The Harrison-Helins: January 2011

Friday, January 28

We made it!...barely!

Now before I begin, I just want to say a big thank you to everyone whom has helped us along the way on our journey from city to city and especially to my AMAZING husband and son who have put up with me during this difficult sickness!

Where to begin. Moving day was to take place on the Monday and on Sunday I started feeling unwell. Well that has turned into full blown tonsillitis! Now I am on the highest dose of meds to hopefully batter this sickness but I have also been completely out for the count too which means Peter has been doing ALL the work himself (with a bit of extra help from the moving company and Lesley who rocks for cleaning our kitchen!)

The moving company was great! They came in and packed everything! It was strange not being able to lift a finger. What a life of luxury and definitely a new way to do things from now on though hoping we won't be moving for quite sometime after this.

Our friends Jen and Mike (sans Mike though as he has been in DC checking out schools for his Masters degree) were lovely to take us in for the nights that we no longer had furniture. It really is a shame though that I have been THIS sick cause we really didn't get to do any of the things we had planned or say goodbye to people in person.

Yesterday we hopped aboard our Norwegian flight to Stockholm which was an amazing flight and the nicest staff ever but again, it was like I was a zombie flying as nothing on my body worked or felt well. When we arrived in Stockholm, Peter went and collected the car we rented with our airmiles (and cost us £4 all in all!) and we drove to Erin & Svante's with a side stop at our new digs though we couldn't find it in the dark. Turns out our place is SO new that it's not even on google maps yet.

Pause for more shortly!

Saturday, January 15

A flat packed flat from IKEA. Doesn't get much more Swedish than that!

After our set back with the flat in Stockholm that fell thru; we have been burning the midnight oil trying to find somewhere to live and with February 1st as my start date for work, there has been no time to waste. Both Shaena and I have spent hours and hours on Blocket.se and other Swedish websites for classifieds and sub-lets and we’ve also thrown our names in the hat for a couple of first hand contracts in newly built brand new flats, initially thinking that we probably won’t get them but that there’s no harm in trying.

The first new development that we applied for and really, really wanted was a fantastic 3 bedroom flat in a suburb called Kallhäll; developed by IKEA in collaboration with Skanska. As soon as we found this flat we knew that we wanted it and applied straight away. We were number 32 in queue for a total of two available flats and patiently/nervously/eagerly waited and watched as more and more people dropped out of the queue throughout the different stages of the application process. When only 7 people remained ahead of us in the queue, we were bummed out when the listings for these flats were taken off the website and someone else got the contract… or so we thought!

As a fortunate twist of fate; the other day I was contacted by a property management company saying that “the two flats I had enquired about in another suburb were unfortunately not available but that they could offer us a similar sized flat in the same new development as long as we were successful in a credit check”. We passed the credit check and a contract was sent over for our review. 15 minutes after we received the contract by email; I also received an email from the lettings website where we applied for the first IKEA flat saying that we were now number 1 in queue and that we should contact them immediately!

So we did. Supposedly; the 7 people ahead of us in the queue had all failed their credit checks and luckily for us, all these flats are managed by the same property management company, which meant that instead of having no flats to choose from, we now had two amazing brand new flats to choose from! Imagine that!

We decided to go with the flat that we had originally wanted for several reasons, one being just that; that this was the flat we originally fell for. I am also familiar with the area already as I used to live in Kallhäll before moving abroad and know that it is family-friendly, close to nature, water, has a beach and a marina and that it is close enough to commute to Stockholm city. Another important factor was of course that the flat and the flat building looked absolutely stunning! …oh, and the rent was cheaper!

So, as I mentioned, these flats are designed and built by IKEA and Skanska through a concept called ‘BoKlok’ which translates to ‘Live Smart’ or ‘Smart Living’ and the goal is to build smart, family friendly, cost effective flats and houses that don’t cost a fortune to buy or rent. We have (as per usual) done our research on BoKlok and really think this is a great concept!

We are of course insanely excited and can't wait to move in to our BoKlok... and there is lots of room for people to come visit! *hint hint*

These show home pictures below are from another 3 bedroom flat with the same floorplan as ours:

…and this is how our BoKlok flat was made:

Monday, January 10

It’s a small world after all

In the last couple of days of our Wisconsin-adventure we had a chance to reconnect and hang out with another ‘Dublin-connection’. Ida and Pete (Ida is Swedish born and raised in the north like me and Pete is American – born and raised in Appleton! Small world, eh!) lived in Dublin at the same time as us and Ida worked in my team at Xerox.

Ida invited us over to their fantastic newly refurbished apartment and shop before taking us out for a nice dinner at Applebee’s and drinks at ‘The Durty Leprechaun’ (no, it’s not a typo!), a truly genuine Irish pub…hrrm! Pete, who is flying helicopters out of town all week long, could not make it for dinner and drinks but luckily we had a chance to meet up with them again for lunch just before it was time to head back home to Scotland.

It was great seeing you guys again! Thank you for taking the time to meet up with us!

For the rest of you readers: If you are ever in the Appleton, Wisconsin area, Ida and Pete’s shop is a must-see if you are into design and home decoration! Let us know if you need the address or would like to get in touch and we’ll hook you up!

