And the fun continues

So, our children are gullible... very gullible.

When we announced we would spend New Year's Eve at Sea World, we told them we would be leaving for Sweden the next day instead, i.e., on New Year's Day. 

So that morning, we woke three very tired young men, packed all of our stuff and gave it to the concierge, piled in the car and headed to the airport.

Steen went to "check us in" while the boys and I sat down for a bite of breakfast.

Lo and behold, a few minutes later, there were Grandma and Grandpa! This time around, the boys didn't know what to think.

Grandma and Grandpa informed them that they were going to spend the week with us, but not in Sweden. We were all going to spend a week in Orlando... and we were going to meet Mickey Mouse!

Words cannot express how much fun we had that week. So for the most part, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

A visit to the Rainforest Cafe (after spending 60 minutes looking for a parking space at Downtown Disney -- CRAZY!)

A day at Disney World....

 Breakfast with the characters...

The look on Nicholas's face here is priceless. For him, meeting these characters is magical.

We spent a day at Epcot, where we hardly ever had to wait to get on any ride...

Nico and his new best buddy.

I think someone is in love...

Mom and dad got so many compliments on these visit-to-Mickey shirts they had made.

We spent the week at the Wyndham Resort right next to Disney (care of mom and dad). As we are crazy and as we live in winter-plagued Sweden, we went to the pool... often!

And we played in the sun.

This week was so much fun -- such a gift to be able to give the boys. It wouldn't have been possible without you, mom and dad, so thank you for making it unbelievably special. I am the luckiest daughter in the entire world.

A very special New Year's Eve

We left Chicago on December 31.

It was an incredibly early flight... 6:15. When the limo came to pick us up, we all hugged my parents goodbye, told them how much we'd enjoyed our Christmas and said we'd miss them.

After all, as far as the boys knew, we wouldn't see them again until June.

We had told the boys that we had bought the cheapest flight tickets back to Sweden we could find. These "cheap" tickets took, us for some reason, from Chicago to Orlando to New York to Stockholm.

They fell for it. Kids will believe almost anything. :)

After landing in Orlando, we found an area in the airport we could sit and talk. We had "hours" there before our flight to New York, after all.

And then we broke the news... "We have planned all along to spend New Year's here in Orlando. We're going to Sea World!!!!".

The looks of joy and disbelief that crossed those three beautiful faces were worth all of the planning and the secrets and the almost getting found out.

And also worth listening to Matthew complain for weeks on end beforehand about how boring it was that we'd be spending New Year's Eve on a plane to Sweden.

So Sea World it was. The perfect place for New Year's Eve.

First we dropped our stuff at the hotel, switched into short-sleeve shirts (YES!) and then headed off on our adventure.

We fooled around with (metal) polar bears...

We saw the Shamu show during the day, but in the evening we had another surprise planned.... Dinner with Shamu.

This was incredible -- we sat right next to the orcas' pool, where we ate a good meal. Their pool is right on the other side of the plexiglass.

Nicholas got ahold of my camera again. He took at least 10 photos of water glasses. Artistic?

Part of the dinner is a special discussion of the orcas, which is held by their trainers. These creatures touch my heart.

The night ended with some amazing fireworks, with all of us sitting on the edge of the lake, wrapped in each others' arms, sipping a coffee (than you, Steen, my savior!) and thinking about how very, very lucky we are.

Well, the last part was at least what I was thinking about.

The post-Christmas rush

Christmas was far from the end of our adventures in Chicago... altogether we spent a week exploring the area and spending some fun, high-quality time together.

Here Lucas and his Aunt Kathi are smiling for the camera.

We went to a trampoline place filled with wall-to-wall trampolines. It was a blast, even if I didn't get any good pictures...

My parents treated us all to a Harlem Globetrotters game.

Man, those guys are tall....

We ate at Red Robin... one of my absolute, all-time hamburger joints.

Yippeee!!!! (By the way, do you see that wonderful woman in the photo above? I spent a morning with her too, sharing coffee and some much needed chatting time... Our special tradition.)

We spent a few hours at Gameworks.

And, on one of the best days of our entire trip, we ate a wonderful meal cooked by my grandfather. This kitchen holds so many memories....

Christmas in Chicago

For the first time since Nicholas was a baby, we spent Christmas in Chicago with my family -- my mom and dad, Tim, Kathi, Tyson, Samantha and Grandpa. We braved the snowstorm in Scandinavia to fly from Stockholm to Copenhagen (where we spent around two extra hours locked inside the plane, waiting on the tarmac... first for the de-icing, then for the ground crew to fix a "technical problem, and then a second de-icing) to Chicago, arriving late on the evening of the 23rd.

On the 24th, we relaxed, tried to get over the jet lag, wrapped a few presents....

Went to a beautiful children's mass at my parents' church, left out cookies for Santa and an apple for Rudolph...

And went to bed.

The boys woke Christmas morning, were forced to spend 30 minutes or so waiting in the bedroom (yelling "Can we come out yet????") while the adults made some much-needed coffee. As soon as they got word of their release, they came bounding down the stairs with excitement.

Presents!!!!! (do not ask me why Nicholas is wearing that Mario hat... He wore it nearly all day.

 Tim and Kathi in the Christmas spirit.

Mom and dad enjoying the chaos... (it's such a shame, dad, that your freaky Christmas Santa mysteriously disappeared into the garbage can this year after haunting us for 20+ years...)

Present opening continues.

There are so many amazing men in my life, but this guy is one of the most amazing-est.

After demolishing the mound of presents, we spent the day cooking and eating, preparing for our delicious Christmas dinner.

We could have fed an army or two....

The day included a bit of foolishness...

And Nicholas taking over the camera -- he's quite artistic, don't you think?

It was a memorable, unforgettable Christmas that none of us will ever forget.