Keep your seatbelts fastened when the seatbelt sign is on

How to ensure that none of your fellow passengers on an SAS intercontinental flight will smile at you during the post-flight baggage claim gathering:

-- Three days prior to flying, make sure your five-month old baby learns how to emit a high-pitched, eardrum-piercing screech.

-- Two days prior to flying, make sure said baby will emit the screech as an expression of any emotion -- happiness, anger, frustration, etc.

-- Board packed Stockholm to Chicago flight with said baby and his 7-year old brother.

-- Smile sweetly at every passenger who stops to say hello to said baby during first three hours of the 8.5 hour flight. Baby smiles too -- while screeching (it's cute for a while.) Tell your baby he's not supposed to sleep more than 2x15 minutes during the flight.

-- Crawl under your seat while baby screeches for remainder of flight, with the sound increasing in intensity when the flight crew turns off the lights to help passengers fall asleep after the meal. Baby ensures no one in the entire economy section arrives in Chicago feeling refreshed.

-- When the plane lands and the seatbelt sign is off, put baby in baby carrier, grab 7-year old by the hand, and smile sweetly at all of the tired passengers (who are no longer cooing at said baby) as they disembark. (Baby still manages to greet each and every one with a smile and a screech.)

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We're in Chicago on Nicholas's first trip to the US and having a blast! It was great to see my parents at the airport and we spent our first evening here at Grandpa Hennip's having Easter dinner (one day late, I know). Ham, pasta, meatballs, sausage, salad, vegetables, sweet potatoes, bread, fruit salad and cake. As always when Grandpa cooks, it was delicious and I was stuffed! Lucas insisted that he wasn't tired that evening despite the long trip and the time change, but he ate one meatball and a few pieces of pasta, and then fell sound asleep on the couch. It was Nicholas's first meeting with his Great-Grandfather, which was a moving experience for me.

Mom had booked me in for a pedicure yesterday, which I enjoyed completely. Now my toes are ready for their contact with the Caribbean sand in a few days. Mom took care of Nick and Lucas while I was being spoiled. We then went on a shopping spree at Target, where Lucas and I filled the cart with goodies.

Grandpa spent the day with us today. We walked up to the local nature center and working farm, where Lucas petted the horses, chatted with the turkeys and had a look at one enormous pig who reminded me of Wilbur except he wasn't pink... or cute. We also chanced upon a group of gardner snakes (is that what they're called?) who were lying in the sun.

I've got plenty of photos to share but no way of uploading them at the moment. Text will just have to do.

Until the next Chicago update!!!

Checkmate

A heartfelt Congratulations to Susanne and Jesper on their engagement, which they announced to the family over the weekend. Apparently while skiing in Canada last week, Jesper stopped in the middle of a trip down the mountain to ask Sanne to be his bride.... and she said yes!

And a Happy Birthday to you, dad. I hope you have a happy, sunshiny day!

Last Thursday, Matthew's class joined 3,300 fourth grade-students in a Stockholm-wide chess tournament known as "SchackFyran" ("fourth chess"). Matthew's class took first place in Group D with 249 points (the scoring was as follows: for each match, a win gave the class 3 points, a tie gave 2 points and a loss gave 1 point). The class will now compete in the Stockholm finals on April 6. The cool thing about the finals, from Matthew's point of view, is that they are being held in the City Hall. If the class does well there, it will get to compete in the national competition in May.

Nicholas, Lucas and I watched the proceedings for about 1.5 hours. Each student played four matches against a student from another school. With over three thousand students in the room (as well as hundreds of parents and teachers), you can imagine how chaotic the situation seemed. Still, row after row of tables -- upon which hundreds of chess sets had been set up -- seemed to pulse with the concentration of kids focused on the game in front of them. Every match began and ended with a handshake, and win or lose, everyone seemed to be in a good mood. I was impressed with the good sportsmanship this group of kids could muster. As the matches proceeded and the running tally was announced, the excitement grew among the students in Matthew's class. At the end, I found myself cheering with delight when the final results were announced.

I'll post some photos with my next entry -- Steen has the camera today to take pictures at Matthew's science fair this evening.

Gourmet according to Nicholas

A list of inedibles that Nicholas loves to sink his gums into:

Chairs
Chair legs
Socks
Cloth diapers
Stuffed animals
Car seat straps
Mommy's hair
Daddy's shirt
Fingers (anyone's!)

He turns five months today, and to celebrate, he's currently cooking up a spit-bubble feast.

Doo-Buy

All quiet here for too long, I admit. But (there's always a but!) we've been away on a week-long trip to the UAE... "we" being Steen, Nicholas and I. A quick overview of our week of sun and relaxation:


Day 1
Scratch the relaxation part! Our trip started on a very frustrating note when trying to check in with Qatar Airways in Stockholm. The credit card we had used to book the tickets was stolen in December. At that point, I called the airline to ask what we needed to get on the plane and was told that we just needed a note from the bank stating that the card had been stolen and had been replaced. Done -- letter acquired.

