Back to the roots

Whilst Charlie was working his butt off to finish work so that he could take over 2 months off later in the summer, Mylla and I took off to Sweden to get back to the roots (my ones at least). On the way we stopped by in Oxford to meet up with Charlie's family. Apart from Charlie's mum, who visited Vancouver earlier in the year, this was the first time they had a chance to give Mylla a good squeeze in reality.



Hanging out with granny and grandpa in daddy's old stroller

The cousins were so happy to meet Mylla. She was totally up for playing despite being jetlagged.

Finally meeting the Bartlett whanau (Maori for family) - the cousins Rosie and Wilf, auntie Trish and uncle Gav.

The trip continued to Sweden where we met more whanau. 



Play time with Lisa and Kroffe

We were staying with my childhood friend, Åsa and her partner Johan, a master chef when he is not an academic. They have two awesome kids, two year old Olle and the most-chilled-one-month-old-baby-in-the-world Hedda. It was so much fun just to hang out and see Mylla pick up behaviour from Olle. She became a lot more verbal after taking after spending so much time with Olle who as so talkative and loud.

Visiting Åsa with Olle and her month old Hedda. It was pretty much impossible to take a photo in which we all look sane. 

Busy day in Uppsala

After a week of playing with Åsa and co. and meeting many other friends, my parents picked us up and we went to Finland where our extended family lives. It was so great to have both my grandmothers finally meet Mylla.

Four generations together with my mormor

Four generations with my farmor

Thanks to my uncle Daniel who took us on his boat, we spent a day out on an island where we have a cabin. I spent many summers here as a kid. Now, it is rarely used and most visits turn into work camps. This one was no exception. We didn't even have time for a sauna. What happened to the priorities?


Boating with Anna-Lisa to our cabin in Vaasa archipelago

Back in my hometown, Mylla and I hung out with my parents and met plenty of friends and their kids.



Where is dinner..morfar, hurry up!



Dinner time



Hanging out with Sara, Torsten and their kids, Alwin and the twins Ender and Nova.



Summertime sailing in Sweden. No time for bikini.



On the sailing boat with mormor

Midsummer celebrations at Strangon with Arne and Kerstin

Midsummer dress-up

Mylla and I had a great time but a 4 week trip certainly felt like a very long time to be away from Charlie. She learned how to crawl during the trip and she had transformed from a baby to a little girl.

We arrived back to a very exhausted father who had been mountainbiking almost every day for a month and who had slept even less than when Mylla is at home. He needed his wife back to tell him to go to bed.

Flying alone with a baby was all good on the way to Europe but she caught a virus just before the trip back to Vancouver and she had fever on the long haul flight. I felt so sorry for her, but also for all the passengers around us. The usually very happy easy going baby turned into a crying mess. I was so thankful to not be living in New Zealand since the flight would have been double as long.

We had a week at home to recover, wash clothes and get ready for the next adventure...our 5 week cycle touring trip between Vancouver and Whitehorse!