What we've been doing

So now that you've seen where we live, you might be wondering what we've been up to. well we've engaged in a lot of family fun autumn activities. Primarily to sell this place to Noah, who is proving to be quite the hard-sell. Just hte other day, talking to Mimi, who asked him if he'd met any friends he responded laconically that he had friends at daycare in Vallingby. Oh well, we've had a lot of fun engaging in autumny activities.

So in true New England tradition we went apple picking. It was a crisp and clear autumn day. I was initially worried that Noah would have to climb trees to get at the apples, I didn't realize that they would be so low down.







Noah nonetheless got bored after a while and decided to go off and make some new friends. Not surprisingly he found one true friend that would prove to be very entertaining the rest of the apple-picking day.







The setting was gorgeous. Here are a few attempts in trying to capture the surroundings.







We also went up to Berkshires and took an old fashioned train from Lenox to Stockbrige. Pretty slow going. It took us about 30 minutes train ride there and 30 minutes back. We drove the same distance later and it was about 10 minutes with car. This area is pretty amazing. It had its hey day during the Gilded Age, when a lot of rich families built there summer 'cottages' here. Driving around we were able to catch small glimpses of these estates and they were anything but cottages. After the train ride we were able to have a picnic outside. Perfect autumn day.




















We have also been to not one but two pumpkin patches! It was great to actually go out into a pumpkin field and pick the pumpkin from the vine. Let me tell you, pumpkins are kinda weird. They are just huge, and orange, and some are small and green and they just grow out there, on the fields. It is just bizarre. But fun. Both pumpkin patches featured hay rides. We went to the first one on Columbus weekend and Noah, Theo and I went to the second one the week after together with the Belchertown Family Center. It was a really neat experience.









The second one featured a great play area for Noah with giant pumpkins. It was kinda creepy in a little shop of horrors kinda way.









The highlight of this season though must be the scarecrow batman than Noah and Jensen stuffed at our local library!





From our Batman headquarters to yours, goodbye and Happy Halloween!

Fall in our new home

Wow, time sure does fly by. I can't believe it is almost November. This whole time I have been thinking that I have to update my blog for the autumn and this morning I woke up to -1 Celsius and frost on the grass. Before I know it, it will be time for blogging about the winter.

So these last couple of months have been spent trying to settle in and adjust to our new surroundings. And it has been a blast exploring our town, looking for tagsales, taking walks, and just driving around. It really is beautiful here.

Here is our backyard from the time we moved in to just a couple days ago.










As we have moved further into autumn, Noah has become more and more comfortable with his surroundings. He has had a blast learning how to ride his big wheel down the drive way. When we moved in he would just go 1/4 of the way up. Now he starts from the top and rides screaming down the driveway onto the grass and then continues down the lawn into the trees. He and the neighbor kids play almost every day, so his English is getting better and better. It is pretty funny though, since he is using English while playing with friends he is most comfortable with play English. So right now his English vocabulary consists of "watch this" "guys, come on" "ok! Ready, set, go!"

So a conversation will go something like this.

Mamma - Noah dags att äta lunch nu.
Noah - Ok mamma. Men vänta, mamma, mamma, watch this, ok, här är min bil. Mamma, mammma, watch this, watch this, här är min bil och den kör jätte jätte fast!

Pappa - Thanks Noah for being a good boy and meeting my friends.
Noah - tack pappa. Det var jätte great att träffa dina friends.

On his bigwheel when we first moved in...





Today...



Playing with the neighborhood children:





Noah and Elias



Theo is a delight to all of us. He loves his big brother and no matter what his mood, if I can get him outside to where the action is he is as happy as can be. He is also super social. I need to give myself extra time at the grocery store for people engaging with Theo as he smiles, gurgles, winks and giggles to everybody around him. He rolls over now, and can almost sit up. We have started giving him some solids and if I time it right, ie not during a time when he is actually hungry, he seems to eat and enjoy it. However I am not allowed to even think about replacing one of his 'real' meals with solids. Then he just looks at me with terror in his eyes and lets out a big long wail that can only be satisfied with one thing.







So you may all be wondering where we live. Well, we live in a very small New England town, called Belchertown. It is the quintessential New England town with a large grassy area in the middle of the town, , the town greens, an irish pub on one side and town hall on the other. There is a beautiful library within walking distance,



Noah, Theo and I have spent a lot of time there already. It's a bit easier on the wallet than constantly having to buy new books. Here are some pictures from one of our walks to the library, through the center of town.





Notice how we pass by a rooster on our walk,







and a farm.



So real country living for us. Everybody here calls the area semi-rural, but jensen and I agree, this is about as rural as we can handle. So we've replaced walks in the new Vällingby Centrum, with walks down to the Quabbin Resevoir






Next, I'll write about what we have been up to in our new surroundings! So long.