The picture is of our room at the Scandic malm in Sodermalm in south Stockholm. Its the only picture that let me copy from the internet.

We arrived in Stockholm at 7.30 am yesterday. We were able to check in our room at the
Scandic by 9.00 am. We unloaded our many suitcases and took off for a city walk. We went to old Town and had lunch at a wonderful little local resturant for 10.30 each. Then we came back and got warmer clothes and walked some more. its a beautiful city and today we will be walking along the bay off the Baltic. Stockholm is a beautiful old city. It is still cold and we difinatly need winter coats, hats and gloves, which we brought along. We are having a really good time.

We will leave Stockholm by train at 6 pm tonight and arrive at murjeck tomorrow morning 8ish. We will then be picked up by Alyssa and go to her home and school in jokkmokk.



We are 7.5 hours ahead of iowa time, so we lost some sleep but today we woke up at the right time and we have adjusted to Swedish time.

We have been at home enjoying springtime showing its pretty head. The grass is green, and I mowed a little bit on Saturday. The Daffodils are blooming. But Spring has been a long time in coming this year and it continues to be on the cold side.

Our plans are shaping up for a visit to see our grand daughter Alyssa in Jokkmokk, Sweden. We will be landing in Stockholm and then travel to her city, which is north of the Arctic Circle. She is spending a year with the Radical Journey Program under the Mennonite Church. We are excited to see her and her work and meet the local people. We hope to have a dog sled ride and meet some reindeer.

We will blog, if possible. If not we will share about the trip when we get back.

We got home in time for two of the grandchildren's spring programs. Meredith is in Kindergarten and Grace is in Grade 5.

We went to the Boys State Basketball Tournament in Des Moines when we got home. Our team came in 3rd in the state. We enjoyed 3 days of games.

We have been home since Sunday night. It was a three day trek from Florida. Night time driving is not to be desired - so we avoid it at all costs. Here, we are ready to leave LeLynn RV park in Polk City, Florida. We love RVing and having our own bed and restroom as we travel. HA I guess that just proves we are retired! We love spontaneity but there are limits.

Yesterday we spent the last day in Florida at the beach. Siesta Key was warm, white and just lovely. Here are Wilbur, daughter Theresa and her daughter Meredith.

The evening was spent with Wilbur's Brother Stan and his wife Diane, and his son Steve and wife Brenda, who were here from Iowa.
Meredith was making designs in the sand - no, she did not have help, It took 49 handfuls to make the proper shape!

Today, we leave Florida and head toward home. We plan to be home by Sunday night. We are leaving a week early because IMS Boys Basketball is going to State for playoffs on Monday afternoon. We listened to the game on KCII FM (Washington) on the Internet, two weeks ago and heard them win their berth to State. Our Son-in-law is one of the coaches.

We will not be blogging while traveling home - so see you next week.

Today we went to Cocoa Beach. Burrrrrrrrr! It was cold, but when you are young or is it young at heart you went into the water anyway. Sweatshirts and Bikini, a great combination!

Wilbur spent the whole afternoon flying kites. He is quite good at keeping the kites in air for long periods of time, while doing all kinds of loops and twists and sideway flying. I tried to get a picture but the kite moved so fast it was very difficult to get the camera lens to the correct spot.

We had a good day at Brush Gardens yesterday. We got there at 10:20 and left when the gates closed at 6:00. We were cold, cold and cold but we still enjoyed ourselves. The crowds were not large, so the lines where short. Theresa rode on some of the wild rides. We saw lots of animals and birds.
There were several areas for kids to crawl around and discover! This area had a sign that said that adults over the age of 13 must be accompanied by a child. Meredith loved all these ropey crawl arounds.