Visa photos

In the hotel room I used the white walls for some photos of all of us that we need when applying for visas to Thailand. 

Last morning in Stockholm

The day of leaving Stockholm the sun was shining and we didn't feel like getting in to the car in the morning. Instead we spent a few hours in the parklands of Djurgården playing and walking around. 

Jakob who loves climbing found a great tree!

Gröna Lund!Be

When planning the trip to Stockholm a visit to Gröna Lund was on the must list, but when looking at the weather forecast we thought we had to change the plans. The only night it was open when we were there it was going to rain and rain and rain. When the place opened in the afternoon the sky was almost blue so we decided to go in (even though Jakob was not happy to leave the hotel again, he wanted to stay and play Ipad). I am glad that we went because we had a great night! It seems like both Jakob and Isak like rides as much as I do so we all went crazy in there. Even Adam had a go at a few of them.

Isak would have done them all if he had been allowed to but many of them had hight limits and he was too short. He was devastated when he had to wait and watch Jakob go on some of them. 

The weather was great all night! not sure how the weather people could get it so wrong.

Viktor did great in the pram until about 8pm when it started getting dark and was very noisy with lights flashing everywhere. 

It worked ok as long as we carried him though. 

This ride, that went up and down quite fast, Jakob and Isak did probably 15 times!

About to leave Gröna Lund after a fantastic night! since it is the end of the season it was not so busy and no queing for any of the rides. Because of that Jakob and Isak did a few of them over and over and over again, just getting out, and running around to go in again. 

I was the only one who did the one where you sit in a chair go straight up in the air nearly 100m (I think) and then get dropped straight down (free falling). I was a bit scared but found a man who was going by himself as well and talked to me on the way up and distracted me by getting me to admire the view of Stockholm instead of thinking about falling to the ground. It was an amazing feeling in the end and I am glad I did it!

Stockholm!

The negative with our visit to the Vasa museum was that the next day when we wanted to take the ferry in to Stockholm Jakob was really scared that it was going to sink and he was very grumpy and in a bad mood until we were on the boat and he got to speak to the staff who ensured him that the boat was not going to sink.

We walked throug the old town, stopped at the royal castle to look at the views and the guards. 

We had lunch at McDonalds, and bought the kids new shoes after realizing that Jakob's shoes had holes at the front, and underneath. Not sure how we have missed that... Doing the city with 3 little boys is fun only for a short time so after them playing in the water....

Sitting on the lions...

 

And checking out the water front...

Adam took them back to the hotel on the train (Isak was dying to have a train ride) and I walked "home" with Viktor.

Beautiful Stockholm!

The Vasa museum

I don't like wasting time so after Skansen I forced the family to go straight to the Vasa museum. Viktor slept through most of it and Isak also had a little sleep in the pram, but the rest of us really enjoyed it. I could have spent more time in there but I am sure we will come back with the kids in the future. It was really fun to see how interested Jakob was, he asked lots of questions and wanted to know all the details about the ship.

After the museum we stopped at a restaurant for dinner and Isak made us very embarrassed by pulling down his pants and weeing on a tree in the restaurant before we could stop him... 

Skansen

First day in Stockholm we went to Skansen. It is a zoo with Nordic animals but also other things to see and play with. 

View of Stockholm.

Jakob and Isak were happy just playing...

Patting goats... 

Watching raindeers...

And elks...

But the bears were the favourites, they had 3 cute babies and we also watched two big ones and got a fun experience when the male bear came up the glass window where we were standing and looked at us only an arm length away from us. 

Isak had  ride! Jakob didn't want to.

And Viktor was just happy being a part of it all and spent most of the day in the pram. 

Day 2 of driving

It rained all night and was still raining in Sundsvall in the morning.

We all had a nice breakfast and took it easy in the hotel room for a while before continuing to Stockholm.

Isak was tired from the night before and had a good sleep in the car. 

I forgot to take photos of the nice hotel we stayed in in Stockholm, this is the only one. Anyway, it was just amazing. Right in the middle of all the attractions we were going to and we got the biggest room in the whole hotel (we were told). One main bedroom with a big queen bed, a sofa, a couple of arm chairs and lots of space, and a second room with a sofa bed and a tv for Jakob and Isak. 

Day 1

Adam and I decided to have a little family holiday before the big holiday in Nov-Dec. I love car trips and we have talked about taking the kids to Stockholm so on Monday morning we packed the car with about 200 bags and started the long drive.  

The first stop was Sundsvall and the boys were excited about all of us sleeping in the same room!

Viktor also seemed pretty happy!

After having nearly 2 months of sunshine the rain came just as we were coming in to the city and kept raining all night.

We had dinner in the city and I am not sure if it was the fact that the kids are not so used to eating out or that they got to try the "eat as much as you want to" ice cream dessert buffe but Jakob and Isak were pretty crazy during dinner. Happy but wild and crazy.

One of the highlights of the trip has been to watch Jakob take care of Viktor. He is amazing and I don't understand where he gets his patience from (Jakob is not normally known to have a lot of it...). The car ride would have been a lot worse if Jakob hadn't played, been singing, talking, comforting Viktor on and off the whole time. 

Back in the hotel room the boys were still for a little bit before Isak got over excited and over tired and made us crazy for an hour or so. The only positive was that he was really cute and funny but just did not want to sit still or go to bed.