Today was simply wonderful--and I underscore the word "simple." We played,
we laughed, we ate, we talked in to the wee hours of the night. It was one of those days I will remember that nothing had to be planned. We went from one thing to the other and just "showing up" was enough. It was a day that was absolutely perfect and one I will always associate with our trip to Sweden this year.
We slept until 11:30 when little Johanne came up to our stuga to wake us all up for frukost (breakfast). The kids are really eating heartily here and being very open to trying everything, too. Both the kids are enjoying these days in Arvika of respite and building even closer connections to Johanne, Millan, Arne, and Patrick. Robby, Arne, and Patrick spent the afternoon fishing. They only caught a few small perch but had a great time. The girls headed for Brevik, where Millan's parents, Kjell and Tone, live--in a big house dating from the 1860's. They have a big garden, veggies and flowers everywhere, and although it reminds me so much of the romantic look of the Swedish countryside, they just renovated one of their rooms into a bathroom complete with the biggest spa I've ever seen in a private home and a wonderful sauna and shower. The room even has a little table and a couple of wicker chairs in it. You could spend the day in there.
Carina, Camilla, and I headed down to the lake where Kjell had been putting wood in the little red sauna.
Johanne had fallen asleep and napped with Tone while we enjoyed talking endlessly while sitting in the sauna, taking a dip in the lake (very, very cold!), taking a break on the dock and having fika (a great word for a break for coffee and juice and cookies or cakes or fruit), going back in the sauna, etc., etc. The incessant rain we've had for the past few days actually stopped for a few hours while the boys fished and we enjoyed the afternoon by the lake. 
We had originally thought we'd drive to Oslo today, but I'm so glad we opted for a quieter day like the one we had.
Jenny and Joshua came down to the sauna to get us for a late afternoon-early evening dinner Tone had prepared.
Jenny was a camper at Sjölunden in the 1980's whose family hosted Camilla as an exchange student in Louisiana, where Jenny is from. Camilla's family hosted Jenny in Sweden a few years later, and Jenny eventually moved to Sweden, met her husband, and had Joshua. Joshua (age 9) is bilingual and proved to be a great interpreter for Robby and Carina and Johanne when there was a need for some translation. Jenny is a chemistry teacher at an International Baccalaurete High School in Karlstad, so we had a lot to talk about since I was considered such a position in Helsingborg a few years ago. This is something I would still like to so sometime in my life if it works out.
The lunch was amazing--shrimp, Swedish meatballs, mushroom omelette, cheeses, herring, ice cream, big Swedish strawberries, bars and cookies. Tone was our cook at Sjölunden for two summers in the 1980's, and her cooking at camp those summers (particularly her midsommar smörgåsbord) will never be duplicated! We had a great afternoon; it was like a big family reunion.
Camilla and I again spent the evening talking until the sun came up!
The kids had a ball as Johanne led them to one game after another. 
Arne had just gotten an awesome new camera for helping Kjell renovate the house, and he was having a blast taking one picture after another. Great day! It's going to be so hard leaving here tomorrow. I wish we could stay the whole weekend!
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