Aspinwalls Abroad: What do we do here??

Okay, so we have been here for 23 days now...about 18% of our stay. So what do we do while we are here? Two young children + one apartment with very few toys= a lot of work and creativity! A little bit about our surroundings. The place we are staying in is called the Wenner-Gren (Winter Green) center,an apartment set up for visiting scientist and professors and such. There are people from all over staying here. Most of the people are here for much longer than we will be. There is a 2 year maximum and many people stay here for the entire length. We are lucky enough to have English speaking neighbors but haven't met too many others yet. We did go to their daughter's b-day party and that was great! The apartment is 4 stories high and shaped like a semi circle. We are E12 on the second floor. We just also happen to be lucky enough to be above a workshop. That means my kids' pounding and stomping is not on someone else's head!! (Maybe they planned this placement!) In the center of the apartment is a nice grass area with tiered hills that are the perfect size for rolling down. There is also a small playground with an impossible ladder to the slide. It has a couple swings, a see saw, jungle gym, and of course, a rocking moose :) And then there is the Olympic sized wading pool. It is a huge cirlce shaped pool about 1-1.5 feet deep. It is usually freezing cold but the kids don't seem to mind. We got them an inflatable boat to play in it so on the days when the sun is hiding they can still get in. I believe it will be an ice skating rink in the winter. There are also "wineberry" bushes (red currant) all around the pool area. My kids LOVE picking and eating them but, wow, are they sour! The area is quite industrial and surrounded by some pretty nasty busy streets. We are also right by the hospital our friend, Robert, works at. We see the helicopter often!! We have discovered a great park just down the road that is within walking distance. Brenna calls this park "Fast Hill Park" because it has a huge slide on a large dirt hill. Brady is banned from the fast slide!! He doesn't slow down and ended up tipping over and hitting his head very hard on the ground...uugghhh! I'm surprised the kid's brain still works! It is not too hard to get around because the public transportation is great. If you have a child in a stroller, buses are free, isn't that nice?! If we take our bus passes and head out, we can jump on the ferry boat and head over to the island, Djurgarden (animal garden) where there is plenty to do! Cats will be showing at the theater. There is the amusement park which we have season passes to. There is an amazing outdoor garden cafe complete with a playground and apple orchard. There is a pick it yourself flower garden that should open this week too. Brenna is dying to go cut her own flowers. There is also Skansen, an outdoor historical museum. It has tons of old houses and structures, playgrounds, and gardens! Great place! However, if you ask the kids what they want to do, they almost always answer Puh Corner (that is the spelling here) which is the playroom down the hall. Easy enough! We can do that even when it is raining, which it does quite often. Overall, there is plenty to do and see. We struggle a bit with the kids learning how to be apartment dwellers but it is getting better. They are starting to look at parts of the apartment as a home rather than jungle gym. Still having trouble with the whole balcony thing. It seems to be much more fun to climb out the kitchen window and run back in through the door than to use the door both ways! It is also a great place to chuck things off or or throw things through the window on to. But small steps :) Today, we are lounging around. Brenna is learning to use a mouse to play games on the computer and Brady is happy watching and telling her what to do next. After they wake up from naps, we will head outside to get tired out again. It is just a nice, cool, cloudy Swedish day!