Cedar Point...

America's Rollercoaster..!


So I was going through Aftonbladet, a Swedish tabloid paper. And I came across this:

Världens 5 bästa nöjesfält i sommar
1. Disneyland Resort Paris, som firar 15 år.

2. Cedar Point, Ohio, USA. Flest åkattraktioner av alla världens nöjesfält, bland annat en ny berg-och-dalbana som kostat över 100 miljoner kronor.

3. Everland, Sydkorea. Hinner du inte resa runt hela Europa i sommar, åk hit. Besökare utlovas att få uppleva hela Europa på bara en dag i en galen karneval. Dessutom utlovas blomsterhysteri.

4. Phantasialand, Brühl, Tyskland. Flera nya shower, bland annat en ny stuntshow.

5. Six Flags Mexico, Mexico city, Mexico.

The World's 5 best amusement parks this summer:

2. Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio!

I grew up going to Cedar Point as it is only about a 30 minute drive from my parents house. And my sister worked there, too. :P
The place is awesome. :) I love it there. :)
My friends and I would buy season passes and spend every day there during the summers.

I have pictures of me on the rides as a baby until my college years.

Cedar Point

Of course I've taken Fredrik there. :) And he even road the coasters with me. :))
If you look at the link, I got him to go on: gemini, disaster transport, mean streak (my favorite!), magnum, and some of the others of course. Many of the huge ones they have now, are new and I haven't even been on them. He wouldn't go on the Mantis with me though, that one you stand up while you ride. :)

Aaah.. I love that place.
Makes me homesick.


Mean Streak:





There's nothing like standing in 100 degree heat (38 degC), 110% humidity, for 4 hours to ride a 3 minute ride...

Gas prices.

She discovered that she can go farther into the dining room. Took her awhile. :/ :)

Luckily with crawling she stays in the living room. She doesn't venture into the hallway or dining room. We are pretty lucky with that. :) We think that there is plenty in the living room to keep her entertained. She only crawls around somewhere else if we put her there.



Not sure how she managed this one. :/

Yeah.. gas prices in Sweden.. :/

If it keeps going up, then Fredrik is going to have to start taking the bus to work. Which is.. the point. But the bus only goes every 3 hours. And when the trip takes almost an hour by bus.. it doesn't get much fun. :/ :)

The bus would leave the train station at 06.40 and then the afternoon buses go at 14.40 and 17.40. So he would have to take the one almost at 6, and then get home almost by 7 ......
In the morning he would have to change buses once, and on the way home he would have to change buses twice.

Which doesn't leave for a very happy family. :/ Especially a family that needs a Pappa with a car at work so he can come home for appointments during the day and emergencies.

So we aren't sure what to do.

There is another house on our street for sale!
Green house.

Cheap: 550 000 sek / 93 000 usd
But more than we thought it would be worth. :/
Beautiful floors though.

The outdoor pictures must be old, because the house looks horrible from the outside. The yard is aweful and the house needs so much work. I mean, our yard is far from perfect, but at least you can tell that we try. This house.. wow.. it isn't so pretty. :/ :))

While Leia and I were out on Thursday we saw them emptying the rest of the stuff in the house. So I guess no one has been living there, which might be why it isn't in the best of shape.

The only older people left on our street now are the two across the street and the ones right next door! About 4-5 houses (maybe more?) on our street have been bought within the last year. All younger families. Or at least people younger than 75.

Snakes.

Oooh.. today was a much better day.. :/ :))

She actually slept for me this morning, about 3 hours. So I was able to put away some clothes, write out 76 answers for my Swedish class and send them to my teacher, vacuum, dust (not in that order), and even have some adult conversation and chatted with my long-time Internet friend, Jonas.

Jonas lives far North in Sweden and has an American girlfriend. :) But she works for the UN and lives in Fiji.. :D

She didn't fight me with eating and she was SO happy after her nap.

Her pooping still isn't as we think it should be, so we are going to talk to the BVC again.


She wanted to play with it.

But when I told her what it was for - she didn't want to play with it any longer.






She is outgrowing her baby tub, so we will soon let her just bathe in the normal tub. She keeps trying to stand up in it, so we figure it is time to just let her move around more freely. :)

Tomorrow we are going to check out a daycare (dagis) ... so we are anxious about that. We still need to try to check out some that are closer to our house ... It is an open-house type thing so we can go any time during the day.

And I really dusted today. I didn't do the "Fredrik dusting." Fredrik dusting is when you dust with the vacuum cleaner..... :/ :D I've been prone to use his methods the last few months when time is an issue, but today I managed to do the real thing.

The Sims isn't working of course .... big surprise .. have to work on that.
But they are coming out with an IKEA furniture add-on.. !! :D Fredrik and I have been talking about that for years, that they needed to make one.

Okay, it is late now.. and I can finally say that I watched Snakes on a Plane.

First strawberry.

