You wanna know what our correspondents in Canada are up to?

It’s been a week and a bit since our correspondent team boarded their flight to Canada to get an early start to the summer. Since day one they’ve kept themselves busy in parks, malls, at Grandma’s camp, at the zoo and they’ve even been to a Bollywood dance recital! Full on in true Harrison-Helin spirit!

Here’s a bunch of photos of what they’ve been up to over the past week:

Shaena, Huddy and Kangaroos at the Winnpeg Zoo

Squeaky

Ethan the dino baby, also at the Winnipeg Zoo

Huddy and an Emu

Pretty Peacock

Another dino baby

Hudson the dude meets Hudson the polar bear

Happy campers

Barrelled Hudson

Represent...

...viking style

Two very excited Jets fans!

Hudson @ Hudson News

Folks, we are still here. Just FYI.

I know, I know. We’ve done it like Britney. Again. It’s been ages since we posted regularly here and hopefully you’ve not completely forgotten about us. We’ve just been way too busy lately but we’ll try and do better and summer holidays are coming up, which means lots and lots of R&R and time to redeem ourselves.

So, what is it that we’ve been so hot diddly darn busy with? Well, the usual really: Two supercharged, nitro-fuelled, crazy boys to start with. But that’s nothing new. Then there’s work… and when work is done, there’s more work. In the last few months I have spent quite a lot of time working on my side-project in China where I am developing a huge English learning website(!) Oh, and then there was that amazing long-weekend trip to London and another to Gothenburg, and third one to Växjö down south in Sweden.

London by the way… What a fantastic weekend that was! For the first time in about 4 years Shaena and I had a weekend all to ourselves on a free trip to London where we got to stay in a luxury hotel and just hang out, go sightseeing, walk around with no stroller and no nutty kids, pop in for an afternoon pint and some fish n’ chips and be able to sit down and eat a full meal with two hands without having to leave our chairs, check out a museum and actually be able to stop and ready the tiny little signs, try and score tickets to a musical, walk some more, drink wine and order pizza delivery to the hotel and more. All with the comfort of knowing that the kids were in very capable hands. Thank you very much to those who made this possible for us, it really meant a lot to us!

What else is new? Well, a cutie-patootie little cousin has been born! Uncle John and Mikaela’s little baby Elliot has seen the light of day (a bunch of months ago at this point actually) and he was christened a couple of weekends ago. Yours truly is now also a Godfather (who of course will give the little lad an offer he can’t refuse, when he is ready for it!)

Oh, and then there was the Springsteen-weekend! As you may or may not know; Shaena surprised me with 2 awesome tickets to Bruce Springsteen when his world tour hit up Stockholm for a couple of dates earlier this month. Bruce and E street played both Friday and Saturday and we had tickets to the Friday gig. A-ma-zing performance! He is truly a living legend and that was hands down the best live performance I’ve ever seen. As if one night with the Boss and his band wasn't enough – Shaena also managed to hook me up with a roadie gig on the Saturday (how does she do it!?) which meant that I got to see the Saturday concert as well, in return for the sweat off my back after the concert when I helped pack up the stage. The roadie job was a pretty neat experience in itself with everything that's going on backstage and all the hustle and bustle and activity that kicks off as soon as the band turns off their amps.

All in all; we've added a few more stories to tell the grandkids, that's for sure!

So what’s next? Well, if you’ve read Shaena’s post below it is probably obvious to you that we are pretty excited about going to Canada for the summer! If you haven’t read it – we are pretty excited about going to Canada for the summer!
Shaena and the boys are jetting off on Tuesday, a couple of weeks ahead of me, and I will be joining them mid-June, but before they leave there’s one more cool happening on the agenda: P!nk! When I won that free trip to London I also scored two VIP-tickets to P!nk when she is in town, which is on Sunday! It is going to r-o-c-k!

Here's a little taste from Bruce's Friday gig:

"Without you, I'm a drummer girl that can't keep a beat
An ice cream truck on a deserted street"

22 things at 22 months for Hudson

Two years ago I wrote 21 things at 21 months for Ethan. Here is one for Hudson: 22 things at 22 months.

