Our last days in Sweden....

On Saturday we were up first thing as we wanted to head into Stockholm for our last full day in Sweden.  Of course keeping to the schedule of the last two weeks we had our traditional Scandinavian breakfast which is always a great way to start the day.  They love their carbs for breakfast, some cheese to go with it, vegetables and maybe even a little caviar.  We also had days where we had bacon and eggs which I am sure went right to my a$$, along with a few of the other things I chose to eat over the course of the two weeks!  By the time we left both families homes I am sure that they loved Chad's kind reminders of what my choice of foods was going to do to my body-lol.  Anyway, onto the real reason for this entry-so prior to leaving I had to take a photo of Tailor, Tucker and Johan together.

Of course it was after this that we had to say our good-byes.  Oh my, it broke my heart to leave Sweden, and my very favourite Swedish son Johan and his absolutely fabulous family.  I had managed to keep my emotions in tact at the Aagesen house as we said good-bye, but this time I was a mess!

I managed to climb into the car and off we went.  We were headed for the big city of Stockholm and my girl was ready to shop, oh right-and my boy and his father!  We decided that we would drop our rental car at the airport and take the Arlanda Express into Stockholm.  The Express is the train that heads into Stockholm every 20 minutes from the airport.

Chad had gained custody of the camera by this point and he decided to try and capture everything, including some other trains.

Once off the train we headed for the shopping district of the city.  I have to admit it was a bit of an adventure getting there but we made it.

Chad, Papa and Tucker took in some music that was being played by this band.

They saw some cool looking tricycles.

They saw large numbers of people walking the very streets that we were walking.

They saw girls wearing platform shoes that were duck taped together!

And they saw the word penis stamped in the concrete.  I google translated this thinking it must mean something else and in Swedish, it means penis!  Real mature Chad!

The ladies in the family were busy shopping while the boy childrenfather, son and grandfather were taking these bizarre photos.  Do you know that in a two block radius there is honestly about 8 H&M stores.  Tailor managed to find herself 3 cute little outfits.

I was feeling a little troubled by the eating activity that had gone on throughout the trip so I thought I better not just "ride" up the escalators, so I ran up them!

And I made sure that I had some extra weight on my back to ensure that it was effective!

We headed back to our hotel after our big day in the city.  We had to show you pictures of our "big" rooms.

The porthole window from the shower.  I guess you shouldn't have to miss your favourite program while you shower.

Tailor's bunkbeds!

and a double window to add a little bit of light into the room.  These rooms were nice and clean, that was the main thing because I certainly would not have got my money's worth if I was paying for the size.



The next morning led us to the airport for our all day travel.  Again the camera got pulled out for some fun photos.  Tucker managed to find R2D2 at the airport in Stockholm, this version was lego R2D2.

And the last photos taken were of Tucker and his Papa.  These two were room mates at the hotel and of course Papa was more than willing to sacrifice his time on his new IPAD Touch to keep the child quiet and content.

On this specific morning we were up at about 2 am our time and our plane landed in Toronto at 9:15 pm.  Both flights were delayed(just because we were anxious to get home) and we were greeted in Helsinki with a line-up inviting us to chat with the customs agents that I kid you not, was at least 500 meters long.  That my friends was what I referred to as airport HELL!  I have to give the agents credit though, we were through that line in less than 1 hour.  And lastly, we were greeted in Toronto by Mom and Dad-I am pretty sure Tailor and Tucker chatted moms ear off on the way home.  They had stories to tell, like the one about our rental car being held from rolling into the front door of the store by the elderly Norwegian man!(just ask Chad about emergency brakes in European cars.)  :0)

Shelley

The Bear Park...

One of the only places that Tailor and Tucker really wanted to go to in Sweden(other than to see Johan) was to the Bear Park in Orsa.  The Bear Park was about a half hour drive from Mora which was perfect and to make it even better we finally had ourselves a day that was to be sunny all day!
Of course before we headed to the park I had to do some laundry because we were thinking it was getting to a critical point where we might have to turn some underwear inside out(lol).  So, while I waited for the launndry to wash so I could hang it to dry, we played Kube.

Christer, Tucker and Papa played against Chad, Tailor and I. 

While we played Kube Aivor was very busy bird hunting.  That dog must have gone 10 miles a day on her very own yard to ensure the property was adequately protected from any sort of bird activity.(We tried several times to seal the deal on a dog trade-Landree for Aivor because I need a dog that will keep the birds from leaving their white stuff away from my pool.)

