stockholm as the new norm.

april 12.

ben built this computer to skype colin.

colin is definitely the main reason ben would like to go back to new jersey, he talks about missing colin everyday.

having fun.

ben coaches reese during tummy time.

salad, red pepper and quionoa. a very tasty dinner prepared by leslie on pop pop's recommendation.

night shift. ironing.

bus trip to ben's new school, engelska forkskolan, located 10 minutes from our flat. this makes for a much easier morning commute. 

first day, already pals with thomas and matthias.

ben and leslie have started a new tradition of weekend morning dates at the plentiful rorstrandsgatan cafes.

grover was lucky enough to get himself out for this fika.

ben pinky promises momma that he will never smoke cigarettes. why, do you ask? cause every other person in sverige smokes, especially the ones sitting outside at the cafes having a fica.

view of the kungsholmen channel from s:t eriksgatan bridge. this waterway was frozen until early april.

ben found out that dreams do come true as he posed with a real-life stormtrooper. 

the big escalator at friedhemsplan.

a view of the opera house as we strolled across strombron to the royal armoury museum in gamla stan.

carrot cake from stadmissionens, a must stop for lunch while in gamla stan.

ben on stroller duty in old town.

at the royal armoury museet inside of the royal palace.

les asked me to take this picture for mom mom.

king ben was right at home.

one of the local record stores in vasastan. i am really loving this place. music stores everywhere, both records and instruments.

ben helped carry the pakistani take away back to the flat.

some kind of pakistani food pictured here.

it was vegetarian, it was spicy, and it was good. leslie has us on a mission to eat foods from other cultures. next stop, malaysian. 

as i ate i checked out my new swedish psychedelic rock record from the band dungen. been listening to this band for years, but never realized they were from stockholm until now.

april 17.

when it is clear the sky is always this blue. hence the reason why the swedish flag is blue. the cross represents christianity, although no one here is religious, and the yellow represents the sun, which is easily 10 times brighter then the sun you see in america. 

a cheddar cheese and pickled beet sandwhich with sprouts, plus swedish beer. les and i each got one and it was awesome. simple, filling yet light, and delicious.

the cafe at skansen that made the cheddar cheese sandwich. we sat on the porch.

at skansen, the oldest outdoor museum in the world, ben stands in the doorway of a really old traditional swedish home.

ben gave me a ride through the swedish country side. he is a natural born driver.

at skansen, ben met jackson. his father is from california, his mother is swedish and baby brother was born in sweden a few months ago. we all hit it off and toured skansen together. turns out jackson's father had a built to spill shirt on, so needless to say, we connected.

like i said earlier, a natural born driver.

grover, reese's grover and ben.

leslie took advantage of photo opportunities at the park during her 18 hours of swedish in-schooling.

the big slide.

ben and thomas.

reese has found her feet.

and enjoys them.

come visit me...i know it is expensive, but isn't my cute face worth it.

at our new spot, the playground on vikingagatan.

waiting outside for pizza at birkastans.

april 21.

while ben was at school, daddy and the girls had a dagens lunch at levinsky's on rorstrandsgatan.

the sun was bright so i squinted as i ate. yes and it was t-shirt time at a balmy 65 degrees fahrenheit.

leslie surprised ben with a much needed bowling session after school.

he loved it and we all had a good time, thanks leslie.