Father's Day? Hmm...

I guess today is Father's Day but I didn't remember until later when I saw all these posts on Facebook. For one thing ... my days are a little mixed up and another thing ... it isn't Father's Day here in Sweden!

Anyway, we slept well and woke up at a fairly normal time so the lack of sleep yesterday made for a solid night rest for me at least. I went to bed around 10:30 pm and woke up this morning around 8:15 am or so. I stayed in bed for a little while to fully wake up, took a photo of the lovely view outside my bedroom window and posted it on Facebook.

Good morning Sweden! It is a sunny day and almost 60 degrees (F) at 8:45am.

If I stand up and look outside from my bedroom to the right, this is what I see.
I hear nothing but the wind rustling the leaves on the trees and Farmor on the phone in the kitchen. 

I decide to wait until Farmor (Fredrik's mother, her name is Monika but we all call her "father's mother" in Swedish) is off the phone before I say good morning to her. She spent the night with us to make sure all went well. Linnea wakes up a little after me. Not sure if it was the phone call or the fact that I went in and opened her door. Not a bad time to wake up so I feel almost strangely acclimated already.

We eat breakfast and think about what to do today. Not much really. I just want to go to the grocery store and pick up a few more things. Farmor was kind enough to stock our fridge already but I just wanted a few more items. We decide to have pizza for lunch, head to Maj & Ingvar's (Monika's sister and brother-in-law) who live just on the other side of the village of Jarvso. It is maybe a 10 minute drive by car from our house to Maj's house. Then we go to the grocery store on the way home.

First, I had to shower and get ready for the day. Linnea was eager to explore the house so she and Farmor did that. They went to the basement/cellar and Linnea said it was creepy. I didn't go but I am sure it is from the photos I saw. Then they went out to the barn and looked around. We have a lawn mower that Ingvar gave/lent to us as he has been mowing our lawn for us. Linnea and Farmor also discovered that there is a storage area under the barn and it has an old horse drawn carriage in there! It is a bit of a climb down the rocks and through the bushes so I decided to explore that later. Also, Farmor decided it was time to mop the floors so Linnea also helped with that. Glad she likes to help!

Finally, it was time to grab lunch. Pizza was fine (I had a kebob pizza) and Linnea enjoyed hers as well. I think we ate at "Jarven Pizzaria" but I might have to check back and correct that if wrong. When we got to Maj & Invar's we sat outside and had some coffee and cake. Linnea had vanilla ice cream with sprinkles. She was in heaven. Then she played, and played and played. She kicked a soccer ball around, learned how to play croquet, learned how to play badminton, blew bubbles and then attacked them with a big stick when Ingvar blew the bubbles, played mini golf and more. Lots of things to play with but I think Ingvar was her favorite "toy".

Then it was time to grill some burgers and hotdogs but it was a bit too early for Linnea and I to eat so we didn't eat much. After a good time visiting, we decided it was time to leave and do our grocery shopping. That was fun and we got several things that we needed. Of course, it was a problem to pay again but this time they didn't take MasterCard which is what my main form of payment is. I only have a few hundred SEK cash on me so I had to use my VISA card which doesn't have much money on it. I really can't wait to have my own Swedish bank card but I think I need to wait for Fredrik to arrive to set that up for me. I am going to the bank tomorrow to get some cash and I can ask if it is possible to get a card without him.

Then we went home and unpacked the groceries. Farmor left to go back home because she didn't bring enough insulin. I said it would be fine on our own. The only hiccup I had was figuring out how to turn on the heat. We don't have central heating so all the rooms are heated with radiators. Well, most were turned up to the max temp and when I turned on the kitchen one, it didn't seem to heat up any. We had the doors and windows open and then suddenly it got cold. Fredrik wasn't sure what to do about the heat so I called Maj and Ingvar. They just said they are slow to heat up and if it is too cold to drink some whiskey and use some extra blankets! Haha! I just turned on the oven and opened the door to get some heat faster. The heat is fine now.

The light here is throwing me off already. It was 9pm before I realized that it was time to get Linnea in bed! I quickly get her a snack, have her brush her teeth and read a book to her. Right now, she is sleeping in Davin's room as her room has no blinds or curtains and too bright to sleep in. At least he has a bunk bed so both kids could sleep there until we figure out where to buy window coverings.

After I put her to bed, I just rearranged the kitchen a bit and put things in places that made more sense to me. I can tell that several people have been living here as pots are stored in two places and baking dishes in two places as well. I noticed that there was a sunset and went outside to take some photos. Yeah, a sunset at 11pm at night! I guess I really am in Sweden. ;)

Sunset at 11pm in Sweden! This is taken outside our front door.