Tracey started a new (old) job when he returned to Macbat, a small company that makes a unique type battery charger. Tracey is now in charge of developing the American market.Otherwise an uneventful month, but things would get interesting as the year moved on.
February - Klara finds mobility!
Klara started crawling in February at 8 months old.
She had been a bit cranky in her early months, no doubt because she couldn't wait to get up and go!
And once she became mobile, she has never stopped....whew!
March - Spring comes to Karlstad. Time to go biking!
Spring came early an d Erik got his first bike. It was a big moment and he was so proud. Klara loves riding on the bike too.
Like most young boys Erik has already become enamored with fire trucks.
So we took him to the local fire department during an open house. He was so excited when he saw the trucks that he lost his breath.He climbed in all the trucks and felt like a real fireman.
April - Easter is Sweden's "Trick or Treat"
In Sweden all the children dress up as witches on Easter. They walk around the neighborhood and give away drawings, for which they receive candy.No easter egg hunts though.
Åsa went back to work (from maternity leave with Klara) half-time. We did not think Klara was ready for daycare yet, so we all split the duties watching her while Åsa worked. Åsa's mom and aunt helped out, and I stayed home now and then too.
Åsa and Tracey went to Paris for a weekend and had a great time. It was terrific to just have a picnic and drink red wine along the river Seine, with the Notre Dame looming in the background.
Now, at age10 months, Klara decided "I want 'real' food, no oatmeal or baby food. She was growing up faaaast.
May - Erik turns 3 and Klara takes her first steps
Klara took her first steps, and you can see them on video below. Erik was also happy that Klara was getting more mobile. Poor kid, he didn't know what he was in for...Klara takes her first steps!
Erik also had a birthday and his first birthday party. One his favorite gifts for the day were some foam swords, which he still plays with constantly to this day.The other special gift was a pair of carpenter's overalls, which he wanted to wear day and night for several weeks thereafter. So many pockets to put things into...
Yes, Tracey continued to play and coach -- not an easy commitment when you have a full-time job and a growing family.
Did we say growing family? The biggest news of all in May was of course that the stork would be stopping at our house again - January 16th. Åsa was pregnant!
June - Midsummer and another birthday
Another eventful month that got off to a rough start when both Klara and Erik got the chicken pox at the same time. Luckily the weather was really nice and nothing was more soothing than laying in the breeze.
But they got over it, and then Klara had her 1st birthday.
Happy first birthday Klara!
And the month finished with us decorating the Midsummer pole, one of Sweden's most cherished traditions.
Everyone gets together to eat sill (pickled herring), drink spicy schnaaps and sing songs.
The neighborhood where Åsa's father lives gets together and makes a midsummer pole. Once the pole is raised, they dance around and sing silly songs.
Check out the video below of Åsa, Erik and even Klara (briefly) dancing around the pole.
July - Sweden takes vacation (and us too)
In July most of sweden takes vacation. The country more or less shuts down. Even the Crusaders were taking a break, so for once Tracey didn't have football to get in the way.
However we didn't take the whole month off as many Swedes do, because we were planning to go to the US for the month of October. So we took two shorter getaways instead.The first get away took us to a campground on the Lake Vänern (Sweden's largest lake) that had everything we were looking for; child friendly with a large playground, sports actitivities, nature, beach, etc.
Åsa, the kids, cousin Ida and Åsa's mom stayed for the whole week - Tracey stayed for 4 days. They had a blast!
Later, we were joined by our close friends BD and Katarina and their son Samuel. We are so happy you guys could join us. We really enjoy your company. (Even though Tracey and BD just drink beer and talk about football).
Erik loved challenging himself on the climbing wall.
The kids found lots of fun stuff to do.
Erik and Tracey also took out a paddle boat. Erik waited impatiently for days for us to go in the boat...and then promptly wanted to go back to the dock.
We also went swimming and played in the sand. But perhaps the funnest activity was tossing pebbles into the water...plopp! plopp!
This was a month full of activities. We also went to the Kyrk family reunion (Åsa's father's side). Almost 100 people attended.
Erik had a blast. He hooked up with some older girls that thought he was very cute. They chased each other around for hours, until he was ready to collapse.
That's my boy! I think he even got his first kiss. Never mind that it was family, they were 3rd cousins.
August - the dog days of summer
We took another short trip for a few days at the beginning of August. We went to the area called Dalarna, in the middle of Sweden.
Dalarna is where they make the famous "swedish horse", an orange horse made of wood that is probably sweden's most recognizable souvenir.
We stayed in a beautiful cabin on a lake in the middle of farms and forest. We took the trip together with our good friends Karin, Bernt, Karin's daughter Maja and their son, Gustav.
We had a wonderful time, thank you Karin and Bernt for inviting us. Hopefully we can do it again next year.
September - Crusaders get kicked in the balls
A crude way to say it, but pretty accurate according to Tracey. Yep, the Crusaders lost their 6th consecutive swedish championship. Worse than the Buffalo Bills.
First they lost their star American QB on the first drive to a serious broken bone in the ankle - the kind of injury that makes you queasy in your stomach.
But the Crusaders fought hard, and were down 3-0 in the closing minutes. They scored a TD on 4th and goal with a minute on the clock.
The opposing team then ran out of time at mid-field on the subsequent drive. The clock struck zero and fireworks shot off. But the Crusaders were flagged for "illegal participation" because some players on the sideline entered the field early as the seconds ticked off.
The other team got a 15 yard penalty and another play. Former NFL kicker Ola Kimrin then tied the game with a 50+ yard field goal. The Crusaders then lost in overtime on another long Kimrin field goal.
