What a wonderful weekend!

We had such a terrific, albeit busy, couple days! Saturday morning was spent cleaning and tidying the house in anticipation of Annali's birthday party. Everyone arrived at 2pm, whereupon we ate chocolate teacupcakes with pink frosting and white cake with whipped cream, blueberries, and raspberries. Annali requested both types of cakes, and they were delicious! YUM!!!

She received many nice gifts and was delighted by each and every one. What a blessed and loved little girl! After the party the Hatfields stayed for dinner and a little more playing (except for Melanie who had a spa night with her neighbor ladies).

Sunday we rose early and went to church. Then we came home, got together all our warm clothes & boots, and drove Victoria up to Mt. Hood. On the way we stopped for lunch at Calamity Jane's, just east of Sandy. That place is full of character, but their burgers were quite tasty! Once we finally arrived on the mountain, we first explored Timberline Lodge for a bit. Then we went out and played in the snow for a bit. We even built a snowman!

It was so wonderful just being with each other and celebrating Annali.

Run for the Arts

Yesterday Linnea participated in the age-old Portland Public Schools fundraiser Run for the Arts. To give you and idea how old it is, I remember running around the track at Alameda to raise money for it when I was a kid! Anyway, Linnea and all the other kids in Ms. Miller's kindergarten class walked from Hollyrood to the Grant track and then ran (and walked and ran and walked) for the next half hour.

By the time all was said and done, Linnea ran 9 laps. I found out this morning that each lap is 1/4 mile, which means that Linnea ran 2 1/4 miles yesterday! Must be Kevin's cross country genes. That certainly didn't come from me! No wonder she was tired!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Today my sweet, talented, amazing, wonderful baby turned 3 years old! Happy birthday, Annali!

How can it be that 3 years elapse in the blink of an eye and yet each day can feel like it lasts for a week? Such is parenthood, I suppose.... She has grown and changed so much in such a relatively short period of time.

And so, in honor of my sweet one, I am posting a couple lists.

Things that Annali loves:

• listening to music, especially Tchaikovsky's ballets
• dancing, especially to the aforementioned music
• dressing up, especially in leotards and tutus to dance
• puzzles (she can do 60-piece puzzles with minimal assistance)
• coloring & drawing
• skipping
• taking baths
• swimming
• playing with Linnea
• teasing Victoria by calling her "Mickamoria"
• building with Duplo
• reading, reading, reading
• eating
• playing with the chicks
• Mormor, Victora, Su Hanset

Things that Annali doesn't like:

• large groups
• new people & situations, especially in large groups

Time for Renewal

Now that it's been nearly a year and a half since our trip and my last blog post, I've decided to start back up with reflections on our daily lives, cute or funny anecdotes straight from the mouths of babes, and anything else that might strike my fancy. These are really meant as a sort of online journal for me to record anything that I want to remember but don't necessarily need to share on Facebook or Twitter. And so it begins....

The last 3 days have been absolutely gorgeous here in Portland. We have had sun and temperatures in the upper 70s. I think we even broke 81 on Saturday! Today, however, we are back to the usual spring gray and 50s-60s. Annali said this morning, "Mama, the sky is grumpy today." I couldn't agree more!

Happy New Year!

We got up early this first day of 2011, got dressed, and packed. While we were eating breakfast, we called Mom & John on Skype to see who was still left at their New Year's Eve party. We had a nice visit with Mom & John, Melanie & Ron, Tom & Tami, Denali, Shasta, Thomas, and Signe. It was so fun to see them all! Then we loaded everything into the car, said our final tearful goodbyes to Ebba, Ruben, and Felix, and Maggan drove us to Arlanda.

Annali hanging out in her carseat in O'Hare. Almost home!

New Year's Eve in Stockholm

This morning we got up early, packed up our last remaining things (it was really easy since we had sent so much of our luggage with Maggan the day before!), and loaded up the cars. Since we had a little time before we had to leave, we got on the sparks one last time, and this time Annali decided she wanted to join it and do it herself! Finally, on our last day, she enjoys playing outside in the snow!

"Why didn't you let me do this before? I LOVE being on the spark!"

When it was time to go, we all (Ebba, Anna-Greta & Eskil, and the 4 of us) drove to Bollnäs, gave Mats' car back to him, and dropped off Anna-Greta and Eskil so they could run a few errands. Then Ebba drove us to Segersta so we could see where they had shot a majority of the American-made "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" movie. It was such a picturesque little town situated on the Ljusnan River (the same one that goes through Bollnäs). I can't wait to see the movie & recognize some of the scenery!
 



 

We drove back to Bollnäs, said our good-byes to Anna-Greta & Eskil, and boarded the train.

