Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Sweden Part 5: More of Ljusdal

Like I said in my last Ljusdal post, we spent most of the time there just relaxing and hanging out are our friends house out in the country. 

Amazing 'smorgas torts' (sandwich cake) for my friends birthday 
These girls..can't say enough amazing things about them. They were my elementary school BFF's and I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it's been to connect with them again as adults. 








^These pictures were all taken on a little walk we took to a beach just down the street from our friends house (red house above) ^

Oh just taking a nap outside in the rain. He slept like two hours out there. 

Riding a moped or whatever that thing is at my Uncles House. Drew couldn't believe (but was glad) I let him ride off on that thing. But it was just through the grass and down the street. 


My dads younger brother. And the lake behind his house 


These two (friends nephew) had so much fun together even though Jasper speaks little Swedish and he spoke even less English. 
Twin Sandwich! 

Kubb Playing. Fun game. Look it up. 

These two were both pregnant, and have gone on to have two beautiful babies (a boy for Jessica on the right and a girl for Sofie. And I might have been like a second pregnant here. One day we will get all these babies together! 

*I started this post like two months ago..* 

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Monday, August 24, 2015

Wedding Weekend!


A few weeks ago Drew's youngest brother got married here in CO. He went to college in California, where he met his now wife who is from here. We are pretty excited they decided to stay in CO( slash move to CO) since we have no other family here!

Jasper and Tindra were both in the wedding and had So much fun. Apparently Jasper is Quite the dancer, and he basically didn't leave the dance floor the entire night. At one point I asked my FIL if he had seen Jasper because I hadn't seen him in a few minutes, and right then I looked in and what do ya know..Jasper is literally being thrown in the air by a bunch of groomsmen. Needless to say, he was having the time of her life. Tindra conned a groomsman to be her dance partner for most of the night so between that and the photo booth room (the dress up room as she referred to it as) she was having a blast as well. 

The dress rehearsal and wedding were both outside of Denver (two separate locations) one at a little castle and the other a beautiful barn and were such stunning locations. I can't wait to see the 'real' pictures! I'm sure it was a wedding photographers dream! A few pictures I took with my phone and mini camera…I wish I would have taken more but turns out watching 3 kids at a wedding solo is Not relaxing and doesn't leave you much time for picture taking! Drew was also in the wedding so obviously not a whole lot of help! Thankfully the kids were (mostly) well behaved! And the weather and everything was Perfect! Probably the prettiest weddings and venues I've been to! Good job Will and Britt! And welcome to the family!
























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Tuesday, August 18, 2015

North Carolina Recap


This was one of those once in a life time trips (that I hope to repeat!) and I'm so so thankful everything worked out the way it did and we were able to make it all happen.

Drew drove out with me to Iowa to spend a few days working there before he went to Arizona and we went to NC which was really helpful having him there for that part of the drive. 

My mom and I started the drive at 3 AM after we had gotten a few hours sleep. Our first stop was Asheville and it's about a 13 hr drive from my moms to there and we wanted to get some of the driving done when the kids were asleep. Perfect choice, so by the time we made our first stop for gas/breakfast/feed Soren/ switch drivers the kids had slept the whole way and we were already 4 hours into the drive.

I can't say enough about how my kids are amazing travelers. Seriously the best. 

We made it to Asheville in time for dinner and running around a bit before bed. And the next day the kids had the times of their lives running around in the mountains at my aunts and uncle's house. Picking berries, playing in their pond for hours, roasting marshmallows.. as much as I like to think they are city kids, they really thrive out in nature. 


 Vegetables straight from their garden!



After our time in Asheville we made the 6 hour drive to Wilmington to spent the week on the beach with my sister, brother in law their son, and my brother, sister in law and their son. We had two condo's in a 4 plex literally Right on the beach. We couldn't possibly have been any closer. 

We had the best week. We would get up..too early, and my mom would usually take the kids to the beach pretty early while I would stay back with Soren for his first nap before we joined them. Then after lunch and nap often we would go back down to the beach. 

The kids absolutely fell in love with the beach. Jasper would have spent every second in the ocean if we would have let him, while Tindra was content to hang back and play in the sand while going in for dips with me or another adult. 

They had so much cousin time and loved every minute of it.  I thought by the end of the week we would all be sick of the beach, but nope..we could have easily stayed longer and still had a blast. Best part about the beach? Best naps and sleep time. They would be so exhausted they would fall asleep the second their heads in their pillows. Which is a major bonus when on vacation. And then the adults would meet on the deck right outside with baby monitors for game playing and some drinks. 





























One day my mom and I took a break from the beach and took the kids to Jungle Rapids, a water park right in Wilmington. We definitely could have stayed there all day! And probably would have if Tindra and Soren weren't so badly needing naps! Tindra really became a fish at this pool and was finally brave enough to put her face under the water(!!!!) and Jasper felt like such a big kid being allowed to go on all the tube rides by himself, with me waiting at the bottom, though I did go on a few with him as well! We also took turns taking them go carting there, which Jasper basically thought was the coolest thing ever, and I definitely won some cool points when I pulled into first place at the very end. 






We lucked out an had amazing weather the entire time we were there, except one afternoon called for rain so we decided it was the perfect time to go to Fort Fisher Aquarium. If you are in the area this is another must do. My kids Love aquariums, and this is definitely the coolest one they have been to. They got to touch a shark (!!) and a star fish and some sort of really big crab. They also have a lorikeet habitat where you go in and feed them, probably the hi light for Jasper especially. One jumped on his head while he was feeding it and he hasn't stopped talking about it since!!












Turns out I have way to much to post about this trip so I'll be sharing the rest of our trip SOON! 

*Thank you so much for the amazing time Jungle Rapids and For Fisher Aquarium! You helped make this trip completely unforgettable! *