You KNOW it got wild! : A Photojournal from a Week with Grandma and Pepe

Having been in Sweden for a few months now, we are really enjoying ourselves.  But it is tough not having family and friends close by to talk with or just enjoy time together.  I think that is why Lis and I view our time with our visitors as our own little oasis.  Having friends and family visit us creates a place where we can relax and enjoy time with people who have known us since before 2012.

That is why we were so excited when Grandma and Pepe were scheduled to come out.  We had been looking forward to their trip for awhile, but it really couldn’t get here fast enough. 

Not surprisingly, there was plenty of photographic evidence with both Lisa and Grandma taking pics, so the following is a little photo-journal from their trip!

Day 1 - Arrival!

After a really long flight (and short train to downtown), Calvin rewards Grandma with KISSES and SNUGGLES.  I’m pretty sure that the long flight wiped out any and all memories of this first day, so I could literally type ANYTHING here about their day, and they couldn’t argue!

Day 2 - Exploring Stockholm

Calvin had a stressful morning defending his castle against two ogres

We then went off to explore the downtown area and Gamla Stan,  the oldest part of Stockholm

After an afternoon of strollin, Calvin wanted to walk around in a nice park by the water.

Day 3 - Birthday Party!!!!

One of our biggest (superficial) concerns moving out here was that we wouldn't have anyone to celebrate Calvin's first birthday.  Luckily, Lisa is a social butterfly out here and has made great friends, AND Grandma and Pepe wouldn't have missed this for the world.  It definitely meant a lot to us to have part of our family out here for Calvin's big day

Time to slay a dragon!

(once again, GREAT cake lis!) 

What's a playground party without some swing-induced squeals??

I'm pretty sure this is what Leif Ericsons family photos would have looked like

Day 4 - Skansen

Stockholm as a really fun outdoor zoo, Skansen, focused on Scandinavian animals.  Here Grandma and Pepe lie to Calvin by telling him to look at the “puppy” (only word that GUARANTEES he will look at something) that is actually a ferocious wolverine. 

Pepe helped Calvin explore the gnome house in “Lil Skansen”.  This hour of walking around hunched over with Calvin would have hurt more if there wasn’t ice cream and beer directly outside.  NOT Skansen’s first rodeo.

Nothing is more fun than crawling around like a hamster for a little while. Except when 10 year old Swedish kids keep knocking you down…

Sweden joined in Calvin’s birthday celebration by lighting up a pretty good size candle…

Day 5 - We're on a Boat! (Happy Socialism!)

If I'm off of work to celebrate May Day, we pretty much had to go on a boat ride right?

I can't think of a better place to have a nice picnic than the “Swedish Versaille”

I'm pretty sure that Lisa was just imagining being a little girl and playing pretty pretty princess - who knows, maybe my mom was too??

Time to feed some ducks!  This was in the gardens behind the palace, where we found a little stream with some ducks.  We then realized this stream formed the moat that surrounded the dog park - thats some good engineering Stockholm

Day 6 - Livin as a Swede

Lisa really enjoyed being able to show off her day-to-day mommy schedule.  First stop was at the open daycare.  Grandma was able to see a lot of singing, clapping, playing and parachutin’

Naturally, after song time, everyone was ready to enjoy the outside weather.  Time to get your trampoline on

These cherry blossoms weren’t there a week ago and they disappeared in another week.  Made catching them all the better

 Where is Pepe you ask??  Just exploring former Soviet territories (Tallinn, Estonia) and trying to see what he could get away with saying without getting interrogated by the KGB.

Day 7 - Just Chillin

Island livin - Scandinavian style

Pepe escaped from the Gulag and he is ready to swing!  Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Day 8 - Going in the deep end

Lisa and I left for Vienna this day but we knew that Calvin was in great hands.  First thing they did was hit up a sure thing!  Singalong time!  Pepe was shocked when a tidal wave of Swedish ladies arrived with their babies (and dads on paternity leave of course) 2 minutes before the singing started.  Pepe didn’t know what hit him

(feel free to play "Where's Waldo/Calvin" for this pic), 

The one “must-see” museum on Pepe’s Stockholm list was the Vasa.  Basically a museum showing the “Titanic” of the 1600’s.  One of my friends sons LOVES this museum, and pretends that he is in “Pirates of the Caribbean” when he is there.  I’m assuming that’s what is going through Pepe’s head as well. 

After such a fun day, Calvin rewarded Grandma with some attack kisses!

Day 9 - Kulturhuset

During their Saturday morning stroll, they found a 10K road race.  Pepe taught Calvin to applaud the runners as they passed (the kid LOVES clapping).  Good strategy for future race days!

We've always loved the main library here, the kids area is basically a big indoor playground.  Grandma just had to make sure that bigger kids didn't knock Calvin down.  Not sure if they tried to read any Swedish baby books or not...

Kulturhuset: Kid tested, Pepe approved

Day 10 - Strolling HARD

Sunday morning, Calvin got up nice and early (I’m guessing), so they decided to go feed the ducks.  They didn’t realize that this was no “Slater Park” duck pond and that these birds wanted their breakfast.  After escaping from what was turning into a Hitchcock movie set, they channeled their inner euro and hung out at café’s for a bit. 

