Missionary Week 41

Missionary Week 41       June 24, 2019- June 30, 2019

Hello Family & Friends!  We have had another great week! 

Roses from the Archives - they make
their own Bouquet!

Monday – Nice warm weather – It still takes us a little longer to get to work but we have our new route down pretty good…. trial and error!  I still get a bit chilly in our room and have a sweater to wear.  We worked pretty fast with the boxes we had because it was mostly cards – not too many papers to unfold, or envelopes to open.  After work we went to the grocery store and post office to pick up a box…forgot my I.D. so we had to return.  It’s convenient because the “PostNord” is in the Grocery Store! 

Tuesday – Work was normal. We talked with the Senior Couple that will be coming in October – they are from Chandler and we were able to answer their questions about what to bring and what not to. 

Wednesday – Work was not normal today!  We have had the issue about the men’s military cards in the boxes not matching the dates on the outside of the box.  The cards all have birthdates and dates of enlistment. Most of the boxes have the years on the box that match the birthdates, others match the enlistment date and even some have their retirement dates.  The way our contract is written – they must be by birthdate and we can’t capture any cards that have a birthdate after 1940.  SO, we had a discussion with our Archivist – who does speak English but there is sometimes not an understanding of the issues.  ANYWAY, the military archive brought 3 more cages and all of the boxes don’t have the birthdates on them.  We had 11 boxes left – that we could capture, and we are getting at least 2 done a day between us and we have 4 cameras running.  We will run out of boxes in 2 days.  July marks the time that almost all of Sweden take their Summer Vacations – 5-6 weeks in a row.  We were trying to make sure that the Military Archive brought us the right boxes before they are gone, and we are left with nothing to do!  We don’t get that wonderful vacation!  They are scrambling, and our leaders are trying to get another contract written for those boxes that don’t fall under the old agreement – we still want all the records to be captured.  We shall see next week if that gets done. 

Tonight, we met with The Clouse’s and Pres. & Sis Youngberg for our Home Evening and went to Taby Centrum – a Mall to eat Mexican food!  La Neta – they have several locations, but this was a new one in the mall and closer to all of us and it had a PARKING GARAGE!  There are limited places for parking, and you are timed.  This was a Win, Win. We’ve only found tacos and quesadillas here but that’s better than nothing.  We had a good time and walked through a portion of the mall to the “American Store” Here you will find what you are looking for.  Cream of chicken soup, Doritos, Fritos, breath mints, pop tarts, canned pumpkin, chocolate and butterscotch chips, etc.  The Catch – no prices on anything.  If you want it, you pay for it.  (The butterscotch chips were $7 a bag) and NO I didn’t get them.  We sure miss our Baker Scotcheroos though.  At another store, John found a paper cutter for work $20 – and it’s small but that beat the $100 for a regular full size one! 

Thursday – We were able to still have work today but we took the last two boxes.  The Borg’s won’t be coming in tomorrow and we will only come in to get the shuttles shipped.

Friday – We came in and got the shuttles shipped and finished our last two boxes and left at 11am. We came home and picked up our things we needed to head to Västerås for the Sister’s Apartment check that we do each quarter.  It’s a beautiful ride – with the green fields and forests.  It takes about an hour to get there.  We found them in good health and clean apartment.  It’s fun to hear how their work is going and hear about their families.  We finished the apartment check and headed for home but took a detour to a Historic Site.  We tried to find one via GPS – and we ended up in a dead end because of carnival going on!  So we found another sign and followed it to Anundshög.  Wouldn’t you know it – it was a burial site! Pretty cool.  It dates to the first century A.D. They aren’t sure who is buried there – but they were important people.  There are rocks that are sticking up from the ground and are in the shape of a ship with a rock in the middle representing the mast.  Then there was another set of rocks that they called “The Thing” and this “was a meeting place where they settled disputes like land or other property and also sentenced criminals.”   Glad we happened upon this one. 

"Ships" Burial Grounds - from the top of the hill

Stairs to top of the hill

The Thing - explanation

The Meeting Place - The Thing

Saturday – After the laundry and housecleaning was done, we got ready to go to Örebro for another apartment check.  Same road to Vasterås only another hour further.  We couldn’t do them on the same day because of the Sisters schedules.  

56 Chevy Station Wagon

Buick

We sure see a lot of cool cars and funny things – we are amazed at how many small cars (cross-overs) are pulling boats and horse trailers.  

