Daddy Time

Everyone was a little exhausted from the previous week.  We slept in a little and after breakfast, David took Ellie to the park to play so that they could have an outing.  She chose to take Daddy to the park with the trampolines and hills to climb.  She was so excited to take him there and show him around.  They also picked up a bike pump since ours ended up in storage. I stayed home and got to catch up on some things that I needed and wanted to do. We spent a lazy afternoon playing puzzles, baby dolls and tea party.  Lazy days are so great once in a while.

Party Time

David needed a dissertation morning, so Ellie and I were off to the store to try to figure out what ingredients we could find to make kid-friendly appetizers.  Baby and her stroller went with us.  After a little searching we found the ingredients to make ham rolls and a fruit plate.  It still surprises me that every time I go into the store, I find something I hadn’t found before. 

After an afternoon of playing catch-up, we headed to Jason’s house.  Joannah threw him a surprise birthday party.  There were a lot of Electrolux employees there as well as some of their friends from Stockholm International School.  It was quite a multi-cultural night.  It is so interesting hearing how someone for another country like Germany or Denmark perceives their move to Sweden.  Ellie had never been to a surprise party before but got into the idea.  She did a great job being quite while Jason entered the house.  She had a good time playing with the balloons and noise makers as well as grazing her way through the food table.

Park Time

Ellie and I went to the park today.  She wanted to go to “trampoline” park.  The weather has been cold and wet recently, leaving a film of frost over things in the morning.  The park was no exception.  This park is quite hilly and on the west side of the hills the frost remained.  The kids were having a great time sliding down the hill, but Ellie didn’t want to try.  Instead she wanted to go to the dry side and play run, run.  She had a great time running down the hill where I caught her and spun her around.  After a fun time at the park it was off to more sedate adventures – the grocery store. 

ID's and a Surprise

Our Swedish Identification cards have arrived.  Because you have to be present with you r passport, David and I met at the bank on his lunch “hour”.   A Swedish ID card is similar to a US ID card but is issued by banks instead of the DMV.  It is also attached to your personal number (similar to a US social security number.  We are now really officially considered a person in Sweden.  Since it was a lunch break for David we also stopped and grabbed lunch.  He told us that he had a surprise for us after dinner and wouldn’t give us a clue.

After dinner we bundled up and walked down a street that I have only been on once before.  Two block away from the apartment, our surprise awaited.  It was a bowling center!  It was down a flight of stairs and reminded me so much of Clemson’s bowling alley.  They had 17 lanes.  I guess they ran out of space and decided to only put in a half of a pair.  The computer system was really neat.  It controlled the bumpers, so the bumpers only came up when it was Ellie’s turn to bowl.  It made adults bowling with children so much easier.  Ellie was so excited to bowl again.  She had a great time and bowled in the 50’s both times with quite a few balls that never touched the bumpers.

Recovery Day

The morning found us cruising into harbor to dock again.  It was so nice to be able to see parts of the archipelago that we had missed on the way out due to the dark.  I can’t wait to be able to explore that area more this summer.   It was a little sad getting off the boat because we had such a good time. David went straight to work. Ellie and I made it back through the city without any difficulty.  It was our trial run for getting to the airport by ourselves in December.  When we arrived at our train stop the sky just opened up and we splashed through the rain back to the apartment.  What a great day to recover and do laundry.

Helsinki

When we woke up the next morning, Ellie climbed up into the window right away.  The sun was just coming up and we could see other boats and some small islands as we made our way into harbor.  There was a one hour time difference between Stockholm and Helsinki, with all activities on the boat being by “local” time.  We never did quite figure out what local time was.  We were an hour early for breakfast so we went up on the deck to look out over the water.  Ellie was full of questions about what make the boat move so David took her to the back of the boat to show her the water being moved by the engines.  It was so cold out on the deck with the wind. 

After breakfast we went out on the deck to watch the boat dock.  Ellie was so fascinated by the process.  I love watching her discover something new.  Then we were off the boat on walking to Helsinki.  It was only a few block to downtown.  I loved the architecture of Helsinki.  What a beautiful place.  We did part of the central city walking tour including the Helsinki National Cathedral.  It was simply amazing.  We were lucky enough to be there when they were practicing the organ.  It was a beautiful instrument.  We then made our way over to the Rock Church.  It is one of the most interesting churches I have ever been in.  It is not beautiful in a classic “old” church way but in an earthy way.  It is carved out of the rock by the sea.  It seems to be so natural of a setting in which to worship.  I would love to attend a service there.  After a quick lunch at a café along the way, we wandered some more of downtown including the old harbor. There are about 8 old ships anchored there.

Back at the boat, we headed up to the pool area for a quick swim.   The water was heated – perfect for thawing out after spending the day outside.  Ellie really enjoyed the water slide that was available for children.  After dinner, we took Ellie to the Children’s Dance party.  She loved the dancing but not the Hippo (mascot of the ship) that attended the second half.  

Ellie and Daddy on the deck of the boat.

David's favorite church, the Orthodox Cathedral.

My favorite building.

Helsinki National Cathedral

The Rock Church

Inside the Rock church

Setting Sail

We all woke up so excited about our trip.  It has been a whole month since we took a trip – Forever in our world.  Ellie keep saying, “Vacation is so much fun.”  We met the Duckworth family for lunch at our favorite local café.  Ellie and I split some of their awesome lasagna and a scone.  Then we were off to the boat.  Ellie pulled her Dora backpack the whole way.  She was so excited to be like the other big girls.  We took to train out to Gardet and from there it was just a short walk to the boat. 

Ellie couldn’t believe how big the boat was.  I think she was expecting something closer to Daddy’s boat.  When we got to our room she climbed right up in the window to look out.  It was her favorite place on the boat.  After getting settled in, we were off to explore the boat.  Ellie met up with Hallie and Naelie in the playroom.  She loved sliding into the ballpit. 

Then it was time to set sail and dinner.  It was already dark by the time we set sail so we really couldn’t see much.  There was an amazing variety of food on the buffets.  Ellie liked trying lots of different things.  It was hard for Ellie to fall asleep that night since she was so excited about sleeping on a boat but once she did she slept really well.

Ready to go!

I see the boat.

Playing in the ball pit.

Ellie's favorite place to sit and watch.