Look at us, all Zen and stuff

A few weeks ago we took an early morning trip into DC to find a little piece of tranquility. Every year in mid-July, the waterlilies and lotuses are at their peak bloom at the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Northeast DC. It's actually quite amazing that such a peaceful and beautiful place can be tucked away in a not-so-beautiful-or-peaceful neighborhood.

We were in the middle of a heat wave-- we're talking temps in the high 90s with loads of humidity. This prompted me to dawn my over-sized hat and sunglass combo, which Mattias says makes me look like some kind of displaced celebrity in the pic below.

Leaving the house at 8AM on a Sunday was no joke, but it was worth it because the lighting made for some great photos. In some ways, I love the leaves more than the flowers themselves.

Hello water lillies.

Another advantage of being up so early is that there are lots of bugs and wild birds to see.

We took the boardwalk trail out to see the marsh along the Anacostia River. Not many wild bird sightings, but no dead bodies floating down the river either. Linus loved ripping up and down the boardwalk and spotting all the butterflies.

By 10:00 it was already 90 degrees, so we retreated back to the cool of our apartment. Until next year, lotus friends.

Firefly Fest

A couple of weeks ago we went to Arlington's 2nd annual Firefly Fest, which was put together by one of the local nature centers in the area. The idea was to come and learn about bugs, let the kids run around, set up a picnic, and wait for the glowing critters to make their appearance. It just so happened to be our 6th wedding anniversary.

The event took place at a Civil War fort turned park. Linus got to spotting bugs right away.

There was a talk about fireflies followed by marshmallow roasting. Linus loved to watch the big fire, and us adults learned a few things, too. 1)Fireflies are poisonous. 2)That's why birds don't eat them even though they're easy to spot. 3)Fireflies and spiders are the only other bugs that eat fireflies.

We set up picnic with a view of the meadow. I can honestly say that kidlets outnumbered grownups at this event.

Here we are waiting for the show to begin.

As the sun set we sat patiently for the supernatural show to begin. And slowly, the blinking yellow-green lights emerged at the edge of the meadow and spread across in a quiet symphony of bioluminescence.

We like the fireflies because they signify warm summer nights and late sunsets. Lucky for us our little bug glows all year round.

Paradise Found

Way back in February, in the midst of Snowmageddon, I began to dream of turquoise waters and warm trade winds. After many hours of Trip Advisor research, purchasing a Lonely Planet Caribbean Islands guide book, and consulting with the other 4 Karlssons, we decided on a one week getaway to the Turks and Caicos Islands. Most people we told said "Turks and what?!?"

So on June 30th we got up for a 6AM flight and made the trek to a tiny island in the Atlantic. Linus did great, as a seasoned traveller, and we were prepared with all the tricks of the trade: 1) Elmo DVDs 2) Favorite blanket 3) Pacifier on a tether. The 4th picture of Linus sleeping on pappa makes me fall in love with Mattias every time I look at it :)


After just over 6 hours of travel we were delivered to the Northwest Point Resort on Providenciales Island. While most tourists stay on famous Grace Bay beach, we elected a more isolated resort on the northwestern tip of the island.

Our two bedroom, 2 bath, ocean view suite was spacious and conducive to relaxation. Check out the view from our patio!

We met this cute little hermit crab who made his home out of a PVC cap. Later on we found a critter on the beach.

We took it easy that first day and walked out to the beach in front of our resort at sunset. Not another soul around (if you don't count the 2 resident brown pelicans). Kerstin and Magnus seemed pretty content.

The next day, Magnus woke up with a horrible tooth ache. Luckily the island dentist was happy to see him right away. So after breakfast on the patio, we packed the car, drove downtown to drop Magnus off at the dentist, and hit the beach.

Magnus was treated promptly and walked down to Grace Bay to meet us.

Dentist, check. Beach, check. That was about as productive as us Karlssons get, so we headed back to home base for Linus' nap and cooked up a tasty grilled filet mignon dinner.

The next day Mattias and I left Linus with farmor and farfar, and took a half day snorkeling trip with Caicos Dream Tours.

There's nothing like sailing on a catamaran while listening to reggae music. They took us to see remote islands made of limestone, then we stopped near the reef for some pretty amazing snorkeling. Then, they kicked us off the boat to hunt for our lunch: wild conch.

Captain Sean a.k.a. "Spliff" prepared conch ceviche for the group, but gave Mattias a special conch sashimi preparation.

We strolled along the beach and marveled at the seemingly never-ending sandbar.

Just a couple of days later, bad luck hit Magnus again when he pulled a muscle in his back and became bed bound. It was so bad that he didn't leave the bed for 24 hours (those bottles next to the lamp aren't lemonade, if ya know what I mean.)

With Magnus in bed, we took a quick trip to another secluded beach, just 5 minutes from our resort.

Here's a shot of the dirt road back to the resort, and all the treasures I found beach combing.

Mattias had some fun with his new hobby: being a bird papparazzo. Below are a Yellow Crowned Night Heron and an Osprey taking off.

The Smooth Billed Ani (member of the cuckoo family) was Linus' favorite since it nested outside of our condo. Here is just one of the many Brown Pelicans on the island.

Sopadilla Bay was one of our favorite beaches, we dubbed it the "Kiddie Pool Beach". The depth of the water was only 1-1.5 feet for about 100 yards out, and there were no waves (just gentle little ripples.) We had the entire beach all to ourselves.

Linus got to rip around the water safely, while we all bummed around.

Mattias and I returned one night to watch the sunset. How romantic...

One of the advantages of being away from the crowd was that we were close to local gems, like Da Conch Shack. Rum punch, conch fritters, and a good time are what this joint is known for.

We sampled their specialty, conch ceviche. Mattias cries after tasting a spoon of habanero pepper, which Linus thought was pretty funny.

They sold beautifully polished conch shells on the beach, where we found the guy who processes the conchs. Let's call him the "concher".

All this on a beautiful piece of beach. If I lived here, I might name my boat "Thanks God", too.

I don't think I need to provide anymore photographic evidence of how beautiful this place is. But what we couldn't capture in our pictures is how relaxed we all were, despite the illnesses and stress of international travel.