Rat Rod

We got to the apartment, the girls were not there yet – and we were about 15 minutes early.  The one Sister had called John yesterday to tell him that her tire went flat, so he worked on the bike while we were waiting – we do have to inspect their bikes anyway so that was good to get that out of the way.  I found some gorgeous flowers that I had to take a picture of.  (Anybody know what they are?) We had a fun time visiting and checking on them.  They only had to defrost their freezer. Everything else was great.  The freezer’s here are notorious for not closing well.  So if you don’t make sure it is closed all the way – you have ice everywhere!  There bins were frozen shut.  They were very surprised – they had just used it yesterday and it was fine.  We had a nice ride home enjoying the scenery.

From the road

One of the houses on the detour

This is a single lane road - two way traffic
on a little detour around construction that we
went on..glad we did - pretty country and homes

Sunday – Happy Birthday to our Grandson Bridger!  And Happy Anniversary to Jody & Jay!  We picked up the Borg’s for church.  It was a happy/sad kind of day.  Sister Haroldsen was giving her last testimony because she is leaving for home on Wednesday.  We will miss her she was a great missionary, great translator in English, Swedish and Spanish.  We also got to see Sister Hickman who returned to Sweden after her mission with her family.  It was great to see her too. 

What a great week.  We really did accomplish a lot! We hope you have another Great Week!   We think of you often and miss you!  Love hearing from you!  Love, John & Linda, Mom & Dad, Gramma & Grampa

Missionary Week 40

Missionary Week 40 – June 17, 2019 – June 23, 2019

Hello Everyone, We had another great week, we celebrated our Half-Way Mark of our Mission, and had another Holiday to Celebrate the Mid-Summer.  

Daisy's

Monday – June 17, 2019 – We hit our ½ way mark today – we have been out 9 months!  It has gone by so fast. We went to work and I had 17 minutes of “Capture Time” – because my computer was full.  I finished more of our training video’s on-line, dusted, did some Family History and called it a day at 4pm!  We sent emails last week to our supervisor and told him that we were low on space – they have to make sure all of my old files are accepted, before they can send me the ok to delete those older files. So I had a great day, but felt like I was goofing off! 

All of our kids are at Roosevelt for our Family Reunion – without us!  We started getting Marco Polo’s from them showing us how high the lake has risen with our good winter that we had – the Water was about 6” above the “Wamp Monster Wall”  - It is an old irrigation – water way duct work, we usually are much further down in the cove and can see the big holes – when the kids were much younger and the lake much higher – they would walk across it and it looked like they were walking on water!  This year they were able to sit on it and fish from it!  They said they missed us but they all had a great time together.  (More on this story as the week progresses)

Tuesday – We headed to work, and John suggested that we both go a different way and see who gets to work first!  We really wanted to know if there was a faster way to get work since the Fridhemsplan Station is under construction.  We made it to T-Central, John walked to work from there, I rode another train and then got off at our old Rådhuset and walked to work.  I got in the front door with my key fob and entered my pin#, got in the door and had one more key pad – I didn’t get my pin# right the first time but – on the second try the door opened.  I got to the office door (another key pad) and made it to the elevator and saw that it was on M6 and I had to wait for the elevator to come up to the top floor.  It stopped on M3 and then came up to me and I went down – we work on M3 – so I knew John had beaten me – but just barely!  We learned that either way – we get to work about the same amount of time! 

This is just one shelf

For work, since I still haven’t received the okay to delete – I worked on information about our Military boxes so we could have a meeting at lunch with our other Supervisor.  I took information from the boxes such as the Information on the boxes – the men’s birthdates – how the box was in order by birthdate or military enlistment number or date.  That took me until lunch time to gather it all up and put it in a spreadsheet.  Anyway – we had lunch and had the other couple with us and were able to have a meeting on the phone with our Supervisor.  The issue is that we can’t capture any records where the men are born after 1940 – due to privacy restrictions.  So the way the boxes were labeled – all differently – we had to verify that we were still meeting those rules.  We finally got our email with the file to delete both of our computers – old files so this afternoon I was able to actually work!

Right behind the huge semi are the workers
fixing the drain - the truck has the lighted
arrow to show traffic to move to the right

The other exciting news at our apartment is the road crew finally was digging up a drain cover that makes a Clink - clanking noise E V E R Y T I M E a car passes over it…. Which is A L L The  T I M E.  We have been hearing it more and louder because we have all of our windows open now!  We are grateful that they are finally fixing it! 

