Elf suprises - feeling warm in the cold north

A solid ground swell was hitting beautiful snow covered Iceland
when we flew past some hours ago, if I only had a parachute

Finishing my last Swedish lussebulle

Jan 5, 2011, 4 pm: I am high up in the air somewhere over Greenland, chasing the setting sun on my way back to the US. My mind is wandering back to the two weeks me and Anna have spend in Sweden celebrating Christmas with family and friends. It always feels way to short when you have a good time, and I sure would not have mind spending more time with them. Traveling between continents in a matter of hours is strange on the mind and as I get closer to Baltimore I am slowly getting exited about the challenges ahead. Anna has left me for a few weeks to go to Kenya in Africa, on a project for her professor Bob, so we will see what I get up to without her holding on to Rudolf’s reins…

Rockefeller Centre, NY. Somewhat romantic, but not the ice skating the
5 year old inside me was dreaming about... back to shopping

Before crossing the Atlantic we went to New York for a few days, I was very exited about going ice skating in central park, but Anna tricked me and took me to Rockefeller Center where they 

Anna happy to have a break from school

had a tiny tiny very crowded and obscenely expensive rink, where they didn’t let you play with a stick and a puck, so that was it, no ice skating and back to shopping again… Oh, it wasn’t to bad, we went to the broadway musical Memphis which was great, and had some fun running around NY together and hanging out with Karen, Alex and Saskia.

Xmas Elf time

You might have thought we were done with surprises for 2011 (for you who didn’t know we got married in secret earlier this summer), but after a somewhat late decision to go back home to Sweden to celebrate Christmas we decided to not tell our families (it would just stress them out anyway). I flew to Stockholm a day before Santa and embarked on an elf journey across the country. 

My journey across Swedenland

I started with a visit to my unaware somewhat scattered family in Norrköping on the east coast and then drove from east to west 3,5 hours to meet up with Anna and spend the first part of the holiday with her family in Lidköping. It was a star striked but very warm welcome we both got, the element of surprise truly has the power to conceive. Although they had no idea what or who the blinking elf was that was running around their house and knocking on the windows, they all let me come in. I don’t think I will every see them that surprised again. 

A blinking elf suddenly appeared the day before christmas in dark Sweden.
My sister Anna with her kids and her husbands family still let the stranger in.

Annas family where surprised not only once but twice as me and Anna
arrived with some delay. The surprise effect was monumental!

Herring for Xmas breakfast is standard procedure for family Larsson.
Nothing like cold fish when you wake up jetlagged in early morning! 

Xmas smörgåsbord lunch, with ham, herring, salmon, cheese,
sausage, potato and lots more (not unlike breafast and dinner)

Xmas Eve, Reindeer Gunilla is reading rimes, while the rest of family Larsson
and me are stuffing our selfs with treats in the sofa digesting the day

Dads new build Eco house
outside Norrköping

 After some great time with Annas family and a too short day with friends in Gothenburg we made our way to my family in Norrköping where we stayed for a couple of days at dads new build Eco house outside Norrköping. I must admit I am a little proud  of him for making it happen and for the innovative design they have chosen (it's a love or hate house). Sister Anna got the whole family to participate in a CROSSNATURE training session led by her, and we got a chance to earn our dinner for the first time in a while... I put together a small film clip for you to enjoy and to get inspired by if you too have eaten to much latly. It was cool to see how much fun the kids had while we were killing ourselves.

Princess Anna catching up on some well needed sleep in dads tower overlooking Bråviken

Classic red and white Swedish country cottage with fury inhabitant

Playing soccer with Simba at our country cottage
No snow yet as it's been unexceptionally warm this winter

We left to Stockholm to celibrate new years with friends in the archipelago. You do not realized how much you have missed them all until you see them again (enforced by Swedish schnapps).

Linus and Lisa joined us on the ferry to Runmarö in the Stockholm archipelago

Hanging out with friends outside another red and white Swedish
country house. Olle playing with his dog (while avoiding the kitchen)

A well fed friend getting ready for the evening

Me, Linus and Erik hugging after a few schnapps...

Great New years party with fireworks and all

Happy New Year! Gott Nytt År!

The problem with friends is that you end up doing stupid things, like going swimming
both at night and morning without any sauna present, with ice covering the frigid ocean 

Evidence... and no we are not naked (that would be very inappropriate
of me to publish!) - we are covered with a thin layer of ice!

The day after we went hunting for deer on Erik and Mikaelas land on Runmarö and I was very close to shoot one, but I guess I have grown soft over Xmas (and didn’t have quite the same reflexes I normally do after the New Years party) so I let it keep running wild and free.

Me and my sisters kids enjoying a game of soccer in the morning before my somewhat reluctant
departure. And yes they kicked my ass (and William took the swing to the moon and back).

After New years we lived at my sister Annas place (my younger sister Karin was stuck way up in the snowy north for most of the time), and I got to spend some solid days with her kids, Alexander, Oliver  and William. I really like to hang with them, unfortunately there was no snow so instead of building jumps to try and send them to the moon on sleds, we spend the rainy days building things inside and I got my ass kicked by a four year old on Wii Ping-Pong. Me and Anna also joined my sister Anna (yeah, it's kind of confusing sometimes) for another CROSSNATURE training session with her company Stark Ute. She started her company over a year ago and are now organizing outside training all over Stockholm, I am so proud of her! It was hard but fun to challenge my sister again, but I think I have finally gotten stronger then her (she used to tie my up and leave me in the woods when I was a kid).

William (2) getting the car ready to go, if his arms where just a little longer...

Some more fika, and then some (fika is the Swedish word for coffey break, very useful to know) with friends in Stockholm and that was that. I have filled my bags with ski gear, anticipation, and love from family and friends and feel pretty much ready for 2012. Time for US 2.0!