When we got back from Vienna, we decided to go on a walk around the water.  The walk that afternoon couldn’t have been more perfect.  The weather was great, the dogs were sniffin and Calvin was a happy boy.  Lisa and I both loved seeing the excitement in my Mom’s face as she described to us all the fun things that they did over the last few days, how much she loved spending that time with Calvin, and how they took full advantage of the family-friendly infrastructure in Sweden.  So during the walk we went up the lake and ended up hanging out on a pier for awhile. The pier had stairs and a ramp, which meant that Calvin was the happiest boy in the world.  We spent over an hour (adults rotating turns), just holding his little hands as he went up and down everything that he could.  Just a great way to spend the afternoon.

Day 11 - Great memories....

Calvin had SO much fun hangin with his Pepe and Grandma that he just couldn’t handle it Monday morning. 

Overall, I know we all had a great time and really took advantage of everything we could.  We had looked forward to this week for a long time, so it was tough that it went by so quickly.  But we are really lucky that Grandma and Pepe (with Laura next time!) will be able to visit us again so soon and we have already started to prep for that trip.  Until then, we will have a lot of fun skyping on the weekends. It’s really funny to watch how excited Calvin gets when he hears the skype noises start – he LOVES himself some skyping time. 

Couldn't have asked for anything more.

The $20 Biscotti

I know that prices in Stockholm are generally 40% more than anywhere else in the world and I've been trying hard to be as frugal as possible while I still don't have a Swedish job.  Our only indulgences are going out to fika once or twice a week with friends (you still have to be social!) and Papa Razzi pizza every other week or so.  I wouldn't say that we are busting the budget, but we have an aggressive savings plan in place so that we can afford to live in Stockholm once we get kicked out of our corporate housing.

So far, I've been doing really really well at saving money.  Mostly because I'm cheap and force Jon to bring lunch from home.  We compared our first month's expenses and we are under budget without really having to try too hard.

About once a week, I get together with my Italian friend, Loredana, and we hit up a new cafe around town.  This past week we went to the Moderna Museet of Modern Art which has one of the most spectacular views from their restaurant.

Yes. The view is incredible!

It was a beautiful day outside but the restaurant's patio was already in the shade.  We had a 2 minute debate between sun or view...sun or view...? Hmmm... we wanted some SUN!  We headed to the back cafe where there is an outdoor patio and managed to pull our strollers/prams outside to feed our squawky kids.  It was so nice just to relax in the sun.

No view but directly in the SUN

I decided to go into the cafe back in the museum to get a sweet treat and a biscotti for Calvin to chew on (he's so European now).  I found a yummy looking blueberry pie square for myself and proceeded to check out.  (Note: There were no prices of items posted anywhere in the cafe.) The cashier woman told me that would be 185 SEK.  My head nearly spun around --- uhhh, what?!?  I know this is a museum cafe and all and we're surrounded by modern architecture but really?  A piece of pie and a crusty piece of bread costs $27??  That's generally my grocery budget for half a week!  I handed over 200 SEK and hustled Calvin out of there before she could charge us for a glass of water.  I mean, I know that Stockholm is expensive but man! Determined not to let it foul my mood and precious time with my friends, I just ignored the astronomical price and figured I would really really enjoy this blueberry pie.

A few minutes later, Loredana asked me how much my blueberry pie cost because it looked so delicious.  I pulled out my receipt only to discover that the cashier had not only charged me for a blueberry pie but also for 15 biscottis! One biscotti was 10 SEK and I was charged for 15!  How on earth does that happen?  I immediately marched back into the cafe to point out her mistake and got my 150 kronor back.  She apologized and all was forgiven but I realized a few things.

1. Save your receipt and double check everything before you leave the store/cafe
1. Emelie then told us all a story about how a butcher shop erroneously charged her for 5 shepherd's pies when she only ordered (and received) 3.  Without a receipt, you have no grounds for contention.
2. Don't be too lazy, embarrassed or rushed to do the conversion in your head.
1. Most days I'm too overwhelmed by the prices in general to even worry about converting them into USD where I would most surely cry thereafter.  Sometimes you just don't want to know how much your coffee costs.  My general thought is, "Do you want it? Yes.  Then pay the lady the money."  That's not always the best approach when your cashier is bad at math.
3. Cashiers are bad at math.
1. This is universal.  I've met cashiers in all towns, cities, states and countries who cannot add, subtract, divide or multiply.  It is mind boggling to me since they handle money every day but I have found it to be the exception, not the rule, the cashiers who can provide proper change without a calculator.

Now, its easy to blame myself.  I should've been more aware, astute or alarmed that a piece of pie and a biscotti cost more than 4 days worth of groceries and said something right away.  Blah blah blah.  But what about the cashier who works in the cafe every day?? If you worked in a cafe, wouldn't YOU notice if someone purchased two items and the price was WAY too high?  Wouldn't you think to yourself, "Hey -- that's a lot of money for what she is buying. I think I might've made a mistake?"  That's what I would've done. So I'm placing partial blame on her.  I ordered in English, fumbled with my kronor and change and appeared fairly "new" to the area.  Asking for 185 SEK for two items should've raised a few more flags for her than it did.

Regardless, all ended well and I got my money back.  Calvin got to chew on a free biscotti and I learned a valuable lesson: it pays to be cheap.