I want...

Allt från Joss&Main.

Last days by the ocean...

Last two days in Florida we relaxed a lot. In Ft Lauderdale we played at the beach, didnt swim in the ocean but the girls liked to play in the sand. We took a cab to Sunrise (~25 min), I guess it's like a village with the famous Sawgrass Mills. Sawgrass is a huge mall with alot of outlet stores and I bet you could spend a week there shopping without even go through all stores... My plan was to go shop as much as possible during a few hours in late afternoon and evening....

We stayed at Doubletree by Hilton in Sunrise. A hotel I really recommend if you want to go shop, or anyway. Must say Hilton won over Marriot this week... Perfect location and good shuttle service with very helpful crew members. They even took us to a place called Flamingo Gardens  which was like 6 km outside without charging us anything. I gave good tip anyway...

In the morning we were at Flamingo Gardens. There was a good not to large nature walk with alot of birds. This is originally a sanctuary which helps hurt animals or animals that got rescued from abuse or beeing kept in very bad conditions. From what we could see I think they did a serious work with the animals. Our main goal was to see flamingos and they had some.. Natalie had looked forward to see them so much but we or at least I was a little disappointed because there were not so many and we didn't get to see them so close. All in all we were satisfied with our morning and I think Flamingo Gardens is worth a 2-3h visit. Entrance fee 16 $ for me free for the girls.

After the girls slept we went shopping. As usual I mostly bought clothes for the girls... I got myself some nice things at Victoria secret's and a new pair of RayBan Wayfares! As expected it is not so easy to go shop with the two girls so I didnt really have time to look... We also spend alot of time at the Rainforest Café...a really nice restaurant for families. I remember I've been once before in London...hmm that was without kids and after a whole afternoon with cheap drinks at a bar somewhere around Piccadilly I think... me and Johanna B laughed so much because of the moving animals...so fun memories!

Anyway Sawgrass Mills are well worth a visit. There you can find all major name brands and even the really luxury ones like Gucci, Prada, Burberry and many more... I wish I had much more time by myself to go shop..but I guess in the future...

Sunny day...

Yesterday we had a really nice day! Alot of swimming in our pool and we played at the beach. Jamie was her happy self again and I felt better in the afternoon. It was warmer outside, but still a cooler wind. I decided to stay one more night at this hotel, didnt feel strong enough to pack and get us to the another one...but we will do that tomorrow! 
Here are some pics from the morning...I can say it feels good to know that the lifeguards looks trained enough to handle any rescues!

Beachside...

We had a sunny but windy day with temperatures around a cooler swedish summerday. Since we woke up so early we were ready to go to the beach after Jamie woke up from her nap. She is not feeling so good
...runny nose and a little fever. Hopefully she doesnt get bad with her breathing again like she has all the other times she's been sick.

The beach is very big and beautiful! I haven't been to a typical "citybeach" before, and it's not so hard imagine a life close to the beach here...People seems to really use the beach for all kinds of excersise and the whole area exudes a fit lifestyle...neon bikinis for sale everywhere!

We played at the beach for a while but we stayed in the pool for swimming. Natalie had fun but Jamie still seems like she's a little off... I think the 6 hours difference also has something to do with it.
Our night ended pretty quick...we picked an italian restaurant by Las Olas bvd.  Natalie wanted pasta.. well Jamie fell asleep again, I couldnt eat anything and started to feel really bad in my stomach! Oh no! Ive been around so much travelling in asia and I have never been sick...and now it was probably a healthy smootie that got me!
I can say my night was horrible..luckily both girls slept good until 5.15. I really hope this goes over quick.. Its impossible for me to rest til I feel better... but at early breakfast today I managed to drink half a coke I got some sugar at least...

Good morning sunshine...

My view right now...
Woke up 4 again..now Jamie is asleep, we are watching sunrise and making plans for today...I think we'll stay at the beach/pool today!

Florida!

We made it to Florida! Flight was good, both girls slept when they were supposed to..mama didn't. We arrived late to our hotel ( I just picked a Best Western Plus close to the airport. I had so many bags so I asked for help to drive one of the luggage strollers. Unfortunately we had to wait a little too long for our hotel transfer..and I almost got too tired and ran out of energy right before they finally showed up
.Both girls were tired and also started to loose their patience... But eventually we got there and got a few hours of sleep before they woke up at 04. Breakfast was a couple of hours away so we took a walk around the hotel area, not so much to see.  Then a "swim" in our tub..I dont know how much other guests appreciated that but...we killed time.

