Christmas 2017

Like so many other festive occasions one spends a lot of time planning and anticipating Christmas. And then it goes by in a mere couple off days! Ours was nonetheless very nice. We stayed home and enjoyed a fairly quite long weekend together. Johan and I finished reading the third Harry Potter book and celebrated by watching the move. The boys, perhaps politely, ate some Swedish food and helped clean up the dishes on Christmas Eve. Santa Claus (along with various allies) was very nice to them! They even found themselves on Christmas Day as the stewards of a kids sized snowmobile. Now all we need is a bit of snow and milder air temperatures!

The trumpeter

Fifth grade comes with a choice: a musical instrument or choir?
Having decided on musical instrument, the next decision is: which one?  Luckily drums are not permissible unless you have played another instrument for at least three years. Whew!
Mathias landed on the trumpet.  The trumpet is surprisingly loud! After a few months of trumpet classes at school the time has come for the first concert.  It was a very fun performance where the band poked fun at themselves by deliberately starting out playing terribly to illustrate how far they have come. While nobody may mistake them for the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, they did well!

Wild vs Blackhawks

Chicago comes to town a couple of towns a year. On rare occasions, it falls on a Saturday night.  So Mathias and i seized the opportunity!  Ericka and Johan will go to a later game.  Since games don't end in a tie one of us was bound to go home happy. Pleased to announced that it was... Mathias.  At least it was a close and exciting game! 

October 2017 - Food!

Oh, yes! And there was food too! Lots of food! 

October 2017 - Universal Studios

Universal Studios also offered a variety of rides and shows to take in over the course of two days.  Mathias and I rode almost all the coasters, with the exception of the big 'Hulk' one that he was too short to ride. He was very disappointed. That may be the reason to head back some time! 

We took in a very entertaining show featuring animals from various movies. We also saw movie props from famous movies like Jaws, Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, and Men in Black.  

October 2017 - The Wizarding Word of Harry Potter

One of the highlights of the florida trip was visiting Universal Studios and its Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  We visited Hogshead/Hogwarts and Diagon Alley/London and rode the steam train between the two. We also did the fantastic rides at Gringott's and Howarts.  Both of them were really something! I think at the end of the visit everyone wanted to go to wizard school!