Saying Goodbye to Sweden

We've been back from our Grand European Adventure for a week and a half, now. Getting back in the swing of things after a trip is always so hard for me. My To-Do list seems a mile long, but all I want to do is catch up on my DVR (So You Think You Can Dance, how I missed you so!) and sleep. 

I never posted about the last days of our adventuring! (it's possible I'm still in denial about being back in the States)

I blogged a bit about Sweden previously, and our last days were just as great.

This lake was in our backyard, so the girls spent much time in the water and sand.

 

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We went to Furuvik Zoo!

...which has this chimp, who is the cutest thing ever (besides the chimp that walked around with a boot on his back, of course - he, too, was the cutest thing ever):

I was hoping to see the chimp Santino, up to his usual tricks (which include elaborate tourist snipe attacks, using rocks and sticks) but alas. He was too busy chilling with his chimp friends to attack the tourists.

We did get to see a bunch of lemurs up close. I didn't realize these guys are such homebodies they don't even need to be roped off from the world - their enclosure is open to all the trees in all of Sweden, yet they always stay near their little home at the zoo.

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We went to Stockholm!

Annelie pulled out all her runway supermodel poses...

... and photo-bombed her sister at every opportunity. 

(poor Gracie just wanted a photo with Stockholm Palace in the background, but Annelie busted out the Imma L'il Teapot pose just as I took the picture)

Stockholm Palace

The girls never got tired of seeing castles and palaces during our Grand European Adventure.

And I never got tired of taking pictures of statues - especially of lions. Gracie noticed, and by the end of our trip, she was pointing them out to me, to make sure I wouldn't miss a photo op.

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While we were in Stockholm, we went to the Vasa Museum, which was just so cool, even though my photographs fail to show the coolness. (my camera hated the dark, dark room)

The museum contained the Vasa, which sunk on her maiden voyage, not far from where she set sail, back in 1628. She was pulled back up in the early sixties, and now has her own wreckage museum. 

 

This Vasa is covered in lion carvings, including the figurehead, but you can't see it well in my photos. 

 

And the ship was once so colorful!! Here are some of the carvings from the above image showing their original painted glory. 

The girls thought the museum was cool but creepy. I have always had an obsession with ship wrecks, so I thought it was pretty darned awesome.

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The girls built boats!

 

And raced them.

 

(Annelie's won) 

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And we visited with friends I haven't seen in years and years (including a friend from my high school days, who I hadn't seen since I was 15) - always a great part of the trip!

It's been a little surreal, being back in the States. But it's been AMAZING coming home to my hubs after nine weeks away. The girls and I might have had the world's most awesome vacation, but it's good to be home with Will!

Watching the Olympics with the girls has been a fun experience - especially finishing the Olympics in America after watching the opening ceremony and first few days of the games with Swedish commentary.

The girls left the USA back in May, without much of a concept of foreign countries and the world we live in. During the Olympics, they saw Team Belgium, Great Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, all competing for gold with USA, and it was exciting for them, having just been to those countries. They wanted to cheer on everyone.

xoxo,