Floating...

The second day Mikael and Katarina were here it was going to be a really hot day so we went floating down the Elk river! There are many different locations where you can rent canoes or kayaks for a day of fun. You get to choose your own time frame and then the people from the rental place come pick you up down the river. We got ours at Kozy Kamp and paid 40 USD / Kayak for an 8 miles float. We didn't really know what to expect since we had the small girls with us, but we hoped they'd do good and not get bored after 30 min. Just in case we told the manager that we might give them a call if we needed to retreat....

We brought fishing equipment, plenty of water, and a cooler with snacks like fruit and nuts ( we did forget alot of it in the car though...) and sandwiches. And of course sunscreen, and hats! We figured we were going to make it in about 5 h with alot of stops along the way. We also had one life-jacket for Jamie. ( The rest of us got from the rental company).

We left around 11 o'clock and the sun was already burning so it was very nice to go out in the water and swim... Elk River has very clear water with bottom and alot of different fish. ( Pearch, Sunfish, Suckers, Carp, Bass...) and of course also other animals..turtles..snakes..spiders. Even though I had my doubts about this trip together with the girls, we had an amazing, wonderful day! All of us enjoyed it very much! It was so relaxing to just float down the river. Natalie was in Mikael and Katarina's kayak the whole day, and Jamie just enjoyed it without trying to escape the boat or get bored. We did stop for swimming and fishing alot so I guess that was very necessary for Jamie to stay patient.Mikael got lucky a few times and actually caught 2 fish!

But of course..this day also included some extra drama ( or excitement)...When were halfway we got surprised by a smaller rain/storm with some extra dark gray clouds. We left the water in a hurry and searched for protection ( or mostly to get away from the water just in case of thunder..) up on the riverbank. The wind and rain got heavier (extreme with swedish measurements..) so at least I started to get real worried for what the dark clouds were gonna bring..( you can't really deny that we are in the tornado valley..) Jared was of course calm and played with Jamie in the rain... Mikael looked around the area and found an abandon barn a little bit up the road so while the wind and rain increased we ran up there to try to get out of the storm. Luckily we never got any thunder and lightning.. After 20 min or so in the barn we could get out again. It was a good thing that we found a place under roof because both girls were really wet and even if it was around 35 degrees C outside you can always start to freeze, so they got dry clothes and warmed up quickly again...puh  I can say I wasn't really scared but the adrenalin started to pump a little extra because I know what dangerous weather conditions can roll in very fast...  Anyway a short while after this little unplanned break we got sunshine and clear blue sky again!

We reached our goal around 5.30 p.m so all in all it took around 6 h. We were all very satisfied with the day and this is something I really recommend for everyone to do if you have the possibility. It's a good activity for all ages and since it's downstream the bodywork you do is minimal. I'm sure this is something we will do soon again!

Here are some pictures that Katarina took. I will put up more later...

The Swedes are here!

My big brother Mikael and his girlfriend Katarina arrived late... Now we are going to have a great time while they are here! The girls tried so hard to stay awake until they were here...

Summer...

Time flies by and it's almost time for us to leave the Mcfarland's. After looking for a place to rent we finally found a house and location we liked. We have been looking alot and there're many houses for rent, but it is not so easy to find the right place for the right money... Anyway we will be moving in and try to get a little settled before our visitors from Sweden arrive!  I'll tell you more about the house later...

Last days in Stella we have enjoyed the nice summer, visited Jared's cousin, been swimming in the creek, went to a few cowsales...Jared has worked quite a bit and done alot of haying.. we have also started to empty the storage shed where our stuff from Montana has been stored since April. We didn't have so many items, just the beds for both girls and a whole bunch of smaller things like book, toys, clothes. Soon we will have a house to try to fill so we will definately try to find some jewels at yardsales and antique stores!

Playtime with second cousin Isabella...Can you see that they are related??

Dancing...

Old and used...

In Monett...

We went to see G-grandma Rena and Morris in the small and friendly town of Monett. It is always nice to get to see them, and I think Jamie somehow remembered Rena from last year. She wanted to be held and hugged as soon as we stepped into the house. We had a nice late afternoon, went to Brahm's for dinner, enjoyed their icecream and played in the park for quite a while. Brahm's is a typical hamburger restaurant, but I think they are best among all in the area and they also have good icecream. The playpark in Monett is good for kids of all ages, and there's plenty of room to run around. This evening we were almost alone there, but I've heard it's very crowded during the weekends. So here are some pics from this day...

