Winter afternoon in Gärdet

Our first big winter snow a month ago... the girls were so excited to finally get all 'geared up' and take their sleds out.  About a 15-20 minute walk down the road is the big field in Gärdet.  It's a popular spot year round for outdoor sports and to let dogs play and run free.

one of Gabby's Christmas presents was a dog harness for the GoPro... Lucy didn't seem to mind!

Gärdet in warm weather brings soccer, volley ball, kite flying, etc. In winter the city of Stockholm builds a 2km cross country ski track for everyone to use... from serious, competitive types to recreational newbies.  This time of year you'll see people toting skis or balancing them on their bikes as they head to their workout.  The track was built before it snowed, with snow machines making snow for several days to build it.  

the teepee offers a warm up break for all

traditional fire pit with coffee brewing - Sami-style

Snow removal in Stockholm

Along with snow comes the snow removal teams...  not for the faint of heart!

One lucky team member stands on the sidewalk with a whistle - one whistle alerts the rooftop team to stop so people can pass by, two whistles lets them know the coast is clear to resume work. 

all photo credits - Claudette Clapper

Winter Sports Day

February 12, 2015

On Thursday, all around Stockholm, school children, teachers and parents headed out for a day of winter sports activity.  Sofia's class went ice skating in the morning and dancing in the afternoon.  Audra had badminton and bowling.  Gabby also went ice skating (at a different rink) with Taekwondo in the afternoon.  Right, all activities were not technically 'winter sports' but they were all physical activities.... to exercise little bodies as well as their minds!  I think a trip to the ice rink with 40+ second graders without injuries, tears or losing anyone is a success!

Note to self:  volunteer to help the class doing the indoor activity next time.

Sofia practicing her skating skills

me, Sofia and 2 friends

Proof that sports day works... the girls have been playing badminton in our courtyard all weekend.  Of course they wouldn't try it this summer when I really wanted them too!

Alla Hjärtans Dag!

February 14, 2015

puss=kiss, kram=hug

In Sweden, Valentines Day is a much lower-key holiday than in America.  Where Target has a whole corner of the store devoted to all things red, pink and heart shaped you'll only find a small pop-up, cardboard display in a grocery store here. There are no valentine parties at school therefore no crazed valentine making, addressing and distributing. 

Even though it's low-key the candy shops and flower vendors do some brisk business in the day or two leading up to February 14. I stopped at Ejes Choklad to pick up bags of the girls favorite gummies.

Ejes Choklad, is a family run business (since 1923), mom, dad and daughters all work behind the counter.  All chocolates are made on site with no preservatives or additives, they even have the official Royal seal of approval!

the Valentine crowd at Ejes Choklad

valentine display at Ejes Choklad shop

Ejes Choklad, Erik Dahlbergsgatan 25

Kungsträdgården ice rink got into the spirit by decorating the ice with red hearts. 

Snowy Stockholm

January 2015 - Living in Stockholm, Sweden you'd think we'd have our fair share of snow. We finally had a proper snow, enough to make kids and adults giddy and cover the city with a quiet blanket of bright snow.

people still ride their bikes in winter around here

The snow was perfect for packing and immediately snowmen started appearing everywhere.  Sofia rolled giant snowballs everywhere she went, it was fun to watch what she left behind turn into a family of snowmen by someone else.

the classic snow angel

The park across from the girls' school is packed with kids after school.  The kids had a blast on the ice slide (amazingly I don't think there were any casualties!). 

Audra on the ice slide

Gabby and Sofia's snowmen in our courtyard

Along with the snow come signs warning of snow and ice falling from rooftops.

The Friday morning walk around Djurgården is magical.  I finally put to use the ice spikes for my boots that I bought last year!

Strandvägen waterfront

only the tails give away these two swans, they look like snow covered rocks

the Royal horses out for exercise

Gabby's Math Competition

Gabby needs your votes!!

A few months ago Gabby and three friends from the Stockholm International School entered the Math Counts Video Challenge....

Here is Gabby, Ryan, Max and Jacques' video...

http://videochallenge.mathcounts.org/videos/honey-i-made-all-shots

To vote:

• go to the video link above
• the first time you will have to set up an account with user name, email and password
• you will receive an email from MathCounts to verify your account
• after you have done this you can vote for 'Honey, I made all the shots'
• you can vote once every 24 hours
• voting ends March 13, 2015

Gabby, Ryan, Max and Jacques greatly appreciate your support!!

(edited from the website)  
What is the Math Video Challenge?

The Math Video Challenge is a program that lets students combine math and technology to create videos about math problems and concepts. Choosing a problem from the 2014-2015 MATHCOUNTS School Handbook, a team creates a video that teaches the problem using a real-world application.

The videos are posted and the public votes on the best videos. The 100 videos with the highest vote totals advance to a judging panel that selects the 20 semi-finalists. MATHCOUNTS judges reviews the top 20 semifinalists and selects four finalists.

Each member of the four finalist teams receives an all-expenses-paid trip to the Math Video Challenge finals in Boston, MA. During the finals each team presents its video to the 224 students who are competing in the 2015 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition. These 224 Mathletes® then vote for one of the four videos to be the winner of the Math Video Challenge. Each member of the winning team receives a college scholarship.