We boarded the Tallink ferry with our van at about 5pm, stowed our stuff in our rooms on the second floor, and headed upstairs to check out the ferry.
We enjoyed the views of both sides of the Daugava river--Kipsala and Riga.
Bri's parents rode another ferry (same company, different boat) over from Stockholm, and helped us get oriented. We headed out on deck to watch our departure from the port and loved seeing Riga from a different perspective. After it started getting cold, we headed in for some dinner at one of the restaurants/buffets on board, and then found the kid corner and an arcade where the kids let off some steam and had fun. We checked out the merchandise in the duty free store before down to our cabins for a movie, and finally sent Savvy over to grandma and grandpa's cabin for the night.
The next morning, we had breakfast at the same place we had ate at the night before, and headed up to watch our arrival into Stockholm. We found a foosball table and enjoyed some friendly competition. ;)
The ferry passed for hours through the islands surrounding Stockholm, and we loved passing through the beautiful islands and nature and houses. We finally arrived in beautiful Stockholm, got our stuff to the car, and headed off to Gord and Katrina's. Gord and Katrina live on one of the larger islands outside of Stockholm, and grandpa guided us to their house. They have a lot of space in a cute neighborhood, and it was great to see Katrina (kids at school, Gord at work).
We relaxed for a bit at their home, and Bri and his parents grabbed some groceries for the week's food and some Max (think Swedish McDonald's) for dinner. The kids loved catching up with their cousins when they got home.
Bri, Katrina, and I got ready and headed into Stockholm to meet Gord for dinner and a session at the Stockholm temple. We grabbed Gord, and headed into the heart of old town -- Gamla stan -- and up to the main square for dinner at a fun old restaurant.
Stockholm is a pristine city, and the next few pictures show why. There were fancy porta-potties available everywhere, as well as trash cans and recycle bins. You can tell they value organization and cleanliness. Of course you have to pay to use those bathrooms and clean roads as we just discovered by receiving a bill in the mail for a "congestion tax." Apparently there are cameras set up that take pictures of your license plate when you use a certain road or highway (which we were unaware of), and then they send you the bill. It ended up being $2 each time. I hope there's a discount for locals that are on those roads all the time!
Unfortunately we were rushed to make it on time for the session, so we didn't get pics of the temple in the light.
It was great to catch up with Gord and Katrina, to reminisce and trade stories with a family member who is also in the foreign service and knows this crazy life we live. Our timing was perfect--we finished our dinner, headed to the temple, and just made our session. Gord's Swedish is pretty good, but the rest of us had earphones on, and that was a new experience for Bri and I. The Swedish temple was beautiful, and we got to know some of the matrons there after the session before heading home. While we were out, Grandma and Grandpa led the kids on an epic scavenger hunt and had a great time watching the kids. We talked for a bit before calling it a day.
Wednesday morning, Bri made us all breakfast before we said goodbye to Gord and the kids. Our kids enjoyed reading to and playing with Brady while the rest of us were getting ready. Rhea also loved playing with their balloons that you make twist and make animals with--that was a first for her, and became a real interest while she was there. I finally had to hide the box of balloons because I was worried she was going to use them all!
One morning, Aunt Katrina taught the kids how to make special woven bracelets too.
Katrina (and Brady), mom and dad, and the rest of us headed back into Gamla stan old town for the day when we were ready. Gamla stan looks a lot like Riga's old city: they're both preserved and improved architecture from the 17th and 18th century, the exception being that there is a lot more of the pretty part of that old architecture in Gamla stan, and it's bigger. We wandered the maze-like streets with Kat and mom and dad for about an hour before they headed back for a field trip with Charlotte.
The rest of us continued to wander the streets before stopping in at a little bakery/restaurant in a fork in the cobblestone alley covered in vines and with a little park-like setting. The whole area was charming, and the restaurant was very cozy.
I liked this sign hanging on a wall in the basement of the cafe.
These cozy tunnels were all throughout the city as well. I love them!
I thought this preschool class looked so cute with all of their hats on, sitting in a long row on the benches in front of the iconic Swedish buildings.
The Dalecarlian horse, or "Dala horse" is an example of Scandanavian, specifically Swedish, folk art, carved from pinewood. It has essentially become a national symbol for Sweden. You'll see all colors--red, blue, yellow, green, white, etc. A popular souvenir.
Another popular souvenir, are the gnomes named "Tomten." Funny enough, in my book collecting over the years, I bought a children's book about Tomten, which became a book the kids loved. We'll have to read it again now with our new understanding of where this folktale comes from!
Of course we had to buy some of our own for each member of the family. They were super expensive at certain shops in the city, so we found a few of the cheapest and then bought more on the Tallink ferry which were surprisingly substantially cheaper. This is a tradition in Riga as well, and we picked up a large one when we got back to watch over our couch. 
Being in Stockholm we were reminded that this is where Pippi Longstockings comes from! By happenchance, we showed the kids this movie earlier this year when we lived in Virginia, so they were excited when they recognized the dolls and everything Pippi.
Thomas had very little interest in shopping, so we frequently found him outside sitting down playing with his Rubik's cube. ;)
In one of the stores, the store owner was putting price tags on magnets. Our kids wanted to know how it worked and, without missing a beat, he asked our kids if they wanted to come and help him. They LOVED using the sticker machine and helping him. It was really kind of him to give the kids the chance to do that!
Beautiful stores everywhere. 
There are canals running all over the city, which makes moving around the city interesting, but there are bridges everywhere.
