Church

On Sunday, we headed to an "open air" church service, held inside a local castle's chapel. This privately own castle is not open to the public but one day a year when the owners graciously allow a local pastor to host a special service. The mainly poetry and music service was followed by coffee and home made treats, as well as chances to win prized. Luisa walked away with the first prize and happily shared her loot with her two cousins.

Weaponry

The boys spent a lot of time building and creating out of scrap that they found. When the cousins came back for a quick overnight visit, the large mobile catapult became an instant attraction and also provided a great setting for a fun cousin picture.

work projects

Bob finally joined us at Larsboda and they boys were of course ecstatic, wanting to show him all the many great and fun things there is to do. Lukas had high hopes that Dad would work magic on the boat engine, alas, Bob quickly realized it was outside of his abilities, especially without manuals and internet suggestions.

In working with the desire to instill a strong work ethic in the boys and an attitude of serving, Bob looked around for a few projects that we, ehm I mean the boys, could take on.

First off was building a shelter for the firewood. Using branches from the woods, scraps and left over building materials the three Severinghaus guys quickly fashioned a nice, covered shelter for both lawn mower and fire woods.

While Bob was examining the boat engine, he could not help but notice that the oars were in need of some TLC. He carefully and diligently spent hours with sand paper and a small sander sanding off years and years of wear and then sealed the oars with two coats of varnish, putting on the last coat as we loaded the car to head to Stockholm and our plane.

Bob also took on the larger project of repainting some of the house - primarily trim on the main building. Soapy water, hoses, brushes and scrapers prepared the trim for a shiny coat of bright white paint. Bob worked hard and did not let the less than ideal weather conditions stop him from completing the task. The main building now has bright white trim again.

Gone fishing

The boys took every opportunity to try their luck at fishing. There were late evening fishing on the dock, fishing expeditions with the boat and even early early morning gatherings on the dock. Unfortunately, none of these yielded anything worthy of picture or suitable for a meal. However, it did not seem to bother the budding fishermen one bit.

Eco friendly boating

Since the motor boat was not working, the boys turned to kayaks.  Noah and Lukas both explored the Baltic by kayak, although Mamma did not capture all the moments. The first thing the boys did with Bob when he arrived was heading out for a long kayak trip, exploring the nearby islands. Lots of fun and great exercise, there were quite a few sore arms the next day. :-)

Boat adventures

The motor boat was a big draw for Lukas, who organized a fishing trip for all his cousins, offering to take them by boat to an island. Before he knew it, he had all his cousins signed up, maxing out the boat, but also super sizing the fun.
The fishing competed with the excitement of island exploration so there were no big catch to fry up.

Another day, Lukas and Noah along with their morfar headed out for some boating. Unfortunately, the finicky engine finally gave out and the boat along with its crew was towed back to shore by good friends in a large, fast boat. An adventure that will surely become a oft recalled memory of this trip.

Despite all of Lukas' efforts, creative ideas and careful trouble shooting, the engine would not start again and the boating chapter of the trip finished. Fortunately there are so many fun things to do, that it did not really matter.

In and on the Baltic

Lukas and Noah did not seem to notice that the water temperature was a bit cool... With their cousins they explored the little bay swimming and paddling the surfboard around.