Bye bye Auntie Sonie

We had to say goodbye to Aunt Sonja on Wednesday. After 3 months of having her around to read books to the kids; help with the dishes; have endless discussions with Ava about a variety of princess topics; and, most importantly, giggle with me about Swedish salads (iceberg anyone?), the ridiculous number of hair salons in Sweden, and the 80's fashion revival, it's a transition for us to be a family of 4 again. We miss her, but sort of understand that she has to go and start a life of her own in Seattle now that she is all grown up. I'm sure she'll miss getting whacked in the head by Julian with a board book every morning, but not as much as we'll miss her!

W-I-L-B-U-R in Italy

OK, so this is not technically a post about our exploits in Sweden, but I just have to post something about Sonja's recent trip to Italy with my Mom and Wilbur (my fabulous stepfather). For those of you who have never met Wilbur, let me say that if you were on a desert island, you would want Wilbur with you. He can make sushi, kill and pluck a chicken, build a house, make jewelry, sew, sing opera (sort of), fit 35 boxes in the back of a small hatchback and God knows what else (not all of which is super useful on a desert island, but you get the idea).

So it's no surprise that Wilbur decided to learn Italian in preparation for their trip. We chuckled to ourselves because he seemed to be relying on Google Translator a weeee bit too much for comfort in learning key phrases. I was convinced he was going to end up saying things like "Where we cannot find bus, we find tram?" (in Italian, of course). But life is strange and, go figure, he did learn some basic Italian that was crucial during their trip because no one spoke English in Calitri, the small hill town they stayed in for a week, AND because Mom seemed to be suffering from some sort of word processing disorder and Sonja speaks only English and Latin.

On one occasion when he had to call about a hotel reservation, my Mom and Sonja nearly peed in their pants as Wilbur spelled his name over and over on the phone so the reservations lady could find their reservation. This wouldn't be so funny save for the fact that Wilbur's last name is Wong and Italian doesn't include the letter "W." So you can begin to imagine the scene. Since my Mom and Sonja were so busy rolling around on the floor they didn't manage to get video all I can do IS imagine, which is really a shame.

Auntie Sonie's here!

My lovely and very patient sister, Sonja, arrived on Thursday.

She'll stay with us until mid-August to watch the kids, cook all our meals, do the laundry and give me a daily massage. No no, just kidding -- we're only planning on taking mild advantage of her kind and generous nature so that she relishes her 20's even more when she goes home! It's already been a huge help having her here. Like last night, when Ava fell out of bed 3 times, Auntie Sonja sorted her out and Adrian and I slept, blissfully unaware, in the other room. Well, to be more precise, we were trying to get Julian back to sleep at 4am because he has a fever, but you get the idea.

Sonja and Ava are sharing a room, much to the delight of Ava. She's been peppering Sonja with important life questions like "What do lions eat?" and "Why did Jaffar called Aladdin a 'street rat'?" at all hours of the day and night. She also put a sign on the door that apparently reads "No Boys Allowed, Even Julian and Daddy." Somehow Daddy IS allowed in to read books at bedtime, go figure.

These pictures are from our outing to the town of Varberg, about 60 km south of Goteborg. Behind Adrian and the girls is the nicely restored Kallbadhuset (Cold Bath House), where you can bathe naked in the sea if you're so inclined.