Last Days in Stockholm... And Home Again

We have several updates to bring you, but let us start with our last days in Stockholm and our travel home. You can see all our Stockholm pictures here...

Here is a video with Ansi and Johan... Play"Tittut" (Swedish word for "Peak-a-boo").

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Isabella was so excited with her godmother Frida finally got back to Stockholm. They two are true soul mates. They just love playing with each other.

Yep... and as you can see she was quickly learning bad habits from her Godmother. We especially enjoy this one during feeding time! Stain removing is now a daily task at the Syren house these days!



We had a really fun visit with Gabriella, our star yoga student.







Gustav and Ulrica stayed with us last year in CA and took the Yoga Teacher training. Isabella just fell in love with Gustav...

Gustav and Ulrica...







While we were in Stockholm, we had our 9th anniversary. Ansi and Johan got married one day before us. We all went out for a special dinner, a 9th anniversary and a 32nd anniversary! We had dinner at Gondolen which has the best view of the city.




Silly times with my godparents!

We made it back home safe but tired. Boy are we're we happy to be in our own house again and Isabella was the happiest to see her old toys again.

Daddy and Isabella enjoying the kings bed and remote controls 2am in Philadelphia

The trip back was a little bit harder than going there. Part of the problem was that on the way to Sweden we traveled at night time so it was natural for Isabella to sleep most of the flight.



However, Isabella was tired and tried to sleep a couple of time on the plane back to the US but two boys who sat behind us (age 2 and 3) kept her (and the whole plane) up by screaming and kicking on our seats and crawling under the seats to pay us a visit on a regular basis. So when we arrived at the hotel in Philadelphia, Isabella crashed @ 4:30pm, before her crib arrived. So she ended up on the kings size bed. After we had room-service dinner, we joined her but we slept on a not so comfy pull-out bed since we didn't have the heart or the courage (considering how tired we were) to move her. @ 1:30am she awake, happy as could be and wanted to play. On the flight to San Diego she had enough and did not want to sit with either of us anymore but rather sit in one of our seats and play with the safety belt a or grab anything she could get her little chubby hands on and through it out into the isle. We were joined by three sets of Italian grandparents and they commented on how well behaved Isabella was which delighted us since we were very conscious of how bad she behaved. I guess everything is relative.

Fun in Stockholm

At an outdoor photo exhibit in Östermalm

Strolling through the city

Hmmm... already learning bad habits from the godparents...

Our little flower girl all passed out...

Walk along the water...

View from our favorite restaurant. Gamla Stan (the old city) behind us

Playing with Olivia

I can't see anything through these... your eyes must be terrible!

Silly Johan rocking Isabella in her pants


So.... mommy took yoga with you and you two shared the love for Swedish sweets hum?

Love hanging out with mommy

I love playing ball with Johan

Mommy and daddy's beautiful little girl in the bath

In the bath with daddy

Isabella absolutely loves both Ansi and Johan and can play non-stop.

Catching Up to Swedish Friends and Family

We have been having lots of fun catching up with friends and family in Sweden.



Here is Isabella and granddad Sven.

He had a nice fika (coffee and and goodies) with aunt Karin with family. Here is Isabella with Enya, her 3rd cousin. Isabella was jealous of Enyas long hair.

Isabella also had a lot of fun with Sigge the dog who really didn't want to share the toys.

Gabe and Molly are a Swedish/America couple we met in Stockholm. They are both yoga teachers as well. We both had babies this past year since we moved back to San Diego.

Isabella has not seen too many babies. She really studied 3 ,5 month old Olivia. Olivia seemed interested in Isabella but she really liked Olivia's dad, Gabe since he made many fun faces and sang to her.

Look at My First Two Teeth!

My first two teeth are coming in... I love smiling and showing them off, as you can see.

I also like to drive Dad mad by picking my teeth when he tries to put me to sleep. He he he... (click the pics to take a closer look)


It's never too early to start working with the soccer ball. I am going to be joining Grandma Toni on the soccer field soon!

Do you think she'll be a goalie one day... She sure has the focus!

How do you like my new Indian head dress??? Johan is so silly!

Isabella's Day in Town

Ah... Isabella slept 8 hours straight (albeit midnight to 8am). Mom and Dad are starting to feel like normal people.

Today we took Isabella into Stockholm. We met Jessica's mom Bibbi at a Thai restaurant in our old neighborhood. Jessica was the maid of honor in our wedding. Her family lives just outside Stockholm.

Click the picture of Jessica's mom and then look at this picture of Jessica from the 4th of July...

We start our walk around the old neighborhood in Medborjarplatesen (the 'citizen's square'). Where we are standing becomes an small ice skating area in the winter.

As you can see, Isabella is so impressed with the city, she promptly falls asleep. She sleeps soundly, through cars, emergency vehicles, grass cutters and more through most of our walk!

We walk the grounds of Katarina Kyrkan... one of the most beautiful churches in Stockholm. This is just 3 blocks from where we used to live. It is surrounded by graves of some of the most famous people in Sweden.

This is Anna Lindh's grave. She was considered the future prime minister of Sweden until she was murdered on the eve of the vote around the Euro. This was pretty shocking in peaceful Sweden. We had been following her career for sometime.

There is also a special area for the children that died in the Tsunami that killed so many in Thailand a couple years ago.

On a more uplifting note... we next visit our favorite vegetarian restaurant. Here is that the sign says at the entrance.

Welcome in to enjoy our beautiful garden. We bake and cook with a lot of love and care. Baby strollers and dogs... this way.

Here is part of the view. This is looking into Gröna Lunch (the amusement park) and Skansen. Not shown in the picture to the left is Old Town.

If you are ever in Stockholm... find this restaurant. Here is their website.

Our picture of the beautiful buffe did not come out so well... but the deserts looked wonderful!

By the way, I noticed their website has a blog too with some of their recipes (in Swedish though)

They have about five dining area. The best are the ones at different area outside that look over the city. On the awning it says 'Best View' and it is...

And just as we are finishing our walk around town, Isabella wakes up... starved!

Trip to Djurgården

Our first trip is to the special Stockholm island of Djurgården. In English this means 'animal garden.' We walk around and enjoy the weather and the boats.

We meet up with Helen and her family. We spent New Years Eve in Stockholm with Helen and Jessica a couple of years ago when we lived in Stockholm. Here are some pictures from that New Year's Eve

They had sailed to Djurgården for the day to go to Skansen for a special sing festival.

Isabell isn's missing a thing -- fascinated by all the boats and flags.