To have had a wonderful summer

It's been a bit quiet here...but not in real life. We just got back from a great summer holiday, three weeks in Sweden. I'm lucky to have been able to take three weeks of holiday in a row, not many Brits do or can. The weather was fantastic and we managed to meet up with over 30 friends and family. We spent most of the time on our island, and then a weekend in Gothenburg having fun at Liseberg with the favourite cousin.

Hope it won't be too long until we're back again. Missing Sweden already...

To have a cousin

What a surprise! M didn't know her cousin, and my brother, was going to visit as we kept it a secret - oh the happiness when they saw each other again. The school holiday week went so quickly but we managed to fit in a lot of fun, once again exploring our own city.

Love.

We met Anna at the Disney Store!

One can never have too many soft toys on a double decker.

Girlie stuff from Lush (who can resist these colourful bath bombs) and Cath Kidston.

To have a Funday

Today was the day - the sing-along adventure. We went to Leicester Square and Prince Charles cinema to watch and to sing along to the favourite film Frozen. We all got a party bag with soap bubbles, party poppers, crowns and grey balloons (the trolls...). And then we sang our hearts out!

But first lunch with M's Portuguese grandparents to celebrate grandmother's birthday. M's friend joined us for the day too. A glorious day in many ways with lots of sunshine and (Frozen) fun - summer has arrived in London. 

Two very excited girls all prepared for the big sing-along.

Nothing beats boredom whilst waiting for the train as a good old game of scissors - rock - paper...

Portuguese food went down a treat.

To have another London adventure

Another month has passed and M is now on Easter holidays. My mum and dad were here for a week and it went far too quickly. Luckily I had planned a big day out in central London the day after they went back to Sweden in order to cheer ourselves up and we went to see Matilda the Musical. It was brilliant (even if I'm not usually a big fan of musicals) and it was the first musical for M.  Elsa from the "Frozen" film decided to come along too...(a Disney Store visit was included in today's adventure).

Already got the next adventures planned - a sing-along - and then we've got visitors from Sweden so we'll explore a bit more of London again then. And still have 6 days left of the holidays, I'm sure we can fit in a museum or gallery visit.

To have a dress up day

It's the World Book day today and everyone at school, including the teachers, were asked to come in dressed up as their favourite book character. It was a great atmosphere in the school yard this morning and we saw some amazing creations.

M wanted to dress up as Alice in Wonderland, and we thought the Swedish "Madicken" pinny would do for the dress and pinny Alice look. Her friends were Merida and the Black Cat. 

Growing up in Sweden some of the book characters are not familiar to me but I'm sure I'll learn through M.

To read

I love to read. Nothing beats a good book and this is something I really want to pass on to M, my love of books, all sorts. I remember reading everything I could find, from a very young age, trawling through my parents' books, my grandparents' and so on. I remember the fairy tales, and I remember reading Roald Dahl. So even if we can do most things on an ipad, or a Kindle, it really can't really beat a "proper" book. When I saw the special edition of The Brothers Grimm's fairy tales, with fantastic illustrations, I had to order it for M. It arrived today and she was delighted, as I had hoped.

As I'm also still on a mission to make the most of London, I booked tickets for Matilda the Musical as an Easter treat - and so we are as prepared as possible, I also ordered the book Matilda.

Think I'm as excited as M.

To celebrate a dad

M made the best birthday present for her dad, a "birthday bunting",  and she did it all by herself, I only needed to help when it was time to hang it up. The birthday was on Tuesday but we had the Portuguese family around yesterday (Saturday) for dinner. Think this is a keeper, to hang up every time we have a birthday in the family, until M tells us not to...