Here are my new plants outside. I have a feeling that any avid gardeners would laugh at our pitiful excuss of gardening ... but we try.. :/ :) I think I am only missing blue. :))

Fredrik is outside raking up some hidden leaves that were left under our bushes from last Fall. He got a chance to mow again today, too.

Leia was .. Leia. :/ :)

Last night she kept crying in bed, and she finally fell asleep around 21.30.
She wouldn't sleep today, and I put her in bed with me, and we both slept some. After that she felt warm, and I checked her temperature, and it was 100 degF (37,7 degC). So a bit above normal.

She was moody again today.. :/ Didn't sleep this afternoon.
Everynow and then she will be happy for a little while, and then start screaming after me again. :/

She cries when Pappa has her too, but she constanly cries after me to hold her. Even when Fredrik has her. I know Aunt Beverly went through a horrible attachment to Mormor, seems like Leia is headed in the same direction.

She says "ma ma ma ma ma ma." And reaches for me.

She can easily go from her knees to her butt, something she started doing awhile ago, but she has now perfected it. And that has made her happier; she has been trying to do that for a very long time, so it is great that she has figured it out. Today she went back and forth from her knees to her butt about 6-7 times. Around the 5th time, she sat on her butt, looked at me, smiled, and started clapping her hands. :)) She is SO extremely proud of herself when she does something good. :)

Fredrik has gotten lots more at work to do. He tries to avoid the construction jobs. :/ :) Those jobs remind him why he left Skanska.

I finished another Swedish assignemnt. I'm trying like mad to finish up this 3rd part so I can be done for the Summer. I think Fredrik is more annoyed with my teacher than I am.

Mormor and Morfar will be here soon. :) We are all anxious for that.
Farmor and Farfar will be going to the summer house over the National Holiday so we hope to see them plenty.

We are having a horrible time keeping up with Leia ... She has an unlimited supply of energy. And she's fast. :/ She seems to think that she can stand without holding on to anything. And then once while holding onto the couch, she tried to turn and walk away.. :/ Luckily Mamma was there to catch her. :/ So it is more difficult to get pictures of her now, with always having to have a hand around her.

Today she got to taste her first strawberry. :) She LOVED it!! :)

Fredrik has been trying to teach Leia how to play catch. :))


Yesterday she spilt a glass of water on the DVD/surround sound remote ... It dried without a problem.





Fredrik talked to support for the computer and they sent a few files, and it fixed my computer !! :) So everything is back to normal. :) And I am installing the Sims now. :) They are coming out with a Sims 3. So that means I can get the Sims 2 at a cheaper price now..! :)))

Argh....

Going to be another one of those days..... :/ :(

One of those days.

Today was just one of those days that you want to forget that you've had.. :/ :)

Leia has been completely cranky today and difficult to deal with. She seems to go back and forth every day about mood and sleeping. Today was a "Mommy" day and only mommy was good enough for anything. Which makes it difficult for mommy to do anything.. :/ So Mommy is very, very, very tired. And right now she is doing Swedish school work and it isn't very much fun. :/

But at least Fredrik finally helped me with some huge pots and I finally got to plant some plants that I bought last week. They are on the deck and they look pretty.

Computers and babies.

Sometimes I really hate computers. I was installing The Sims 2. I am almost done with school for this term, and I was really looking forward to getting to relax on my down-time and play a computer game, etc. Then my computer started acting up a bit, and we reinstalled Windows, and now the problem isn't fixed. We have NO idea what the problem is, so we are going to have to call support. Even though we have no idea what is wrong.

It is a problem with the screensavers and standby. And then we think a problem with the mouse, or something of that sort. So we are frustrated with it and then I am annoyed that I can't play a game. *hmph*

Nothing else of interest I think. :/ Same old. :)

But I do have to give a big congratulations to one of my bestest friends, Carie. :) She and her husband found out that they are pregnant. :)) They are 5 weeks along. I know Carie is very excited. I am certain that Trenton is going to be a great big brother. :)

Another 5,6 kg.

Another 5,6 kg (12.3 lbs) of rhubarb.. :/ :) We took it from the summer house. So we already have 10.6 kg (23.3 lbs) of rhubarb in the freezer. :) Rhubarb pies for every day of the year.. ;) :))

Is it really that funny??

I guess so.. :D

Home.

Saturday 14.39

Yupp .. I write a little every day and then when we get home, I add it to the blog. :) That is what I used to do with my old blog and I thought that I would do it now since I know I won’t remember anything that happens while we are here. :)) And then I can add pictures, too. :)

The trip was.. interesting. :) Fredrik kept packing things in the car before they were ready to be taken out. :)) (I think Mormor and I know someone else like that.) :D

Leia woke up soon after she fell asleep this morning and has been a bit cranky every since. :/ She wasn't too unhappy in the car but made LOTS of noise, and then Caesar meowed most of the time. We almost threw the car seat and the cat carrier out of the car on the way. :D

And then the tank with the gasoline for the lawn mower started leaking.. :/ So the car smelled bad for ½ the trip. And now the plastic covering for the trunk (thank goodness we have one) is sitting out in the rain.

