Yesterday afternoon I started digging out a new flowerbed, to clear my head and defuse my anger at the kids and their incessant quarrelling. Continued today. The flowerbed-to-be currently looks like a mud field and is not very photogenic, so here’s a pretty flower instead.

We went out for a walk in the woods near Hellasgården. The GPS unit died because of batteries but Hellasgården offered beginner-level orienteering maps (the easiest version had 5 control points and less than 3 km to walk) so we practised our map-reading skills instead.

The kids were fighting each other all the time and Adrian in particular was angry about everything. So what could have been a nice outing ended with everybody angry at everybody else, and we came home in a worse mood than we left.

I got to swim for the first time this summer though.

Two tired kids at dinner.

It is now officially summer: the pool at our playground was filled with water this week. Cold water.

Last day of school for Ingrid. Adrian’s preschool also had a summer “graduation” celebration for the bigger kids who will be going to school this autumn, and the smaller kids and their parents were invited to watch (and eat the cupcakes).

End-of-term celebrations all involve a lot of performances. At Ingrid’s school first there was an hour in the classroom where the teacher thanked everybody and said goodbye, and the kids sang some songs for the parents. That was followed by the shared celebrations for the whole school, out in the schoolyard. I think each grade had someone perform something (ranging from dancing to playing the piano), and then of course the headmistress had to make a speech, and all the kids sang Flaggan vajar på sin stång and Den blomstertid nu kommer. That took another hour. In the afternoon at preschool the bigger kids had a circus performance for us. So I literally spent hours today watching other people’s kids perform. Rather boring to be honest…

The first day that really felt like summer. We had an afternoon snack out in the garden, Adrian and I, with fresh strawberries. Ingrid was away playing with some friend, as she is more and more likely to do after school.

Adrian in the bathtub with a pirate ship. It takes up about as much space as he does.
Nowadays he can mostly be convinced to take a bath at least once a week, without arguing. Someday maybe we’ll get him to wash his hair as well…

Ingrid’s class had a picnic/outing/thing. Grilled hot dogs, cake, dozens of kids running around in the woods and playgrounds.

I barely saw Ingrid during our two hours there and we had to search for her when it was time to go home.

Adrian hung out with us. He has some sort of a stomach bug and was not feeling too well. And running around with dozens of big kids is not his idea of fun anyway. He explored quietly, climbed a bit. Fell asleep in the car on the way home and then slept 13 hours straight.

I went to see Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam in Globen. We first saw Quidam years ago in London. I think it was the first CDS show I saw so it has a special place in my heart. Today they were as amazing as ever.

They do everything right and pay attention to every detail. Every little part contributes to a magnificent whole. The decorations, costumes, props, lighting and music all harmonize. There is no dead time: even when one act is finishing, another is walking on scene – or perhaps someone else is, just to fill the void.

Each act is masterfully choreographed and performed. Some so far surpass normal human skill that my almost brain gives up and cannot relate any more. (It’s like with money: thousands are money, millions are a lot of money – trillions are just made up numbers.)

The Statues act was one of the most amazing ones.