply metaphorical) and the parks and gardens and cafes open their doors just for these few months. we've been lucky to do so much travel and so little looking out the window in a hotel room in the rain (ah, norway). we could spend another week taking busses to gardens and parks we haven't yet explored (how could have missed a visit to mårbacka?).
it has been a relatively short trip--just a month rather three--and we were ablet o enjoy a week of it with my parents (owen asked when they left: "who is coming to visit next?" and points to the scandic "there's where my nana and papa stayed" every time we walk by). the packing is tricky though, as we have more things here than we carried over and we're committed to only travel with two suitcases and one carry on each among the three of us (mind you we have 2 additional suitcases and 2 duffel bags). the bittersweetness of that is it means michael will come home with us but then come back to karlastad to wrap up the project without us. so we just need to figure out the essentials we'll need at home. . .
(and the sweet part) . . . and what we'll need for sunning (shoo! shoo! rain clouds) in biarritz. michael is taking vacation time and we're cashing in a year of living at the radisson in norway for a week of resort living in biarritz, france. rooftop pool, sandy beach, and a short train ride to san sebastian. michael is looking forward to watching the tour, owen to his bucket and spade, and me to my satchel of books.
we'll spend a weekend in helsinki, finland en route and another day in stockholm on the layover back home. and then, well, we're just not really sure. i'm officially unemployed, by the way; i didn't "get the call" to renew my annual contract at UCR but i think very few people did. michael has already made me an official project plan for finishing the dissertation and who knows what else might happen if i have a husband at home (winkwink). ok, off to packing. i'll post our karlstad slideshow soon and we'll be updating en route. . .
sagovärld and other magical places OR what we're reading in sweden
i'd been collecting these gorgeous, whimsical postcards of faeries and flowers and strawberry queens by elsa beskow "the Beatrix Potter of Scandanavia" but it wasn't until we went to junibacken--the children's museum in stockholm dedicated to astrid lindgren (pippi longstocking creator)--that i really fell in love with beskow's sagovärld or faerie world (here's a cool link showing the making of this exhibit). owen called it "food world" and after being terrorized by the story book "train" (a really really slow moving float through creepy oversized dioramas of melancholic scandanavian fairy tales) he was thrilled to find beskow's blueberry land where he could ride on a mouse, sail in a walnut boat and ski towards a giant orange.
peter in blueberry land 
Selma Lagerlöf, the swedish writer who was the first woman to win the
nobel prize for literature wrote The Wonderful Adventure of Nils
as a geography reader for Sweden from a commission by the national teacher's association. the 20 kroner note has Lagerlöf on the front and Nils riding the goose on the back. this will be a fun journey to read as a bedtime series!and of course we picked up tove jannson the finish writer of the swedish moomin world--owen loves the peekaboos and cutouts of moomintroll trying to get home to mama with his jug of milk in
the book about moomin, mymble and little my
the book about moomin, mymble and little my
we'll be in helsinki, finland this weekend and although we probably won't make it to mummimaalima in naantali a few hours north of helsinki (check out this informative link about the mummin family and moomin world) we may have to find the moomin shop!
finally--the last book isn't swedish per se, but we couldn't resist
Richard Scarry vi lär oss ABC and have been enjoying learning swedish words (especially getting those extra 3 letters!) with lowly worm and the cat family
finally--the last book isn't swedish per se, but we couldn't resist
Richard Scarry vi lär oss ABC and have been enjoying learning swedish words (especially getting those extra 3 letters!) with lowly worm and the cat family
you can sing most anything!
owen is determined to sing his way through sweden-- here he is at the mariesbergsskogen music garden doing do-re-mi (he's also been known to supercalifragilisticexpialidocious at bus stops):
how to write a postcard
first, you need some paper and some paints to make your postcard. if you have cancelled stamps, markers, glitter, and glue that's a bonus.
next, choose your stamp. whenever possible use two stamps and pick the prettiest ones.
finally, use the mail truck and deliver your post!
