Amy Mohr

SOOOOOOOOOOO this past week I had some wonderful visitors here in Umeå with me.  My loving cousins, Kyle and Kelsey, straight off the farm in Iowa...and my sister Courtney and her boyfriend Dan were also here during the week, so it made for a nice, small family gathering.  Things were pretty crazy, busy showing them around but it was a lot of fun and I am so happy and thankful they were able to make it out here to Sweden.  I hope they enjoyed the experience as well!!

The weather here was absolutely amazing when they were here.  It's kind of funny because I sent them both a message earlier before the trip to pack their jackets and pants because it's not that warm here.  But then it was total opposite.  I have never experienced Umeå so warm in my life while here.  Last year I stayed until the end of June and never felt it that warm before.  SO it felt amazing!!  Glad they got to see the "bright" side of Umeå! ;)

So since it was such great weather, I thougth it would be a good idea to go grill in the park.  So we bought the little, one-time grills and went grilling at a park next to my place.  Little did we know that the grills suck, and we spent almost 2 hours getting the grills going.  Finally after about 3 hours, we had successful cooked all our food we brought.  But despite the mishap, we still enjoyed one another's company...and the challenge the grill presented us.  Spending time with family is always great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Julia also joined us for the BBQ!


Yippeeee!!
   


Grill Master Dan!!  Good work!!



So a great night in the park grilling!! 

On another day, we went out to Holmsund to check out the ocean...also known as the Baltic Sea!  We walked out on a rock bryg and just sat on the rocks and enjoyed the beautiful scenary and great weather.  We ended up just talking about everything, and it was just a great time!!  These pictures best describe the experience!!


Baltic Sea
   
Just hanging out on the rocks!


Cousins!!


So pretty with the sun sparkling off the water!

After our trip to the ocean, we went back to the apartment, Courtney made some dinner and then we met up with some friends at O'Learys later in the evening.  Julia and Oscar came and joined us at the appartment, and Jenny also met up with us later!!   It was a fun night with some live music and even some dancing by us!!

  
A night of fun at O'Learys!  Our friends Oscar, Julia and Jenny joining us!


Kelsey, me, Julia and Lotta out on the patio!


Dancing on the dance floor!

The next day after O'Learys, we packed our things and caught a flight down to Stockholm for a couple of days.  I thought it would be nice for the cousins to experience the capital city, and get more of an European view of things!!  Lot's of history and touristic things for them to see.  We arrived early Thursday morning, found our hotel in Bromma, trained to the city later in the day, shopped a bit, and then enjoyed dinner together.  We were all pretty tired from the night before, so it was an early evening.

On Friday, we woke up pretty early to begin our tour of Stockholm.  We started off in Gamla Stan... souvineers were bought and lots of pictures taken.  We also walked around the castle, watched the changing of the guard and took a fika.  Then we walked down by the water over to the Vasa Museum (which btw, I have seen 3 x's now).  I think everyone was impressed by the big, old boat!  Then it was a fast lunch and more walking around Stockholm.  Around 5.00pm trained into the city and found a Pizza Hut!  I was really excited to eat there since I haven't had American pizza for almost 10 months....but maybe not the coolest thing for the other americans with me!  But it was still fun.  Then it was back to the hotel, were actually Julia came down to meet us!  She stayed a night in Stockholm and spent the next day with my family.

Gamla Stan


The Castle


Sisters in Stockholm


Everybody all together!!

So Stockholm was a lot of fun!!  And I came home early Saturday morning.  Kyle and Kelsey left later that night from Arlanda, and Courtney and Dan took off early Sunday morning.  They have all now made it back safely to America and now it is my turn to follow!

The last two days have been crazy for me.  I had to pack up everything in my apartment and move it to my new one.  Then I had to clean everything and pack my bags for USA!!  But I got it done finally and can relax a bit now!

TOMORROW I leave for America!!  I will land in Denver 5.11pm local time.  I leave Umeå at 6.30am tomorrow, so it's going to be a long day of travel for me!!  But looking forward to it!!  Can't wait to get home and see all my family and friends!!  SOON I'M HOME!!!