This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

This day was great too! The summer’s been here for three days now and I don’t think I ever will get enough. I’m living in paradise!

The day started at Moonlight beach for a few hours with Moa and Mom. Everyone was in the water except Moa and I’m proud of mom, she is a really big “badkruka” and never goes into the water. I don’t know how many degrees the ocean is here but it’s not too warm. It is the big Pacific Ocean. It is very nice anyway and I love being in the water even though it stings in my eyes. But I think I will get used to it eventually.

After a little more than three hours it was too much for mom. She is not used to this strong sun so we moved on to eat some Froyo. We said goodbye to Moa and then drove to Torrey Pines State Reserve. We parked at the bottom of the mountain and walked up and when we got there we realized we could have parked at the top. But I’m glad we didn’t, if we did we wouldn’t have taken that nice walk at the beach on the way back.

The trail was about a mile long and that was perfect. My feet didn’t hurt, even in my tiny sandals. The rock formations were pretty and the ocean was always in our view. We didn’t see any sea lions though. I think my LCC told me there were sea lions there. Äh, Doesn’t matter. I will see them in La Jolla soon enough anyway.

I couldn’t take any photos at all today so mom took them all with her super awesome (and big) camera. My phone broke yesterday and didn’t want to charge again. So I left it at the repair shop but they couldn’t pix it this time. It is there over night and they are gonna look more into it tomorrow but they’ll probably not find a solution. So I think mom has to leave her old phone here and I will buy an adapter so I can use my micro SIM card. So typical; I’ve never had any troubles with my phones and now, when I bought it on Amazon (it was a new one) last year without warranty, well of course it breaks! I want to buy a new one but I don’t think the deal with my dad is still on. He usually buys me a new phone and takes my old one…

Right now I’m borrowing mom’s new phone so I am reachable, but I still feel naked without MY phone :(.

For dinner we had leftovers and then watched The Best and Exotic Marigold Hotel and ate chips and dip. I really hope the foodbaby will disappear till the beachvolley tomorrow morning, haha! The movie was a real feel-good movie and very good.

This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

My first day with mom is already over and it was a really nice one. The weather was perfect and we did a lot of things. First we went to Carlsbad outlet mall where we both got a pedicure, so now my feet are super pretty again. We also did a little shopping. I bought a beach dress from Tommy Hilfiger and mom bought a pair of sandals.

Directly after we drove to Fashion Valley to have a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. We didn’t have any cheesecake after which was fail, but I was so full! Then a little more shopping. Mom had forgotten her bikini top in Sweden so she needed one like right away. First she found one at Macy’s but then two way better at H&M. So now she is ready for a few hours at the beach tomorrow.

Todays big thing started at 7:10 pm and it was tough driving in the middle of the event in downtown San Diego but I did it and we only missed the 1^st inning. Right when we sat down in Petco Park someone behind me said my name. Who at that game would know me? I turned around and a man and his wife looked at me asking me if I was Alexandra. When I said yes he showed me a note on the back on my set with my name on it. Inside it said: Congratulations! You have won a free gift!

It turned out to be a big t-shirt, a perfect sleep shirt. What are the odds of being one of 30,656 to get a free t-shirt? And on my first baseball game ever?

We didn’t understand much in the beginning of the game, but we were guessing a lot and in the end I was really enjoying the game and understood when something good happened and I understood what would happen depending on how the pitcher threw. I think I will study the rules and go to another game, it was fun!

After 3,5h it was over and Padres won by 6-3 and did a homerun! It should have been two, but I don’t understand why one of them didn’t count. The dodger player complained that the ball got stock in the fence and couldn’t get it out. But isn’t that kinda the same as when it goes out of the field and in the audience?

Then we took a short trip over the bridge to Coronado to see the skyline of San Diego. It was foggy tonight so it wasn’t as beautiful as it usually is…

It’s been a long but nice day, and I have almost three more weeks of this. Awesome! 🙂

Mom’s camera didn’t feel like cooperating or something so it put whole of San Diego downtown on fire. I really liked the pictures though!

I feel like a little girl! I met my mom for the first time in 163 days (5 months and 12 days) and even though I know she is asleep in my bed downstairs I still find it hard to believe. And it is so weird seeing her here, my “old” life mixing together with my new one. When I was driving off the freeway at exit La Costa Avenue and she was there beside me, oh my god it was weird. But I’m so happy. I want to show her everything at once, all the pretty clothes I’ve bought, my souvenirs so far, I want to show her a lot of places and tell her all about my new life here. I want to introduce her to my new friends and all the beaches. I really feel like a little girl again and I love that! I’ve missed her so much and these three weeks are gonna go by so fast, and I can’t wait for all the fun things we are going to do and see!

