Midsummer 2

Maypole (Midsommarstång) at Garvaregården.

Twister Scram game we played after dinner.

Claes and I during our dinner.


Isabella and Farmor at Garvaregården.

Midsummer 1

Although it rained pretty much the whole day we had a good time with friends and family. We had lunch, dinner, and fika (coffee with sweets) at Erik's parents and we went to Garvaregården to dance around the Maypole. We also played games outside during our 10 minutes of rain-free weather.

Isabella with her midsommarkrans on her head that I made early that morning with flowers from Birgitta's garden.

Elias and Helena

Fabian and Alex

This was my American-Swedish cake that I made. It was a 3-layer Red Velvet cake with Philadelphia cream cheese icing and strawberries. Strawberries are a must during Midsummer!

Kolmården

Here are a few pictures from Alex and Isabella's trip to Kolmården zoo with Farmor and Farfar. They also stayed a night in the Vildmarkshotell. They had a great time and WAY too much fun while Erik and I enjoyed a night to ourselves.

Alex and Isabella with Farfar at the pool in the hotel.

Alex hugging Bamse.

A bear crossed in front of the car during the drive through safari.

Alex and Isabella at the hotel with their new dolphin and seal.

Alex and Isabella with their new dolphin water guns.

Farfar with the kids in the petting zoo.

Farmor with the kids at the dolphin aquarium.

Trosa Tivoli (Fair)

There was a Spiderman ride at the fair and Isabella was afraid of it. I was afraid of a lot of things when I was younger. I guess she inherited that from me!

Wow, what a long time!

Wow, it has been a long time since my last post. We have been so busy this past month and it has flown by! We have enjoyed the Trosa carnival and market, a dinner with Erik's aunt, uncle, and cousin and her child, dinners with friends, Midsummer with family and friends, the Trosa Race, trips into the archipelago, and the kids have even had an overnight outing with their Farmor and Farfar to the zoo. Added to all of this we have had work, daycare, gardening, and Alex has learned to ride his bike without training wheels. Now, this week Alex and Erik are to go camping with our friend, Jonas and his son and Alex's best friend, Fabian on one of the islands overnight. I hope it goes well for them. We have also went from 50 degree weather and a couple of nights of frost in the beginning of June to 80 degree weather now at the end of June! So the kids and I are fighting colds from the changes in weather, but we don't care because now it feels as if summer has finally arrived!!!! Now, hopefully our strawberries and raspberries will be ready to pick soon. They are a little behind this year because of the colder weather. I know Alex and Isabella can't wait! I will post several times I am sure in order to post all of our pictures and stories, so stayed tuned.

Pictures from Askö on Mother's Day

Target and Stripe

Mother's Day

This past Sunday was Mother's Day here in Sweden. It is always the last Sunday of May. I had a wonderful and relaxing Mother's Day. Breakfast was made for me and I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers. We also took a trip out in the boat to Askö and I had a very good dinner with my family and Erik's parents. Erik and his Dad did all of the cooking. I am so blessed to have two beautiful children, a wonderful, caring, and loving husband, and such thoughtful and loving in-laws that I love spending time with (not everyone can say that! :))

I also never reported on our trip to the U.S. when the kids and I visited my parents, Luke and Jennifer, and the rest of our family and friends back in April. I always find it so hard to write about when we visit there or when they visit here, because it usually takes me a few weeks to get over the trip and I am usually quite sad when I return and vice-versa. So, writing about it just makes me homesick. Anyway, I am now in better spirits to write about it. Needless to say, we had a wonderful and exhausting time. I realized (after the past two visits being 3 and then 4 weeks) that 2 weeks really isn't enough time to do everything and relax at the same time. The two weeks were like a whirlwind. The kids and I arrived on a Friday. The next day, Saturday, we went to Nashville because my parents attended a wedding and we visited friends (by the way Missy and Megan, I forgot to take pictures. It must have been jet-lag!). Then we came back to Covington on Sunday.

During the visit we had a big family picnic which Alex and Isabella looked so forward to and really enjoyed! I also visited with Granny and Pappaw and Aunt Patty Lynn (all of whom need prayers). My Grandfather is continually fighting colon cancer, Granny needs strength to care for my Grandfather, and my Aunt Patty Lynn is in the final stages of fighting pancreatic cancer. I think about them everyday and pray for them and wish that I were there. I also pray for my Uncle Terry, Stacy, Becky, and Michael. How hard it must be for everyone. I know how my aunt stays in my mind and it weighs on me. I can't even imagine how it is for the rest of the family.

I was also able to visit with college friends. It was such a treat, especially considering that Julie was fighting for her life not even a year ago, and now Abby is finding a new lifestyle to accomodate her lupus diagnosis. And definitely not least, I also was able to visit with high school friends. The laughs never end!! Felecia and I also booked our trip to Paris that we will take when she comes to visit in July! I can't wait for some good friend time!

Alex and Isabella, well especially Alex, loved playing with Target and Stripe (Grandmama and Pa's two cats). Alex made sure that every morning he went down to Pa's office to feed them. He truly loves them and talks about them all of the time between visits. They also had to make sure that they visited Buddie (my Grandmother, Farmor) everyday. Anytime we got on the golf cart they wanted to head down to Buddie's!! They definitely love their Buddie.

Alex made sure that most days he followed Pa to train. He would ask Pa everyday if he was going to train. (My Dad trains hunting dogs for a profession for those who were wondering.) He especially wanted to tag along in the mornings because Pa always made sure to take a break and have a snack which, for Alex, always included a candy bar and Coke :)

We had a wonderful time in the U.S. and I really hate that I will not be there to see little Reid (my first nephew) when he is born, but I promise him that I will definitely make up for those lost 4 months in December.