Lots of smiles and laughs Meeting the cousins

The other weekend all cousins on my mother's side met up at my aunt and uncle's place at Justerö in Stockholm's archipelago. It had been planned for about a year and was put together as many of the cousins don't get a chance to meet each other that often. The place is 1-2 hours from Stockholm by car and was very pretty. It was very nice to meet each other and while children and grownups played together we shared many laughs. It was really good seeing everyone.

Alexandra enjoying the hammock 

My cousin's daughter Benyada mastered jumping!

My cousin Andreas playing 'crocket'

My cousin Nina's daughter Ebba

It's hard work playing...

Max, Mikaela and Alexandra had fun with the swing

The whole group

Mikaela and Alexandra enjoys jumping

A day in Astrid Lindgren's world with Alexandra

When I last was in Stockholm I had the opportunity to meet up with my sister Mikaela and her daughter Alexandra at Junibacken, an amusement park and museum built on Astrod Lindgren's characters. A fantastic place! In Villa Villekulla (Pippi Longstocking's house) Alexandra got to cook and then she got to ride Lilla Gubben, Pippi's horse. Finally she got to see theatre featuring Alfons, another Swedish children's character.

Alexandra at Villa Villekulla

Alexandra on Lilla Gubben

Alexandra found the theatre fascinating

Alfons, his friend and his dad. Alfons is in Africa in a self-built helicopter meeting lions.

Julia and Michael bright up Brighton ‹ Fotoble

Fotoble took pictures of Julia and Michael in Brighton on a very nice day. Such a nice couple, a very nice day and such a wonderful place to take pictures!

Julia and Michael bright up Brighton ‹ Fotoble

More portrait pictures here: http://fotoble.com/portraits/

Linn becomes Mrs. Almerud

Jakob and Linn got married on 18 August last year and hence spent their anniversary last weekend. It was a very beautiful day, the day when Linn became an Almerud. I was best man together with my brother Isak.

Handsome young brother  

The bride - wow!

The beautiful couple

 Married!!! First peek as they come out of the church

Properly wed! 

Jakob's bachelors party

This past weekend it was exactly one year since Jakob, my baby brother, got married to Linn. Two weeks before Jakob had his bachelors party. With the anniversary just past I decided to relive some of the memories.

We started out go-carting. 

Then we went to a park where Jakob had to draw how he saw his life in 10 years... 

Then off to the main event - sumo

The brothers

Padstow is a real tourist attraction

Padstow is probably one of the most famous places in Cornwall England, meaning that there are lots of tourists. There are some activities in the harbour and the street are packed. It's very beautiful but not much to do. As always in Cornwall, the tide is very evident.

The tide is very evident

Children fishing 

There are some activities on the streets

Lots of tourists sitting around

Driving along Hadrian's wall

This year's holiday went to two destinations - to Hadrian's wall up in the north and Cornwall in the south. We spent five days in the beginning of August up north. Hadrian's Wall was built by the Roman emperor Hadrian from AD 122 and served as protection of the Roman Empire from the northern tribes. The wall was 117.5 km long and went from coast to coast. When active the wall was 3.5-6m tall and 3-6m wide. Amazing when you think about it. So we decided to drive a total of 1,000 miles (1,600km) to check it out!

First stop was, however, the Singing Ringing Tree, a wind powered wind sculpture overlooking Burnley in Lancashire (England). As understood the tree creates sound. Pretty cool (you can find videos of it on Youtube).

My name is Bond, Ms Bond...

We spent the first night in Carlisle. In 1525 the Archbishop of Glasgow invoked a curse against cross-border families who lived by stealing cattle and pillage. For the millennium celebrations the local council commissioned a 14-tonne stone with all 1,069 words of the curse. 

In 1998 some Christians tried to prevent the installation. A minority whipped up a furore about the stone, blaming a number of the city's setbacks on the curse stone - including and outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, various crimes, rising unemployment and even the fate of its football team (which was relegated out of the league). They were not successful in stopping the stone.  

On towards the wall... Here doing research in the sun while having lunch

The wall - here at Walltown Crags

After driving by the Sycamore Tree a number of times we had to stop and take its picture. Not without peril - there was a deep ditch next to the road! Polly (our car) was not the happiest of campers but we DID get the picture!

All along the wall there are lots and lots of forts. There are many chances to be interactive...

...and there is theatre... (although at break at the moment). Here at Housesteads.

We even found some guards standing post!

We had a really good time!

But at last it was dark and time to go home. Crag Lough seen below.