The fun begins tomorrow with a pedicure after a long good night of sleep. After that, and if we have time I might show her the pool and then we are gonna have an early dinner in San Diego and then watch a baseball game!

My day was awesome. It started at the gym with Moa and I got a lot of free help from my PT since he thought I had another session after the last. He is so nice! Then we took her car and drove to Ponto Beach where we spent the rest of the day. It was a wonderful day, blue sky, a cool sea breeze and around 75F. We went in the water and it was as much fun as Sunday. But before too long we saw seagulls picking in Moa’s bag eating her crackers so we had to rush up and scare them away. We both were super tired after the gym so I just played one game of beach volleyball (really badly too) but I was a personal coach for Moa and taught her the basic of a bagger and finger set. She is gonna go far this year ;).

I am super tired now, but at the same time too excited to go to sleep. So I think I will just stay here in bed watching a movie and eating Swedish candy!

…but not forever, just for a month.  The Big goodbye isn’t schedule for another seven months, luckily. I just said goodbye to the kids and even if I knew it was only for a month they almost made me feel like it was forever. So many hugs, kisses and I-love-you’s. It’s gonna be so weird not being with them for so long and I’m gonna miss them so much! But I’m not gonna lie, it’s also gonna be very nice with some vacation. I haven’t had more than two weeks in a row for at least two years! And the au pair job is harder than it looks.

Today was a really long day, twelve hours of work but it included a lot of variation so that was nice. It started with a little shopping for the girl, she wanted to buy a pair of Converse and we found a very cute dark blue pair at the outlet mall. After that a trip to the library to return all the books we borrowed last week. Then I drove the girl to a playdate and me and the boy were outside in the afternoon. He was playing with the kid next door. And later in the afternoon he went to a short playdate with his best friend. Soon thereafter I had to pick up the girl and her friend from soccer practice, drive the friend home, pick up the boy and then drive home.

Now I am so tired and will go to bed right away!

This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

Before I write about todays awesomeness I realized today that I totally forgot to write about something else awesome that happened last week, on my fifth montheversary. Nine days ago the girl and all the other fifth graders from her school at the beach, having a beach party. I was sitting there and watching her. And when I was watching the big waves I saw a huge dolphin jumping like 1m above the wave. It was not just me that was impressed beyond measures, everyone else that saw it was shouting stuff like: ”OH MY GOD!! DID YOU SEE THAT?!” Of course I took out my camera and wanted to catch it on film, but it only happened one time more and that was of course in between my films. It was still amazing and I’ve never seen anything like it!

And now about today. My Sunday started at Moonlight Beach at 9:30 am when I was leaving firewood at one of the firepits to make sure I had it in the evening, drove back home, skyped with my mom and then went to the gym. After that I picked up Sarah and then Daniela. When I drove to Daniela my GPS wanted me to go on a tiny tiny road with a lot of big holes and bumps. It wasn’t even asphalt. Horrible!

Finally off to the beach, we arrived at 4:30pm and I was super lucky with a parking spot. But when we got there someone else had put his firewood at our pit. But after a little talking they went away and took another one and we still had the one closest to the ocean.

Right away me, Sarah and Jessica went into the water. First time this year and I’m embarrassed it took this long… At first the water was super cold and I couldn’t understand why there were so many people in the water. But after a short while it was nice and we were jumping around in the waves. I dived in the waves and my hair is all salty now. I love it!! Unfortunately it smells like smoke…

Everyone was there at 6pm nad we started the fire and grilled our marshmallows. I tried doing a few S’mores but I think I like the marshmallows just like they are more. But it was still very good!

When the sun was setting Moa got restless and really wanted to play some beach volleyball. But forgetful me totally forgot to bring my ball. But we could borrow one from some guys that were sitting next to us. Me, Moa, Karin, Victoria, Sarah and Giorgia played until we couldn’t even see the ball and it was so much fun.

The last hours of the evening we spent right by the fire continuing grilling the marshmallows, talking and constantly saying that we couldn’t believe that that was really happening. It was a magical evening! In total we were about 10 au pairs. We have to do this more often!

Yesterday I played beach volleyball at Ponto beach. It was not many people there and I played really badly until the last two games. My serve was awesome, floaters for once! Directly me and Sarah went to Carlsbad State beach (the beach north of Ponto) to go to my LCC meeting. Talked a little with the other two girls there and then sat down at the beach watching the surf contest (that’s very California apperantly). It was the Annual Carlsbad Beach Fest and it was a very nice event. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my sunscreen and we had to buy firewood for today so we only stayed for an hour.

I will probably miss the next meeting and the meeting after that in August will be stand up paddling. I’m really looking forward to it!

Carlsbad Beach Fest. Carlsbad. This was the first time for me at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas but I will definitely hang out there more from now on, it was a very nice beach!