1. You are a copycat of your big brother. When Ethan does a summersault, you do a summersault. When Ethan eats his peas, you eat your peas and so on.
2. You love helicopters and call them “hichochocs”
3. Your friends at school are Jacob “akob”, Adrian “adan”, Emma “emma”, Nina “nina” and Pernilla “nilla”
4. You love going on the swing so much and would gladly sit there for hours.
5. You are awesome at going to bed. When it is bedtime, you march happily to your crib and wait to be lifted in.
6. Your favourite doll is your teddybear called “Nalle” which is Swedish for teddybear.
7. You are not shy and love to say hi to people no matter where.
8. When asked to make your angry face you have the cutest pout ever!
9. You have a very large vocabulary of vehicles and scream fanatically when you see a bus.
10. You are very good at saying please when you ask for anything you may want and say “peesch”
11. You love to dance. We take you to dance class and you are great at shaking your booty.
12. You break out into random song like “lilla snigel akta dig”
13. You are excited that we are going to Canada and have learned how to say “cannnnaaada”
14. You definitely like to sleep in and we wish you would teach your brother this technique you have perfected.
15. You love to give kisses and noses.
16. You are a daredevil like your brother and happily will be flipped upside down and once on the ground you are upset if you do not get to go again.
17. You love to jump and splash in puddles.
18. When you have night terrors you love it when we call Sam the dog so you can talk to him.
19. You are a iphone-aholic and very good at using it!
20. You love to watch Chuggington and Thomas.
21. You are learning how to jump and when we ask you to jump you say “ump” and lift your feet up. Don’t worry, you’ll get it!
22. You have the most gorgeous smile ever and love showing it to everyone.

Lunch with Hudson

A bit of this, a bit of that

The train train kept a rollin’ as per usual. Lately we’ve been busy with work, work and more work… or at least it feels that way. Our website business is busier than ever and my day job is very busy but also very exciting at the moment. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had the opportunity to really challenge myself and explore new territory in my marketing role: university lecturing! I now go exclusively by the name Professor Peter, nothing more and nothing less.

As a part of a student career fair where my company (CareerBuilder) were one of the exhibitors I was asked to deliver a lecture at a pre-event to the main fair to a group of university students. 110 of them to be precise. So, I whipped out my PowerPoint skills, prepared a presentation on the topic ‘how to create an advantage for yourself through smarter job seeking’ and held a one and a half hour lecture. I had a great time and it seemed like the students enjoyed it as well! At the main event the following week, students came up and thanked me for a good lecture and said that they had gone home and revised their CV and cover letters and asked me to review and give them individual feedback. What a great feeling!

So what about on the home front? Well, we are currently dealing with two very strong-minded, stubborn kids. Hudson is entering the terrible twos with full speed and Ethan is trying his very best to maintain his position as man of the house by being very vocal with his various opinions and demands. The joy.

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve also been planning for a weekend away without the kids (something we haven't done in like forever) and this evening the last pieces of the puzzle came together! In less than two weeks from today, Shaena and I are off to London for a relaxing weekend!

What are we planning on doing in London then, you ask?

Here’s a short list of what we’ll be doing:

- Sleep in, sleep in, sleep in
- Eat breakfast lunch and dinner with two hands and no interruptions
- Stand around and admire stuff just because we can
- Stay out after 7pm

Ethan drew a car at dagis and insisted he wanted it put up
on the ceiling. Gotta love his creativity!

"Smile Ethan!"

"Hudson, show us your smile!"

A university event magazine with an ad for my lecture!

Professor Peter's group of students. All 110 of them.

A poster for my lecture at the university

CareerBuilder's booth at the student career fair.
Who designed that cool wall? Well, yours truly of course! ;)

Say choo choo!

Ethan's first purchase...ever!

It's been awhile...here's something to wet your whistle!

Was it something I said?

Today Pope Benedictus XVI announced that he is resigning from his post, which apparently is huge news in the catholic world as only 3 predecessors have resigned over the past 2000 years(!)

So, Mr. Pope, when we met back in 2010; was it something I said? Call me, maybe.

"Me and the Pope? Oh, we go way back!"

Hard at work or hardly working?

Well, a bit of both to be honest. Shaena and I are both busy bees working fulltime now and we are getting into a good routine with dagis drop-offs and pick-ups, but at the same time; February is the worst month of the year in Sweden for coughs, flus and seasonal yuckiness. Hence, we’ve both spent quite a lot of time not working unfortunately.

