Our Swedish Easter

I'm a little late on the Easter post, but here are the pictures nonetheless. The girls really enjoyed their first Påsk Ägg. In Sweden, the Easter Bunny doesn't deliver Easter baskets but large Easter Eggs filled with goodies. Easter at church was a completely different experience for us. The church was really empty because so many of the students that regularly attend had gone home for the 5 day Easter break. No one else seemed to be extra dressed for the occasion, except for our girls who received 2 sets of beautiful matching Easter dresses.

On the eve of Easter, friends of ours invited us over for a traditional Svensk dinner. We had 3 kinds of Sil (pickled herring), hard boiled eggs with shrimp, låx (lox = salmon), köttbular (Swedish meatballs), potatoes and some other yummy dishes. We all enjoyed the meal (really, we liked everything), especially Sonja who just loves Swedish meatballs.









We also received an Easter package from Uncle Andy and Kelly that was greatly enjoyed.

Copenhagen

Well, we took advantage of the long Easter holiday to make our first out-of-Sweden trip. We decided to go to Copenhagen for a couple of days because it is not too far from us (just about 1 hour on the train). The first day we arrived just before noon. The train ride was really fun for the girls. I packed snacks so we could have our fika (Swedish word for a coffee break) on the train.


Waiting for the train



After dropping off our suitcase at the hotel we went to visit Tivoli Gardens. It's an amusement park but not quite like the kind you find in the US. It's not as family/theme park oriented as Disney, not as honky-tonk as your average carnival and cleaner and prettier than a Six Flags. It is expensive, but we really enjoyed it. It has lots and lots of flowers and outdoor cafes/restaurants. Linnea especially like riding the carousel and also enjoyed the old-time cars and Storybook ride. Linnea also developed a taste for cotton candy. Sonja developed a taste for my crazy ice cream cone, which consisted of 3 scoops of ice cream in a cone with soft serve on top, then marshmallow creme, then a chocolate covered marshmallow thing, then a little strawberry syrup on top!











Our second day in Copenhagen we visited the castle and grounds where the crown jewels are kept. Then we took a really nice canal boat ride through the city's canals. We really lucked out with the weather as it was beautiful the whole time we were there.





Although we really enjoyed our time away from home and visiting a new city, we were very glad to get back to Sweden. There is something about it here that isn't like the rest of Europe that I've visited. It's quiet, clean and green.

The girls are doing great. Sonja is walking most of the time now and really enjoys going outside to play. Now that the weather is nice, we even take our lunch outside sometimes and eat on the back patio. Linnea got some good news last week. She'll be able to start school in May. She is very excited! Both girls never cease to make me laugh. Sonja is always climbing up something or trying to fit into little hiding spots. Linnea is speaking some English some Swedish these days. She doesn't say "no" anymore, now it's just "nej" and she mixed sentences like "I'm a blooma". Blooma is the Swedish word for flower. She was saying this while wearing a big flower on her head. She also likes to see what she can get away with these days too. The other day I told her to go use the potty. She came back, obviously too soon and said she had gone. I said, "No you didn't Linnea. Go back and go potty." "Oh, alright." Stomp, stomp. And then later, "Mama, how did you know that I didn't go potty?". "Because I'm the mommy and I just know."

We are still anxiously awaiting our first visitors, whomever they end up being. Right now June 15th (the day we have to move out for the summer) doesn't seem that far away! We are going away for about 5-6 days in May to Germany for Kirchentag (church day) and are starting to look forward to that trip. I'll need to brush up on my German though as they don't speak as much English there as they do in Sweden.

Look forward to another post shortly of our Easter Sunday here at the house. And as always, we love to hear from our friends and family!

It's Official - Sonja's a "Walking Baby"

Even though Sonja took her first steps awhile ago, she hasn't really been what I would call walking until this past weekend. It started on Friday where she would take more than 3 steps at a time and last night Matthew and I counted about 20 steps in a row before she decided to sit down. Now she walks about half the time and still crawls the other half of the time, but I know it won't be long at all before she's running after Linnea.

This past Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day. We took the bikes (and the wagon) into the city and enjoyed the sunshine. It was so fun having a picnic lunch on the grass and playing at the playground where there was actually warm sun.

Here are some pictures of the past week.


Playing Doctor's office. Linnea is the patient and Sonja's the doctor.


Goofing off like usual.
















And this is what happens when you give your baby sister a chocolate cookie on the way home from the grocery store (which is less than a 10 minute drive).