sverige top 10
(although the romance of public transportation has worn a little thin after our karlstad-stockholm train was cancelled due to a power outage on the electric rails (severe thunderstorms) and our bus never showed and we had to walk back to our hotel in the rain with wet bags and a very disappointed 4-yearold we're still hoping to hop on a morning train and continue our plans to celebrate american independence in the capital of scandanavia AND our top ten list still stands.)
without further ado here is
cara & owen's list of our ten favorite things we love about sweden
(seriously contemplated while waiting for toasty sandwiches at wayne's coffee--yup, the swedes don't have starbucks but they'll tell you they do have wayne's):
#1: pink smoothies (available in most cafes are yogurt and strawberry fresh smoothies--owen was drinking one while we scribbled this list)
#2: FIKA which owen has extended to include glace or ice cream which is available about every
10 meters or so in the summer
#3: the båtbuss (see previous post)
#4 chokladbolls (after many many tastings we've found the best ones are homemade by george's brother's mother at coffehouse by george)
#6: swedish legos -- ok, maybe they're not officialy swedish and legos are danish but we've picked up the coolest scandic post office lego set complete with a posthorn mail box and a
postman on a mail bicycle (i know, i know my obesssion or owen's??) and a yellow city bus set
#7: "hi hi" or the swedish greeting--this was all owen, he exclaimed: "when we say hello here there are two words and that's funny!" yup. it is funny.
#8: "swedish songs": owen loves all swedish takes on music. first and foremost of course is ABBA ; then there's the maypole and the frogsong; and we've recently discovered a national
obsession with karaoke concerts or "swedish sing alongs" (check out this concert blurbfor 7 july at skansen) that happen outdoors all summer long and are televised with bouncing balls on the telly.
#9: the windmill slide at mariesbergskogen
and #10: the indoor pool (a marvel adventure going to an indoor community pool with daddy for this cali boy)
. . . we will of course continue to add to the list and we've already wanted to add the ubiquitious löfbergs lila coffee (michael was lucky enough to get a tour back in february) and the berling hotel lift (more on that later)
karlstad update
yesterday we took advantage of the late running båtbuss and the ridiculous swedish sun and gathered some sand toys and grilling gear for an evening picnic. it's unbearably hot in our room after 3--and since the sun only ducks behind the building outside our window around 10 pm it was nice to get out of the room and do like the karlstad kids and head to the river.
we had first jumped on the summer extension of the regular bus route when my parents were here out to mariebergskogen--an amazing nature preserve, park, beach, playground and petting zoo all in one. here are some fun pics from the boat ride last week:
6-7-8
six years
seven years
eight years:
happy anniversary to us! drinking yoghurt smoothies and lattes in sweden together certainly doesn't suck (along with nana, papa and owen at condeco in göteborg)-- and we got to have an early anniversary "date night" courtesy of nana and papa last week. we went to cazzanova on the square for dinner--and the appetizers were definitely the highlight: carpaccio and goat cheese and pear bruschetta. we then strolled through the brightly lit evening and enjoyed some pints at the bishop arms (children under 23 and mother in laws are strictly forbidden--engraved decorusly on the wall) and watched the 
procession of bikes over the bridge and old american cars down kungsgatan.
the last 5 independence days together, we seem to always come together to celebrate being together. really, what could be more important?
owen on age
overheard while owen was on the phone with grandma and grandpa:
grandpa how old will you be on your birthday?
oh. that's REALLY old! you can touch the top of the clouds!
grandma, how old are you?
oh, you can touch the top of houses or maybe even hotels.
me, i can touch the middle of the window.
oh. that's REALLY old! you can touch the top of the clouds!
grandma, how old are you?
oh, you can touch the top of houses or maybe even hotels.
me, i can touch the middle of the window.
chicken soup for the epistolary soul
a couple of weeks ago owen very carefully and lovingly wrote two postcards to his grandparents--but i only had enough postage left for one card and tucked both in my bag until i could pick up more stamps. on our way down drottingggatan we walked by the post box and out of habit pulled the cards out and dropped both in. i realized (ok, michael realized) my faux pas and a few blocks later i tried to explain to the postman that i needed to put stamps on my postcard. of course he directed me to the presbyran--a little conveince store where i could buy stamps--and pedaled away on his mail bicycle (see previous post for pic). anyhow, i put my faith in the yellow and blue posthorn and yesterday guess who got their postcards? yup, grandma and grandpa--one with 12 sek worth of stamps and one with no postage at all. grandpa was convinced that it was owen's carefully written message that made it through the stamp police. it just goes to show you that stamp fairies do exist! they do! they do!
