Skansen

We took advantage of the unusually nice weather and headed to Stockholm's open air museum Skansen with mormor och morfar. We visited several replicas of older buildings and learned about wood working and how people lived a century ago. After this cultural education it was time for a cool icecream before visiting the various animals housed the Skansen as well. Lukas even had a chance to ride on the Dala Carlia horse. A fun and memorable day in a beautiful, sunny and absolutely gorgeous Stockholm.

School

Cousin visit is not a valid reason for school absence, so Lukas and Noah god to experience getting up early, having to get dressed and eat quickly and then heading out to school. A kind morfar came to pick up our suitcase so that we only had to carry back packs. Early morning traffic made walking a faster mode of transportation for a short while, giving morfar a chance to observe the youngens in traffic.

More cousins

It is a lot of fun coming to Sweden as there are so many cousins ready to play. Ellen and Gustav were gracious hosts to their American cousins, showing off the newest toy - Hexbug- and the newest member of the family - Puff a minature hamster. The weather was exceptionally good, warm, cool breeze, blue sky, the company fabulous and the play fun - all in all a picture perfect afternoon with cousins.

Sleepover

The cousins had a great opportunity to get re-acquainted during a few nights of sleep overs at Jonas, Simon and Luisa's new house. Movie night with yummy junk food, pillow and bean bag fighting, computer time and hanging out - all in the course of a fun sleepover. There was even some jumping on the trampoline with water ballon as it was so 'hot'  all of 60 degrees maybe... Even though we had a 9 hour jet lag, Lukas and Noah quickly adapted and fell exhausted into their beds after all the fun and games.

Cousins

Although they are all older it is still not easy to get everyone to sit still and smile for the camera, yet we managed at least one good photos of the cousin reunion. Lukas and Noah were happy to see their cousins: Luisa, Simon and Jonas.

Priorities

After what seems like forever, our travel came to an end and we were finally in Sweden and safely installed at home with mormor och morfar. It did not take long for Lukas and Noah to discover the backyard and all that it offered. Since it is so light here at night, it did not seem as hard to stay up a bit longer and when the choice is between sleeping and building tree houses, there is no competition. The cousins joined in the fun and Lukas being a good foreman assigned everyone jobs and duties to ensure that the tree house would be fully operational quickly. Any hint of crankiness, exhaustion or jetlag miracleously disappeared and yes they did sleep very well even for a first night after all that running around outside.