Melanie, who lives on Åland, is a childhood friend of ours. Her dad and our dad drove to Alaska together and had subsequent adventures together. They would get together every year or so and hash over adventures, tell outlandish stories, try to play outrageous tricks on each other, and generally behave hilariously while both wives would stand off to the side rolling their eyes and offering support to the other in having to deal with a grown up child as a spouse.
It was a good bonding experience for all of us kids. We planned trips to Alaska together that never materialized. Yet anyway.
Instead, we met Mel on a little island between Sweden and Finland, where she now lives with her husband. His family is local to the area and we have looked at her pictures of life over here with delight and envy. It was so gorgeous. And Sweden!! We always wanted to see Sweden.
Then suddenly, there we were. In Åland, which is actually not quite Swedish, but they speak Swedish. Mel living here had a lot to do with our choosing Sweden in the first place.
Vacation is all very fine, but it is so much nicer to have an old friend to hang out with while you are vacationing.
After Sunday morning meeting at their place, where Mel translated for us, the kids took us on a tour of the house. Ingrid and Viktor have Harry Potter decorations in there room, so I had to take a lot of pictures for my Harry Potter obsessed children.
Ingrid showing us her wand
Love the beams! And the rocking chair. And the sheepskin.
Hanging out in the sunshiney kitchen while Mel got lunch for us. The rods above the island were traditionally used for drying bread.
Dry bread is a big thing.
New leaves in the entry
Bird identification books that Ingrid and Viktor pulled out to see if we could figure out what little white bird was on the sea behind our airbnb.
A traditional oven
Lindsey showing them where Alaska was
Jakob playing under the table.
Looking for birds
Most of the homes we visited had little lights hanging down in front of the windows--cozy lighting.
I loved these ones with their sparkling light!
Ashley checking out the sticky putty
Lunch
Isn't the amount of sunshine terrific?
When our families got together when we were kids, the adults always played progressive rummy. All of us kids inherited a love for it, so we had to play a game together for old times sake.
Mel was a little distracted by a lapful of kids
The music corner
Ashley hanging out
Jakob showing me his bike helmet
Buds just starting
Birds in the tree
Barn on the way to the sea
The sea is only a five-ten minute walk from Mel and Gunnar's place
Cool fences
Tori wading in
Oh sparkling day!
Jakob trying not to let his feet get too cold
bubble boots
Our shadows
A little house by the sea
Lichen and moss
Crocuses
Pussywillows
An old barn
Their front yard
Viktor playing a piece for us
Jakob being his delightful self
Jakob played a quick piece for us on the piano, which was his first ever "performance." So we felt quite honored.
Melanie and her fabulous kids.
We had a hoot with these guys!
Harry Potter in Swedish
Being cool dudes
They are hilarious kids!
Ingrid showed me her tickets and her play book that she got when she went to London to see the Cursed Child.
My girls would get along with her so well!
Ingrid and her fluffy cat
The kids running down to wave goodbye to us.
They then went inside to tell their mother we went the wrong way. So then Mel called us and told us to turn around.
Thank goodness for smart kids!
As we drove into town for a quick grocery run, Clover saw this bird and said "Look! A moose!"
She tried to explain her reasoning (it was long and gangly!), but we were having none of it. It was a BIRD.
Hilarity ensued. We yelled "Look!A moose!" at random things throughout our time in Sweden.
Clover was so glad she came.
Beautiful moon and tree
1 comment:
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!!!
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