On our way to Mallorca for a week of hiking.

This year we let someone else do the planning for us and bought a ready-made package. Our seven nights in Mallorca are spread over three different towns, so some days we walk from one place to another, and other days we stay put and just walk around.

Unfortunately our trip coincides with what threatens to be the worst heat wave in Europe in living memory, so it remains to be seen how much actual walking we will be able to do. The current forecast is for temperatures over 35°C.

Adrian likes being on the beach, but for digging rather than for swimming.

The electrician did his work today and we can finally move into our new kitchen. Now we can do the dishes in the kitchen instead of the laundry room – and we have our dishwasher back! And we can unpack all our glasses and plates and cutlery and utensils.

One of the best things with the new cabinets is that we have far fewer of them. Instead we now have drawers wherever possible on the lower level. There will be no more digging in the deep corners of a cabinet while crouching or even kneeling on the floor. Especially Adrian has really been struggling to reach some of the plates and bowls. Everything cannot be at the front of a cabinet – but with drawers, that’s not a problem, because even the things at the back are easy to reach. Best thing ever!

It’s national day and I had vaguely thought we might go somewhere and do something national day-ish, but the heat is such that I have no energy for anything like that. Instead we had a picnic in the garden, in the shade of the cherry tree, with the most cooling food we could come up with – a strawberry and melon pasta salad and iced elderberry cordial.

tretton37 summer party at Skansen.

The kids took the train to town together and met up with me at the office. We then took the tram to Skansen. (Eric had a restful evening at home instead.)

We had time for a brief walk around Skansen before it was time for the party itself. It was closing time and the whole place was empty. I liked Skansen this way, without all the crowds.

Then we had summery drinks in the sun, and a buffet dinner, and ninja masks and ninja making kits and ninja tattoos.

We’re continuing work on Adrian’s boat-ferry-thing and now attaching the cabin thing to it. The builders working on the kitchen kindly lent us two minutes of their time and cut the parts for the cabin on their power saw, so that Adrian could focus on the fun part, which is measuring and then assembling it all.

Adrian got inspired by the work that’s going on in the kitchen, and all the cool tools that the builders have there, and wanted to build things, too. So now he’s making a boat/ferry kind of thing of his own design, with some help from me.

Power tools are cool, and screwdriver bits are cool, so instead of using nails, we’re drilling holes and screwing all the pieces together. Plus it’s probably easier for a kid’s small hands to tighten a screw than to hammer in a nail straight.

We played “Settlers of Catan”. Eric won with a mile-wide margin. Adrian followed his favourite strategy, which is to bet on development cards all the way.

The old pine floor has gone the way of the cupboards. A trip to the laundry room (for e.g. water) now involves either balancing on the floor joists or walking through peat dust. Balancing is definitely both more fun and more comfortable.

Peat dust is rather icky. It’s very light and spreads everywhere and sticks to everything. Half the laundry room/pantry is covered in a thin layer of brown dust – I guess the door has been open while the builders worked.

But as “compensation” we’re getting new floor joists, which – unlike the old ones – are actually level.

When Adrian makes things, they all tend to turn into weapons. Today he made at least two swords, two guns, and some random shapes that he then also decided were guns.