The comings and goings of the fab four

We woke up this morning and went down to breakfast. It’s interesting because there is a *shower* here, but it is not sealed around the edges. All of the excess water runs out of the bottom of the shower onto the floor. Oh, Europe…

We went to dinner last night about 5 – we walked into a pizza place and everyone turned around and stared at us. We looked at the menu (pizza…) and nothing was really too decipherable – we saw skenky as a pizza topping, and lots of stuff with oxfisk, and decided we didn’t want to try to order here. We went to Resturantang Napoleon and had some dinner. This is a picture through the main part of town where all of the shops are. They have a store called Inspiration here, which is the Swedish version of Crate and Barrel.

Ake picked us up and took us over to the office and gave us the 4 hour downlow on everything Sandvik. I was interested for about half of it, and the other half kind of wanted to make me fall asleep. He had 3 cups of coffee while we were sitting there, and he said he had recently cut down. There is plenty of coffee here, with machines everywhere you look. We went to lunch with Ake and then met with a woman named Ingrid who drove us around Sandviken for a tour. It is really gorgeous here, even with all of the snow.

Speaking of snow, it snowed all morning. So now there is even more snow on the ground than yesterday. It covers up all of the icy slush, and it’s easier to walk now.

We also got a rental car for the weekend – what else, a Saab. Very nice. We had to do a little investigation, though to get the key out.

Sandviken pictures




Here’s the coffee they had set up for us. Instant coffee w/ Mjolk in the little green carton. MMMMmmmmm, Nescafe. We didn’t care. We’re so tired we’ll drink anything at this point.

Greetings from Sweden. We have wireless in our hotel! Hooray! We got in about 9:30 this morning, Sweden time (about 2:30am EST). There was a Volvo limo waiting for us in the parking lot, and they drove us about 2 hours up to Sandviken. It was raining mostly in Arlanda/Stockholm, but it is snowing like crazy up here. This is a picture from our hotel room. We’re kind of in the middle of a U shape, so it’s hard to get a good shot of the road.

Lydia must have felt lazy today because of the weather – she took a 2.5 hour nap! I was visiting with girlfriends, so Daddy had adequate time to watch all of the basketball on tv. Mason and Emily came over this afternoon for a little playtime. Lydia and I hung out this evening while Robert went to a hockey game with his friend. I’m finally caught up with most of my laundry, just in time to pack the family up to go out of town. Lydia is going to Nanny and Papa’s, and Robert and I are going to Sweden. I am having some anxiety about leaving her for so long and leaving the country, but other than that, I’m sure it will be a great trip.

Here’s a picture from this afternoon. Lydia didn’t want to give the paci up at all – maybe she has more teeth coming in?

Doing what? We don’t know yet. However, Lydia seems to enjoy the drinking coffee while typing lifestyle already. I promise, I didn’t pose this at all. It is 100% Lydia!

I just uploaded our March pictures to Snapfish. Let me know if you want me to send them to you. Here’s a preview.

We’ve been busy over the last week, so I haven’t had much of a chance to write.

One of my very best and oldest friends, Kristen, had her baby boy on Wednesday evening – Caleb Walker. He was 7lbs 13oz and 21.5 inches long. They’re all doing great! I can’t wait to meet him next weekend!

Lydia continued to hang on to her double ear infection, and had a miserable time sleeping this past week. It was one of the first times that I thought to myself, I can’t do this! We hung in there, and made it through the week. She had a well check-up on Friday, and they gave her Zithromax. She already seems to have perked up.

This past Thursday, Lydia’s friends Mason and Makayla came over with their mommies, Emily and Ginger, for an afternoon visit (they are neighborhood friend). Mason will turn 1 next week, and is about Lydia’s size. He started walking several weeks ago, and is pretty good at it now. He decided that standing up on Lydia’s rocking chair would be fun. Emily quickly put an end to that. However, Lydia decided that this looked like a good idea, and that she would do it too. She KNOWS that this is naughty behavior. When I told her to get down, and that she was being naughty, she stood in the middle of the room and started crying. Mason, being a sweet and caring friend, walked over to Lydia and looked like he wanted to console her. She looked at him for a second, then heaved back and pushed him square in the chest with both hands, as hard as she could. He fell over and looked absolutely stunned. I thought I would never stop laughing. It was the funniest thing that I shouldn’t have been laughing at – ever! We had to bury our faces in our arms because we didn’t want to see the littles to see us cracking up.

Today Lydia was hanging out with Nanny.Nanny told her “shhhhh” because Lydia’s great grandma was sleeping. Lydia held her finger up to her mouth, as to say shhhh. She did it for me later, too. She must have picked that up at daycare. She also apparently learned Ring around the Rosy at daycare because I started doing it with her late last week, and she knew exactly when to fall down. I was pretty proud.

She got a new pair of Nike tennis shoes today that are ADORABLE. She looks like hot stuff.

We’re starting to pack up items that will live at my mom and dad’s house with us, that we don’t want to pack in the pod. We’re having a yard sale in a few weeks, in which we’re hoping to get rid of some big items. I’m glad we are able to begin doing things now, instead of being rushed at the end. We’re planning a trip to Dallas either during my Spring Break, or at the beginning of May. We’re looking forward to it!

Hope you had a great weekend.

Robert spoke with his contact at BoA today, and she told him that it is almost certain he will have a GREAT job in Dallas for his first rotation. We should know more on Tuesday, so stay tuned!

Lydia’s new hobby is being naughty: more specifically pitching fits and getting into every thing she knows she’s not supposed to. Of course she knows what she is doing is naughty, and knows that acting cute sometimes get her out of trouble. This day she was pulling stuff out of drawers. Stuff like dog medicine and dog nail clippers. Prancer was getting a tad bit nervous.

Tonight she was running around naked after her bath. She thought she was pretty cool, so I had to pull out the camera. I’ll add them to the “To Embarass Lydia in the future” stack. She, amazingly enough, headed for her own toys this evening. She has one book, The 12 dogs of Christmas book that she is obsessed with (any guesses why???). She follows around with it and whines for us to read it to her. Of course I think the reason that she likes it is that on the last day of Christmas my true love brings me a cat covered in ribbon and bows. These days, that is the only book that will keep her attention for more than 5 seconds.

This past weekend we had the pleasure of attending Kim and Todd’s wedding. Here are two pictures of the festivities. Kim looked absolutely stunning, and Todd was very handsome. Heather looked incredibly gorgeous as well. The wedding was special, and the reception was very classy. The GNP ladies cut me a HUGE slice of cake, thanks ladies. It was YUMMY, and Kim and Todd used milk to toast, because, as Kim said, she liked MILK with cake, and no weddings ever have that, so she wanted it at hers. I’m glad she got it. Hope you guys are having a fabulous honeymoon!