And we found a patch of snow.. :D



Left over from Easter. :)

Leia and Pappa are "resting" by the fire. I think Pappa is trying to rest and Leia isn't giving him much chance. :))




We stopped at Karlssons in Ed and bought Leia some cheap clothes. She probably doesn't need so much, but it is really, really cheap there, so we couldn't pass it up. Right now she is fitting into 12 month and up, and around 78-80 from Sweden.

I think my baby wants me. :P More later. :P



Saturday 21.28

I bought a cheap movie when we stopped in Ed. We usually buy a couple of really bad movies, to help the cold evenings be more entertaining. :) It was "Phantoms." A bad Dean Koontz book, with Ben Affleck. The movie was typical Dean Koontz, but it could have been worse. I'm sure they toned down the movie a lot from the book.

The evening ended the same as the day started... Leia still cranky and whiny. Not wanting anything. Not wanting to play or sit still ... She did eat well and I held her for about 40 minutes while she napped in the evening, and she was even crankier when she woke up. :/

For a second I thought that it looked like more tooth had come through her gums, but Fredrik couldn't see any difference, so maybe it was just wishful thinking on my part. :)

A "new" house, a new bed, and she doesn't have her walker (gåstol) ... all that doesn't help either. :) But soon enough the place will become more familiar to her. :)

We've been giving her the prescription daily since we got it on Tuesday (a teaspoon each dose), and she has only pooped 2-3 times ... and she tries like mad to go to the bathroom. :/ She will sit, usually during dinner, and push with all her might and grunt, and she gets the funniest look on her face :D and her face gets so red ... but never any poopies.. :/ So if she doesn't go at all or it doesn't get better during the weekend, we are going to talk to her nurse again, and see what we can do about it. If anything.



Sunday 09.25

It is snowing. :) Yupp.. it is snowing. Just a little bit of flurries blowing around, but it is there. :/

Hmm... okay, now it started snowing much worse.. :D
Not really what we were hoping for this weekend. :/



Sunday 21.30

Leia had a great day today. :) She was in a fantastic mood. :) She had poopied this morning so she was feeling much better. :)

Fredrik managed to mow even with the snowing on and off all day. On Saturday it was around 4 degC (40 degF) all day, and today it was 2-3 degC (35 degF).



Even though it was cold, we took a short walk through the woods. Leia really enjoyed herself, but then we realized that everything is green.. :D



We were sad to see some trees cut down across the street of the house, beside the barns. :(





Aina even came by this evening and we finally managed to give her a present that we bought while in the US, to thank her for looking after Caesar while we were away.

Leia loved the fireplace and even though it was really warm in the room, she enjoyed playing and found lots of new fun "toys." :))











Having the fireplace really makes us wish that ours was useable. :( It would be about 30.000 sek (5000$) to get it repaired. The fireplace inside the house needs to be completely taken down and rebuilt. Only half of it needs to be rebuilt, but the guy said that to make sure it works better, we should just do the whole thing, and the price wouldn't be that much different anyways.

This evening we decided to reinstall my computer. Windows is just acting up and a few things are just "off." Screensavers aren't working, and standby isn't starting properly, and in a few simple games, the mouse functions are behaving and after so long of use, Explorer crashes. So that will be a big job to do when we get home. Not the reinstallation, but the saving of files and folders. We checked for viruses, there has never been anything. So we don't know what is going on, but we know the one way to definitely fix it. :)


Monday 12.00

We are home. :)

Leia slept strangely last night. She woke up screaming. We eventually gave her a little milk and she didn't complain when she was put in bed. She was fine if she was held, and I got in bed with her and she was very content, but it isn't so comfy for mommy to sleep like that. Because Leia wants to be completely enveloped, and she wants to only lay her head on mommy's arm, and then mommy's hand eventually turns blue. But she easily fell asleep again after she got some milk.

She was very, very happy to come home. :) And be in her walker. :) She is running around and around. :) She missed it greatly. We will have to take it next time.

I have a funny video to put on of Leia laughing. :)

Pappa is at the grocery store now, picking up a few things.

Weather is sunny today, but still cold. :/
We left pretty early, and when we got to the lake they were making extra runs with the ferry because of logging trucks, so we left at 09.45, instead of 10.


But now I will add this and add some pictures along with it!



Self photography.

Leia loves to touch Caesar's paws.

Enjoying lunch.



I love this shirt. :)) It is a play-on-words. :) It means "practice walking" and it comes from "practice driving" signs that you put on the back of your car when you are learning how to drive.

Bought it in Stockholm.

Trying to tell us we need more wood for the fire.

Fredrik showed Leia and I were he has been measuring in Nössemark. They are building some houses there. (For Norwegians probably.)

Sleeping with mommy for 1½ hours Sunday afternoon.