"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability." ~Sam Keen

Hello everyone! OK, I blame the lack of posting on crappy internet as well as a case of summer is here-itis! haha, everyone here has it and it leads to swimming in the lake, going to bed early and lots of sweating in the hot shop... in general exhaustion/having fun!  So, here I am to update you... finally.

The Karl Lagerfeld/Orrefors collections has been released (sadly in France, so I didn't get to see Karl):

http://www.orrefors.com/news/cat/press/post/now-launching-karl-lagerfelds-first-collection-for-orrefors/

and here you can see some of the pieces:

http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/110608-karl-lagerfeld-glassware-collection/gallery.aspx

This past weekend was a long holiday weekend for everyone in Sweden and Kirsten and I went to visit my Aunt, Uncle and cousins at their summer house on the coast!  It was wonderful, as Kirsten said you revert back to your 10 year old self, ruled by your stomach instead of time and filling the day with only fun things.  

We went on boat rides with Anders (my uncle):

 Had coffee in the garden in the wonderful, warm sunshine:

 Went kayaking with Magnus (oldest cousin):

 He brought down 2 sea kayaks and I went out with him on Friday around some of the islands.

 Anders was very concerned about my safety and came to check up on us in the boat... you can see us straight ahead of the boat really tiny.

 Kirsten and I stayed in the barn and here she is walking up to the main house for dinner one day:

 The sunset:

 We laid on the pier everyday after breakfast enjoying the sun and sounds of little waves.

 Saturday Hans (middle cousin) decided to try the kayak with Magnus, here he is getting the feel of it on the land first:

 lookin' like a pro so far...

 Then he rowed out, starting yelling about how he didn't know how to turn and next thing we know he flipped over and started yelling about how cold the water was!  I think the water was around 14C (57F) this day:

 So, big brother Magnus rowed out and saved him:

 Kirsten and I did some rowing around also, she was much better at rowing in a straight line then I was!

 We played Kubb in the yard.  Sarah (Hans' fiancée) kicked all of our asses! 

 Hans grilled ribs Saturday night, they were SO GOOD!

 We ate tons of good food, you can always count on good food with this family.  Here we have ribs, grilled corn, cole slaw and bacon wrapped prunes and goat cheese! An amazing feast prepared by Hans and Sarah:

 Sunday it was a bit colder and we had wrap up in our blankets to lay on the pier:

 And Bjorn (youngest cousin, my age) and Magnus went kayaking:

 Kirsten and I spent a lot of the weekend playing with 3 nails and 3 rocks.  It is similar to tic-tac-toe except once you have laid down each of the pieces you can move them around to try to get 3 in a row.  We also played the game on the right where you pull up the colored pieces and try not move the spring board.  

 This is the sky around 11 at night... pretty bright!! 

 Saturday night I even did the sauna! I went to Bjorn and Kirsten, and thought I was going to die.  They had the temperature around 80-85C (176-185F) in the sauna and then we jumped in the sea which was around 15C (59F) THREE TIMES!!! I couldn't sit in the sauna as long as them and kept having to go out and get some air which was a bit embarrassing, but it was my first time.

 Here is the main house:

 Hans and Sarah in the hammock from NC:

 Monday was Sweden's National Day, everyone forgot except Kirsten who reminded us at lunch! We learned from the encyclopedia that it had something to do with some king getting voted into power in the 1800s and something else that I forgot...  After lunch we went for a boat ride around the islands and since it was the National Day the boat got the Swedish flag.  So here is our Norwegian celebrating Sweden:

 We climbed to the top of a big island and took in the view:

 This was at the top of the island, it is a beacon they light up as a warning of the Russians coming or something.

 After the boat ride Kirsten and I went home tan and very happy! I even got a new sundress:

I think this is the tannest I have ever been by June! Who would have thought I would get this tan in Sweden of all places... ah, the life of a student!!!

I will fill you in soon on what has been happening in school this week I promise!