After breakfast we took a cab to our real hotel Courtyard by Marriot Fort Lauderdale beach. I haven t decided yet but I think we'll  stay here for 4 nights, but I am a little curious about another resort closer to the Everglades. ( We will not go to the NP this time but anyway... )

Our first day we had gray clouds but we played at the beach for a while, had lunch at Beach Bunnies ( good omelett! ) We were all tired so I only managed to keep Jamie awake til 11.30 Then we slept til afternoon..
It rained and was about 15 degrees C in the afternoon but we found a playground by the beach and played in our pool for a while. Hours flew away and it was time to get ready for dinner. Tonight we just wanted tp eat somewhere close, I was afraid Jamie would pass out before 6... Anyway we ate at the famous Bubba Gump shrimp place from the movie Forrest Gump.
Very nice for the kids!  As always here in restaurants they got crayons and paper to draw. This time I ordered 3 meals, a salad for me "popcorn" shrimps for Natalie and Chicken strips for Jamie. Theirs got served in a boat and they ate really good. Jamie almost feel alseep in the highchair so she got to lay down in the stroller...first time ever at dinner time she just feel asleep..poor child so tired and jetlagged...still happy though! Anyway we left pretty quick after that I didnt even finish my mojito..(I wanted a small one and the waiter assured it was..but no...) Next dinner I will save some money and only order 2 meals. A good thing is that we got a doggybag without even ask for it..so maybe the girls have shrimpsnack tomorrow...

Pictures from today...

Here we go again...

It's time to pack our bags and cross the big ocean again... I suddenly decided to book tickets and go back to Montana! It's been many weeks without Daddy so next monday we are going to fly over even if my real visa still isn't done...so this time I travel with the normal ESTA visa, which means I must get back and do my interview no later than 90 days after arrival... It feels like a never ending story even if our case is "standard" and nothing complicated!

Of course its been very nice to see beloved friends and family in Sweden and be home again. We have had alot of  quality time together...even if its never enough... but I keep moments we had close to my heart..♡ I'm also very happy that both girls got to spend so much time with the whole family here! For Natalie its been fun and also important to play with her friends and go a few days to her preschool here. I really appreciate that she got to experience the swedish traditional lucia and christmas now when she is old enough to remember and bring the traditions with her no matter where she'll be next year. BUT we missed (and family here missed...) the traditional american celebration the 25:th we've had in Sweden last 3 years...Jared has to cook christmas dinner a little late for us!

I think this time will feel more like we actually fly over to really live a normal everydaylife at the ranch and not just feel like we are travelling around... Because of the visa situation it still doesn't feel like moving "for real", we take that stepbystep..( not saying "for good" because we keep that open...)  Anyway I'm looking forward to experience the different parts of the year at the ranch, that's really exciting and most of it very new for me...

BEFORE we go back to Montana, me and the girls are going to have some very spontaneous and well needed realaxing days in the sunshine state FLORIDA!!

White ground...

Today we played at the beach in Hörvik...I'm getting really tired of the grey winter here! It suppose to be cooler next week, so we might get some snow... I'm sorry for being mean wishing for cold weather when half the us suffers from icestorms and blizzards.. I don't wish for that coldness but a little white on the ground would be nice!! 

We still haven't heard anything about a time for my interview so now I'm working on getting back to Montana...and I suppose back again as soon as we get the appointment scheduled..I can't stand the thought of the girls beeing apart from Daddy anymore..especially the little one because so much happens so quick at that age! And I must admit that it is very hard on me too beeing alone with them and never get a break. I am longing for a sleeping morning...

Anyway, eventually we will replace the gray sand in Hörvik to white snow in Montana...but before that we hopefully feel something warmer between the toes for a little while... 

Irresistible...

I wish I could have said we'll be back for Christmas...but we will be back in time for Valentine's day...♡♡♡

(Dresses from Gymboree and Gap Kids)

Black and White Christmas...

Here are some pictures from our Christmas at G-grandma Kerstin and G-Grandpa Hasse the 25:th...