An Ode to Walking to School

Kanelstängerna älskar att gå varje dag

One of the simple pleasures that we get to experience daily in Stockholm is walking to school. I find this highly ironic, since when we lived in California we lived right next to an elementary school. When we moved there the Cinnamon sticks were almost 2 and 0. I had pleasant pictures in my head of walking the girls to school in the warm California sun every morning and picking them up in the afternoon. For a variety of educational reasons, that never worked out.

So it is extra special to me to walk the girls to and from school everyday, here, 5400 miles from where the dream actually started. Anyone who is a parent can imagine the chaos that is the Cinnamon household every morning as we all try to get ready to head out for the day - particularly now that it is winter and there are extra layers to add on. Here we are on a recent morning, ready to go:

But once we are outside, the kids are just super happy. Our youngest frequently hums all the way to school. Both of them jibber jabber about their upcoming day, or talk about the events at school. It is such a nice way to catch up.

And we experience some magical moments, like when our youngest stick gets to see it snow for the first time:

She literally told everyone on the playground that she had “never seen snow fall from the sky before”. And this was just a flurry. I feel like her world is about to get rocked, because she is literally obsessed with snow. This is them one evening during another flurry:

We usually get there early enough for them to get some playtime before school:

Here’s a pretty typical outfit lately - we walk down this lovely little street called Danderydsgatan with lots of old houses:

We were really worried about our walk when we first moved here. The most direct route has an approximately 100 step flight of stairs (94 if you want to be precise). We found a slightly longer, but easier route. But after a week or so, the girls just adopted the shorter route with steps and never looked back. Here’s our youngest yesterday:

And now if you’ll excuse me, I have to walk to school and pick up my kids!

To be continued…