More Marco Polo’s from all the kids having fun on the pontoon boat, in the cove and Rec Hall.

Wednesday - We had a great day at work with a lot of space to work with I’m back to 22%.  We look forward to seeing our Marco Polo’s – kids having fun, a little smoky there because there is a wild fire going on south of the lake. 

Thursday – Went to work and got our shuttles ready to be shipped off today – because tomorrow we are off work for MidSommer’s Holiday. We were invited to dinner at a lady’s house from our Ward.  She has been alone for a while and she wanted to celebrate with us so The Borgs picked us up and we headed to her house.  It was a lovely evening – we enjoyed our stay – and there was another lady from our ward that she invited to be with us and we all had a great time talking and eating the most delicious Salmon, vegetables and a “pressed cucumber salad – with dill and vinegar – it was nice and had a nice crunch and I’m going to have to get her to show me how she did it!  They were sliced really thin.  She didn’t think we’d like it!  It was a Swedish traditional dish.  The other lady had brought a chocolate cake – more like a brownie – but the “icing” she called a chocolate truffle….it was wonderful – it had raspberries on top and then she had made a raspberry sauce.  We stayed until 10:50!  (We didn’t pay any attention to time - It’s still light!) 

 

Friday – We went to Skansen again today – and bought a year pass this time.  There was a huge crowd in line to get in at all three entrances!  We walked around for 3 hours and enjoyed the sites.  There was a Blacksmith working in the middle of the square – so we stopped and watched him work.  There was one other man with him, they had made door hinges, drawer handles, earrings, rings, animal traps, tools, hatchets, anchor, hooks etc. My Great-Grandfather and Great-Great Grandfather were Blacksmiths’. So besides shoeing horses – I bet they also made all of these things for people for the farms and homes in their area of Smedby, Kalmar, Sweden.

The weather was great – Sunny with some clouds and a nice breeze. We heard some folk music and walked through some of the houses that we hadn’t seen before.  We saw the “May pole” that is decorated with branches and leaves and flowers.  A lot of people wear flower wreaths on their heads – or you could make a birch wreath there. 

May Pole

Weaving machine in one of the houses

Meanwhile back home, the kids were told to evacuate the houses.  The fire was still headed their way so the Hot Shot crews from Texas were there creating a fire break and they informed them, that they weren’t in danger of the fire – but breathing would be harder because of all of the smoke – so they all had to pack up, gather up and get the boats out of the water and all headed for home.  It was a first to be Evacuated!  We've had power outages, rainstorms, Boat almost sinking – but this is a big memory for them now.  It was good to hear they all got home safely.  

The fire is still burning and the last pictures we saw was a picture that had fire coming up over the mountain by the marina.  TOO CLOSE! 

Interesting Wood Piles!

Saturday – Today, after the laundry was done (Thank you John) we headed out to ride the train to somewhere we hadn’t been! 

We ended up at Taby Centrum. It’s a huge mall but most of the stores were closed because of the holiday – but we found a McDonalds and ate there! It looks like a great place to go walking in the winter!  We talked with several of the kids to make sure they were all home, so good to get caught up.

Sunday – We went to church – fewer people there because of Summer vacations!  To stay cool, there is a couple of fans in the chapel and they have a door that opens up in the back  that they open for the breeze! 

Have a wonderful week, enjoy your family vacations, stay safe and healthy! 

We think of you often and miss you!  Love hearing from you!  Love, John & Linda, Mom & Dad, Gramma & Grampa

Remember to check out our blog  https://adventureswiththerichardsonsinsweden.blogspot.com/

Missionary Week 39 - June 10 - June 16, 2019

Missionary Week 39         Date:  June 10, 2019 – June 16, 2019

Hello Everyone, we hope that your Summer is going strong and you are enjoying your weather, the sites around you and your family!  Happy Father’s Day to all of our Father’s! Not a big deal here in Sweden – it may be a different date.

Flowers on bushes at the Archives

Monday –  We wake up pretty early in the morning – because it is bright!  I took a picture of the sun from our kitchen window – at about 6:15a.m. to show you how high it is in the sky!  John has been keeping track of the Sunrise & Sunsets – just out of curiosity – Today, sunrise was at 3:38am and sunset was at 9:58pm – still light for awhile after that. 

