I think our morning routine is getting pretty good. I woke up at 9am but I am not sure when Fredrik woke up. He went to bed much earlier than me so I assume he woke up a bit early. He and Linnea had just finished breakfast and it took another 30 minutes or so to wake up Davin. That kid can sleep!
Our plan today was to head to Hudiksvall which is about an hour drive to the coast (east) from where our house is. We were invited to have "fika" (coffee & goodies) at Irene & Farfar's house to see Johanna (Fredrik's step-sister's daughter), her fiance Anton, their new baby Olle (same name as Farfar) who is almost 6 weeks old. Farfar and Per (Fredrik's half brother) are away working so they won't be there to say hello. We plan to meet them another day when they are home.
We leave our house just before noon which is a little later than I planned. I was hoping to stop and get lunch in Hudik but no one is hungry to eat before we leave and by the time we get there, we would not have enough room for "fika". We decide to go shopping instead since Hudik is a much bigger town than anything else we have been in. According to Wikipedia it has a whopping 15,000 people living there! Ljsudal has only 6,200 and Jarvso has 1,400! Again, Wikipedia says that Bollnas (where Farmor lives) has 12,800 people living there but it seems smaller or quieter to me somehow than Hudiksvall.
Anyway, there is a store that Fredrik wants to go to so he can buy a radio/bluetooth speaker for the house. We also find a bunch of other things there that we like too. It is a store that has a little of everything. We bought a colander, measuring cup, spaghetti fork, plastic cups for the kids, batteries and a pinwheel for the yard that Linnea picked out. We also liked a BBQ there that we might come back and buy. We still had a little time to kill so we went over to the little mall and did some window shopping. The bookstore was a fun diversion but the kids only wanted to buy games since all the books were in Swedish! Haha!
Next up was the sports store (sort of like REI?) because I wanted to buy a rain jacket. I wanted to buy one for a while but never found anything I liked at home. Jackets are really hard for me to shop for since I am petite and broad shouldered. By the time I fit through the arms and shoulders, everything else is too long or loose. I did end up finding something that I liked pretty well and it was on sale at 50% off too. The arms are still too long but that is always going to be a problem. I liked that it had a hood, had a fuzzy lining and was waterproof. Now that I bought it (for a bargain price of 399 SEK or about $60) I will ensure that the weather will be nice and sunny so I won't need it ... right? Oh if I could only be so lucky!
Speaking of the weather ... it was nice when we left so maybe 13 C or 55 F according to the car. Then we hit a patch of rain on the way to Hudik and it dropped down to 11 C or 52 F and once we got into town, it was nice again and back to 13 C. Still cold but at least warmer than a few days ago!
We had a nice but quick visit with the family. Henrik (Fredrik's older half brother who is about 10 years younger than him) was there along with Carro (Fredrik's step-sisters younger daughter who is 14) who came with Johanna (who is 20 or 21?). Katrin (Fredrik's step-sister) and her family were supposed to come too but she had a migraine and said she will visit another day.
Then we stopped by the candy store (Fredrik had a craving for some special Swedish candy) and also a furniture store that has a lot of outdoor options. We didn't really find anything there that we loved. At least for the price! Then it was time to grab dinner in Hudik before heading home. It was a strange Texas/American place but the food was good. It was just really weird to sit in a very "American" restaurant in Sweden.
Our day was concluded with a Skype call to our new Au Pair (Rebecca) who is coming to the USA at the end of July. She will come to our house about a week after we get home. She has a job until she leaves and she lives very far away from where we are in Sweden. Our previous Au Pair (Julia) is trying to see if she can make the trip to visit but it is an all day travel type of trip and rather expensive too. I hope we can see her!
I have a lot of photos from today so that will be in the next post...
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