Signs of Spring

 April 2024

I'm sitting here writing this exactly one year after I took this picture, and there are two things I can't quite believe. First, just how much snow we had at this time last year. It was so cold that the snow just continued to pile up all winter without going anywhere until the end of April. Secondly, how long we lived in our house without really having any belongings. I can tell you that couches and real beds make a world of a difference. 

As soon as they got home from school, our kids spent the rest of the day parked on the couch reading the books they'd been without for so long. 

Much of my camera feed is pictures like this of different areas I organized that now look nothing like this.

April was also exciting because we started to see our first signs of spring. Tiny buds on the trees, little flowers poking through the snow, glimpses of grass. I can't remember ever being so excited for spring before. It felt like we watched it unfold so slowly.

To celebrate Adaline's birthday, we went to Trampolinhuset! We had a lot of fun playing dodgeball all together after running around and trying everything out. It wasn't too different from the sam type of thing in the US, just no employees walking around enforcing rules or monitoring your time stickers. They trust you to follow the rules, watch your own kids, and leave when your time is up.

We also went to Pitehavsbad sometime around now, which is kind of a small, indoor waterpark. They have a couple of slides and a lazy river. I don't have any pictures because all the pools we've been to here have a no phone rule - both so that you keep a better eye on your kids and to protect everyone's privacy. Like at trampolinhuset, one difference we noticed was that there weren't employees at the top and bottom of every slide telling you when it was your turn and enforcing rules. Instead, there were sensors or a video screen at each slide so you knew when it was safe to go, and you were expected to follow the rules without anyone forcing you to do so. The other difference we noticed was that there weren't a bunch of parents sitting on the side watching their kids, reading, or talking. Almost everyone was in the pool with their kids. 

Adaline's birthday! There was a little mistake when ordering her birthday cake, so she ended up with two princesstårtor!

For Alex's birthday, we went to Leo's Lekland. It's a huge indoor playground and we spent most of the time playing "epic tag" with our whole family. 

On Alex's actual birthday, we drove down to Umeå for district conference plus a "quick" stop at Lekia and IKEA for a few things.  

I am enchanted by the tiny bird tracks in the snow for some reason. 

He thinks he's some sort of gangster.

I think I took this picture to send to Anna since we were eating at a pizzeria called Dallas in northern Sweden. I've been very surprised by the number of references to Texas I've seen since we moved here. 

It's amazing how much the landscape changed from April 1 to April 30.