Besides both of us working fulltime; I am also working away on a huge website project, which is exciting, but most exciting of all is the prospect of not working for a bunch of weeks in four or so months! It seems a long way away now when it’s still cold and dark, but summer is fast approaching and we definitely have our mind set on an awesome trip around Canada!

Speaking of traveling; your truly was recently voted ‘Role Model Of The Year’ by his peers at work and won himself a weekend for two to any European city where CareerBuilder has an office(!) Oh, and I also won VIP event tickets for two to the Globe Arena so the Mrs. and I will be going to see Pink when she is in town in May. Sweet, eh!

Here’s a few snaps from our latest antics with the boys:

Playtime very early in the morning looks like this through
daddy's blurry eyes

Hello Pirate Hudson!

Hudson was busy spotting buses and trains

Two excited dudes at the train museum

Inside an old...

...classic Stockholmian subway train

A very old bus

Daddy and Ethan hard at work in the ticket
booth

Us lads on a mini-subway train

Brothers in arms

"Take no prisoners!"

The boys' ride to dagis

2-years-in-Sweden anniversary today!

Two years ago today on a cold winters day we set foot in our new home here in Sweden. 

It’s been an adventure, it’s been fun, it’s been crazy, it’s been exceptional, it’s been frustrating at times, it’s definitely been rewarding, it’s been nice to move into an insulated non-drafty house again, it’s been great having real internet again, it’s been fantastic to be able to take advantage of all the Swedish government family perks, it’s been a learning experience, and most of all: it’s been the missing piece to our puzzle.

So, to celebrate our two-year-and-counting stint here in Sweden in true Harrison-Helin style; Shaena and I are in full research mode, scoping out our next holiday adventure: Tour de Canada 2013! 

If our grand plan comes together, this crazy crew will be, among other things, road tripping around the rocky mountains in one of these!

At least the camera didn't get the flu

Brothers

Guess what he is watching on the computer

Mario Cart Racer and hangaround crew

A feverish Huddy/Woody at the doctors office

"Ethan swim under water!"

Flufest 2013 is here!

Holy Kleenex has this week ever been a long and yucky one! First, Shaena and Hudson came down with the flu early this week and today we've all been home from our respective daytime occupations. A couple of visits to the doctor, 7 liters of Tylenol and copious amounts of snot rags later, we are all going to bed early to try and sleep it off.

Oh, and let me tell you; It is really, really hard to be at home sick feeling sorry for yourself when you have the kids at home as well. Yes, they are sick too and they need to be attended to, but it's like they smell blood in the water and because you are sick and weak;, they feel the urge to jump on your belly a few extra times.

Hopefully this clears up soon.

Gallivanting around Chicago

Last week I had the pleasure of going on a whistle-stop visit to Chicago with work for our annual kickoff. About 2000 CareerBuilder folks from all around the world came and stayed at the Sheraton we had the pleasure of listening to a number of truly awesome guest speakers. Unfortunately, due to their contracts for these engagements, I am not able to namedrop, post photos or quote them on all the awesome things they said… but trust me, it was awesome.

Even though the schedule for the few days I was there was jam packed, I had a chance to go and check out the city for a few hours and I must say; I am a big fan! Really cool city and I am sure there’s lots of gems left to visit so we’ll have to make sure to make it back to the windy city.

Good trip all in all and Shaena did great working fulltime as well as taking care of the boys while I was out gallivanting around halfway across the globe.

A classic inflight wing photo

Phew!
A sign to prevent weapons violations and gang recruitment!
I instantly felt a lot safer!

Navy Pier Christmas lights

Chicago by night

Chicago by day

Here comes the fuzz!

Hancock Tower
Needless to say; the view from the 96th floor
was amazing!

The famous Garrett's Popcorn Shop
The only thing Shaena asked me to bring back from Chicago
was a bucket of Garrett's Popcorn 'Chicago Mix'.
So I did. And they did not disappoint! Finger licking good!

Hello 2013!

New Year’s Eve was a relaxed, no-big-deal event for us this year and it was nice to just stay at home, hang out and enjoy a good dinner and a glass of wine.

We felt that we’d been doing enough running around for one year and also knew that 2013 would kick start with Shaena going back to work (first day tomorrow, woo!) and I am flying off to Chicago with work for a few days next week. In between Shaena going back to work and me flying off, we are also doing a shindig here in Stockholm with my laddies from near and far and their respective better halves which I am sure will be a hootenanny and a half!

Look out 2013, we are coming for you!