Mangoes and the Chicken Lady

We just returned from one of the best trips we've ever had. We stayed on the west coast of Sweden with 2 of the nicest people you'll ever meet and their 2 awesome children: Anna & Magnus and Andres & Jarie. They live in what felt to us like an idyllic fairytale setting at the end of a tiny street in a tiny town 10 minutes drive to the water. They have tons of room to run around, forests, 4 wheelers, they've got chickens, a deck, swing set, they've got Rock Band and Wasa bread - but more than anything in Sweden we enjoyed spending time with their family. Anna's Dad made us moose steaks for petes sake.We met while staying at the same hotel in Bogota while waiting for our paperwork to be completed. Andres and Jarie came from CRAN, the same organization as Mariana.

Mariana is often a sucker for the boys- especially Dads. So not only did she get to hang out with Uncle Carlo on this trip but she became quite attached to Magnus. She had a problem saying Magnus so she just called him "Mangoes". She sang a little happy "mangoes, mangoes" song and asked about him whenever he left the room.

They have a 30' sailboat and one day we all went out for a cruise. The coastline in that area is an archipelago of thousands of little islands and being on a boat is the perfect way

to explore. We stopped at this one island that had only an outhouse and 2 black sheep as its inhabitants. Anna made

a big pasta salad and

Magnus bought some

freshly smoked mackerel and mussels from a fisherman selling from the back of his boat (see picture). There was a nice sandy beach where the kids played in the water and fished for crabs. Mariana LOVED the water despite it feeling cold enough to skate on. Our gracious hosts had of course brought hot coffee and dessert so we could have a nice snack on the beach. "Fika" as it's known was a big deal on our trip as we pigged out daily. Again and again we were treated like royalty. We had that same feeling we often do about how very lucky we are. One night after the kids went to sleep we stayed up till 3 drinking Schnapps and exchanging stories. I'm always amazed at how people from different sides of the planet -us from the biggest city in the USA, them from a teeny tiny Swedish village -can have so much in common. Having adopted kids from Colombia seemed almost incidental as we drank and laughed at the same stupid shit.

Mariana had her little world turned upside down and we did our best to try to

appease her. Travelling with children I've learned can be quite a trying experience. A lot of rules

went out the window and basic survival mode as parents kicked in. You want to eat with your hands? You got it. Toys at the dinner table? Go for it. Running around with scissors? Have fun kid, just PLEASE please stop the screeching, screaming and whining. Andres and Jarie would sit at the table, halos floating gently above their heads and eat quietly of their vegetables or whatever else was presented to them. Mariana sat, or squirmed I should say, at the end of the table, the girl who had a few too many beers and yelled and cried and threw food and demanded things and made her parents run around like fools trying to please their master. It was a little embarrassing but probably our own fault for getting so worked up about it. Our hosts repeatedly said not to worry about it. It just made me wonder how we could have handled the situation better.

Before we left M already had an idea of what Sweden would be like. Anna had mentioned that they have chickens at their house. Well, the chickens didn't disappoint. It was a daily ritual to go to the chicken house to look for eggs. M did a crazy arm flapping running around in circles dance whenever we said we'd take her to the chickens. Than as soon as we were back inside- "Go to see the chickens? Please Daddy, go to see the chickens?"! I'll try to upload the video but blogspot is having trouble.

In the middle of the trip we drove across the country to the east coast to see Overkill play at the Getaway Festival in Gavle, about 2hrs north of Stockholm. M was very excited to see Uncle Carlo. She got to run around backstage and make people laugh, a big dollop of cuteness in a sea of black clad metalheads. We figured it was too loud for her to watch but thought that 1 song would be ok.

She looked a bit stunned as she watched the 1st song then Hilary took her backstage so I could watch the rest of the show. Well, M wouldn't have any of that and kept asking "go to see the loud Mommy". I knew she was cool.