Sweden!

We had the great opportunity to go to Sweden for Patric's sister Marie's 50th birthday party. Marie wanted Patric to come so she actually paid for his ticket! What a nice sister! I debated back and forth whether I should go, I knew I wanted Josh to go because he needs to know his family in Sweden as well, but finances being the way they have been, up and down, I wasn't sure. Of course, it is also the busy time for me with tax returns and various bookkeeping projects that come up...but, I decided to go as well. We flew out in the evening of Feb 9 and came home the morning of Feb 15 so it was a very short trip. Before we left, I was pretty sad that we were only going to be there for such a short time...we usually are there for two weekends, about 9 days...but we were only there for 4.5 days. Perhaps Harry and Marie were grateful that there houseguests were only there for a short time this time :)

The last time we went to Sweden was to sell Patric's apartment in Goteburg. I guess with that sale I figured he wasn't so interested in living there and that the discussion was off the table for awhile. Well, while we were there, we started talking about the move to Sweden again. Who knows if it will actually happen. Patric will have to take more initiative for it to happen. I do have to remind myself from time to time that I married Patric for the adventure of moving out of my comfort zone...of course, for the last almost 7 years we have been sitting comfortably in the same place I grew up...Patric, I NEED adventure! Make this happen!

Anyway--here are some pictures of the short trip! I didn't pull out the camera for the party, which is unfortunate because Marie looked so beautiful. I don't believe that she is 50...she looks great!
I love this picture of Patric and Josh. Josh absolutely LOVES snow...so this was his heaven on earth.
Patric's sister has a horse farm, so we always get to see these beautiful animals close up when we are in Sweden.
We flew into Sweden on the right day...it was the start of a big snow storm. The next day, flights were canceled. Patric and Josh never can resist doing snow angels.
Sweden is such a beautiful country...and this is just a taste of what Marie and Harry own.
Marie and Harry have an enormous dog...lucky she is the sweetest dog ever.
Patric's heaven...horses, snow, dogs, cats, kids...life doesn't get much better for him.
An example of Josh's fearlessness. Luckily this was a nice horse.
This is probably my favorite city in Sweden, Dalaro, so I needed to go there while we were in Sweden. These ducks were just relaxing on the road...we could literally touch them if we wanted.
Case in point. Patric is standing right next to the duck...and they aren't even phased by it.
It happened to start snowing while we were in Dalaro. It was beautiful. These ducks followed us where ever we went. I have a video on my phone that shows that..but I have to get it on youtube.
These are the houses on the water. Patric and I have dreams of living here one day. Dreams...
Josh loved the ducks..as you can tell. They jumped out of the water eventually as well. I don't have any pictures of that.

I already want to go back...this time in the summer, of course. I wish we could go this summer, but we gotta pay off the tickets we just bought first and get stuff down around here. Perhaps the summer of 2012 we can visit again (or maybe move...ha!).