The Swedes are coming! (in three days)

The Swedes are coming! The Swedes are coming! In three days! I think we have everything done. I plan on going shopping on Thursday evening to fill up on things, then again on Saturday with Karina so that she can pick out things the kids really eat, rather than the things we think they do. I have no idea what little kids in Sweden go for. B says Captain Crunch Peanut Butter should do for a start (it’s what she has for breakfast, I go for Raisin Bran), if they don’t do milk at least they can pick up the little balls one at a time and crunch them.

We’ve got two cribs for the twins and a Spongebob Squarepants toddler bed for Alex. Along with three car seats and a bunch of toys. Bought most of the stuff used off of Craig's List – kind of newspaper want ads on the internet. We got several big Fisher Price things for the yard, a car and a big wagon and a small climbing thing with a slide for the grass and a rocking horse. The batch came with a battery powered Jeep, just the right size for Alex (four years old). Needed a new battery, which almost cost more than the whole pile of things including the Jeep. And I put up two swings on the peach tree – that’s Eli in one of them below.

We’re going to borrow the neighbor’s van for the airport trip. Our car is not big enough for three car seats across the back and three adults in the front and a trunk full of luggage. Most American cars have individual seats up front, with a console in between to prevent putting a third person in the middle. The van has three rows of seats, so we should be able to set it up and fit everything, if not then it’s two cars to the airport. 10:30 Friday evening. They should have a fun day – train from where they are to Stockholm, flight to Seattle, through customs and change planes, flight to Las Vegas, and drive to our house. With three kids and all of those time zones to cross. I think Alex at four is big enough for his own ticket and seat, but at 18 months the twins probably will be in mom and dad’s lap – all the way across the Atlantic and Canada. Well, they all went to visit China a few months ago, so they should know what to expect. I just know what it’s like to sit in a little airplane seat for that long, much less with a kid on my lap and another one next to me. And at eighteen months it’s just too small to understand “only another six hours until we land . . . only another five hours and fifty eight minutes until we land . . . only another . . .”

B even made me clean up my office. I also play with small toy trains for fun, and had boxes of things and trays with projects and a table in progress. Well, it’s all been put into nice plastic boxes in the closet, the table into the garage, and the floor vacuumed. I didn’t realize how big the room was now that it’s so empty.

We’ve confined the boys to the kitchen area, so they can’t mess everything up. It’s ok – we have little dog beds with hot pads for them, they can go through the laundry room and a little doggy door out to the garage and then another doggy door to get outside. Buster is just upset that he can’t lay on the bed all day; Max liked the couch in the front room where he could see out the window and guard the house from everybody walking down the street. I’m at work, and B goes over to our daughter’s to watch Eli, so the guys have the place to themselves all day.

For Clare:

1. Chocolate cake, especially when a piece is thrust upon one unexpectedly.
2. Wandering the aisles of Toys R Us and imaging playing with all the neat toys. For those of you that have not had the pleasure, imagine the biggest store you have ever been in. Then double the size and make it all toys. I don’t know the size of stores overseas, but when in France and Sweden we hit some big supermarkets; this place is bigger.
3. Having a clean house, realizing how much room we have.