Björnåsa

This weekend we went to Björnåsa, the Marcelius' (my host family's) summer home in the northern part of the archipelago. We parked the car on the mainland and took a boat over to the island the house is on (just a 5 minute boat ride). It is beautiful out there! And in typical swedish style, the first thing we did when we got their was fika (coffee/pastry break) on their deck overlooking the water.

After fika Cajsa taught me how to make swedish äppelpaj,  (I'm going to let you guess what that one means), with apples from their tree. Then we hunted for chanterelles (kantareller) to cook for dinner (turns out I am a good forager! I found like 10 mushrooms at least). After that we went on a walk through the woods to the other side of the island, where we skipped rocks ("throw sandwiches" in Swedish?) and I taught Theodore and Oliver how to whistle with grass. They loved that.

After dinner we played "Fotboll" on the grass by the water just as the sun was setting. Mats (the dad) and I lost to Theodore and Oliver.

This morning we picked more apples and plums from their trees so Cajsa could make apple sauce and plum marmalade. Then I attempted to waterski in the Baltic Sea, but my muscles did not agree with the 57 degree F water, so it did not work out well. Cajsa was able to wakeboard though! Then we played another game of Fotball and went home.

Once we were home I helped Cajsa make the apple sauce and marmalade, which was surprisingly easy. Then she and I went on a 5k run through the forests by their house. There are marked jogging paths with 5 different distances (each one has different colored arrows showing you the way).

We got home to a fully prepared meal of lobster, crab, shrimp, bread with cheese, and of course, plums.

All in all it was a fabulously quaint and swedish weekend.