Ha ha!!! The letter was not good enough for checking in. "Sorry", the lady behind the desk says, "this letter is useless. I need the original credit card number." I ask her if she's telling me that we will not be allowed to travel to Dubai, and she just shrugs her shoulders. She can see our reservation but refuses to print boarding passes without the original number. If I had known that, I would have brought it! For the next 45 minutes, Steen tries to talk some sense into her, while I try to get the number. I call the lost-card phone number when I realize that it is 9 p.m. and the bank's customer service is closed. The person on the other end of the line (in sharp contrast to the check-in counter lady) is sweet and helpful and, at last, we have the number and are allowed to check in. Just in time, as they are getting ready to close the gate.

Despite this minor speedbump, we make our flight. Nicholas proves himself to be a dream to travel with (anything, mom, as long as I don't have to sit in that horrible carseat!).

Day 2
We arrive in Doha, Qatar early in the morning and have around two hours to grab something to eat before our next plan departs. The flight to Dubai takes only an hour.

When we land in Dubai, I don't yet know what hotel we'll be staying at, as Steen has kept it a secret. However, I was soooo happy when he told the cab driver to take us to the Ras Al Khaimah Hilton Resort and Spa. It is a beautiful set of buildings with four rooms each set along a mile of sandy, quiet beaches. Flowers everywhere, despite the fact that this is the desert. On our way there we passed camels wandering around near the highway. I couldn't imagine such a paradise in the middle of the desert.

We checked in and had our first experience with the Resort's amazing staff. This experience included the magical information that we had been upgraded to a suite, which the manager took us over to see. Full view of the beach and the water. Beautiful...


We spent the afternoon unpacking and scoping out the place.

Day 3
Beach beach beach. Nicholas took his first dip in the ocean, which he didn't like, and later in the day his first swim in the pool, which he found more agreeable. I got a pedicure. Steen had a massage to work out the kinks from the Vasa race. He came back looking dreamy and relaxed. Relaxed! Remember, this is Steen we're talking about!


Day 4
Repeat of Day 3 without the spa services. We took a shuttle into town in the evening to do a bit of shopping. At dinner, Nicholas kissed his first gilfriend, a blond-haired, 20-something Italian tour guide who fell in love with him. A nice wet sloppy kiss on her cheek. Later in the week, she asked if she could marry him. He has good taste.

Day 5
This was our "see Dubai" day, but since it was Friday, all of the sights we really wanted to see were closed until late afternoon, i.e. until 30 minutes before the only shuttle back to our hotel. Poor planning on our part. We spent the day on a double-decker tour bus, where we learned that in Dubai we should "Do-buy!".

Day 6
Despite my pessimism ("Seriously, I don't think it's going to be a good idea to take a 4-month old on a tiny boat for a day), Steen booked us on a trip to Oman, where we spent the day lounging around on cushions on a traditional boat... and sailing around the fjords. We saw dolphins. We ate rice, curry and fruit. Nicholas had his first banana and he slept under a little tent a local man who worked on the boat made for him.
It was just as relaxing as the resort.

Getting into and out of Oman took 3 hours out of our day, but Steen offset that potentially boring situation by entertaining our little tour group. At the checkpoint, he took Nicholas to change his diaper. He walked into the first bathroom he could find, which was a women's bathroom. A women's bathroom in a very conservative country where there are very strict rules about how men and women should interact. A women's bathroom at a border crossing where there were hundreds of army and policemen milling around. Yes, he did. And then he proceeded to lay Nicholas right up on the counter and change his dirty diaper in the presence of I don't know how many women. Well, maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious. He was lucky he didn't get arrested. Or maybe I would have been arrested. That kind of stuff is women's work, you know.

Day 7
Repeat of day 3, except I had a massage. The most relaxing, perfect massage I've ever had. Can you believe Steen actually managed to lay relatively still on a beach for three of our six days there?
Day 8
6 o'clock pickup. Fog everywhere. Nicholas screaming from his carseat the whole way to the airport (around 2 hours). I'm sure we made that driver's day!!! Then the plane ride back to reality.... and here we are.

Throughout our stay in the UAE, I was surprised by the warm reception we all received. Everyone we met wanted to talk with Nicholas. The service was impeccable across the board. The culture that we did get to experience was interesting and exciting.

Matthew and Lucas spent the week tiring out their thumbs (playing Nintendo DS) and walking Frida the dog at their grandparents' in Denmark. (They did manage to put down the DS and do some other things during the week, like see a movie, visit Susanne and go swimming!). For taking on the boys for the entire week, I send out my thanks to Steen's parents... Thank you!!!