My granddad Sven-Hugo turned impressive 90 years old end of July and collected the family in Tällberg to celebrate. Nice get together and nice day. It doesn't happen very often that we meet all together like this, so it was nice to catch up with the family on my mothers side.  We also did a hike and first time testing rodel down the ski-slope in Rättvik.  And while we we here Loren was taking care of the moving chaos in Düsseldorf and coordinating cleaning and last fix with the house.  Professional movers came with mini trucks which of course couldn't fit all our furnitures... To add to the moving stress.. 

It always a good feeling to reach our country-house Lundsätter. It is our creative and relaxed base. Nothing special to anyone else but to us it is all we need to charge batteries and to feel free and in harmony in the middle of the forrest, our rotes.  We met up with our dear friends and have been hanging a lot with them during the summer. In the forrest blueberry picking, sleep-overs, drinking bubbles, adventure pool Lost City, showing the new house, having moving in dinner and pizza, Hemglass, riding lesson and bbq by the lake.  Högsjö beach - who would have know that this summer kids would only manage one swim here because of this summer extra ordinary rainy cool weather. Lundsätter Årets sommarkattunge Smilla på Lundbskog  Skogskul  Bozze i blåbärsskogen Vänner i blåbärsskogen Ridlektion 

  And so came the day when we closed the door to Friederike-Fliedner-Weg 15 in Wittlaer, Düsseldorf for tha last time and started our journey towards new adventures. Yes we are moving "home" to Sweden which of course is not as big of a deal as if we were moving to a new country, but still it is a big change after five years. I have moved back to Sweden a few times before and are very well aware of the reverse cultural crashes and challenges. But first summer-break which will feel like we are just on vacation like any other summer.  Me and kids flew from Düsseldorf to Stockholm where my mother picked us up and we went straight to her idyllic summer-house on the lake. Great relaxing, creative days there for a few days before heading to Lundsätter. 

This weekly update picture collage will only be from P!NK summer carnival concert a big high-light for me and Mila. I bought tickets for Mila's birthday in December and I have been looking forward ever since. I love P!nk and this was my fifth time to see her in concert. It was magical and the audience of 42 000 people in Köln was great. Great time and extra magical that Mila wanted to come with and also enjoyed it.

Great great family summer trip to our beloved Prague. Prague a city close to our hearts. Mila birth place and our hometown for a few years. We have so many walks and memories from this city,  the most beautiful city in Europe.  We had four great warm summer days as tourists all together in the beginning of July. We stayed in a nice clean airbnb apartment in Vinohrady on Luxemburgska. Vinohrady is a very nice neighborhood in Prague 2 with lots of nice cafés, vinoteks, restarurants, brewery bars and other smaller cute places and outside seating. When we were there the weather was perfect sunny and warm with warm evenings to enjoy.  We took the kids to see all the touristic views like Old town square (  Staroměstské náměstí) Charles bridge, Prague Castle,  John Lennon wall, Waldstein Garden etc.  We also too them to some of our favorite places more hidden treasures not full of tourists like Lethna park and Stromovka. We were also happy to visit friends. Great ...

  Saying Aufwiedersehen to classmates, friends and school has been hard especially for Mila. I am proud of her to feel so much and after byes and tears we have had great start of the summer break.  Nice warm weather so we could go swimming. 

Leaving a place is painful and overwhelming especially when it has been your home for so many years. So many memories and childhood memories for the kids. Düsseldorf is a great city and it will forever have a very special place in our hearts. We have met nice forever friends which we will keep and are very happy Düsseldorf made us meet.  Me and Loren had the chance during kids last schooldays to make a last bridge walk and hang out at one of our favorite places, the Bookstore downtown. Emotional and I let myself shed a few tears.  

During week 24 I have been working on preparing thank you gifts for kids teachers and friends. I like to give something symbolic which also can be useful. This year I decided to buy water bottles for the teachers and to make them personalized writing their name and some flowers on them. I bought plain smaller bottles at IKEA. With my Cricut i designed and cut it out of permanent vinyl. With adding vinyl on the bottles, they can only be hand-washed otherwise the vinyl will come off.  After five years in Germany I have gotten so use to saying Frau Janssen rather then using her first name. So I decided that I will use the last name because that is the only name the kids use. Funny how you get use to something that I from the beginning thought was so stupid and old fashion.  When I was playing around with my Cricut I also figured out how to transfer my wine ladies into svg file which is needed so the machine can cut out my illustrations. I did a test with iron on transfer vinyl. I...

End of May beginning of June this wonderful time of the year and it is starting to be more and more emotional and real that we soon will be packing up and leaving. After this very cold spring it is nice to finally warm up and that the pool season has started. Here in Wittlaer Düsseldorf we have a local pool in Kaiserwerth Freibad Flossenweg where we go to swim. On a normal school day in the afternoon it is not too bad with people but on a hot hot weekend it is very crowded. It is kind of funny living in a place where you meet parents from school and neighbors first fully dressed and then undressed in the pool.  One amazing experience was seeing Düsseldorf Tonhalle from inside where Mila and her school together with four other schools in Düsseldorf had a Sing Pause concert. It was magical to hear them all sing in this old planetarium which has been changed into a concert hall.  My Creative work has been focusing on personalizing Art journals. I bought plain brown paper art jour...

Düsseldorf and Wittlaer being our home and everyday life for the past five years are coming to an end. This summer we are moving back to Sweden and Örebro. Many mixed feelings. Five years is a long time. And this is home although of course going to Sweden is going home but very clear when we are flying back to Düsseldorf that this is also home. Our comfort. Our routines and where we belong. Kids were so young when we moved here that they have lives most of their life in Germany. Only gone to school here.  I have used my Düsseldorf illustration a lot on my creations - bags, pencases, earrings etc. and I because they will not sell as well in Örebro. I got a chance to participate at International School of Düsseldorf in Kaiserwerth - the biggest expat/english speaking community. My last market here which feels weird.  My friend will keep my Düsseldorf products and bring them with to markets but without me.