oh, and today we hit the mail lottery--two care packages from our best friends and pictures from grandma and grandpa and stickers from missy! xoxoxo
look what we won at lisberg!
yes, 2 kilos of toblerone! after about 100 sek our number came up on "topphjulet" or tobelrone wheel of fortune and we joined the hundreds of happy swedes at lisberg
parading around carnival sized chocolate. mmmm. chocolate souvies for everyone when we return!
Midsommardagen
Midsummer's Day which took place last Friday is a very big holiday here in Sweden. There were several choices for us to go and celebrate the traditional Swedish way with a couple hundred people or so. We chose to go to Alsters herrgård, the birthplace of the Swedish poet Gustaf Fröding.
The weather didn't start out too good, but by the time the actual festivities started, it had cleared up a bit. It started out with the actual raising of the maypole, then there was a wedding ceremony (not traditional). Then some traditional dancing, and then finally everyone was invited to hold hands and dance around the maypole. Owen especially liked the song Små grodorna ("The little frogs").
Waiting in the rain/sun:
Raising the maypole:
Traditional dancing:
Owen and other kids who couldn't wait for the dancing to start:
uppsala: from linnaeus to ogentheow
last weekend we drove to uppsala (pronounced oops-uh-luh) to pick up my parents who had flown into stockholm earlier in the week (the town's about a 15 minute trainride from the bustling swedish capitol. it was an idyllic couple of days spent enjoying the fruits of carl linnaeus' labor--from the meticulous linnaeus garden to the tranquil uppsala botanic garden. here are a few of my favorite snapshots from this lovely university town--with three cameras between us we spent most of the time in macro mode (i couldn't take enough of the botanic hand scrolled flora markers) or trying to get owen to pose in front of garden statues (the best shots, though were when we caught him singing to ladybugs or playing in the dirt).
on our way back to karlstad we stopped at gamla uppsala to see the ancient burial mounds--which date back to medieval swedish history and most notably (at least in terms of literary priorities) are the connections to the legendary beowulf poem
owen's swedish mirror dance
we're a bit behind uploading our pics... but please enjoy the following "swedish! mirror!" dance (done in the "mirror room" at Värmland's Museum's awesome science center) in the meantime:
celebrating claudia
this afternoon we went to the uppsla cathedral and in the sacred quiet of this gothic church i lit a candle for my beloved cousin claudia who passed away this week after a nine year battle with breast cancer. it was an indulgent, however brief moment of mourning. today her family and friends are gathering not to mourn, as she insisted, but to celebrate her life amid loved ones and the ballads of rick springfield. although we're on the other side of the world, we too are celebrating claudia--and really, if any one had the blessing to know her (even if only long enough to see her smile) how could you not? she was a vivacious, beautiful, funny and courageous woman. last week her daughter asked that we contribute to a "why we love claudia" memory book--i don't know if she had the chance to read the contributions before she left us so in the spirit of celebration (and because i know she will continue to bless us) i'll share ours:
We love Claudia because she has always celebrated family and friends and shown us how important it is to be surrounded by loved ones. We love Claudia because when she was in California she would call and ask: "Do you want to meet us at the beach in 15 minutes?" and of course we would always say yes (the books, the laundry, the other appointments could always be rescheduled!); likewise if we were within driving distance she'd gather up the family and meet us for lettuce wraps or coffee or cheesecake. . . We love Claudia because she puts the cool, the celebrate, the courageous in cousin; we love Claudia and always will.
here are a couple of the pictures my dad found looking through our albums--i think they capture the cardinale cousins at our best!
l-r cassie, jim, me, vince, amanda, claudia, ginny, sal (mary rose wasn't here yet!)
the cardinale girls-- singing and signing " young at heart" for grandma and grandpa's wedding anniversary (weren't we all so hot!): mary rose, amanda, ginny, claudia, cassie, me
Claudia Claudio Memorial Fund
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