Orebro, Sweden

Sweden ended up being one of the best surprises on the trip so far. We hadn't planned on going, but just before leaving we had a visit from Rich's aunt. His cousin and her family live in Orebro, Sweden (for the past 10 years) and well, Joanie sold us on the idea. I'm so glad we went.

We stayed for 6 nights with family in a really beautiful town. It was the best. They gave us awesome tips on what to do, let us borrow their bikes/car and showed us what it is actually like to live in Sweden. Jessa works at a high school, and let us visit one morning. We also checked out Ella's preschool and Mia's elementary school. So we were able to see all three educational systems, and how it differs from ours in the US. It was fascinating. Jessa, Dan, Ella and Mia gave us the warmest welcome ever, and we can't wait to go back to see them!

Orebro is a small University city, with a big forest and lots of large parks. We did a lot of hiking. Sweden places emphasis on appreciating nature. Preschoolers spend at least 50% of their day outdoors (rain or shine). The parks and forests all have fire pits with free chopped wood to encourage families to come out. One day we brought hot chocolate and grilled hot dogs and marshmallows.

We visited a nearby town, Kumla, to see an art sculpture park on a mountain. It was amazing! The mountain is an ash mountain, leftover from mining that was done during WWII! We could even see what looked like smoke coming out of the ground in some places.  It was a blast running all over the peak to check out all of the sculptures. It was a chilly day and we had the whole place to ourselves.

Creepiest statue ever! I told Rich the guy sitting next to him change his expression as I was taking the picture. He made the hair on my neck stand up!

I think one of the best things we learned about in Sweden is the tradition of Fika. Fika is taking time out of the day for coffee and a dessert. It's a moment to relax and connect with whoever you're with. We leaned in to this tradition pretty hard.

Fika!

We will definitely be bringing this idea back with us to the US. Someone needs to open a coffee shop and call it Fika.