Izzy and I have been in Sweden for a little over a week now, and we are finally starting to get settled into our apartment. It has been a lot of work and it has been a very long time since I started in a place with nothing, no beds, no furniture, no kitchen appliances and no dishes or silverware.

We are making progress. Izzy’s room has a bed and a desk and I have a LED string light arriving today to add decoration. Our kitchen is slowly coming together. We have a couch showing up on Monday and we have a temporary table to eat at while we look for a nicer one.

There is still lots to do. I have to finish hanging curtains on the living room; it feels a bit open living on a first floor apartment. We need dressers for our bedroom and a TV for the living room. Plus decoration. And things I’m probably not thinking of right now.

I’m starting to get used to the city. Granted, Växjö isn’t a very big city; but it is a lot more city than our house was in Preston. The apartment is much smaller than we are used to (the apartment is 75 m² or a little over 800 ft²). On the plus size, a small apartment is a lot easier to fill up. Parking is a pain. The complex will only rent one spot per apartment, so my car is in a garage that is a few blocks away. Luckily, the dog park is half-way to the garage, so it really isn’t much extra effort to grab my car.

Izzy still misses her friends. Next week is fall break at school, so she has one more week before starting. However, on the following Monday (November 3rd), she starts at Ulriksbergskolan. We visited the school earlier in the summer, and it is a very nice school. They completed renovations to the building 2 years ago, so everything is new. The school system here is done by age and not by previous grades completed, so she will be put into Grade 3 with her age peers. School starts at 8am and finishes at 1:30pm.

I’ve been trying to keep Izzy busy, but with everyone in school here, there aren’t a lot of activities available. But the library is two blocks past the dog park, so a short walk away. Today she is going to stop by the drop-in “Try VR Glasses” event at the library. Tomorrow we are going to the Växjö 4H camp haunted tour with Susanna’s sister and her boys (Izzy’s cousins). Izzy and I have to meet the school nurse on Tuesday as part of her processing into the school district. And hopefully next weekend Izzy will be able to do a Halloween sleepover at the Växjö 4H camp.

Hoagie is getting used to the apartment and the city, but still stresses a bit when left alone in the apartment. I’m still looking for a workshop space. Tomorrow afternoon, I’m going back to the space in Rottne that I have looked at a few times; hopefully I can find a space that works and get moving on that. With Izzy going to school in a little over a week, my days will suddenly be pretty empty. Of course, I have a workbench in Dan’s workshop that I can use for now if the place in Rottne falls through.

Izzy and I made the final leg of our summer/fall journey. On Tuesday morning we dropped the final car off with the kids and Ben drove us to the Boston airport. We had planned on taking Amtrak, but it was delayed and I was worried about how long things would take at the airport. In hindsight, we probably didn’t need to worry. We arrived at the airport almost 4 hours before the flight, but the Icelandair counter doesn’t open until 3 hours before the flight.

From Boston we flew to Copenhagen and then took the train from Copenhagen up into Sweden where Susanna’s mom picked us up. We have a few more days at Susanna’s parent’s house while we get our new apartment ready. Hopefully we will be sleeping at the apartment this weekend. I love the Copenhagen airport, the train is a 3 minute walk from the luggage area!

Tomorrow we meet with the school administration to get Izzy enrolled in school here, and hopefully after that things will start settling down.

Tonight is the first night I’ve had a room to myself in a while. Aster is home, and Izzy is at a sleepover. The joy of the peace and quiet of my own space. At least for a while.

We departed Colorado for Columbia, Missouri last Sunday. Instead of making the long drive in one day, we took our time. We left late morning and drove to Topeka, Kansas where we got a hotel room for the night. The next morning we got up and drove the remainder of the drive to my dad’s house in Columbia.

We spent three nights in Columbia. It was a great place for our final real stop on the journey. Dad and Barbara were still a bit jet-lagged from their vacation to Europe, but we still managed to stay busy. The first full day we decided to head to the Museum of Art and Archaeology – University of Missouri. The museum was larger than I had expected, and I spent too much time in the first two exhibit rooms and had to rush through the rest of the museum. I highly recommend visiting if you wind up in Columbia for a day. The next day Aster, Dad, and I went out for a bike ride. Aster and I borrowed e-bikes from Dad, and half-way through the ride I wasn’t paying enough attention to where I was riding and wound up taking a spill onto the sidewalk. Nothing broken, just scraped up a bit and embarrassed.

On Thursday morning we went to Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville to see the where the Budweiser Clydesdales are bred. After the tour we stopped by White Castle (it was on Izzy’s must visit list for this trip) for lunch and then started the trek east. We made a quick stop in Webster Groves to drop off stuff at my brother’s house (and pick up stuff we left there). From there we drove to Indianapolis for the night.

Friday was just driving. I let Aster and Izzy sleep in, so we didn’t get on the road until about 9. We made it to Scranton, PA for Friday night. This morning we made the remainder of the drive to Connecticut. I dropped Aster off at their house and Izzy off at a friends for a sleepover then checked into the hotel.

Aster decided to not continue the journey onto Sweden, and is starting on the next journey in their path. Izzy and I are in Connecticut until Tuesday. We have a busy schedule over the next few days. I have to organize our storage unit, pack, and run a few more errands. We also have plans to see Ben and Nu at least once more. But it feels like we are starting the journey home!

Today is our last full day in Colorado. We will head east tomorrow morning with the hope of making it most of the way through Kansas before we stop for the night. The next stop will be a few days in Columbia, Missouri before continuing on to Connecticut.

Yesterday we had a tour of Phoenix Gold Mine in Idaho Falls, Colorado. It was worth the price! We were able to get tours of two mines, a ride on a mine train (a little Minecraft like) and lessons on panning for gold. I don’t think any of us were patient enough to get any gold from the stream, though it was probably there.

This morning Izzy and I walked the 2 miles (each way) to the next town so she could get a drink at Starbucks. We made it 100 feet from our room before the rain started. It was a nice flat walk and it felt good to get out for a stretch. This afternoon we are all just taking it easy. A few rain showers are expected this afternoon with a steady rain starting overnight. Hopefully the drive tomorrow won’t be too crazy.

On Tuesday we made the long, boring drive from Webster Groves to Winger Park Colorado. It was a 13+ hour drive, and I’m thankful that I had Aster here to share the driving. There was a lot of not much to see in Kansas and eastern-Colorado. But we made it. It is beautiful here! The altitude is really impacting Izzy and Aster today, so will be a quiet day.

I woke up early today and walked a bit around the condo to catch the sunrise. It is much colder than St. Louis and much more pleasant.

This will be the farthest west we go on this trip. We have our condo until Sunday and then will begin the long journey back east, stopping for a few days to visit my dad in Columbia, Missouri before heading to Connecticut for the journey home to Sweden.