A "Swede" experience

Hello long lost sister...

Sometimes, when there's a lot that's happened, it gets hard to find the time to do a big update on all of it. Which is why I haven't posted anything since the biggest thing that's happened here in a while - Mom and Dad's trip to Sweden!

I was thinking about it and their trip might have been one of the only times in my life I've had the two of them all to myself... and I thoroughly enjoyed it:) We talked about what they wanted to do and they said it would be fun to see the people and places that I would see during my normal routine in the city...

We started off with a trip to the boat, which I have not-so-affectionately dubbed "The Mistress" since she was the reason Bjorn wasn't home most of the Spring. I've learned to love her a bit too, now that we can go out there together most of the time.  Henry comes along, and thanks to his grandparents is the proud owner of a green life jacket (that came in very handy a couple weeks later when he fell off the boat into the water on accident). Other than that one little mishap he's turned into quite the "boat dog".

Two of my favorite guys.

Here's "The Mistress" in all of her husband-stealing glory...

My little man.

After a fun day in Djurgården!

Mom and Dad went with me to visit Hillsong Church! It was fun for me to take them there and I think they really liked it. I think you would love it though. So you'll just have to come visit so you can go with me:)

Dad and I outside of the photography museum, Fotografiska.

 

 

Mom and I waiting on the metro, or "tunnelbanan" in Swedish.

One night we went to my absolute favorite restaraunt in the city- Indian Garden. Last Spring I found out that Indian Garden also happens to be Amy's favorite restaraunt so it was the perfect place for Mom and Dad to meet her and her Swedish husband, Mattias.

In true Dad style, he had introduced us all to the servers and had a good talk with them before we left. I guess I've been living in Sweden too long because it's started to feel weird to talk to people I don't know. Guess I needed a good dose of Dad's southern charm:)

Remember Oskar? He's been a friend of Bjorns since university and is a really great guy. Dad met him at wedding celebration last May and called him  to meet for lunch. They met one day for lunch and another day for coffee and I think they both had a great time!

Dad took lots of beautiful pictures of the flowers around Stockholm...

And they got to meet Naomi! Mom and Dad  went with me to pick her up from her school, just like it was a normal day. We walked back to her apartment where her parents, Zach and Vanessa, made us a great dinner! Naomi and her parents have been a big part of my last year in Stockholm and I was so happy for Mom and Dad to meet them. 

Among the many ways Dad and Mom spoiled me when they were here was to set up a massage at The Central Bath, or Centralbadet. We even had a hot stone treatment! It was so relaxing and a really nice treat for me! 

During the weekend we went to visit Bjorn's mom, Margaretha, and her Bjorn in Gothenburg. They were so nice to have all of us over! We took a long walk around Gothenburg during the day and at night we went to Thörnströms kök. It's a really nice, small restaurant in the city. They have set menus, so you decide which menu your group wants then they serve all kinds of food in 6-8 courses. It was all really good though!

The dinner group at Thörnströms kök

Someone was pretty happy when we got home though... He's not the biggest fan of alone time.

The next day we went to Goose Island in Gothenburg's archipelago. Bjorn Sr. has a house on the island and we got to spend the night there! You can only get there by boat, so with no cars and not too many people, it's the perfect place to relax. Henry got free roam of the place which meant he never wanted to leave. Can't really blame him :)

Their beautiful garden

 

We took a walk/hike to the highest lookout point on the far side of the island. There were amazing views the whole way!

Made it to the top!

Love this picture of Mom and Dad:)

And the little man found his favorite thing to do: Running and jumping from rock to rock along the hike.

Why go over the bridge when you could walk through the muddy water instead? Needless to say, he got a bath when we got back to the house.

Houses on Goose Island

A nearby town on the mainland you can see from the island.

The next day before we headed back to Gothenburg we took Bjorn Sr.'s boat to a nearby town named Grundsund. It's a cute town right on the water with boats everwhere. There's this great local restaurant we went to there, and the food was delicious! Just ask Dad about the Ling...

 

Henry showing us the way:)

We made it back to Stockholm and had a few days before Mom and Dad had to go back. I had to go to school one morning so Mom and Dad took a walk around dowtown with Henry. Here's Mom and Henry at the Parliment building.

After class, Amy and I met Mom, Dad, and Henry for lunch. It felt so strange to just be able to meet them for lunch after school! That's not a luxury I normally have, so I was pretty excited about it.

On the last night they were here we went to the Ice Bar! I have to say that I don't know if I would have been as tempted to go on my own- for more than half of the last two years I've lived in colder temperatures than the ice bar, so I try not to seek out the cold. But it was really amazing!

We got special jackets and gloves  to wear inside

So far, so good!

The glasses for our drinks were made of ice too!

Me sitting in the chair made of ice...

...and Mom looking through the side of the ice chair

She was having a bit of a hard time towards the end:) 

I was really sad when Mom and Dad left, I miss them a lot and it's just more fun when they're around. But I am so thankful that they were able to come and spend time with us here! I know we all felt pretty spoiled after they left. I know you're in Dothan with them this weekend, definitely wish I could be there too! I guess I'll have to wait a little while before seeing them again, but in the meantime, make sure to give them lots of hugs from me, Bjorn, and Henry!

We're going with Amy and Mattias to Mattias' parents house in the archipelago this weekend. Sebastian, his brother, and another friend of Amy's, Sara, are all coming too. I'm excited, I think it will be a lot of fun! I'll take some pictures and put up a post when I get back... I promise it won't take me two months this time:)

Miss you Whiggle, and hope you have a good weekend. Make sure to give Logan a giant hug for me.

Love you.
Allie