A Bad Day!

OK....after thinking about it I decided that I needed to publish my feelings about today. Since the purpose of this blog is mainly for my own family and our time and assimilation into Sweden, I think it is fair to be honest that not every day is going to be some wonderful new experience. There are going to be tough days too. Today was one of those days for me. You know how sometimes you can be in a somewhat sad mood and then something big happens and it takes that big thing to release all the other things that you are suppressing? I think that is what it was. Darby somehow, accidentally, spilled nail polish remover onto the table (which is not ours).  The veneer top was completely ruined! I spent a couple of hours just online and using google translate to try and figure out who I could call to try and fix it. Aaron decided to just let the landlord know and have him tell us what to do, either replace it or fix it. We are still waiting on his response. SO....that just put me into a spin...I went into my room and just sobbed it out! I am so frustrated right now because I am not sure where to enroll Darby for dance, not sure where to enroll any of the kids for any activity for that matter, I don't have a car, a cell phone, in a tiny apartment, have nothing to do, don't know what to do, have to pack up to move out this Saturday and I absolutely hate to pack. The one thing that Aaron has learned well from me is that I cannot stand to pack for ANYTHING!!!!!! I have to remind myself that this too will pass.

The Vasa Museum

We spent Saturday down in the city (as usual) and took a sightseeing boat around Stockholm. One of the stops was to the Vasa Museum. Really cool place! In 1628 this ship set sail on her maiden voyage and sank shortly after in Stockholm harbor. The wreck was salvaged in 1961, after 333 years under the sea. The vessel is 95% original so it is interesting to see how they built ships in early 17th century Sweden. Jaxon was really excited to hear that "The Flying Dutchmen" from the Pirates of the Caribbean was patterned after this ship!

A great discovery!

One day while out exploring, we came upon a fun little park just outside the Rådmansgatan tunnelbana station. Jaxon was thrilled! It was interesting to me to see the different types of things to play on that I did not normally see in the states.

This thing is like a mini zip line!

We were on our way home when we found this place and ended up staying an extra hour.

This is what we saw when we first approached the area. The kids park was around the corner. Isn't it beautiful!

My kids are strange!

I am at least very happy that they can find ways to amuse themselves considering we are in a very small apartment and we are starting to go a little crazy....Hey, that must explain their behavior! Anyway, here are just a few samples of photos to pass the time...their time!

They thought it was amusing to take this picture. It seems everyone here eats their pizza with a knife and fork. We were at Pizza Hut! I wonder what they must think of is just devouring it with our bare hands? Oh Well!

Darby took pictures of all the different candy bars we have tried. This one is probably the most common around here. You can find them absolutely everywhere! 

Melynn decided for dinner one night she was going to make Spaghetti Tacos! Here is proof of her madness.

Another one of the girls pics....I wonder who stole the name from who?

Here is Jaxon eating Doritos....Cool American Flavor! 

We have been here a week now!

A good friend said it perfectly about our move....."We have been pulling this band-aid off for a long time now!" I can't think of a better way to describe the emotional exhaustion I have felt over the last couple of months. There has been so many goodbyes (and then more goodbyes) along with many tears. We have known about this move for a long time and to now finally be here is a mix of relief, sadness, but most importantly it is a time to toughen up and move forward. 
Here is an email I had written this past Sunday to help explain what has been going on....
The first several days we were adjusting to the time change so we were sleeping at all different hours. We are finally no longer walking around like zombies! I took the kids into the city several times and we are already establishing our favorite places. Last night we saw the Spider man movie and they do the assigned seating here which I love!!!! I don't know why Temecula can't get with it on that one! The kids have shown times of homesickness and times of excitement which is to be expected. It can feel a bit lonely when you are surrounded by tons of people who are speaking a different language than you and dressing a bit different but then I have to realize that you can feel that way in new York city as well. Today we went to church and it was a great day! We were made to feel very welcome and jaxon even loved it. He learned primary songs in Swedish. The girls had a good time though Ashtyn feels a bit odd being the oldest girl in young women's with most being at least 2 years younger than her. During the kids classes they would teach in both languages. In the adult classes I had a translator sit right next to me. During sacrament meeting we had headsets that we wore but they didn't always work. Almost everyone here knows sufficient English. However we went to a pizza hut yesterday and the waitresses gave us horrible service but I think it was because they didn't know English and so were scared to come around our table. The food was good though which was nice cuz we went to another pizza place a few nights before that and it wasn't very good. We went to Ikea yesterday and that place is so huge we could have spent the whole week there. We bought beds for Ashtyn and Darby because there beds back in the states are too big for their bedrooms here. Oh and by the way.....did I mention we are in a temporary apartment till we get our house keys on August first? Our apartment is pretty small a

So we are really looking forward to being in the house. I don't have a cell phone yet. It is a bit tricky and supposedly you have to have lived in the country for 7 months first!!!! However, Aaron found a way to work around that but it will be about 2 weeks to wait. The kids and I get our person numbers tomorrow which is like a social security card, which I need before I can get a debit card etc...so we are doing well, I have been to the grocery store everyday cuz everything comes in small packages, especially milk, so we probably look like hoarders! I made chocolate chip cookies today! I wasn't sure how to use the oven so I just had to guess! Ha ha

Now after reading that again, I must explain about the Pizza Hut waitresses. I DO NOT EXPECT THEM or anyone else to know English! I realize that I am in their country and I am the one that needs to adapt. What I had meant to say was that we can be pretty creative as to how to communicate and if the waitresses would have just come by we could have shown them what we wanted without having to talk!

Ok so now that that is out of the way....The girls have been having lots of fun taking silly photos and posting them on Facebook. Check it out if you want to. The things we do when we have nothing to do!!!!

Aaron is currently in Spain for work right now so this is the first time I am on my own with the kids. He wanted me to drive him to the airport so I could keep the car but honestly, I am a little to scared to drive her yet. I know it will be fine but I can get around pretty well on the subway so I would rather not risk getting lost or worse...a flat tire. Knowing me, that is what would happen with Aaron out of town!

Today I have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what to make for meals. The food is a little different and of coarse the packaging is in another language so I have been on google searching for things like...does Sweden sell sour cream? What is it called? It takes me an entire day to make a simple recipe! I know that it will get easier as I get the swing of things but for now it is a big pain!!!

OK so I am not sure how to post photos with text in between each set of pictures or if I have to just post all the pictures together. Let's see how this works......The pictures may be self explanatory anyway.

Ok I think I figure it out! Baby steps Krissy, Baby steps!

This is a picture of a palace we stumbled upon while taking a walk in the town "Solna" where we are staying temporarily. The name of this place is "Ulriksdals Slott" which was built in 1640. Slott is the swedish word for castle.

Here are the kids in front of the apartment building that we are currently living in. It is really small. Less than 2 weeks to go and then we can move out!

Aren't these pictures so beautiful and colorful? This is taken at "Östermalmshallen" which is an indoor market in Stockholm City. Hallen is the swedish word for Hall. 

This is a photo of the Sweden Temple. It is going to be about a 35 minute drive from our house which is closer than the closest one to Temecula. It is hard to capture on camera but the flowers and landscaping around the building was really beautiful.