On the road again – Circus Harrison-Helin is ready for another tour!

First day of holidays today and we have been packing and organizing like crazy folk today! Well, that and another coffee-baby-date… and a haircut for the man of the house. (Not Ethan, if that narrows it down.)

Tomorrow we are off to the airport for a late morning flight to Stockholm to be followed by another flight from Stockholm up to Luleå where Grandpa Stefan will be picking us up. For the next few days we will be staying with Grandpa and Ritva and be visiting and touristing in both Sweden and Finland. We have heard so much about how much Haparanda and its ‘twin city’ Torneå on the border have changed over the last few years so it’ll be great finally get to check it out! We have also heard that there will be free food(!) served on the 19th; the day of the crown princess-wedding. Free food people!

As Haparanda is right on the border, a visit over to Finland is a must so we will also be going for a quick road trip one day and head up to either Santa Land or the zoo, but definitely drive up to the arctic circle. Another thing we will definitely do is go shopping for Finish licorice - it is the best!

One important stop on this ‘leg of the tour’ will be to go visit Great Grandma Linnea in Båtskärsnäs. I always used to love going to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house when I was younger – they always had so many interesting knickknacks to look at and always had sweeties and freshly baked coffee bread. The house is also right by the water in the start of the archipelago so a very scenic place to be, especially in the summer.

When we are ready to leave Haparanda, we will be heading 2 hours south down to Piteå where my mom, stepdad and sisters live to hang out at their summerhouse for a few days. Their boats are in the water and the weather has been excellent for the last little while so Ethan will definitely have a great time swimming and boating and hanging out. There will also be a midsummer’s party held on the 25th with mom's traditional ‘smörgåsbord’ and maybe even a little schnaps if we are lucky. Oh, and later in the evening on midsummer's eve, we will get a chance to catch up with the old 'boy band', my trio of very good buddies. That will be a hoot, guaranteed!

For the last leg of the tour, we will actually be splitting up, believe it or not. Shaena and Ethan will be spending 2 days in Stockholm with our friends Erin and Svante (remember them?) and I will be flying on to Frankfurt for module 2 of my leadership training course for work.

We will do our very best to update and post photos from the trip as we go along, so don't be a stranger now, ya'll!