6:15am at our apartment

When we arrived at work there was a man with a machine by the door and wanted to come in when we opened the door.  He told us he was there to clean out the elevators.  We let him come in and we went on to our floor.  About 10am the fire alarm went off and we were told we needed to get out.  So we went down 3 floors and out the doors onto the street.  We could already hear the sirens coming – they must be pretty close to us!  Here came the 2 fire trucks and in they went.  About 10 minutes later the fireman came out and told us it was okay to go back in.  We believe that all the “dust” that was kicked up from the “cleaning of the elevators” may have set off the alarm.  It smelled pretty bad all day.  John took the opportunity to talk to the fireman and see if he was interested in trading patches with our St. Johns Fire Dept. and he said to walk on up to the fire station “BrandStation” and he would fix him up!  Good thing we went out that door!  Later when we got home we headed to the grocery store to stock up and found that another little store “Öbb” right by the grocery, had somethings a little cheaper and took advantage of that.  We got a call from Jaylen & Blaire – going over all of our mail, and then we got a Marco Polo from Jenn and Lily – Lily got a hair cut and Lost a Tooth!  It’s so neat to see the kids and we are grateful to be able to talk and see them!

Ladder truck at the Archives

Tuesday – Normal day at work – no fire alarms!  Tonight, we met with Sister Westerlund, who is our wards Family History Consultant and she was able to translate Jonas Gustaf Karlsson’s Estate Inventory!  We stayed until 8pm and gave her a ride home. 

Below is the translation – those who aren’t interested don’t have to read it all!  I will tell you, this is not a Last Will and testament… like we are used to – it was an inventory of the mans (very rarely the woman) possessions.  These Estate Inventories all followed the same pattern of naming his heirs and then the items in the same order – like Copper, Silver, Iron etc. When you see these brackets [ ] that is where I insert an explanation. It was interesting to note that they say his wife was born Nilsson – her father was Nils Carlstrom, but I’ve seen her always listed as a Carlstrom not Nilsson.  So she was taking his surname instead of using the patronymic.

Patronymics is an interesting naming pattern. And Note that C’s and K’s are interchangeable…no standard.  Jonas Gustaf Karlsson’s father was a Carl Persson.  So, Jonas was the son of Carl making him a Carlsson.  So by looking at his father’s name you know that his father’s first name was Per – who was a Hendriksson….so his father was a Hendrik.  Clear as Mud? 

First Page of Estate Inventory for Jonas Gustaf Karlsson

Second Page of Estate Inventory of Jonas Gustaf Karlsson

Third & final page of Estate Inventory for Jonas Gustaf Karlsson

ArkivDigital - Norra Möre häradsrätt (H) FII:59 (1892-1893) Image: 183

Estate Inventory of Blacksmith Jonas Gustaf Karlsson - died 19 March 1892 Smedby left his wife Augusta Elizabeth Karlsson, born Nilsson along with 5 grown up children - Son's Ironworker Karl Johan Karlsson in Amerika, goodman: Prison Constable T. Karlsson [goodman explained below], Ironworker Emil Andreas Karlsson going by Karlstrom, living in Hamburg Germany, iron worker Gustaf Fritz Karlsson in Smedby. Daughter, Jenny Elisabeth Karlsson in Hamburg, married to Office Worker-Secretary Karl Kessler and Hilda Augusta Karlsson in Hamburg.  As there isn't any more to write he says after living wife.

Copper: 3 Copper Kettles, 2 coffee pots 2 pans 1 pot 2 jars

Iron: 5 bigger pots 4 large stove (tops) Knives & forks etc.

Pans, Porcelain, China, Glass jars, Clay pots, Tin $54 Krona + 50

Furniture: 1 drawer 2 drawer 2 cupboards 2 beds 2 bed chairs 4 couches 5 tables 12 chairs 1 big wall clock 3 mirrors, pictures on the wall, 1 bigger cupboard, 3 cupboards

Linen and sheets for bed: 1 Quilt, 3 pillows 17 ?[didn’t know word], 8 quilts, 17 sheets, 6 mattresses 3 pillows, 2 table clothes 6 napkins, 12 handkerchiefs 12 pillow cases, curtains, clothes from man who died, Blacksmiths tools 100 Krona.  Weaving machine with things to go with it 4 wood baskets.