Anyway, off to the Bear Park we went and we had fun with our tour guide Christer.  Sadly, Nellie was to join us but there was some issues with the car that she was travelling in and she never did get to come to the park with us.

This was the first little guy we saw, a baby brown bear.  He was so cute and he did his best to entertain us.

We also saw some kitties while we were there.

Meow!

We also watched this cute little polar bear, she was a tad bit boring!

Until she went to the waters edge and contemplated a swim(which never did happen)

Then we went to see the wolves be fed.  Of course there was cubs in the pen so they were the highlight.

This little one was hiding the food from the others.  It was cute to watch.  Once it had its meat buried it sat and took watch over the spot. 
We ended Friday with taco supper and a yummy ice cream, banana, chocolate syrup and meringue dessert that Nellie, Tailor and Johan made.  This was our last night in Mora so the boys played cards together which they enjoyed.  It was hard to believe at that point that our time in Scandanavia was almost done!

Shelley

Back to Sweden for our last days...

Thursday was a travel day, we were headed back to Sweden.  It was rainy when we left the cottage but as we travelled the weather was pretty good for a driving day.  The drive was another 6 hour trip.  The kids were exhausted from there late night campfires and hikes!

The driving from place to place would probably not be so long but the roads are never straight and we were doing a lot of going up and over mountains or around the.  The scenery is always fabulous!

This was a long bridge that we had to cross.

We made it back to Mora in pretty good time and some pretty nice weather.  Aivor was thrilled to see us!

She had a BIG HUG for Tailor!  Her and Esther were so sweet.

Again we were treated to a great meal.  Marinated barbecued pork, with roasted sweet corn, salad and ice cream and berries for dessert. 

Before dinner we met Johan's friend Pat.  Pat wanted to come and meet us to practice his english.  He was a great guy, so great that he played guitar and sang some Johnny Cash for us.  He was a pretty good!

Apparently somebody had worked poor Esther far too hard that day and this is how she fell asleep on the couch.  She was beyond exhausted and slept this way for some time.
One of the things that we had asked Johan was what food he missed most in Canada.  He told us he missed his NewOrlean's Pizzas that he and Andrew Turton made in the late nights and he missed Taco Dip.  So last Friday we went out and got the ingredients for this dip and it was a HIT.  So, Johan attempted to make it once while we were in Norway and then him and I made it upon our return just to make sure he new what he was doing.

Sadly, this was our last night with Inez.  She was heading away with her mom the next morning for a riding competition.  We will miss her, she is an absolute sweetheart and her and Tailor hit it off extremely well. 

Of course, the night was a late one.  Chad and Johan got playing cards and they did have their fun! 

Shelley

More of Norway!

There was talk of more hiking on Wednesday but we had a few set-backs.  Aleks had went over on his ankle on Tuesday night jumping from a tree and Tailor had had a long night with some stomach pain and a bad headache.  So we did do some walking but not as much as Tuesday.
We started the day at the Lomen Stave Church.  The remaining Stave Churches in Norway are very old.  I believe that Aleks said this church is dated back to 1835.  The people worshipped Nordic Gods in these churches.

Once again, the carving on the woodwork was very detailed.

Next we headed up the mountain.  Cathrine, Magnus, Chad, Papa and Tucker went for a short walk on the mountain.

Papa and Magnus were checking something out with the binoculars.

Tailor did venture out of the car for a few minutes to see if she could have a picture with the some sheep.

From there we headed down the mountain and into another area.  It too was very nice to see.

We stopped for a visit at a Ski Resort town.(I can't remember the name of it!)  It was a really neat little town.  Aleks and Tucker had fun on these "downhill cars".

To finish the day, the brave people amongst the group decided to go to the lake for a swim.  The thing about the lake water is that it comes off the mountain, so it is a little chilly.

I can tell that Tucker is thinking of bailing here, but he doesn't!

I love this picture because you tell by Aleks's arms just how cold it was!  Crazy buggers!

This was our last night in Sweden, so we had our last campfire together.  Cathrine had never had roasted marshmallows until Tuesday night, so we had to make sure that she was treated to smores on this night.    I think she enjoyed it.  We also introduced them to Spider Weiners with American BBQ sauce.  It was a beautiful night out and we had fun yet again.

Once again I had to show you the sky at 11:00 at night.  It stayed light our for so long each day!

It was back to Sweden in the morning!

Shelley