Taevaskoda, “Heaven’s Hall”, one of the most scenic spots in Estonia with sandstone cliffs next to a winding river. Do the kids spend any time appreciating the view? No. They found a Pokestop.

Ready for lunch on the deck, equipped with swim goggles (don’t ask) and a battery-operated fan for cooling his mouth (don’t ask).

We bought another pool ring today and it was an instant hit. Mostly the kids use the floating toys for crashing into each other, pulling each other down into the water, climbing on the same toy so they both fall off, and other ways of getting both themselves and everything else exceedingly wet. (Which has on occasion had unfortunate side effects on the laundry drying on the rack next to the pool. Less than ideal positioning, perhaps, but there just isn’t that much space in the flat, sunny part of the garden.)

The kids and I took the bus to Vällingby after school to get vaccinated against TBE. (The third shot for Ingrid and me, the first for Adrian.) Both kids were surprised when the injection turned out to not hurt at all, and for the first time ever Ingrid is not anxious about her next injection.

I’ve seen information campaigns about TBE for years but somehow it never seemed very urgent. The risk seemed small and remote. After Ingrid’s experience with Lyme disease, getting us vaccinated felt a lot more urgent and important.

Blowing dandelions, on our way home from preschool.

We saw the first blowable dandelions a few days ago, and Adrian picked every single one. Today there were slightly more, but still few enough that both kids ran to them and almost kept count to make sure each of them got a fair share.

Ingrid and I spent much of the day cleaning out Ingrid’s room – sorting through all the piles of stuff that have accumulated everywhere, throwing away junk and finding appropriate places for non-junk. We took a big box of toys down to the basement, and lots and lots of papers to the recycling bag.

A beautiful, unseasonably warm day – one that wouldn’t feel out of place in July and actually felt more like summer than all of last summer did.

Adrian and I went to the Svandammen park when we got home. We packed some fruit, because Adrian is always hungry after preschool, and a water gun. I also packed his swimming trunks, just in case. And another water gun and a swimsuit for Ingrid, just in case she decided to come as well. And some extra fruit, just in case.

Ingrid did indeed join us after she left school, and I was glad I had packed all the extras. The kids had a lot of fun, so we ended up staying well over an hour and only got home when it was already time for dinner.

A few other kids watched Ingrid and Adrian rather jealously: one mum let their kids get in the water as well after rolling up or taking off their pants, but another said that this pool was not made for bathing and therefore “get out away from there right now”. No, it wasn’t made for bathing, but I can’t see what harm a bit bathing might do, as long as you don’t put your face in it.

We were invited to a Bergheden family event today, and all the cousins were there. There are now six including Ingrid and Adrian, ranging from 0 to 16 years in age. One, though, is just a little bit older than Ingrid, and they often have fun together at family get-togethers. Now Adrian is also old enough to be able to join in, most of the time.

Today’s best activity was rolling and sliding down this grassy slope. It will be interesting to see whether modern-day high-tech detergents will get the grass stains out of Ingrid’s pink dress…

I’d promised Adrian he could stay home from preschool today and build Legos, while I work from home. Ingrid was tired and had a headache this morning so she also ended up staying at home. One kid at home usually manages to manage their boredom. Two: not so well. Instead of coming up with something to do together, they amplify each other’s feelings of boredom. If you believed they played this board game on their own, you were wrong. Let’s just say I didn’t get much work done this day.

We went to IKEA the day before yesterday to buy a wardrobe for our bedroom. No success then, because while there was a lot to choose from, there was nothing that was exactly right. After two days of mulling it over (and looking at competing alternatives, all of which were even further from what we wanted) we now decided which of our requirements we would let go of, and made up our minds. So today it was back to IKEA again to actually buy a wardrobe.

Wise from our experience from Monday, we asked the kids to pack some entertainment. Adrian packed a box of Legos; Ingrid packed a stack of Kalle Anka comics. At this point he was getting restless though, and when he saw me moving around and taking photos, he saw an opportunity to run around and make silly faces at the camera.