We might have had some fun...

On Thursday we thought we would visit old town and since nothing in Sweden opens until 11am we had some time and we thought we would take Aiden to this old armory at the Royal palace. We saw some awesome historical pieces and jewels and amazing things and then there is this kids dress up room.....we might have had more fun than Aiden playing and joking around. It was a great place to kill time and we had fun. Then we were off to do some shopping, and back to the house to clean up (the Ekman family was returning and we had lived there for a week) and pick up the rental car (a manual that Kellin had to drive at 5pm in downtown Stockholm ) and move ourselves to Josefin and Henrik's for a night. Then it would be off for the wedding in the morning!

ON top of the World

So Day 3 of our passes we visited this thing called the SkyView or the Globe. We rode a subway to what was supposed to be an easy stop off at Globen which turned out to be under construction so we did some walking and found our own way to the SkyView on top of the hockey arena! It was awesome to go up and see everything in Stockholm up high- Emily even braved it! Of course you can see the rain caught us again this day quite hard and stuck around so we had to break down and buy Aiden his new winter coat a bit early you know like August early. Kellin liked the place so much he bought him a new one for the next three years - just the next size up! It was our biggest purchase :) Totally worth the pictures and lots of funny stories to tell of Emily breaking her retainer, Aiden's makeshift umbrella and our visit to the liquor stores- fun times!

Our Swedish Baby meets Aiden

Poor Sixten got his first taste of Aiden...luckily next summer he will be able to walk away and tell him to pipe down! Just kidding Aiden loved him so much and he would sing to him and put all his toys in his face and just loved being with him...here is a few of their new found friendship.

Sweden Part 3 & 4

Aiden's usual pose by about 2pm

Our first day with our Stockholm card (this pass that allowed us entry to lots of things and subway riding we had purchased) was to go to Skansen. A Swedish sort of theme park that had old Sweden (like the different areas and their crafts) along with a zoo, a look at historical Swedish villages, an aquarium and just a little taste of Sweden. We saw cool animals (reindeer, moose, seals, etc.) We visited glass blowing and pottery houses. And we had the most amazing view of Stockholm- plus I got my traditional Swedish meatballs and potato lunch while Aiden had crepes and ligonberries! Yummy! It was a great day and we had lots of fun, got some gifts and enjoyed it.

Day two with the Stockholm pass meant we were headed to the Vasa Musrum and Junibacken .
The Vasa is this amazing ship built in the 1600's that the king had way too much control over and spent so much money on and it went into the harbor and SUNK! Just made it a few hundred feet and good-bye. So they brought it up in the late 1960's and have been working to preserve it and it is amazing to see. We got SOAKED getting to it but really enjoyed ourselves. Ate a great lunch of korvs and then Em and Johnny headed back to shop downtown while Kellin and I braved Junibacken with Aiden. It is a play place of all the characters Astrid Lundgrind made and more Swedish characters- we really only knew Pippi Longstocking and since most of it is based on her, it was fun. Very crowded, very loud but Aiden really had a special time there. He got to ride on her horse and play inside the kitchen of Ville Villekula and we had fun just being there with him. After the kids place we walked back to the main shopping and returned to Josefin and Henrik's for a much needed cooked meal by them!

A Little Swedish Soccer

So we are now Djurgarden fans....Sunday we attended our first Swedish soccer game and the rain stayed away until the last 2 minutes. The game ended in a tie but it was fun to watch and be a part of the excitement-even if we didn't know what the fans were yelling! Good thing mom and dad went in June so the boys all had jerseys too!

Sweden Part 2

Our first day in Stockholm was National PRIDE Festival Day and it was a crazy parade and great to walk around the city. We just sort of walked and chatted and got to know Henrik (which we all liked him so its a good thing- since the wedding was 9 days away:) Stockholm is an old city but pretty easy to get around, great weather and we just were taking it all in! We learned how to get from the house we were in- into downtown. Blue Line to Green line and Rissne was our stop so that was important. ICA was the grocery store and after our walking afternoon the boys headed to the Super ICA to get dinner stuff while we stayed back and Sixten with too many new clothes, toys and snacks to try.

Sweden Part 1

Important signs to know
Emily and our "pirate" son

The Trunkie was a great investment...he could pull it, sit on it or ride it

First family plane ride- first plane ride in 3 years for Hannah and Kellin

6 hour delay= shirt was a little messy

Starting off the Sweden blog...The Airplane Ride

Our trip was absolutely amazing and I am going to try to highlight a few parts over the next few blogs! To start out the trip it was such a good idea to drive down Wed. night and stay and then fly out because it allowed us all to get up slow, work-out, visit See's Candy and then head to the airport by shuttle while we left our car. At SFO we had a horrible line to wait in for about 2 hours until we found our flight delayed 6 hours and re-routing lots of people! In the end for us it was about a 3 hour difference of what time we got into Stockholm so we couldn't really complain. With $100 in airport vouchers we headed for a pretty good meal, some rest and waiting to now fly on a red-eye to London- me freaking out with Aiden and him totally calm. The flight went really well- I would do it again in a heartbeat. He ate a bit, watched Kung Fu Panda 2 and crashed. IN his wake up for about an hour or two it was a bit rough but then back to sleep and it was pretty darn easy. In london, we got a little security hang-up and then on to Stockholm where we were pleasantly met by Josefin, Henrik, Sixten, Slyvia and Roger! We then ate at McDonalds- super nice, major recycling and a much smaller menu- then it was home to Niklas and Emma's for a great house to start our week in Sweden