Who knew at the time?

In 2003, Jay started travelling to Stockholm for business. It was sporadic at first, but soon became quite frequent. In November 2004, he needed to be in Stockholm for about 5 weeks straight. Because the stay was so long, GE offered to fly our entire family out for several weeks. We jumped at the chance ~ at the time, we had no idea how long the project would take or that less than a year later, we'd actually move there for 7 months. Jay flew over and two weeks later, the kids and I flew over. We flew from Portland to Frankfurt....a long flight with a 3 and 4 year old! Fortunately the plane wasn't crowded and so the little girls and I stretched out on our row and Katie and Tyler each got a side row all to themselves. What an adventure! I remember them showing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The kids were as excited for that as they were for the actual trip!

When we got there, we were all exhausted. We had a long layover in Frankfurt before we boarded the plane to Stockholm. It was so great to see Jay! Over the next few weeks, we did quite a bit of touring. We became very savvy at subway riding. Our DK Stockholm travel book was so comprehensive and helpful, that it's the only brand of travel book I've bought since! Fortunately, most Swedes speak English and enjoy the opportunity to practice....unlike the snobs elsewhere in Europe.

I find it funny that I didn't even own a digital camera the first time we went.

Not knowing we'd be back less than a year later, we ran all over, touring as much as possible. One of my favorite places is pictured below.

Drottningholm is an amazing castle. It was built as a home for one of the queens. Drottning means "queen" in Swedish. Currently, the entire royal family lives in one of the wings. You feel as though you'd stepped back in time when you enter the castle and in the ballroom and on the beautifully manicured lawns and gardens, I felt like I'd walked into a Jane Austen movie.

I can't believe how little everyone is. Katie was in 7th grade, Tyler in 5th and the girls barely into preschool. What a fun time we had, though the first time we were there, we never fully got over the jet lag so it was an 8:00 pm bedtime most nights, even for me!

As I've been writing about this trip, memories are flooding back. Guess that gives me more to write about later.....especially as I need to make a sandwich for Rachel's lunch asap!