The Harrison-Helins: Summer holidays as summer holidays should be

Howdy and Happy 4th of July to our American friends! Lots of ‘Happys’ flying around these days! :) We are back in Stockholm after two fantastic weeks up north where we’ve done loads and still been able to relax and just hang out. I thought I’d sum up some of the things we’ve kept ourselves busy with and have also added about 7 million photos below.

The boys birthdays
First and foremost; our little lovelies have had their birthdays whilst up north! Huddy turned one on midsummer’s eve and Grandma had got him a delicious green princess cake that was served up on our boat trip to the traditional midsummer’s celebrations in town. He really seemed to enjoy the sugary goodness and definitely enjoyed his birthday present – a Toddler Wobbler baby walker!

Ethan on the other hand got a really yummy berries, banana and chocolate pancake cake on his birthday and was over the moon when he got a cool airplane play set. Combine a huge Boeing 747 airplane toy with a bunch of awesome monster trucks and you are guaranteed a 100% satisfied 3 year old!

Midsummer’s Eve
A picture perfect Swedish midsummer’s were had! First a boat trip in to town on a classic old 50’s mahogany boat, then some dancing around the may pole and then back home to the cabin for a midsummer’s feast complete with schnaps and schnaps songs! After a fabulous dinner and great company, both Hudson and Ethan got to open pressies and later in the evening those of us who were still awake got to enjoy a beautiful midnight sun.

Playtime at ‘Skeppet’ and Pite Havsbad
Skeppet is an indoor play land, perfect for poor weather days. We took the kids there a couple of times to let them burn some energy and have some fun and both of them had an absolute hoot and were exhausted after! We took Ethan to Skeppet back in 2009 as well and it was really cool to see how much he has changed and developed and to see how he now can enjoy the whole thing; climb like a monkey, ride tricycles by himself and go on the tallest slides. We also played outside at Pite Havsbad one day in their outdoor play castle, which is somewhat of an institution in Piteå. This play structure has been around for over 30 years and when I was a kid I ran around there like a maniac and it looks pretty much exactly the same now as it did back then.

The Harrison Ford getting some McLovin’
Somewhere in the middle of all the fun and games I also managed to squeeze in some much needed car DIY on our dear Harrison Ford. Stockholm is not very kind to cars during the winter and road salt and dirt had started eating away on our poor car. It was also time for a yearly service; oil and filter change etc so Roland and I got our grease monkey gear on and got our hands dirty. Now it’ll last us for a few more years and it was great to get it done!

Great Grandma’s 87th birthday
The timing of our trip could not have been any better as it was the boys awesome Great Grandma Linnea’s 87th birthday! We drove up to Båtskärsnäs and met up with Grandpa Stefan, Great Grandma of course, and joined in on the birthday celebrations. It was a great day and we drove back home in the afternoon, full of cake and cookies and two tired and happy sons in the back of the car!

Teknikens Hus science center
We also managed to squeeze in a visit to ’Teknikens Hus’ in Luleå, which is a really cool science center. You all know we love a good science center! With lots of interactive exhibitions and buttons to push, we had an awesome playful afternoon! Among other things you can fly an airplane simulator, operate a real live lumber tractor, operate a saw mill, make your own paper in a paper mill, walk in to a mine and drive a mining robot and set of explosions, make pretend steel at the steel mill, and drive radio controlled boats. Needless to say; Ethan kept himself quite busy! ;)

So, all in all we've had a busy, relaxing brilliant trip up north and hats off to both our boys for being awesome road trippers! Lots of hours in the car but at the same time, a good test for future European/North American road trips. They passed with flying colors!

A beautiful midsummer's cruise

Hudson's first boat ride

Roland enjoyed taking the boat out in the gorgeous weather

Converseations on deck

Shaena lapping up some sun on deck

Daddy and buddy chillin' on deck

Cuddles in the aft

Ethan had a blast steering the boat

Bamse and chippen - checking for icebergs maybe?

Daddy and Ethan operating a lumber tractor

Mommy and Ethan on the 'monster truck'

A little dirt won't hurt

Hudson got to go monster trucking as well

Grandma and Huddy

Ethan is showing Grandma how to play a game on her phone

Kite runners

Cutie pie!

Ethan and Chippen playing ball

Early morning on Hudson's 1st birthday

Ethan and Grandma drawing

How to raise a may pole:
1: Gather your friends and dress up in funny costumes
2: Wrap a wooden cross in leaves and flowers and carry
it out to a park