I had a great evening with four other au pairs girls. First we met up at IKEA to eat the Swedish midsommer smörgåsbord. It was as good as the Easter buffe, but I was dissapointed in the dessert, they didn’t have any delicato chocolate balls! It was nice anyway and especially since majority of us weren’t Swedish.

After we decided to do something so we drove to Fashion Valley, apperantly there is a movie theatre there. I had no idea! We wanted to see This is the End but it was sold out so we saw Epic. I really wanted to see that one so I was satisfied, it was a cute movie! But when we bought the tickets the girl who was selling us the tickets told us: ”are you sure you want to buy those, it’s a childrens movie”. But in fact, almost everyone in the room were adults.

This morning the kids’ mom took them to the dentists and after that the boy had a playdate almost all of the afternoon so me and the girl played a lot of battleship. She was really good at it and won big time! When the boy was back home we made Fathers Days cards and then I drove all the way down to IKEA without the GPS. *proud*

This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

On my way to the airport I saw this registration plate. In Swedish it’s hilarious: Fjärta saker! I can’t believe we only paid $250 per person flight+hotel. Renaissance Hotel downtown was awesome! View from our room. Big Matt’s Breakfast. The place itself wasn’t so special but the food was yummy. Scottsdale
Scottsdale Fashion Square. A really nice shopping mall. Tempe (pronounced Tempee) was a really nice town just outside of Phoenix (or maybe it was part of Phoenix, I don’t know). It was pretty and they had a lot of bars. Chase Field right after a baseball game. Diamondbacks vs San Fransisco. This is a funny story. We were told Selena Gomez was the cause of this mob. So that’s what we told people that asked us. After ten minutes s guy asked a girl just in front of us who it was, and she told a completely different name, she was in the musical Wicked, don’t remember the name. So embarrassing!! A two hour walk from the light rail station to the Desert Botanical Garden. Not ten as the guy at Starbucks said… Finally we got there!! I am still super amazed by all the hummingbirds here. This one was drinking from a tiny waterfall in the park. A lot of green trees everywhere. Alice Cooperstown. From the outside it didn’t look like much but it was cool inside. Kinda lika Hard Rock Cafe with signed guitars on the wall and so on. But it was more like a sportsbar with really big flat screen TVs showing the baseball game. The food was really good!

This is where we spent our last three hours in Phoenix. The weather was perfect, 105F, low humidity. In the shadow looking at hummingbirds drinking from the fountain. The perfect ending on a very nice weekend in Phoenix!

This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

In exactly seven days my mom will be here. I can’t belive it! It was more than five months ago we said goodbye to each other at the airport in Gothenburg. And when she is back in Sweden again in four weeks, half my time here in the United States is over. And everyone keeps telling me that the last six months goes so fast. And I thought the first six went fast… I’m very excited anyway and I’m really looking forward to spending three weeks with her!

This evening was spent in Del Mar with au pair friends. We had dinner at Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza and Grill. Me and Moa shared a pizza. My half was a hawaiian pizza and hers was the same without the pineapple and with some extra fries on it. The waitress thought that was super funny, she had never heard of that before. I bet she told everyone in the kitchen about it. When it was ready to be served and it was on the counter everyone walking past it was staring and laughing, haha!

After, all the Swedish girls (me, Moa, Karin and Kristel) except Victoria went to Starbucks to hang out a little. Really nice!

The working hours of today was pretty rough. Well, not too bad actually, the girl wasn’t feeling so well so we were at the house the whole day. She was watching TV most of the time while I was outside with the boy in the afternoon. He was really absent minded today and didn’t listen to anything I said and that’s what made my day tough. Normally he is the sweetest kid ever, but when I said something today, he answered and then didn’t react at all to it because he didn’t listen… I’m really glad that was a one time thing, I can only imagine how hard this job would be if I had to deal with that every day. I’m so blessed to have these two kids. So sweet, helpful, adorable and well behaved! But they are humans and have days that are worse than others, like all of us.

Super healthy lunch and my not so healthy dinner (with Moa’s weird half)…

I totally didn’t have time to write anything last Friday when I had my fifth monthiversary. But I have it today too, five months in the family. Crazy crazy!

The girl had ear pains this morning so I had to take her to the doctors office but that was no problem at all. It was red so she got a prescription for medicine. Since she didn’t feel so well we didn’t really do anything today except rest.

I made an early dinner today, at 4:30 pm already because the girl had a dance recital at 6:30. It was a very long show but it was fun. First the tiny kids danced ballet. I think they might have been three or four. So adorable! Then the older kids came and they were so good! The girl was second last and I was really impressed by her. She was really good. She has been dancing Jazz this semester and their song was Trouble with Taylor Swift.