Saturday, January 8

Moving-to-Sweden update:

The holidays are over and after a long and awesome stay here in the US, we are heading home to Edinburgh tomorrow afternoon. Back on Sunday afternoon(!)

As you can imagine; there are a lot of moving parts involved in a move like the one we are planning and with only a short space of time to organize a whole lot of things; there is no rest for the wicked. So, while we’ve been here, we have managed to get a few of these things ironed out to the point where we feel quite comfortable about moving to in another country in less than 3 weeks from now.

Here’s a short summary of where we are with our planning so far:

Immigration and various tax, banking and benefits research in Sweden – Done!
Moving company suitable for our needs and budget – Sorted! Our beloved furniture and stuff will be away from us for 3 weeks but our new apartment (below) is furnished.
One way tickets to Stockholm - Booked!
Apartment in Sweden suitable for our needs and budget – Was sorted, now back to the drawingboard on this one!
Various notices and cancellations in the UK – Sent!
Day care research and registration for Ethan – Sorted! If we are really lucky, Ethan’s day care will be located literally around the corner from our new apartment. How sweet would that be?
Rental car for 3 days when we get to Sweden – Sorted! …for £4!!! “How in the world?”, you ask? – “Shaena’s mad skills!” is the answer!
Shaena’s leaving party with her girls – RSVP sent!

That’s us so far. Hope you are all having a great start to your 2011!

Thursday, January 6

New stretch-ride for the kids. Yes, kids!

In preparation for the arrival of H2, Shaena has been researching different double stroller options like crazy and it is very clear that stroller systems are a lot cheaper over here in the US than back in both the UK and in Sweden so we thought; why not order one while we are here and bring it back with us? So we did. It arrived the other day. It is awesome.

This Chicco Cortina system can be folded up neatly to almost the same size as a normal stroller, is light and easy to manoeuvre and has a nifty car seat for H2 that can easily click in both in the front of the stroller and in the back. And cup holders. Lots of cup holders. What else do one need?

This is how it looks like in the catalogue:

Here's the car seat:

…and this is how it looks like in the real world:

Milwaukee baby! Fun times at the Betty Brinn Children's Museum

The other day, Cousin Emily kindly took Grandma Michelle and us out on a day trip down to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Our first stop was a really nice lunch at ‘The Cheesecake Factory’ and a visit to one of the malls, followed by a visit to the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum. Let me tell you; we have been to a fair few experience/museum attractions over the years but this one was something else!

The whole museum was laid out in a really smart way and each exhibition was both interesting and informative for us adults and fully playable for Ethan. In other words, he had an endless supply of cool interactive buttons to press. As you can see from the photos below, it was not only Ethan who found something to play with or try out and we had a very good couple of hours in there! If you are ever in Milwaukee, Betty Brinn’s is a must! The only bummer was that we did not know it would be this awesome before we got there and had we known; we had definitely planned for a longer visit as we probably missed about half of all exhibitions.
Oh well… next time!

Other than that, we also had a chance to drive around downtown Milwaukee for a bit and look at its beautiful old buildings. Definitely a cool city centre with a genuine well-kept factory/merchant style architecture and it is clear that the city has a long history of brewing and heavy industry. Speaking of which; we also drove past the Miller brewery and the Harley Davidson Motorcycles plant. Beat that! ;)

"How you gettin' on with that exhaust change, partner?"

"I'll have that fixed for you in a jiffy, ma'am!"

"Better get those rims changed before the owner gets here!"

"Oh oh! Better get Maaco!"

"Cowbell! I need more cowbell!"

"This is a drive-thru robbery! Give me all your money!"

"Is this it?!"

"Good evening! These are today's top stories..."

"Camera 4, cut to camera 4!"

Notice Ethan's reaction when a crazed fan makes it into the studio.

"No, mom! The bananas are $3.99, not $2.99! I am taking this out of your paycheck!"

"The wheels on the bus go round and round..."

Sunday, January 2

First pancake breakfast of 2011 - What was in those pancakes!?

This morning we headed over to Blueberry Hill Pancake House for a New Years Day breakfast with Aunty Nini, Jessika, Bain and Danika and as you probably can tell from the photos; Ethan had a blast! We are not sure what got into him but in the last few days he has started amusing himself by making faces that makes him look surprised and then laugh at himself! It is hilarious to watch and to listen to his giggles!

A styling tip from Ethan:
Strawberry jam and maple syrup makes really cool hairdos!

Oh, and the pancakes were to die for! ;)

Visit to Lambeau Field - home of the Green Bay Packers

No visit to Green Bay is complete without a visit to Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers NFL team. Unfortunately we did not make the tour of the stadium as it was sold out, however Bain and Jessika who had scored a couple of tour tickets before us got a chance to go. Bain is a huge football fan and really enjoyed the tour and brought back a piece of interesting trivia for the rest of us:

According to the tour guide; the waiting time for a season ticket to Lambeau Field is currently 1200 years! The reason for this is that the Green Bay Packers fans that are frequently going to games at Lambeau are so hard core that the season tickets are passed on in wills and hence, never become available.