He had a bench planer, 2 sharpening stones, iron junk, fishing line and tools for fishing, shovel, rake and sickle – (scythe).

House building were taped? 500 Krowns

Debts owed to Dörby Parish $200 Krowns - [probably for funeral expenses]

This is well done and here gives both of our okays -

[she couldn't write] - Augusta Elizabeth Karlsson – [she held pen and drew a swirl line as her mark]

Page 3 signed by the 2 men who took inventory G. Andersson from Kyling and Anton Callestöm of Smedby

At this time, we have been, Emil through G Astrand [power of attorney] to do this

As a Goodman fixed to take care that the heirs got their right shares P. Karlsson Share of Karl Johan Karlsson

Us being here and okaying and because of that my goodman P. Karlsson I free him from his assignment

5 Aug 1892 C.J. Karlsson

[“Goodman” – a good man – or a trustworthy man - was appointed to make sure that the heirs not present at the inventory were to receive their fair share that was due them.]

 [Some things in here I will try to get a better understanding. I wrote as she translated – she had to think about the English words for some things and it wasn’t quite clear if we were on the same page! But what fun to know the items that they owned – no animals were listed here and usually they were and, in some cases, even the names of the animals were included!]

****************END OF ESTATE INVENTORY*************************

Wednesday – We went to Zone Conference for South Stockholm Missionaries today and we were able to help the office couple The Baileys’ with the food.  John and Elder Bailey went to get the food from the store and Sister Bailey and I got the things ready so when the Missionaries were outside taking their pictures we set up the tables and food line.  We also help with clean up.  It was a great conference.

At the close of lunch they always have the missionaries who have had a birthday since the last conference come up and they sing a Sweden Happy Birthday song – there is cheering and yelling involved.  Since John had his birthday on May 29, he got to stand up with them too!  Sister Youngberg hands out a big Maribou Candy bar to each one of them! (they are melt in your mouth kinda chocolate)  We will have to get them to write out the song – because we need to practice it – they told us it has at least 3 verses.

Sister Youngberg in Maroon dress handing
out Birthday Candy Bars - Elder Richardson
at left end in gray apron

While we were in the afternoon class we heard some people in the building – so Elder and Sister Bailey went out to see – and it was a husband, wife and daughter – that had just moved here and they passed by our building and the front doors were open – (so we could get more cool air inside!) and they looked in and saw the Picture of Jesus Christ and they were drawn in.  They wanted to know when the church meetings were held, and they also wanted to see if they could get their daughter some Swedish lessons.  We had 16 pairs of Missionaries there that day!  We hope to see them again! 

When we got home, we got a Marco Polo from Lucy –our granddaughter and she had finished her first embroidery kit of an owl!  That is her favorite animal, and she had done a wonderful job.  She was so happy and wanted to show us! 

Thursday – We got ready for work, ate breakfast.  Heard some thunder – and looked and it had started pouring rain! The coats went back on and we got out the umbrella!  As the train passed by our usual stop Fridhemsplan – we had to figure out our new route!  They said that it would be closed as they are doing a whole remodel of that station….we thought it was going to be the 16^th. Not.  We ended up going to T-Central and catching another train back to Rådhuset and then walk to work as usual.  It was fine – just took us a little longer.  No rain when we left work, but it was foggy! 

Foggy

We went out to the Sister’s apartment from our ward to do the quarterly inspection. They live in an apartment attached to a house.   All is well and we had a fun visit with them.  When we went to get into our car in the driveway -we were blocked by a moving trailer.  The owner of the house came out and said sorry – they would only be another 10-15 minutes.  John offered to help but they declined.  So we just sat in the car and enjoyed the cool weather.  They were a little longer than 15 minutes, but we were glad we were able to talk to them a couple of times. 

We got a Marco Polo from Jenn – our daughter – and she was trying to find out where her dad went to get tires for the pontoon boat trailer.  They are getting ready for our “Richardson Reunion” next week and everyone has a lot to do to get packed and ready for a week at Roosevelt Lake.  They’ll miss us but everyone else should be able to be there most of the time.  We will miss being there for sure!  We are hoping for a lot of Marco Polos’ from everybody!

Friday – Today we went to T-Central and just walked to work – this is the way we went the first few weeks we were here!  It works fine.  We got shuttles uploaded and sent off today and were able to leave work about 3pm. 