Now I’m back home and I will head straight to bed, I am so tired still. Pictures will be up another day. Good night!

So much going on, too little time to write. Yesterday I came home around midnight after a very nice coffee with Moa and the day before I got home at 3am after a really nice weekend in Phoenix, Arizona.

My weekend started on Friday afternoon when I left the house to pick up Jessica, Karin and Victoria down in Del Mar. Me and Jessica were going to Phoenix and Karin and Victoria were going to San Francisco. Awesome that our flights left approximately the same time both Friday and Sunday. So we were environmental friendly and carpooled.

The flight to Phoenix was only for an hour but I slept almost the whole way. When we got there we called the hotel and asked how we were gonna get there. Use the light rail they said. Very easy, we just bought a ticket and sat on that nice train for 20 minutes in to downtown. I love the public transportation system in Phoenix, you can go on the light rail and buses how much you like for a day for only $4.

The first time we were out in the ”real” air we couldn’t stop laughing. Oh my god, it was perfect! 99F in the middle of the night, a warm breeze and it really felt we were in a tropical climate. Because of the low humidity it doesn’t feel as warm as it was. If it were 99F here in San Diego I think I would die. But in the desert it was perfect!

The hotel was located in the center of downtown and was awesome! $250 for that hotel and flight was pretty nice. The next day we got up pretty early, I took a shower and then we walked to Matt’s Big Breakfast a few blocks away. Bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns and toast. Yummy!

After that we took the light rail to Tempe and from there a bus to Scottsdale Fashion Square. It took about an hour to get there but it was worth it. The mall was really nice and even though I didn’t buy more than a knitted cardigan and a t-shirt from Hollister on sale and a perfume it was nice walking around inside. Outside it was about 106F.

After that we walked around a little in Tempe. Also a very nice place with a lot of bars. Unfortunately Jessica is under 21 but that was probably for the best anyway :).

Back to Phoenix downtown and the hotel for a while and then going to Hard Rock Cafe. It was almost empty because of the Diamondbacks baseball game across the street. I had the local burger and that was the best burger I ever had, too bad it wasn’t the Californian local burger. It was teriyaki sauce and pineapple on it. I bought a shot glass and now I have 6 glass in total.

When we walked back to the hotel we saw a group of a lot of people waiting for something. We asked someone and they said they thought it was Selena Gomez. We waited for a while and then we heard someone say it was someone else that was in the Wicked musical. Never heard of her so we waed back to the hotel and got to bed.

Sunday was warmer than Saturday, more like 110F which is about 43C. But it wasn’t too bad. We had a small breakfast at Starbucks and then took the light rail out to Papago Park. We asked for directions to the Desert Botanical Garden and were told it was about a 10-15 minute walk. We got lost, asked at the Phoenix Zoo and eventually found it. But that was two hours after. We drank so much water and my feet (in stupid sandals) hurt like hell. I didn’t have so much trouble with the heat, the feet on the other hand, after that day they were killing me. We walked around in the park for a short while then got a lift halfway back which was awesome! Nice Americans.

Directly when we got back to downtown we walked to Coopers’town. A restaurant owned by Alice Cooper. Empty as HRC because of the baseball game but it was nice not wating for a table. The food was good, I had a club sandwhich. It was cheap too, $10! The cheapest dinner I’ve ever had I think.

When we were so full we almost rolled out of the restaurant we had like three hours to kill so we sat at a small plaza where there were pretty fountains where kids played around in. We had comfy chairs and spent the rest of our visit in Phoenix there. It was awesome!

The flight was delayed by 15 minutes but that was okay because Karin and Victorias flight was delayed by an hour. Kinda sucked to wait at the San Diego airport for an hour in the middle of the night when we already were so tired.

I got home at 3am and yesterday I had to work for more than 10 hours. It was a rough day. And my feet made it even worse! They were so swollen yesterday I could hardly walk. I guess it was because of all the water I drank yesterday. My knees were dead too.

Today it’s better, I slept with my feet held high, but it still feels stiff when I’m bending my knee or twisting my ankle. By tomorrow it should be gone completely!

This morning I was up at 7am just in case the kids would wake up early. My h-mom left extra early because she have to be home at 4pm to get the girl dressed and ready for her dance recital tonight. It’s 8:30am and the kids aren’t awake yet. I think I have to wake them up pretty soon, the boy has a swim lesson in 40min.

As usual I took a lot of photos but I don’t have time to upload them now, so they will come up tomorrow or later this evening! Phoenix is a very nice city and I loved the tropical warmth. It was a very clean city and with a lot of fun nightlife. Unfortunately, as we didn’t have a car, we couldn’t see Sedona and the ghost towns, but I will probably go back to see those some day :). I had a great weekend and I’m glad I went to Phoenix, a not so typical travel destination!