Like a hollywood film in bizarro world, you couldn't write it any crazier - no one would believe you.
October - Back to the mother land
In October we went to Washington state in the US, were we visited family and friends.
As with all of our trips to the US we filled our time with tons of activities.
We went on a 7-day road trip with Grandpa and Grandma during which we saw Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens and the Columbia River gorge.
We stayed in rustic cabins, ate great food (thanks Grandma!), went hiking, saw a giant sturgeon, waterfalls...whew!
And generally just enjoyed each other's company. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great trip (and Stu too, who showed up unannounced for an evening!)
Erik went fishing with Grandpa Jerry and the new fishing pole that Grandpa gave him. Of course you never go home disappointed when Jerry is your guide - Erik caught his first fish!
Tracey got to see a couple of Seahawks games and go hiking with Jerry and Stu.
We visited the Trusler family on Whidbey Island and went to Cole Henry's 3rd birthday party. Erik was delirious playing with all of Cole's cool trucks (Cole is a monster truck fanatic). Thank you to Debbie, Henry, Alicia and Dave for such a great time!
We went to aquariums, children's museums, ate delicious American brunches, rode 4-wheelers, and much, much more.
We also enjoyed just sitting at the table and eating pancakes with Grandma Jean!
A huge thanks to everyone who helped us during the trip, it's not easy to run around like we do with 2 kids and a pregnant mother.
And a very special thanks to Stu, who let us use his mini-van (why do you have a mini-van anyway?) for the entire month. And sleep at your house sometimes too (thanks to Jody for putting up with it). Amazing, you always come through.
November - back to sweden
Wow, after a long month filled with activities and travel we just took a deep breath in November.
Klara started daycare, which she loved from the first minute.
Åsa went to work almost full-time, and the baby kept growing in her tummy.
December - Christmas!
Here is your christmas card, that we never got around to sending...
We took another short trip for a few days at the beginning of August. We went to the area called Dalarna, in the middle of Sweden.Dalarna is where they make the famous "swedish horse", an orange horse made of wood that is probably sweden's most recognizable souvenir.
We stayed in a beautiful cabin on a lake in the middle of farms and forest. We took the trip together with our good friends Karin, Bernt, Karin's daughter Maja and their son, Gustav.
We had a wonderful time, thank you Karin and Bernt for inviting us. Hopefully we can do it again next year.
September - Crusaders get kicked in the balls
A crude way to say it, but pretty accurate according to Tracey. Yep, the Crusaders lost their 6th consecutive swedish championship. Worse than the Buffalo Bills.First they lost their star American QB on the first drive to a serious broken bone in the ankle - the kind of injury that makes you queasy in your stomach.
But the Crusaders fought hard, and were down 3-0 in the closing minutes. They scored a TD on 4th and goal with a minute on the clock.
The opposing team then ran out of time at mid-field on the subsequent drive. The clock struck zero and fireworks shot off. But the Crusaders were flagged for "illegal participation" because some players on the sideline entered the field early as the seconds ticked off.
The other team got a 15 yard penalty and another play. Former NFL kicker Ola Kimrin then tied the game with a 50+ yard field goal. The Crusaders then lost in overtime on another long Kimrin field goal.
Like a hollywood film in bizarro world, you couldn't write it any crazier - no one would believe you.
October - Back to the mother land
In October we went to Washington state in the US, were we visited family and friends.
As with all of our trips to the US we filled our time with tons of activities.
We went on a 7-day road trip with Grandpa and Grandma during which we saw Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens and the Columbia River gorge.
We stayed in rustic cabins, ate great food (thanks Grandma!), went hiking, saw a giant sturgeon, waterfalls...whew!
And generally just enjoyed each other's company. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great trip (and Stu too, who showed up unannounced for an evening!)
Erik went fishing with Grandpa Jerry and the new fishing pole that Grandpa gave him. Of course you never go home disappointed when Jerry is your guide - Erik caught his first fish!
Tracey got to see a couple of Seahawks games and go hiking with Jerry and Stu.We visited the Trusler family on Whidbey Island and went to Cole Henry's 3rd birthday party. Erik was delirious playing with all of Cole's cool trucks (Cole is a monster truck fanatic). Thank you to Debbie, Henry, Alicia and Dave for such a great time!
We went to aquariums, children's museums, ate delicious American brunches, rode 4-wheelers, and much, much more.
We also enjoyed just sitting at the table and eating pancakes with Grandma Jean!
A huge thanks to everyone who helped us during the trip, it's not easy to run around like we do with 2 kids and a pregnant mother.
And a very special thanks to Stu, who let us use his mini-van (why do you have a mini-van anyway?) for the entire month. And sleep at your house sometimes too (thanks to Jody for putting up with it). Amazing, you always come through.
November - back to sweden
Wow, after a long month filled with activities and travel we just took a deep breath in November.
Klara started daycare, which she loved from the first minute.
Åsa went to work almost full-time, and the baby kept growing in her tummy.
December - Christmas!
Here is your christmas card, that we never got around to sending...
December was a big month. Christmas is always busy, but this year Tracey's best friend Stu came to visit.
Stu, Tracey and their friend Sean went to northern sweden, above the arctic circle, to see the Northern Lights. They had a memorable trip, but no northern lights.
Stu took some amazing photos of the sunrise/sunset (same thing up there this time of year).
Thanks for coming Stu! It was great having you.With this we want to wish everyone a belated but very happy new year. We look forward to staying in touch with all of you in 2008!
from The Kyrk-Geres - Tracey, Åsa, Erik, Klara and ...