Saturday – Happy Saturday! John got the laundry done – and I did some house cleaning and we enjoyed a lazy day.  At 5:30 we picked up the Borgs and went to a Baptism in our Ward for Mattias.  He is a young man who has been coming to church, we think since April – it sounded like he found the missionaries sometime in December – when he came he had long hair and a beard – which is fine – but when he saw all the men – clean shaven and shorter hair – last month he showed up with short hair and clean shaven.  It was a nice ceremony and good talks and music.  AND FIKA!  Treats – cookies, cakes, brownies, water etc.  Fun to sit and talk and mingle.  The Clouses' came too. They are the Apartment Couple Missionaries - and they had just gotten back from Boden - up near the Artic Circle - yes still coat weather up there....and he told us the Sunset was at 3:12am and the Sunrise was at 3:47am! 

Sunday – We picked up Borg’s for church and enjoyed our meetings.  We’ve been invited to dinner on Thursday night by Elsa one of the ladies in our ward and she invited both the Borg’s and us.  She said she hasn’t entertained in a very long time but she wanted to celebrate Mid Summers with us! Yes next Friday we are off work again! 

We think of you often and miss you!  Love hearing from you!  Love, John & Linda, Mom & Dad, Gramma & Grampa

Remember to check out our blog  https://adventureswiththerichardsonsinsweden.blogspot.com/

Missionary Week #38    Date:  June 3, 2019 - June 9, 2019

Hello Everyone, After our great “retreat” last week we were ready to get back to work!  We also knew we had another Holiday coming up on Thursday! 

June 6, 2019 - National Day

 

Monday – We got to work a little before 7am, we hit all the trains at the right time! Normal day at work, we are getting out of the boxes that have so much medical papers and it is going a little faster. We have been emailing The Quist’s.  They are in Blaire’s Moms ward in Chandler and have been called to Stockholm Sweden to replace The Whiteheads that left in February!  Small World – We are glad we can give them some heads up on some of things they need to know before they get here. 

From the Rose Garden at Skansen

Tuesday – We had a good day at work – it’s beautiful weather – I still wear a light jacket but John is in short sleeves already!  We got some fun Marco Polo’s from Jaylen & Blaire from “Bearizona” somewhere near Flagstaff – the kids were having fun petting (or chasing) a ton of animals.

Wednesday – A little warmer today.  A lot of people are gone today for the pre-holiday day off – they  must take a day of vacation.  The archive closed at 2pm, so the ones that did come to work only worked a half day.  We worked until 4. 

Thursday -   June 6, 2019 – It’s “National Day” in Sweden.  This is the day they used to call “Flag Day” then they decided to make this day for that and to commemorate when King Gustaf Vasa was elected King in 1523, and the adoption of a new constitution in 1809.  The flags are flying, and we went to Skansen to enjoy the festivities.  We stayed all day! 

Hardware Store

The little goat jumped into the feeding trough

There is so much to see, we came here in the winter with snow and ice on the ground today the sun was shining all day!  It was a warm day but beautiful.  

Right side is in English

Book Binding

Book Bindery

We saw the “Stockholm Singers” in a concert at the old church.  It was very pretty inside, and it was warm.   The choir has 20 singers by the end they only had 19!  One of the girls passed out, they just got her comfortable on the floor and finished the concert.  They were very good. They sang the National Anthem, some folk songs and Bach.  We couldn’t take pictures during the concert so I did get some pics afterward. They came in singing and they left singing and then flanked the sidewalk, so you walked through them outside – still singing!  It was great.  We ran into the Borg’s that we work with in the church too!

Outside the Church

Inside the church - the pews are pretty tiny and there is a door,
if anyone wants to leave everyone has to get out of the pew!

The Folk Dancers arrive

 Then we walked around and found a Folk-Dance performance, it was cool to watch the different dances and they told us what part of the country each dance was from – Southern - Northern etc.  There were 2 violinists playing on a little stage (in shade) and the dancers were all out in the sun, in costume…. several layers of clothes…...dancing and they were smiling! Amazing! 

We ate lunch from a food booth offering hot dogs or flatbread off a huge wok.  We found a little picnic table in the shade and enjoyed our lunch and the families around having their own picnics.  Then we saw a lot of people with ice cream…. what a grand idea!  So, we headed for the ice cream shop…we found it and got 2 scoops each.  The restaurant did not have air conditioning, but we cooled down a bit before going back outside.

