Jonsered

After we arrived yesterday afternoon, we had a lovely dinner with Cilla, Lars, and their 2 boys: Åke (12) and Folke (8). Linnea and Annali had such a terrific time playing with Åke and Folke, and the boys were both so good with the little ones! It gave Kevin, Ebba, and me an opportunity to chat freely with Cilla and Lars without anyone asking for "up" or having to go mediate some dispute. How amazing! We were able to catch up with each other and had a lovely discussion. During our talk we found that Lars' family has a cabin on Mållongen where Gun and Stig have a cabin, too! The world (at least here in Sweden) seems to revolve around Alfta! It is such a small world!

This mornng the kids went out and played for a bit on the snow-covered playground. Annali put up with the swings, but didn't really enjoy them. Linnea, on the other hand, took full advantage of all the snow and had a blast sliding down the slides and chasing the boys all around.

Annali and Ebba at the swings, Note the elation on Annali's face. Oh, never mind - she's scowling!

Linnea and Åke

Then we went for a really lovely walk through Jonsered. It is a beautiful small community with an interesting history as a former factory town turned art community. We walked past many beautiful brick row houses, across the picturesque river, and into the heart of the factory area where Cilla and Lars each have an art studio.  





Åke and Cilla in front of the entrance to the factory



A view from the bridge into the factory. Cilla and Lars' studios are in the brick buildings on the right. Cilla's window is the furthest one you can see, across from the tree

Inside Cilla's studio we got to see a lot of Cilla's beautiful handcrafted works and had a wonderful fika!

Folke and Åke pulling the girls home on the "Snow Racers"

 

 

Annali developed quite a crush on Åke today. She only wanted Åke to hold her and carry her the entire walk. Not even Mama would do! Poor Åke! He was exhausted by the time we got back!

This evening we traveled by train back to Stockholm. After a 3 hour delay and an extra hour of travel time due to problems with ice on the train doors, we finally arrived into Stockholm just after 1am.