Charlie singing away!

Charlie loves to sing Hot & Cold by Katy Perry, and another Swedish song he learned before his family trip to Thailand. I hear these two songs ALL the time...I laugh every time! Enjoy!

Stockholm!

I finally made it to Stockholm last weekend! Yes, been here 4 months now, and it was my first time visiting. Italy before Stockholm, who knew? I had a 3 day weekend, so I called an old friend, who happens to live in the city, to hang out. Amarachi and I met almost 3 years ago while working at BGI in San Francisco. We lost touch after she left back to Nigeria (home country), and she found me through mutual friends last fall. She heard that I was moving to Sweden, and turns out, she was too, small world! She is in school, is now also an Au Pair, and lives in a very nice neighborhood in Stockholm. So we met up at the Stockholm Train Center, and of course did a little shopping! Ahh a city...I've missed the city life! Shopping, food, people, public transportation, music, bars, beautiful buildings, etc. Friday night, we went to dinner at a Thai restaurant, where her new boyfriend met up with us. Thanks for dinner Martin! Basically, the whole weekend was consisted of catching up with each other and laughing a lot! Saturday, I went to an African Indepence Day party...yes in Sweden :) I have been to many fiestas, and other cultural parties, so this was different and new to me...I loved it! After dancing until 3am...yes 3am, we left the building and the sky was lit up light blue. Obviously, I haven't been up that late is so so long, especially not here, so this was new again and crazy cool! Sunday, we did a little more shopping and walked around doing the tourist thing. I took some pics of the scenery, but the pics don't do justice. This short trip got me sooooo excited for July, for when my mom, sister, and aunts are going to be here! Just knowing that the next time I came back, would be with them and all the cool things we plan on doing. Not even sure if I've mentioned that actually...my mom, sister Katie, and my aunts Karen and Emily, are coming for 2 weeks in July! We are going to be doing Stockholm, Kumla (my home), and Gotenberg, then traveling to Copenhagen for a few nights. They will then fly to Switzerland for a few days, but I will be traveling with my Swedish family here in Sweden while they do that. Can't wait!

Everything is still going strong! Sweden has finally thawed out, and is really such a beautiful country. Love the feeling that summer is around the corner, with so many good things to come! Miss you all and hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend! Remember and honor our soldiers :D

Recent pics of my boys, Charlie and Elias

Charlie knows his colors, and counts to 10 in english. This week, I asked him if he can speak to me in English. He says "Yah, 1 2 3...." and counted to 10. He doesn't call me Kevin as much anymore, and he has really opened up to me recently. He loves to Dance, and loves his Cola (soda), and of course his godis (goodies, aka candy).

Elias is growing everyday. He is saying, Mama, Papa, Bella (the dog), Iey Iey (same as our Da Da) and a lot of baby talk. He loves to be outside, and brings me his shoes a lot saying he needs to go out. Elias also loves to Dance, even if it's just Charlie singing some made up song.

Love these boys!

Back to the Swedish roots...

One of the millions of reasons to come to Sweden, was to go back to my Swedish roots, and see where it all began. Thankfully, my family in CA has contact with the Swedes here, so it was easy for us to connect and meet up. My great-grandparents, on my mother's side (and also my fathers, but still figuring out that side) came from Sweden to America around 100 years ago. They were both very young when they left Sweden, both separately and by themselves. I made contact with Gunnel Johansson and her husband Anges. Gunnel's grandmother, Elma, was sisters with my great-grandmother Emma Kristina. The pieces of the family history are still coming together, but I think it's pretty amazing to go back to where it all started. Last weekend, I left Kumla for the 2 hour train ride to Ludvika, which is an hour drive from Älgåsen in Nås Finnmark, where Gunnel lives. If you want to look at a map, they live near Bolange. We didn't even know what each other looked like, but they knew me by my green scarf which was planned. Immediately, we saw each other, and knew we were family. They don't speak much english, but they are definitely better than they think, and obviously are better than my Swedish attempts. We worked through the language barrier so we can establish who was who of my distant relatives.

About half way to their house, we stopped by Gunnel's brother's house. Little did I know, this was the same house my g-grandma Emma lived in for a few years before her adventure to America. They said it has been remodeled of course, but the original stove and fireplace remained. It was a really nice house, and just knowing I was walking on the same grounds as my g-grandma was amazing. I forget Gunnel's brother's name, but he spoke really great english, and had a lot of information for me. He had pictures of Emma's mother, Brita, and he also gave me a list of all of Emm's siblings names and years they were born, etc. We only stayed for about 20 minutes, but was really nice to see and meet more family.

Another 30 minutes of driving in nothing else but a Volvo, we arrived at their home. Can you say boon docks!? They live in old country, in old Sweden. It was beautiful, peaceful, right on a lake, middle of the forrest, typical Swedish home. Agne's, Gunnel's husband, was actually born in this house. As you all know, I'm a little obsessed with cleanliness and this was one of the absolute cleanest homes ever! Very Swedish decoration, but not a spec of dust. Hmmm...must be in our genes. I have posted some pictures of the home, and surrounding area. The property is about 80 acres or so we thought.

Since we really couln't communicate perfectly, we turned to pictures. I brought some pictures from our family to share, and she has so many pictures in scrapbooks. They had traveled out to CA about 15 years ago, and had many pictures of my grandma Mary. Get this...they even had a picture of my own family which was taken at the lakehouse! It was the 5 of us, and my grandpa and grandma Irelan, crazy huh. She did not know it was me, but we laughed when we put it together. Late that night, their son Tommy and his wife Cely, arrived. Tommy speaks great english, and is a really cool guy! After a great nights sleep (no kids and no noise!), we all had a typical Swedish breakfast with hard boiled eggs, toast, butter, jams, cheese, and of course coffee! Tommy and Cely then took me around the property a little just to see the forrest. I felt like I was in a fairytale, because it really was the forrest with the mossy green ground, birds chirping, and river running. We got back to the house, and yes, time to eat again. We barbequed pork and moose, and just enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. We all just talked about ourselves, our countries, and really just getting to know each other. Tommy and Cely only stayed until late Sat, but it was a nice way for better communication and just to meet him.

Basically, the whole weekend was full of laughter since words weren't exactly clear...hahaha. The whole time, I was just in awe at where I was and what I was doing. I felt like I was representing the whole family at home, and it felt great. This is what I came for. In June, I will be returning for a long weekend, to meet the whole family! This trip was short, and I only met a few people. Next time, I will meet all the relatives and stay for an extra day. I can't wait, because now I do feel connected because it really did feel like family. Gunnel was familiar to me, when comparing to my grandma, mother, aunts, great aunts, etc. Gunnel gave me some old pictures of my greatgrandmother Emma, which she recieved from uncle Albert (grandma's uncle). It was a wonderful and special weekend for me. Pretty cool knowing that you really are connected through history, and you're meeting relatives from the old country. If anyone wants Gunnel's email address, I'm happy to provide. Enjoy the pics, and watch for more to come from the real Swedes!