Bakery

The Glass House

They were making little vases

Glass Forms 

Grasshopper

Moon Jelly Fish

Inside Aquarium

Kiddie cars

Ferris Wheel

Ducks - and ducklings!  The parents were VERY Protective.

The Smithy - not open but you could look in

Out front of  the Smithy - For shoeing the Oxen on the farm

Downtown Stockholm

Police in blue - directing pedestrians and vehicles and scooters

Motorcycle Police

The King & Queen were to arrive but at 6:30 – this was about 4:30. We decided not to sit and wait for them to arrive – we walked on out of Skansen and found a place by the road where he would be coming down and we waited about an hour.  It was interesting to watch how the police took care of the road outside Skansen – they had certain roads blocked off, white tape marked off where you couldn’t go.  We saw more activity with motorcycle police, cars, vans going up and down the road, then we saw black car’s with flags of the different countries – we assume their diplomats from the embassy’s.  Then we could see the horses coming.  This is what I was wanting to see because – as you’ve heard before – my Great-Grandfather was in the Royal Troopers – The Lifeguards on horse.  So, I was so glad to see this procession… There were 2 horses in front and then a front rider – followed by 4 rows of 4 horses – then a couple of more horses in each Regiment – then the King’s Carriage and the King & Queen and one of the Prince & Princesses with them, then more horses – same count- behind him.  Then another set for the next Princess & Prince and children – and another set of horses behind them and 3-4 Royal Police on horse.  What was amazing was the sound of all the horses and the soldiers in their uniforms and their headdress.  Pretty Grand View – wish my pictures were more clear but hopefully you’ll get the idea.  Of course, the King wasn’t looking our way – but The Queen and Princess were waving to everyone.  Then when they had gone by, we headed back into Stockholm with the rest of the humanity. 

Here they come!

King and Queen - can't see King

King and Queen's Carriage

Princess and family

Just look at all the people

Friday – We were back to work at 7 today we got our shuttles mailed off and took lunch a little earlier, because we left at 3.  Not too many people were at work today either.  We did not wear jackets or sweaters today!  Nice and warm – John has been tracking sunrise and sunset – for example June 6 & 7^th the sunrise was at 3:38am and sunset was 9:58. 

More people

Saturday –  John got the laundry done this  morning – I did some “housework” doesn’t take long when you have 3 rooms!  We decided to go watch a movie.  We headed out to Kista and after looking at the movies – because of the time we got there – just before noon we decided to watch Aladdin.  We got our popcorn and drinks – have I mentioned that it’s rare to find ice anywhere?  The pop/soda comes out cold but there is no ice…. but you do get more pop in your cup! We found our way to the theatre and waited, watched previews (which over here are not PG rated) and the movie started and Will Smith was singing in Swedish!  So, we got up and walked out and went to the cashier and she was glad to change our tickets and told us to refill our pop!  We then got to watch Xmen and it was good – we haven’t watched many of the other ones, so we were a little lost – again.  We headed home and decided to go to the end of the line because we had not been there.  Then we rode back and decided to go scout out the route for the couple that will be coming in September – to be able to help them get to their apartment and to work. We enjoyed that little ride – it’s the furthest east we’ve been – we saw some of the sites we saw when we were on the ferry.  The trees are in bloom – when one has bloomed and faded another type is blooming!  Tonight, it rained – we could smell it because we have all of windows open! It smelled great.

Happy Birthday to my brother Barry!  I was able to call and chat with him for a bit, it was good to catch up. 

Street sign on the bridge

Sunday – The Borg’s picked us up for church and we had a good Sacrament meeting and Relief Society for me and Priesthood meeting for John.  It rained on us going home!  We get the car for this week and will be meeting our Family History Consultant on Tuesday night – she’s going to translate an Estate Inventory list I found on my Great Great Grandfather -Jonas Gustaf Karlsson – can’t wait to tell you about that next week.  We will be helping out at Zone Conference on Wednesday – so another busy week!

Our kids and their families are getting ready to go to Roosevelt Lake for our annual Reunion.  We will miss being there, we hope you will be safe and happy and that all the vehicles and boats work!  Remember the rule we made of NO ONE SWIMMING ALONE!  We’re hoping for a lot of Marco Polos!

We think of you often and miss you!  Love hearing from you!  Love, John & Linda, Mom & Dad, Gramma & Grampa