You had to be there

I'm a fan of family traditions.

Anyone who has married, fallen in love or had children knows that such events give the opportunity to create new traditions as well as carry on old, cherished ones. For example, tomorrow we will celebrate a relatively new tradition in our little family -- the Swedish midsummer celebration... we'll dance around a flowery pole, eat new potatoes and herring, and party! We did it last year and we'll do it again . Thanks Eva and Steven in advance for what I'm sure will be a great time!

Our latest "refurbished" tradition is the annual gathering of the Pedersen clan, which used to happen once a year at a safari park in Denmark (sorry, no time right now to answer your questions about why there is a safari park in Denmark...), but this year was re-launched at Bedstemor and Bedstefar's cabin in southern Sweden.

We joined countless numbers of Pedersens, Andersens, Jensens (and one Poulsen... or maybe I should say two since Susanne has a growing belly care of Mr. Poulsen -- congratulations!!) for two days of fun. And as the title says, you just had to be there.

Planned events included the summer edition of the Vasa ski race -- an interesting little competition that requires teamwork and a whooooole bunch of duct tape... and no, what you see on our feet here is not enough duct tape...

The race had us all laughing so hard we should have been wearing diapers...

Hey guys! You're going the wrong way!

My team's first casualty!

We played toilet-paper-roll binocular soccer (that's "crazy ootball" for those of you who don't hail from the US). Believe me when I tell you that these pictures will present you with the latest in fashionable headwear... and these binoculars keeps the sun out of your eyes!

Notice that there is no sign whatsoever of a soccer ball in any of these photos....

Except this one... but here the ball is behind the players!

The men built a big bonfire, where the kids (and the kid-like adults, including me) roasted marshmallows and ate makeshift s'mores.

We shared memories in the evening, looking through slides of the family that were all taken well before I was even a thought in my in-law's mind.

And the next day we lounged in the sun, chatting and relaxing. (here you can see Susanne's beautiful growing tummy...)

Thank you, svigerfar and svigermor, for a GREAT weekend and a terrific, new tradition!

Today's bonus photo is of my handsome oldest son. I think it's a great shot of him, even though he's angry with me. Isn't he a heartbreaker? How do they get this big so fast?