Anything that works...

To get your three year old to brush her teeth can be challenging... Good thing a three year old monster is more cooperative...

And suddenly it's autumn...

The summer came to a fast end. The heat and the endless, bright nights turned into windy, chilly, rainy ones. The girls grew enormously during the summer and it seems more like they're a year older than only a few months since spring...

 My big girls playing "mamma, pappa, barn" (mum, dad, child)

Andréa started a new group for older children at the daycare and this means we don't need to bring her stroller every day and it's so nice to be able to cycle with the girls to and from daycare. Lovisa has a new big bike and she's been practicing to start and stop on her own and now she's getting the hang of it...

 Andréa on Lovisa's old bike...

 A happy soon to be 5-year-old!

One thing that is a sure sign that autumn has arrived is the yearly "surströmmingsskiva" at dads place that took place yesterday. "Surströmming" is the very special fermented herring that smells so bad that I can't take it in my mouth. But a party is always nice and the girls played with their cousin, I took a nice sauna and did my best to stay away from the party tent that smelled of that fermented herring...

 Three party girls at dad's place...

Another sign of autumn are the daycare infections... This time Lovisa came down with a cold so instead of going to a wedding Lovisa and me are home today. To comfort ourselves we made a mug-cake in the microwave. Good, fast and very chocolaty! And hopefully very effective against nasty colds...

June and July check-up or how to lose your marathon shape in less than 2 months...

We've really had the most amazing summer. Hot, warm and beautiful. Imaging all the kilometers I could have run if my body didn't fail me... For so it did. I thought everything was fine after the marathon.  I felt a bit worn of course, my body aching here and there but that's normal after your first marathon. Then about a week after the marathon I ran to work one early morning and felt pretty OK. But during the day a weird pain in my right hip started to make it entrance and little did I know that that pain was here to stay. It increased during the day and finally it hurt for every step I took. Stupid and impatient me didn't want to realize that this probably had something to do with all my running so instead of resting I went running again a couple of days later. Just 17 km... And then the pain increased again. So the vacation has been a lot about resting from running, doing lot's of strength training (a lot and a lot but more than usual anyway) focusing on my core and trying to run little, a little bit more and being disappointed again when the pain keeps coming back...

I finally went to see a physiotherapist and now I have a plan. I do exercise to strengthen my core and my hip everyday, I cycle to work every day to keep up my shape but I have to admit I really miss running. So much that I think I'm a little bit depressed. Because it's hard to go from marathon shape to limping from one day to the other... The upside of this misery is that I've come to realize that running is so much more than just running. You have to be really strong from the inside and out and there's no shortcuts. So now I'm working on becoming so strong that I'm going to be able to run again. Without pain and with that great feeling that I could just keep on running forever... Here's my training in June and July:

January: 104 km

February: 139,2 km

March: 204,2 km, cycling 14,9 km

April: 178,1 km, cycling 267,6 km

May: 244 km, cycling 237,3 km

June: 67,6 km, cycling 327 km

July: 42,9 km, cycling 149,9 km

Total running during 2014: 979,9 km. Cycling: 996,5 km

It's boring to be injured, not being able to do what you love. It sucks to feel that your body is not capable enough. The day I can run without no pain I'm going to be so grateful. I keep these pictures from Stockholm marathon, that beautiful day in May, close to my heart:

With an amazing feeling somewhere during the first half of the marathon...

The last meters with the goal in sight on Stockholm stadion

Our vacation in pictures...

We arrived in Montreal the 28th of June and the flight went fine. OK, I admit it's not fun to spend 14 hours with a 3 and a 4-year-old on a flight but we survived... In Montreal we stayed in our old house and got to spend some quality time with one of H:s sisters and her daughter and I had time to see my old friends from my maternity leave time in Montreal...

 Montreal was hot!

Dear old friends. The youngest one sleeping in the stroller...

After 5 days in Montreal we hit the road towards Sept-Iles. A trip that would be more adventurous than we could ever imaging...

 Breakkie in the car!

 Our idea to take a detour to check out the magnificant Percé rock could have costed us a lot. We got stuck in the storm "Arthur" but luckily got out of it still in one piece...

Stuck in "Arthur" I'm trying to sing louder than the ocean... Hard task...

Once safe in Sept-Iles we were reunited with H:s mother and siblings. The weather was once again amazing and we enjoyed seeing our big, lovely family... Sorry for all the beach pictures, we just couldn't get enough!

 Dad snuggles

Beach hang-out with parts of H:s family...

 Sisters on the beach...

 Fixing desert with aunt Lynda...

And just like that 1,5 weeks past and it was time to say goodbye and travel back to Montreal. With tears in our eyes we kissed, hugged and waved au revoir...

 Looking for whales in Les Escoumins on our way back to Montreal

 Indian art among the rocks...

 Girlpower!

Holding hands...

We finally arrived in Sweden the 21st of July. Exhausted, jet-lagged and with a lot of emotions and new experiences (especially for the girls)... Quebec you're forever in our hearts. Au revoir.

Hello from Quebec!

From cold Swdish June to warm, stormy, rainy, sunny and beautiful Quebec! Vive le vacances!

Its absolutely wonderful to see our big family, meet old friends and smell the fresh air coming in from the ocean. The girls are enjoying every moment and their favourite place is without a doubt the beach and despite the cold water they cant get enough of it...

Swedish midsummer...

Suddenly summer disappeared almost as fast as it struck us and along with the cold weather came midsummer week with summerparty at the daycare and after strawberry cake with two happy girls.

And Midsummer Eve was no better weather-wise; windy, chilly and cold. But that doesn't really matter when you spend it in good company with good food and drinks, happy children and lot's of laughter. And of course with the Swedish flag raised...

The traditionally lunch: pickled herring, new potatoes and the Swedish "nubbe" - wihoooo!

Now we're counting down for vacation, in less than a week we're leaving for Canada!!!

Back to the roots...

After another hectic week the girls and me took of to Värmland on Friday. We hit the road early and arrived in my hometown just before lunchtime. I had a date with my former colleague and boss at my first job at Karlskoga hospital. Entering this place makes me feel sentimental and happy, here I took the first steps in my career, I started my research and this is also the place where Andréa was born little over three years ago. This was a fantastic place to have as a first workplace and I learned so much and have so many good memories a lot thanks to this special and amazing woman:

After a nice lunch at the hospital we went to my sisters place where we stayed the whole weekend. We spent time with the family, ate good food, watched the kids play and enjoyed each others company. On Saturday we visited "Lunedet". We had a lovely lunch, the girls and my mother played in the park and the girls tried out the water temperature... A bit to cold for the mothers though...

Now we're home again, tired but happy. Lovisa just fell asleep way to late and the reason for that is according to herself "when you've had so much fun a whole weekend it's impossible to just fall asleep!". Maybe so but I don't think it's going to be a problem for me...