Grona Lund (or, The Story of Courage Lost)

Do you guys love roller coasters?! Me, too! Or... well... I did. In a past life. My own past life, when I was in my teens and 20s. These days, I would rather not. Since we don't do a lot of amusement parks (we leave that to my parents, when the kids stay with them in the summer), it's seldom an issue. But today really drove the point home.

We spent the day at Grona Lund, courtesy of Grammy and Papa, who know their grandbabies LOVE a good thrill ride. It was wonderful, and I enjoyed nearly every minute of it, despite avoiding most of the thrills. Thankfully, Nathaniel is still out-adventuring them all. He and Ruth went on all the craziest rides. Meg would have been right there with them, if only she was a few centimeters taller!

Instagram cuts my writing too short, so hopefully you've already seen those pics, and I'm going to expound upon what I wrote there, and toss in a few extra things, but in bullet points because it's the fastest way to get the job done.

~ Grona Lund was awesome. Better than I'd imagined. I've spent my fair share of time in amusement parks, so my expectations for this little park on an island weren't super high, but it was fabulous! That said, the pricing is rough! It's not much to get IN to the park, but then you have to buy ride tickets or an armband, and those don't come cheap. Since this was a Christmas gift, we opted for the armbands and definitely got our money's worth. I can't imagine bringing kids without one, because they'd want to ride all the things, but you'd be constantly weighing whether that rides was worth the $3-10 (per person, per ride!). There was a "fun house" that the kids LOVED, and some of them went through it half a dozen times while we were there, but it definitely wouldn't have been worth $3 a go.

~ My five year old is braver than me. It's the honest truth. That girl wanted to do EVERYTHING. At one point, she and Meg basically dragged Peter and me to a roller coaster similar to the Patriot at Worlds of Fun (my best point of reference that many of you may be familiar with). It was the kind on which your legs dangle from the seat. It's smaller, though, and no upside down loops. I couldn't believe Rachel, at her 114cm, was even allowed on it, but she was. And she LOVED it. *I* was screaming (and laughing, which is my other scared/nervous auto-response) and she was just grinning and loving every minute of it! As soon as we were off, she wanted to get back in line.

~ My seven year old is... not. Braver than me. Poor Peter. He just doesn't love it. He WANTS to love it, but on every ride he's squinching his eyes shut and just manning up till it's over. We were on the Octopus together, and he had his eyes closed, taking deep breaths. I asked if he felt okay (heaven knows I don't want him getting sick!) and he said, "I feel okay. I'm just saying a little prayer..." Classic. He and I can hang out together while the girls go on the crazy rides with their dad. That said, he did like the dangly-foot roller coaster and went on it three times before the day was done, so he's ready for the Patriot, Dad! Maybe not the front row, but somewhere in the middle.

~ Pettson and Findus are dearly loved Swedish story book characters. We've read a few, and sent a couple to nephews for birthdays. I'm really loved the play area in their honor. We thought, at first, that it was just a little park and I was sort of put out that they'd charge a ticket for a playground. Then we saw that there was a whole house full of fun. Kids can open all the kitchen cupboards and find little scenes of bugs making homes, and mice cooking in the chimney. There are touch screen games hidden in the potato bin and the book on the coffee table. Dress up clothes, and tiny doors that let you into other rooms... a wall with a million random items attached to it, each that makes funny noises. A kid could have fun in there for an hour, at least! So cool.

~ I blame becoming a mother for my loss of bravery. That fits about right in the timeline - first kid at 26, slow decline of thrill-seeking from that point on. The point really was driven home on the swings that I showed on instagram. Not the super high tower swings - just the normal sort of carnival swings, that swept out over the beautiful water around Grona Lund. I took Meg, Peter, and Rachel on the ride. They were all seated in front of me, my swing just behind Rachel's. We had a bar across our laps with a strap that went between the legs. From the minute the swings took off, I couldn't take my eyes off Rachel. I couldn't stop picturing her falling out of the swing! I was literally talking myself out of a panic for nearly the whole ride - "Kids go on this ride all day, every day, and they're all fine. She can't fall out. She's fine. She's got her hands in the air and is laughing with glee, so clearly SHE doesn't feel afraid! Calm down. Breathe!" What is WRONG with me?! It was a swing. It was Rachel's FAVORITE thing of the day. But when they wanted to go back a second time, I told them they had to wait for Nathaniel to take them. I'm all Cougar from Top Gun over here; I've lost my edge.

~ I should give some thought to sunscreen now that it's spring. We were outside off and on all day in Finland, and now all afternoon at Grona Lund, and I haven't considered sunscreening my kids at all. It's not till we're home and I'm feeling that tight, warm feeling on my own cheeks that I realize I've been lax. I'm not sure whether the sun will burn as quickly here (or more quickly? surely not), but I probably can't ignore the risk altogether.

The kids head back to school tomorrow but have another long weekend coming up in just over a week. In the meantime, Liz and Whit will be here visiting, so we're not really slowing down. You can likely feel the sense of urgency creeping into our activities as our weeks here in Stockholm wind down. Seven weeks from tomorrow, we board our plane home! We are so excited to get home, but trying to make the most of our remaining time here! I think we're doing pretty well.