Sportlov

For a week in the spring all Swedish kids have time off school for Sportlov.  Sportlov is a week when parents are supposed to get their children outside and moving.  Many families head north to ski.  In fact, so many head to the slopes, I've heard that the towns in Sweden stagger their Sportlovs so that the ski areas aren't overwhelmed. 

But for those to stay in town, there are plenty of things to do.  The newspaper has a whole Sportlov insert with lists and lists of activities available for children.  Almost all are free.  You can try tennis or karate or dance.  One movie theater had movies playing every day - at 10am one for 3-4 year olds, at 11am one for 5-7 year olds, etc.  Every day of the week!  The options for what to do are endless. 

Here we are hanging out, reading books at the bookstore. 

And after exploring town a little we stopped for smoothies. 

On of the toy stores had a scavenger hunt around town.   There is a series of books written by a local auther about a brother and sister duo who have various adventures around Lund.  The scavenger hunt led us to many of the places mentioned in the book.  It was a fun way to learn about town.  

Here is the Estonia House.  

The Grand Hotel was one stop in the scavenger hunt.  The wonderful man behind the desk stopped what he was doing to take my girls on a tour of the hotel.  When we first arrived in town we'd stayed in the Grand Hotel for a very brief visit.  But it wasn't until the hunt that we found out there is an old movie theater in the hotel and a pool table area. 

The toy store, at the end of our hunt.  We got prizes! 

It was sunny for a couple of the days and the girls set up outside. 

Eventually they changed into their bathing suits.  Don't be fooled.  They look all summery 

but it was FREEZING! 

Even the blankets didn't seem warm enough - it was pretty cold out there! 

Playing soccer (football) in our backyard.