Saying goodbye....for now
Christine, Linnea, Eskil, Anna-Greta, Annali, and Kevin

Once onboard, we discovered pretty quickly that our seat numbers did not exist on the train car we were supposed to be on! SJ had traded cars somewhere along the way (probably because of malfunctioning doors), and there were no seats for us! Also, I learned that I had somehow left all of our snacks and lunch foods in Mats' car. What a bummer, since it had so much of Mormor's limpa and peanut butter, too! Thankfully, the porter had a list of seats for the people with reservations (us!) and after 15 or 20 minutes and quite a bit of rudeness to Ebba we finally got seats on the next train car down, though not all together. We made do and the remainder of our trip was uneventful. SJ even gave us whatever food we wanted to eat for free for the trouble they had caused!

We finally made it to Stockholm where Maggan picked us up. I really feel like we have been treated like dignitaries during our stay. She took us back to their flat, we settled in, and then Maggan & Ruben, Felix, Ebba, and the 4 of us had a magnificent 3-course meal. Before the meal we had Ruben's famous dry martinis as apertifs paired with crackers with cheese and olives. The martinis certainly lived up to their reputation! Then we moved on to appetizers of toast rounds topped with a delicious shrimp and dill spread with some tiny light salmon-colored caviar on top. Divine!

I want to know how to make these - they were incredible!

Dinner was steak cooked to order by Ruben, roasted potatoes, broiled tomatoes with grated cheese on top, and sauteed mushrooms. The wine we had was South African and just incredible. The whole meal was so wonderful, and we had such excellent company!

Clockwise from center: Annali, Christine, Ruben, Ebba, Maggan, and Felix

Dinner!

After dinner we had Toscaparon, which was a particular treat for me. I had been talking with Maggan about all the wonderful desserts we'd had this trip, and I told her I remembered a pear dessert with ice cream that she used to make when she was an au pair for us 29 years ago. So, being so incredibly thoughful, she made it for us for New Year's Eve. What amazing friends we have! After dinner and dessert, another couple (old friends of Maggan and Ruben's) joined us and we all hung out together visiting and eating chocolate. 

"If I keep sitting on your lap looking cute, will you keep feeding me chocolate?"

Their friends left around 10pm, and we got the girls ready for bed. Linnea went to sleep at 11pm, but little Annali stayed up to welcome in the new year with the rest of us! 

Annali lounging with her peeps

We turned on the TV, and instead of the blaring noise of Times Square we were greeted by beautiful music and falling snow at Skansen. Skansen holds a New Year's party every year with live entertainment on an outdoor stage with a relatively small crowd looking on (compared to Times Square!). It was yet another reminder of how different our cultures are. We really enjoyed our Swedish New Year! It was such a nice relaxing experience and a gentle way to ring in the new year! At midnight we toasted with sparkling wine and watched the fireworks out their living room windows and also on TV. 

Kevin, Ruben, and Maggan celebrating wth Baby New Year....I mean Annali. Welcome 2011!

Another moose!

Kevin "spark"-ed into Alfta to pick up some last minute gifts to bring back home. Maggan went back home to Stockholm just after lunch and took our large suitcases with her so we wouldn't have to try to manage getting them all on the train.

Just after lunch, Susanne picked us up and drove us to her home in Voxnabruk, a little bit SW of Edsbyn. As we went through Edsbyn, we stopped off at her brother Tomas' sporting goods store to see him briefly again. We also drove by her childhood home, but her parents were both out and about so we didn't stop there. We then continued on to Susanne's house and farm, driving through some beautiful countryside along the way! Although Voxna really isn't so far from Edsbyn, it's down country lanes which are slow going, especially with so much snow.

Once we arrived at Susanne's house, we put Annali down for a much-needed nap and the rest of us had a tour of the house (including the 3 bear rugs upstairs that Patrik had shot on their farm), ate a little fika, and had a really nice visit.

Linnea, Kevin, Susanne, Klara, Kajsa, and Patrik - sitting having fika

Annali didn't know what to think of all the bear rugs Patrik has made....

After fika Kevin stayed behind with a sleeping Annali, and the rest of us went on a walk (in the dark, of course) back up the road two houses to Patrik's parents' house and farm where Kajsa and Klara keep their pony Nisse. We went in the barn to meet him, then the big girls went to get his bridle and saddle so Linnea could go on a pony ride! I couldn't believe that I forgot to bring the camera! After the ride, we walked back to Susanne and Patrik's house for a wonderful moose roast with mushrooms and gravy! Yum!

Susanne, Patrik, Kajsa, Linnea, Klara, Kevin, and Annali - we're really enjoying our moose roast!

 We visited a while longer, then Susanne drove us back to Alfta. When we drove through Edsbyn, we stopped back off at Tomas's shop to see Christina and meet her family quickly. It was so good to see her again! Back in Alfta, we put the girls to bed and then Kevin, Ebba, and I had a Skip-Bo tournament until 1am!

Skip-bo! The game is on!