Good to be HOME

My mom and I got home Saturday night from our trip to Sweden. We had a really great trip. We spent our first few days in Stockholm, the big city and then traveled out to the country where our family lives. It was so much fun to get to see friends and family who live in Sweden. I had a lot of fun getting to spend so much time with my mom too. It was a really special opportunity and I will have so many great memories to treasure. I was ready to come home at the end though. We were gone almost two weeks and it was a long time to be away from my husband and kids. They were so excited to see me though, and Alexis still clings to me and just wants to make sure she knows where I am at all times. She came into by bedroom from the living room and said "I just want to see you, I can't see you out there." We took almost 200 pictures while we were there so here is just a sampling and a little overview of our trip!

This first picture is out of order, but I forgot to include it where it belongs. This church in Skara (which is where my cousins live) is one of the oldest church's in Sweden. It is over 1000 years old! It's incredible and absolutely beautiful inside. My mom's cousin Birgitta sings in the choir.



Stockholm looks a lot like Seattle's Puget Sound with all of the water surrounding the land. Here I am with some of the gorgeous old buildings behind me.

My mom and I in Gamla Stan (still in Stockholm) which means Old Town. As you can probably guess, it is the old part of Stockholm. Very cute old buildings with lots of cute shops and cafes.

One of the MANY old churches in the city.

We had to go to the Ice Bar. Everything inside is truly made of ice except the floor. The bar itself, the walls, couches, tables, and cups are all completely made of ice. They give you these warm parkas to wear so you don't freeze. Entrance fee includes a drink and we went the cheaper route for the non-alcoholic beverage so we are drinking pineapple juice!

We met up with Katrin, who was an exchange student who lived with us for a year when I was 3. My mom has always kept in touch with her and she even made it back to the states for my wedding. It was fun to get to see her again and have her show us around a little bit. We are sitting on an extra large Swedish Dala Horse. They are usually only a few inches tall like a toy, not really this big. They are crafted from wood and hand painted. If you've ever been to my mom's house she's got quite a collection of them.


Katrin, her husband Ralf, and their boys Daniel and Niklas. Rlaf is German so he and Katrin speak German to each other, she speaks Swedish to the boys, and he speaks German to the boys. And the boys greeted us with a "Nice to meet you" in English when we got there. This picture is taken in front of their summer home which is on the coast of the Baltic Sea. We got to spend two beautiful days here with them and her whole family who also have summer homes there.

This is Katrin's dad, Lennart, in front of his summer house which was built in 1790!

Here we are swimming in the Baltic Sea. The water was cold and my mom and I really don't like cold water, but since we were there we had to get in just to say we did. Katrin and Niklas are with us.

A beautiful view behind us. Houses like the red one in the back were all over on the water and up in the hills.

This is the little guest house that we stayed in. And I mean little. It's one room with a bed, little table and sink. But it was just fine for us for one night.

After spending our first few days in and around Stockholm we drove about 4 hours out to Skara which is where our family lives. It's a smaller town out in the country with lots of farms nearby. It's very beautiful. Here's a landscape scene of just one of the many farms we drove by.

We also toured through the Glass District one day. We went to the factory stores of the Swedish Glass and Crystal companies. Here we are at Kosta Boda, we also went to Orrefors and Sea. We came home with two HEAVY carry-on suitcases filled with glass. Our cousins Desiree, Josephine, and Louise toured around with us.

Here we are with all of our cousins. From left to right: Birgitta, Therese, Josephine, Carl (8), Desiree, Amron, Louise, Hilda (5), Tara, and Anna (2). The kids belong to Therese and her husband Magnus (who was taking the picture). We've figured that Birgitta and my mom's mom are 3rd cousins. So we're kind of distant, but it's really nice to be in touch with them. Therese, Desiree, and Louise all came to visit us for summers at different times and Birgitta has also come a couple times. They are all so much fun to be around and they are very hospitable. It was great to have them show us around where they live and they all had time off the whole time we were there which was great! And Birgitta is a fabulous cook so we ate very well while we were there also!

And of course we had to go to IKEA in Sweden. It's very similar to the ones we have in the states, but much bigger and with some items that we don't have.

Here I am with Hilda and Anna. These two girls were so adorable and they made me miss my two little girls at home. Hilda liked to take my hand and show me around and she spoke to me in Swedish just as if I could understand. She was so cute and I felt so bad that I couldn't talk back to her. She told her mom that she thought I looked like a princess because of my curly hair. How cute is that?

Here my mom and I are standing on what used to be a foundation of a house. It was the house where Natalia Lindstrom lived, who is my mom's great-great grandmother and she was the first one who came to the United States from Sweden. It was really neat to get to see where her side of the family came from.

Desiree, Birtitta, Amron, Josephine, and Louise in front of the castle, Lacko Slott. It is considered to be one of the most original catles still in Sweden and was first built in 1298.

Here's the old fashioned toilet. It's about 4 story's up and nope, there's no bottom to it! Wouldn't want to be down below while someone was using it!

Tara, Desiree, Josephine, and Louise outside Birgitta's apartment on the morning we left.
Thanks to our family and friends who spent time with us and showed us around while we were in Sweden. It was so great to see you and spend time with you again. We had a wonderful time!