USA Part 2

 July 2025 - Part 2

Picking the story back up starting at Adam and Audrey's. We managed to squeeze in tons of fun things in our short time at their house including bowling/go-karts/laser tag at the mall, shopping, Blue Bell ice cream, an escape room, hiking, and lots of playing, chatting, and hanging around. 

Shaved ice was a must

They have the BEST costume bin and the kids took full advantage of it

Honestly, I don't have that much to say about this portion of the trip. We just did life together for a few days and fit in as many activities as we could while still giving the kids plenty of time to play and recover at the house. I said in my last post about my own siblings, but it's really fun when you get to have friends and family overlap.

On Wednesday, we drove up to Bear Lake (my first time!) for a reunion with Andrew's family. The weather was beautiful, and the views from the balcony at the house were gorgeous. I went on a few runs while we were there, and the views pretty much made up for the grueling climb back up to the house each day.

Thursday was lake day. Andrew's parents generously rented jet skis and a boat, plus brought up a paddleboard and kayaks. I had no idea that Alex loved to kayak so much. He spent most of the day just paddling out to the buoy and back with either Matthew or Michael nearby on another vessel. 

We went on a hike, ate raspberry shakes, played games, and ate good food. 

On the last day, we took a bunch of yard games to a nearby park and played kickball, volleyball, and other games until it started raining and we needed to eat dinner. 

On our way out of Bear Lake, we stopped in Logan to take Daniel and Ellie to lunch and play with their cats. My kids are all obsessed with cats and wish we could have one. They seem to like how chill/calm they are. It was nice to get a little time with just Daniel and Ellie. The LOVE family reunions, but you get to know people differently in smaller groups, and it's nice to mix that in at times. 

We had a little bad news turn into good news. Some friends from California were visiting family in Logan, but we didn't expect to be able to see them since the time of their trip didn't quite line up with when we were available or when we'd be up north. Well, their car happened to break down, and they got stuck in Logan for an extra week. Obviously, a huge bummer, but it meant that they were still in town when we were driving south from Bear Lake. We got to meet up with the Croskeys at a park after lunch with my brother. We got sno cones, chatted, and let the kids play on the playground. I know I already said it, but I miss having good friends. I'm so glad it worked out to have this time to talk and catch up on each other's lives. It was good for my soul.

Our next, and final, stop was visiting the Schultzes! It was so fun that we got to include some time staying with friends in our trip. I think because of the hike we did together, the kids fell immediately back into playing with each other. They played neighborhood games, joined run club, and hung out in the backyard and basement. We went to the park together, played games, went on walks, chatted, and explored Thanksgiving Point. Again with the overlap of friends and family. Sometimes it's becoming friends with your family members, but other times it's becoming family with your friends. It was just a relaxing and joyful way to end our trip. 

There was so much fun stuff to check out at Thanksgiving Point. I had never been there before and was impressed with how much there was to do. We easily filled the whole day and then snuck in a trip to the butterfly garden too. The boys wanted to go to even one more of the museums, but again, I wanted to end on a high note before we all ran out of patience and had low blood sugar. 

This guy made quick friends with Andrew and kept landing on him

A quick note about run club. Britney said her boys participated in the neighborhood run club and said my kids were welcome to join since that's where they'd be every morning. So on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of our time with them, Alex and Michael woke up early and biked over to the park to run laps. The kids have the chance to earn prizes at each milestone (every 10 miles), and it immediately became their goal to earn the first milestone prize during their 3 days there. They both did it! With around 30-45 minutes each morning, Alex and Michael each got in their 10 miles during those three mornings (including the morning we were leaving). They were so proud of themselves, and I was impressed by their dedication. When we got back home to Skellefteå, we were in the middle of a heatwave, so the water balloons they got for their prizes came in handy!

Our trip home was a tad easier with how the flights were broken up. We started with a 4 hour flight to DC, then a 7ish-hour flight to Munich, a couple of hours to Stockholm, a night there, and then an hour flight home. It's a long journey, but I'm lucky to have good travelers and a great partner to help pass the hours of waiting in airports and help kids be comfortable on the planes. Alex even lucked out and had an empty seat next to him on our longest flight, so we were able to stretch out and get a solid few hours a sleep. The kids love having unfettered access to games and movies, so even when the headphones don't work or there is some other hiccup, they're pretty good at rolling with it and just being glad for what they do get. 

These aren't even plugged in to anything; he just likes to wear them.

I don't think I realized how much Skellefteå has become our home over the last year and a half until we were gone for a month and had the chance to come back home to it. It felt so good to walk off the plane and breathe the fresh air. The 15-minute drive home from the airport felt calm and serene compared to driving on a 7-lane highway with billboards bombarding you the entire way. It just felt good to be home. 

There was, however, one thing I didn't enjoy about coming home. As I mentioned above, we came home to the tail end of a heatwave. We don't have air conditioning, and it was 32 degrees C (90 F) when we got home. We made the most of it by going to Vitbergsbadet (a pool), picking berries, and a live concert across the river. 

Back to having this view from my bed.

It felt like we just kept the vacation vibes going since Andrew ended up with another week free from work. I was thrilled when we realized there was still one more summer concert. We heard the whole concert from our house when they were doing soundcheck earlier in the day, and I think it just made me more excited to go that evening and enjoy the whole thing again up close. 

All of the artists were so good, and the vibe was fun and relaxed.

Seriously just right across from our house.

Matthew had been asking to play minigolf, so we finally went to the one at Eddahallen. I was shocked! Not only was it way bigger than I expected, with 2 18-hole courses, but it was popular! There were lots of people there-couples, families, groups of friends. It didn't feel uncomfortably crowded, just like you were at a fun place where everyone wanted to be. The first course we did was a typical mini-golf course, but the second one was bangolf. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but it was much more technical. Unlike minigolf, you can't assume that you'll eventually get the ball in the hole as long as you keep hitting it; some of the holes felt pretty much impossible. That was pretty stressful for some of the people in our group, but it was a really fun night. I never would have guessed it'd be a 2.5-hour outing, but that's what it turned int,o and I'm so glad we went. 

Lots of raspberry and blueberry picking. I feel like we lucked out and the raspberries ripened a lot later than they did last year so we've still been able to enjoy picking them since getting home. The raspberries rarely make it all the way home, but we used some of the blueberries we picked to make a delicious lemon-blueberry bundt cake. 

I know we did more stuff, but I can't remember what! I'll have to ask Andrew and the kids.

I haven't felt like I was on vacation for this long since I was a kid and had summer break. Andrew didn't work from the end of May until the beginning of August, and we were in vacation mode for all of July, even after getting back home. It was fun to have so much quality time with my family and just take a break from regular life.