What a better way to celebrate M's 32nd birthday, than being on the beach in Cancun drinking an umbrella drink? Well.... I can't think of any! Unfortunately this was also the day we left for Toronto

again:-(

V in her new cap, bought at the below mentioned mall. Beside the cap, we didn't buy anything at all, which is remarkable beeing me, the girl with black belt in shopping:-)

Something esle muy romantico....

- the sunset at La Isla Shopping Mall

Mexican restaurant= Mariachi Band!

... they took requests, but I couldn't think of any song with spanish lyrics, so they played us

"algo romantico".

This is me and V at a Mexican restaurant (what a surprise to find that in Mexico:-))in the entertainment district downtown Cancun. This is actually the only meal we had outside the hotel zone, but since the Hotel offered excellent Italian, Argentinian and Japanese food, we didn't mind too much.You get very comfortable and practical when you travelling with a baby who needs to be in bed around a certain time...

V is looking very cocky as she is about to splash her feet into the giant pool - piece of cake for someone who just got used to a bathtub!

Hansson+Palm= Vendela

This can't be a good sign.... V is showing a little bit too much interest for the Corona:-)

A very relaxed V by the pool

A happy girl at the beach

A room with a view!

JW Marriott Resort & Spa from the front, quite a big place

The beach

The part of the Hotel pool where you could overlook the sea and the beach below. Doesn't look too bad, does it? I can tell you it is a pretty good place to relax and to have one or two Frozen Margarithas:-)

Travelling with a baby means a LOT more luggage. Magnus and I shared one suitcase, all the other stuff is for Vendela. The tip money to be paid to the shuttle driver, the bell boy at the Hotel etc. suddenly increased :-)

This was mainly how V spent the flight to Cancun... sleeping tight. Her blanket and her pacifier and she's all set!
On our way.....

We are just home from a week's vacation in Cancun, Mexico. Unfortunately the weather was not as nice as I had hoped for, but it was OK......nice temperatures, pending between 28-32 degrees and 2 sunny days out of 5. The remaining 3 were cloudy. We stayed at the JW Marriott Spa & Resort and if you're ever in Cancun, I'll recommend you to consider staying there.

The fligt to Mexico was like the dress rehearsal for our trip to Sweden with V - but there were no need to worry, she was so nice the whole trip. No crying or fuzzing what so ever!

She totally charmed all the flight attendant staff on board and the other passengers with her smiles and good behaviour. And of course we were very proud parents:-)

Linda, Stefan (former Swede-Torontonian, now living in Boston) and Magnus ... the Swedish Defense trio in the All Star game - World vs. Canada. The World Team won after a hard fight with 6-5 or something like that.

Magnus and I met in one game and then Brandon was kind enough to step in as babysitter - and V really didn't mind - she totally liked him!

The team I played with in Montreal;Girls with Balls, GWB. As you can see, all girls, well except for the goalie - who is obviously a man.

The only picture I managed to get of Johan when he visited us.... and it was taken the night before he left. It's sad.... I know!

Well, time flies and now close to three weeks have past since I last posted anything on the blog and a lot of things happened.... will try not to let it go that long again - sorry folks!

Johan, Magnus friend from Sweden, visited on his way to San Diego. He stayed with us for a week and went with us to Montreal for the Montreal Open Floorball Tournament Nov 11-12. Both Magnus and myself played in the tournament.... Magnus's team went all the way to the Final, while my team, well...... we didn't make it that far:-). But considering the fact that I played in the only women's team, we did heck of an tournament, and at least we got the Sportsmanship Award

We had Sunday Brunch in this really cool restaurant which is a re-built church. As you can see, it's a popular Clarkston spot.

This is Gary with V & Magnus. V totally took on to Gary and now whenever we need a babysitter, all we have to do, is to get in the car and drive down to Clarkston:-)

It is so funny.... you are constantly being reminded that you are in the States- enormous flags every 100 meters and tons of HUGE, white cars. I don't get the thing about white cars, but the North Americans seem to love them.

V in her car seat on her way to Gary's. She was very good the whole 5-hour trip!

The past weekend we went to Clarkston, MI in the US to visit our friend Gary. This was V's first travel with her all new passport, which, by the way, wasn't very easy to get. If I haven't mentioned it before - Canada is incredibly bureaucratic! Dealing with Authorities here, makes you realize that the Swedish system with the personal identification number, isnt't such a bad idea after all.

Anyway, the weeked was very good, and it was so much fun meeting Gary again. Hopefully he will join us in Toronto soon :-)

V from another angle.... still trying

V struggling to reach another milestone; rolling from back to tummy! She hasn't quite got it yet, but I think it is only a matter of days before she hits it. Oh gosh, am I a proud mother:-)!

Once again, Amelia (as Tinker Bell) clapping the beat

How adorable aren't the little angel, Jolly-Ann (I think her name is spelled like this)

& the Smash hit Pumpkin, Brandon?

All the mommies (and actually one Dad & a Grandmother) and their children singing

V with a new buddy:-), supercute little fairy, Ameila

Thursdays now means "Childrens song sing-a-long" at the Swedish church. As earlier posted on this blog, mommies and their children gather to sing, play and fika. Today the event had a Halloween-theme and almost all the children once again had their costumes on.

One happy girl in her cool jeans dress back home from the doctor's office, where we had V's

4-monts check-up including the not so appreciated vaccination shots.

Everything was just fine and she is now a big girl; 5.55 kg and 63.5 cm...

Tall and skinny, really don't know who she got that from:-)

If you look carefully, you'll see a squirrel on this picture...

This is as close as I got before he/she took off up in the tree. Toronto is completely loaded with squirrels and there must be millions of them; in the parks, in the yards, on the road, on the fences, on the wires - yes, pretty much everywhere!

Very exotic isn't it?!

Light red

Deep red

Orange

Green/pink-ish

What I really like about this season is all the amazing colors that you see.

These are some pictures taken during one of our many strolls....

Monday was just lovely, with 16 degrees, clearblue sky and sun. No excuse not doing the garden work required.

Of course I should have taken a Before-picture....so you all can fully understand what a mess it was, but this is the After-picture of our house after 2 hours hard work removing leafs from the garden. I filled 4 big paper bags with leafs from the neighbour's Walnut tree!

V right after her bath - so sweet!

Sunday night, back home and finally get to go back to the routines we have been trying to set up; bath around 6 pm, and then some playing before it's time to hit the bed 7.30-ish

After several "pacifier spit outs" she normally goes into deep sleeping mode 1,5 hours later....

Juha, Jo and myself at the dinner buffet trying to calm V out in the hallway....

she was a little bit cranky towards the end as the picture shows

Magnus and JL Racing Team which is being sponsored by Saab Canada

Praise Saab - Halleluja!

Magnus welcoming everyone to the event and the dinner buffet.

Jo, Juha, Magnus and myself had lunch at the Resort's Pub.... V is now laying down in her stroller:-)

This is one very tired V at lunch....

Magnus in action, showing the car for a potential Saab customer

Jo & Saab 9-3 SportCombi Aero at the lakeside

The resort at Deerhurst (2,5 h North of Toronto) where the Saab Event was held

......and Sunday morning-even more snow!

View from our room, Saturday morning.....

This weekend we were up in the Muskoka region and stayed at the Deerhurst Resort. Saab had a VIP testdrive event at the Resort and around 350 guests enjoyed the cars and the beautiful surroundings. The whole event was great but the weather could have been better... wind, rain and some snow - the ultimate being outdoor weather - not!