When it looked like the kids had had enough walking around, we headed to a park that I found was a popular one online. On the way, we saw a few statues.
This one caught our attention, not for its beauty, but for its lack of beauty -- this looks like it was supposed to be a guy and the artist attempted to convert it into a woman. 
The kids got to be kids for an hour or so at the park before heading back to Gord and Katrina's house.
The kids jumped right into playing with their cousins! Bri made himself at home in their kitchen as well, and cooked for us every night, and morning too for those of us that wanted his cooking. He's always happy to accommodate! The boys played some Mario Kart Wii (Bri was beaten by Gord, much to his chagrin), and when the kids went to bed the adults stayed up and played Five Crowns and caught up.
The next morning we headed out with G-ma and G-pa to do some sight seeing. The US Embassy in Stockholm has some family passes to Skansen, a giant zoo/outdoor cultural heritage museum, so after breakfast our family and mom and dad headed to the embassy to pick them up and then on to Skansen. We passed some beautiful buildings and scenery on the way.
This lady dressed and acted like a woman from the past, I think the late 1800's-early 1900's. They've recreated the inside of a renovated home from this time period as well.
After letting the kids work out their energy for a bit at a playground, we headed back out of Skansen and bought some food at a little kiosk restaurant near the entrance.
I thought it would be a lot of fun to do a boat tour, and we headed back towards Gamla stan to catch a boat tour; we just missed a couple of boat tours, and decided to try the next day. While we were there, we headed back into Gamla stan and spent a couple of hours walking around and perusing the shops. We bought several of the famous Swedish wooden horses, some christmas ornaments, these little gnome people, and other memorabilia, including a reindeer fur for dad (currently laying along the top of our couch and a great addition).
We got a kick out of the Swedish language and how we could recognize a lot of written words--this sign obviously said something about bike parking forbidden. Maybe that's why so many Swedes speak English!
No surprise that the kids found this sign to be hilarious. ;) It means, "Exit" in Swedish.
After we had enough, we headed back to the house, played some games, and watched most of a movie before deciding to call it a day.
The kids had fun watching "Ernest saves..." All of the kids love these shows, and were totally engrossed in them together. Left to right: Henry, Brady, Thomas, Charlotte, Rhea, Nick, and Savannah.
The Boys and the Girls. Everyone but Brady who slipped out.
Friday morning we said our goodbyes to the kids before they left for school, and then Brady and Katrina before we left the house. Luckily we knew we would see all of them at Thanksgiving so it made the goodbyes easier!
We headed back towards Gamla stan to catch a boat tour leaving from that area, had some drama finding a parking spot, and finally got on board and started on the Roya Canal tour, about an hour's cruise along the Djurgården Canal. Gene and Arlene stayed warm inside the boat, but we ventured out to the back of the boat for an unobstructed windowless view.
I couldn't get enough of the boats and colorful, massive, brick buildings!
I found that if I looked closely enough, I could see little bits of art and creativity all over the city. Here is a simple number sign that could have been simply a sign with a number, but instead was decorated with a person cut out of metal. I wish I could have taken pictures of everything!
We saw many locals, old and young, enjoying the walk/bike paths along the river that morning. Not a bad life. ;) 
I felt so grateful that we got to go to Sweden in the fall season and enjoy the city decorated in its beautiful colors.
And what looked like the home of a very important high ranking official ended up being a retirement home! Bri and I talked about coming back and retiring there in Stockholm. ;)
Even the construction yard was cute and colorful, including a crane painted like a giraffe!
We loved the history lesson and the views during the boat tour, and headed back to our parking. While there, Bri grabbed some bakery sandwiches, cookies, and treats for everyone, and we headed towards the embassy to get some more embassy tickets from Gord, this time for Vasa. We said our goodbyes to Gord in front of the embassy.
En route to the museum, Bri realized he didn't have his credit card. We parked, looked and looked, and then Bri and I headed back to the bakery, thinking we left it there. After checking and continuing to look, Bri realized he must have left it in the parking metering machine before we headed out for our boat tour. We made some phone calls to the states and canceled the card, and headed back to the Vasa Museum on the island of Djurgården.
This is a massive maritime museum that houses an almost fully intact 17th century ship, the Vasa, which sunk in the harbor on the day of its launch in 1628.
The ship had 64 guns, was beautifully finished, but was too narrow and rode too high in the water and sunk in high winds in the middle of Stockholm harbor. The ship was found, recovered, and restored beginning in the 1960s, and the restoration work continues. The ship was beautiful, with detailed carvings and massive accommodations.
They found evidence of paint on the remains of the boat and have created a smaller color version of what they believe the boat looked like, as well as some of the detailed sculptures found on the boat.
After a few hours of looking, we headed back to Gord and Katrina's, said our final goodbye to Katrina and Brady and mom and dad, and headed back to the Tallink ferry.
We enjoyed the cruise out of Stockholm and back through the beautiful islands surrounding it.
Back to our Latvia flag. :)
We ate dinner, played video games, and watched "Arthur Christmas" before going to bed (this time, the kids in their own room on the fifth deck, Bri and I on the seventh deck).
Unfortunately, Bri and I were not so lucky on our travel back this time, and had some rowdy and very drunk Russians in the berth next to us who woke us up frequently throughout the night. As the Russians would say, "што паделаеш," which means, "What can you do!" We got back safe and sound into Riga around 10 am, packed up our stuff, and headed home. We loved our time in Sweden with G-ma and G-pa and our visit to Gord and Katrina's, and look forward to having them here for Thanksgiving!
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