Here we are in Haparanda

Well we made it in one piece! Ethan was a super star traveller as he always is and all the flights were smooth sailing. We left at about 8am yesterday and arrived in Haparanda at 7pm. Peter was more excited than he admitted but you could hear it in his voice as we got closer and closer to our destination and as he excitedly told Ethan and I about all the cool things we will be seeing and doing over the next 10 days.

When we got to the Stockholm airport we were famished so off to Max burgers which is one of the best burgers I have ever had and is also one of the top 3 airport restaurants in the world. Peter was already at the till demanding his melted cheese for his fries and Ethan and I were just taking it all in. Funny enough they have also dedicated a burger to the Royal family called the "Ciabatta Royale". The crowned Princess of Sweden is getting married in a few days and Stockholm city is going to double in size. It is meant to be as big as Princess Diana's wedding just to give you an idea.

Haparanda is not what I was expecting. The street that Stefan and Ritva live on is so adorable with all the brightly coloured houses, volvos in the driveways and everyone waving hi to one another. It is a very nice house and is perfect for Ethan to be cruising around in. He has already made friends with Isabel (his Aunty!) and of course, Amber (the Shetland Sheep dog).

Sweden is very cool for its house inventions though. The bathrooms are all fitted with a drain in the middle of the floor so you can get water everywhere and not worry about leaks or damaging other floors and the windows are double panes with blackout blinds inside so no crazy installations when summer hits. When we build our dream home, these are definitely things that will installed!

Today Peter and Ethan went to Candy World. For Peter, this is heaven. Walls lined with endless types of his favourite candy. He told me he spent 15 pounds worth there. I had to question him whether that was candy weight or price. Thank god it was price! On the other side of Candy World is a playland much like Monkey Bizness but instead, kids under 1 are free. We will definitely be hitting this place up before we go.

We also went to Kukkola and saw various fishermen setting up their man made bridges to catch fish with their nets. We took a walk around and took a few snappy-snaps and then had some lovely icecream ("Glass" in Swedish) and then off to Stefan's place of work...the library.

Emily - you would love this Library! It is very modern and Stefan took us for a tour of the place meeting his colleauges and showing us his office which is lined with photos of Ethan, much like the fridge in the family home too. Ethan was able to play in the kids section and read a few books. I tried my best at reading one to everyone called "Totte och Malin". This book was quite interesting. It was about how Totte thought he looked like Malin until they took their clothes off and peed. This is how they knew they were different. It had pictures too.

We also went to Finland today! The walk to Finland is 2 minutes from Isabel's crashpad. There really isn't a "Welcome to Finland" sign and I had differing stories from the family on when we actually arrived. Isabel was saying "Welcome to Finland!" and 2 minutes later the boys were. Can we say confused?! At least when you get to America you have to fork over $6!! Nah, it is much cooler in the fact you don't have to pay and you get to 2 countries in less hassle.

So it is already day 2 over. Ethan is in bed, Peter is eating sweeties, Stefan is telling us local stories and soon enough we are going to watch a film. This is a great start to holidays!