Enough already!

After almost two weeks of family visiting and parties, long evenings with wine drinking until dawn or dusk, depending on where in the country we have been, we are finally back at home base for a day. My head has turned to mush and my body has gone soft. Too many late nights and not enough exercising. It is clear I am not one of those who work best and are most creative under the influence. For me writing and exercising has to be done in the morning or it won't happen at all, especially not if cocktail hour starts at 3pm and goes on until 2am.

Today it's Ulf first official work day with his new company. So exciting and also so very confusing for the kids. He is going to work here? In Sweden? Do people work here? For them, Sweden is vacation; no rules, almost no strict bed time routines and as much ice cream as they want. And an endless stream of relatives and visiting.

This, that he has started working again feels like a tiny, ant-sized, step in the right direction. Hopefully we will soon have our paperwork and can be on our way because I just can't wait to go home. I am so very grateful that we can stay with family and that we are welcome to visit and enjoy the company of so many but I've almost reached my limit. I miss so many things in my home. My bed, my clothes, my shoes (YES!), my kitchen, my way of doing things. My stuff really and just being home. That we don't have a house doesn't really matter. A house is a house wherever it is, a home is where you live and the location is irrelevant. Routines, school, getting settled.  Feels like a dream at the moment.

We spent five days visiting with my brother and his family up north. Five days of baking, cooking, zip-fucking-lining, visiting with relatives - alive and dead, breathing in fresh air and the most beautiful landscape there is, eating, drinking and surprisingly almost no mosquito hunting at all.

Back in Stockholm we went back for another blood test for the visa application, did massive amounts of laundry (while traveling in Sweden you have to be prepared for any kind of weather and a bathing suit, rain boots and fleece jackets are a must, sometimes you were them all at the same time) and prepared for our next trip.
It was time to really celebrate Marcus 8th birthday. As per tradition, second year in a row, we spent the day at Gröna Lund (www.gronalund.com). Seven and a half hours of amusement park fun followed by a night in a hotel.

The next day we checked in at my sisters and her family. Three days and two nights of intense visiting and copious amounts of alcohol and good food.
"We only see you once a year", my sister proclaimed while getting yet another bottle of champagne, "once a year. So what to do? You have to be a good sport, right, and try, try really hard, to force the bleak roe, home made bearnaise sauce, macaroons, nectarine tarte tatin and champagne, a very good Californian Zin, dessert wine, coffee, brandy and liquores down. I mean, what to do? Once a year! Only once a year!
We ate and drank and talked and listened to music until 2am when Amanda came up from our room in the basement wondering where we were.
And the next day, we did it all over again. This time we were celebrating Marcus - again! That boy gets more parties than anyone. But again, what to do, we just had to suck it up. And we did because that day we had a crayfish-and-other-seafood-for-those-that-are-allergic-party. Yum, there is nothing better.