Patrik's Birthday

It was Patrik's birthday yesterday, but we spent pretty well the whole weekend celebrating it. There was dinner out on Saturday night, a mountain biking trip on Sunday, and dinner and cake with friends on Sunday night. But the highlight was the ski day on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, and we (read Patrik) dug a bench into the snow where we enjoyed some fika with friends. Curt, Kate and William joined us for the celebrations.




I hadn't made cake yet, so birthday songs were sung to a candle-lit cinnamon bun.


The kids skied, and Patrik got pushed around by the boys.




The big boys did the pulling, but...

...if this is Patrik's load, then I'm not sure what Curt has in his Chariot?

Back at the lodge, Anna and William hung out. Hmmm... she sure looks in control in this picture, and he looks just a little bit scared...

Just Because

Anna spent a couple of hours outside with her dad this afternoon. As you can see from the fuzziness of this photo, she wasn't still for even a moment.

Anna's Go-To Outfit

Anna has reached that age where kids get attached to certain items of clothing. For example, she prefers her pink shoes over her brown shoes and she wants to always wear the new little zip-up cardigan that Jocke and Liselotte gave her when they came for a visit a couple of weeks ago. But there is also one other item that she wants to wear, almost every day. She knows exactly where we keep it and goes to the drawer herself, pulls it out and then holds it up to us and says "Anna. Anna."


This is an apron that she was given by her farmor, who not only sewed it herself, but even wove the fabric herself. Needless to say, I don't mind indulging her and letting her wear it as she pleases. Unless we're about to head out and jump in some mud puddles, of course...

Anna's First Day on Skis

Today was a day for the record books - at least the Eliasson family record books - Anna stood on skis for the first time. And we are very happy to report that she enjoyed it! At 18 months, it was about time, don't you think?

Afterwards, we enjoyed a hard-earned lunch at the lodge, with Anna hanging out between the Sundin and Sundstrom skis.


And a little later yet, a snack in the car before heading home for the afternoon.

Costa Rica Part VI - Homeward Bound

It had to happen eventually - a vacation come to its end. But you know, although we had such a great week, when it came time to head home we couldn't help but get super antsy to get home to Anna. My how we missed her!

We took a small domestic flight from the peninsula up to the big city on this little plane...


...which taxied and took off from this little runway...


The pilots enjoyed listening to their ipods, while we enjoyed the view.



Hasta luego Costa Rica! We promise you that we will be back...

Costa Rica Part V - The Beach

We were fairly early risers for the whole week that we were away. Without watches, we just got up when we woke up, which turned out to be a little before 7 on most days. But on a couple of days we got up between 5:30 and 6:00, so that we could catch the sunrise down on the beach.





There was also some sitting around and watching the surf, in good company.


And then, of course, there was sunset...

Costa Rica Part IV - The Wedding!

The main reason why Patrik and I chose Costa Rica this year for our winter holiday was because our good friend Tanya was getting married to the fantastic Tyler Jones down there. Towards the end of the week was the big day, and it couldn't have been more beautiful. Tanya was radiant, Tyler was emotional, and so were the dads, the setting was unbeatable, food amazing and the guests, whom we had gotten to know during the week, were so much fun.

Tanya was walked down the sand aisle by her dad.








After they were officially Mr. and Mrs. Jones, they took a wee dip in the Pacific...



So radiantly beautiful...


Dennis, the father of the bride.


And Dave, the brother of the bride.

Costa Rica Part III - Surf

There was plenty of surf to be had in Santa Teresa, in fact, that is one of the biggest draws to the area. Patrik surfed a few days, and on one of those, a bunch of people took a surf lesson together. Toro was one of the surf instructors, and he is the boyfriend to Sofi who works at Blue Surf. They had a lot of fun out on the water, some having more success with 'popping' onto the board than others.

Costa Rica Part II - Girl's Night

On one of the nights before the wedding, most of the girls took Tanya out to watch the sunset, have dinner and enjoy each others company. We took her to a place called Vista de Olas (View of the Waves), which has an incredible infinity pool.




The place was high up in the hills and the infinity pool was a spectacular place to watch the Pacific and the sun going down.


Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious dinner before heading down to town for a little visit to "reggae night".