AdventureDad

Since Mothers Day is getting closer I figure a short post about my mom is in order.   My parents were  in town last week to celebrate my mom's 70th birthday.  Celebrate is  maybe the wrong word, they wanted to be anywhere but at home to avoid cooking tons of food and having the house full of relatives.  Good choice, I would have done the same thing.  My mom tends to get a bit worked up at these events and always ends up doing way too much work. You may think that Stockholm, Sweden is far up north but you can travel much further north in Sweden.  My hometown is 600 miles straight north, a one hour flight or 11 hour drive, and is very close to the Arctic Circle.  My parents chose to drive down here and did a great job with my father behind the wheel. 

They stayed for a week this time and we managed to avoid any ugly fights.  That is usually the case during their visits even though it has gotten  better since Daniel was born.  I'm well aware that they are down here to see Daniel and not me and Sandra.  We have realized that we can't compete with our son and are basically non existent when he's around:-)  We are  blessed to have a guest apartment in our building.  It's a fantastic place that the people in the building can rent for virtually nothing and my parents love to stay there.    It works out well because they like to sleep all day and also take naps.  That's not really compatible with a two year old full of energy which of course makes them loose about half the day due to sleeping.

Even though Daniel has not spend much time with his grandparents he still likes to see them.  Early mornings he keeps asking for "bulla" and "bullo" which is  "Abuela" and "Abuelo" (grandparents in Spanish in case you slept though your classes).  And he seems to really miss them when they are not around.  Summer is just around the corner so we walked around town, went to a couple of lunches and dinners, played with Daniel at Rosendahls Garden, hang out with his friends at the playgrounds around our house, and ate lots of my mom's home-made food.  My mom is a superb chef and she always brings down some of her specialties.  This time it was steak of lamb, palt (a Swedish specialty from the north), smörgåstårta (another Swedish specialty), salmon, and salmon roe.  Yummy!!  If I opened a restaurant with food by my mom and Sandra's mom, Guadalope, I would make an absolute fortune. 

My parents retired  ten years ago and are relatively healthy.  My mom had breast cancer some years ago and a stroke last summer but is doing pretty well considering the circumstances.  Dad had prostate cancer many years ago but is fine now.  My mom had been bowling for a  few years when she had the stroke and can no longer participate.  It's a shame since they met lots of good friends that way.  Now my dad plays and my mom shows up for the parties.  Not a bad deal actually:-)  Their favorite place in the world is without doubt our lovely summer house just outside my hometown.  It's right on the lake one a large piece of land.  It's just an incredible place and my parents live there 5 months a year. They've had a pretty nice life  but I wish they would have enjoyed themselves some more.  You know, really spoiled themselves.  They got two kids, me and my sister Kristina, and four grandkids.  And of course our  little baby girl who is due in August:-)

For my mom's birthday we started out with a nice bottle of Champagne at home while we waited for our superb babysitter, Sabine.  Then we headed into town for a couple of drinks at the nicest hotel in town, Grand Hotel.  My dad had briefly visited the hotel 30 or 40 years ago but my mom had never been there.  It was nice to sit down in the library lounge for a couple of Sapphire and tonic.  For dinner we went to one of the better restaurants in town, Ulla Winbladh, for some traditional Swedish food.   The restaurant is over 100 years old and dining there is relaxed and with excellent service.  We also had some of my favorite wine, Seghesio Zinfandel. It's a lovely wine which tastes more like a mild Cabernet.  The 2002 is unbelievable but the 2004 is nice as well. Try it, you won't be disappointed.  It was a very nice evening and I think my mom enjoyed it. They don't go out to restaurants often so each time is special for them.

Thanks for the nice visit and hope to see you soon again:-))

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