Countrylife...

Some pictures from Mcfarland's farm outside Stella, Missouri. We have a nice week here in Missouri and I'm happy to say that the weather has been great. Not a single day above 100 F... Everything is still nice and green! At this time of the year the farmers put up alot of hay. And this year everything has been a little delayed due to rain in the early summer, so people just started haying. ( In Sweden that was done long time ago, at least the first round...) Anyway here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately!

Bike ridin' with cousin Izzy.

Running downhill over the hay... 

Tractor ridin'

Picked greenbeans...

Ate most of them...

Played more...

Relaxed...

First day...

Still jetlagged..The girls woke up early but not to bad..around 5 a.m. We took an early walk around the farm and the surrounding area. Both girls were excited to go see the animals. Here are some pictures from this morning!

Early morning...

Jamie is always full of energy...

Not only in Blekinge!

On the way to Missouri...

This time we picked an evening flight from Copenhagen. My experience tell me that it is easier to fly in the afternoon or evening with small children. We flew cheap with Norweigan and got lucky so we had 6 seat for us 4, which meant that both girls could lay down and get a whole night of sleep! And both of them slept for most of the flight. We didnt have any delays or unexpected problems and landed 8.30 in Florida. I can say it is alot easier and more relaxing to travel two adults instead of alone with the girls!  It took a while at the airport to get the luggage and go through the passport control. I also had to see some more people from the homeland security to verify my visa, but that was pretty fast. We took a cab to Miami Beach, app. 40 min from the airport.  It was relatively expensive (70 USD), but it was late in the evening and we needed to go to bed as quick as possible since we knew the girls were going to wake up quick after bedtime.We picked a hotel one block above the beach (Catalina Hotel), but we didn't read the reviews so much and this hotel was obviously not a family friendly one... I guess it was a good location for partypeople..but not for us... It didn't matter so much because all we did was to sleep for a few hours and then left,  but I don't recommend this hotel for families.

Miami beach was nice, we had a half day at the beach and because Jamie woke up at 2 a.m. we started the day early.... The sun didnt rise until close to 7 so we had alot of hours to kill before daylight. Next to the hotel they had a really good breakfast restaurant, and we had a looong breakfast there while Jamie took her (normally lunch) nap. Before that we took a walk in the area in the middle of the night and looked for a coffeplace or something that served food... but everything except a grocery store was closed until 7 a.m... We could at least get something to snack on for the girls... Well, we walked along the beach until sunrise and actually played in the water for quite a while before breakfast. The beach was very nice and relatively shallow so the kids could play without too much worries. We were going to catch our fight  3 p.m in Miami so we had the whole morning to play at the beach. The hotel offered free shuttle service so we took that for the 30 min drive to the airport...saved some money and got Jamie the opportunity to fall asleep again before our flight.  We only had a short first flight to Atlanta so we didn't "need" her to sleep over that flight. Between our flights we had dinner (Really good homecocked Salmon by the foodcourt!) and let the girls run around as much as possible at the gate. We had 3.5 h to Tulsa so we knew Jamie would go to "nightsleep" during the flight. We were all still jetlagged and tired so the rest of us actually slept for a while as well. When we finally arrived in Tulsa it was 9.30 in the evening so Rhonda picked us up and I can say I fell asleep as soon as I got in the car and barely heard the extreme thunderstorm on the way to Rhonda's house in Stella,Missouri...

So we left Sweden...

Bye Bye for this time... so a while ago we left the amazing Swedish summer... Although I must say we have had a really good late spring/early summer back home! I feel that we have done a lot of fun things for the whole family and also met our dear friends. Unfortunately its never enough time to see everyone as much as you wish, especially when most people work and it's not time for vacation, but I'm happy for the moments we got together with friends and family <3 We will miss you all!!!  It has also been so nice to see Natalie play and create memories with her friends!

Now we are heading for Missouri and visit Jared's family! First we are going to stay at Rhonda's house for a few weeks and then the plans are to rent a place for us and start to make ourselves "at home"...

I'm sorry I haven't updated for a while...but better late than never....

Uncle Hugo & Natalie at Stugan in Hällevik.