The Harrison-Helins

Wednesday, July 11

36 things at 36 months

You have developed some wicked dance moves! ‘The wiggle-wiggle’, ‘The rock ‘n’ roll guitar’ and ‘Raise the roof’ to name a few.
You have been keeping a secret talent from us! Apparently you know a bunch of Swedish kids songs that we didn’t know you knew and now you won’t stop singing them!
You are scared of things, or at least that’s what you say. Balloons, butterflies and dentists are on the scare list right now.
Speaking of which; you had your first appointment at the dentist but refused to let him see your teeth and instead kept your mouth closed and spoke like a ventriloquist.
You say “Excuuuse me!” when you burp
You now speak English to mommy and Swedish to daddy…and Swenglish to yourself!
You are picking up lots of new words every day and have turned into a full-on chatterbox
Your favourite pop song right now is Michel Teló’s ’Ai Se Eu Te Pego’
Your favourite kids song is ‘I ett hus i skogens slut’
Your favourite music video is ’The Lazy Song’ by Bruno Mars because of the dancing monkeys in the video
You are obsessed with monster trucks and airplanes
You know the entire alphabet and lots of numbers though when you try and read you think everything reads either “Noooooo!” or “Good night” (from the book ‘Goodnight iPad’)
You are now sleeping in the top bunk of your bed
You enjoy an ‘awesome bite’, which means either garlic bread or a PBJ sandwich
Your best friends are Kieran and Raul
You are an amazing electric car driver and can drive around the ‘Kaatach’ playland for hours
You are a dare devil and love running and jumping in the kiddie pool
You are without any shadow of a doubt part of the i-generation and can navigate an iPhone with ease and can entertain yourself with games, photos and videos
When you see the McDonald’s golden arches or the MAX sign, you shout “Burgers!”
You are polite without prompting and say please, thank you and “Tack för maten!” after dinner
You love to give biiig hugs by stating “Biiig hugs!”
When we say “I love you”, you say “Jawo!”
You are stubborn like a mule
You are a great big brother and help Hudson with toys when he can’t reach them, and try and help him up when he's fallen
You love shopping for pick’n’mix candy… like your daddy!
You have started potty training and say “Ethan make water!” when you are sitting on the toilet
You are a great sharer and a born romantic! One time at dagis, a little girl ran out of corn on her plate and asked for more. Before the teachers had a chance to serve up more, you had given the little girl yours.
You enjoy sharing your bedroom with your brother; though if Hudson doesn’t go to sleep you tell him to “Put his head down!” saving mommy and daddy the trouble. Thanks buddy!
You have started to see the value in making money and go through great lengths to make a silver coin, which will go straight into your ‘Ethan-i-raptor’ piggy bank.
You are becoming quite the little sports dude and can now ride your tricycle really fast, kick a soccer ball really far and can show off with awesome summersaults
You still have the appetite of a full grown man. Tonight you had 12 meatballs before dinner, then had dinner and ice cream…and then asked for burgers!
You are a complete maniac at the play lands and playground and you go all-in wherever you go, be it a ball pit, a sand pit, a swing set or a slide
You love to cuddle your’ ambulance blanket’ and whenever you crawl up on the couch, you ask for it
You are 100cm and 18kilograms
You can list all the trains and vehicles from ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ and ‘Chuggington’ and have the memory of an elephant
In 36 months you’ve been to 12 countries, countless cities, experienced all kinds of planes, trains and automobiles… Just remember that when you are a famous NHL hockey player.

Monday, July 9

Care for a slice of 'Dexter berry pie'?

Last night was awesome. Good food, good drink and good company! The good old barbecue was fired up and a summer feast was prepared and had. Fillet of pork rubbed in fancy Williams-Sonoma rub, oven roasted potatoes, tzatsiki, garlic bread, corn on the cob, hotdogs, salad and wine! To top it off, Shaena baked not only one but two different pies; a classic apple pie and a berry pie. The latter was delicious but looked like something out of the opening scenes from 'Dexter':

Sunday, July 8

Fabulous!

Thursday, July 5

Quick park-stop at Rosendals Slott

On our way through town this afternoon we stopped by Rosendals Slott and had a quick look around the castle grounds and surrounding park. Very beautiful and there's also a permanent farmer's market and cafe in the park that deserves a closer look!

Wednesday, July 4

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