Temple Trip to Sweden

In March we took a trip to the LDS Temple in Stockholm, Sweden. That is the closest temple to us. We hadn't been in a really long time, so we were excited to go. We got pretty cheap tickets on Ryan Air, but they charge a ton for luggage, so we traveled with 3 kids, a stroller, and only carry-on bags. We were only there for 3 day, but it is amazing how much you need to take, especially with a baby and it being still really cold outside. The only problem was, Isabel and Sawyer started to get sick right before we left. So, having already bought the tickets, we had to go with sick kids. This was a temple trip organized with the all the members of the church in our area, so a bunch of us were going. We even had babysitters, the Bayley's friends from church and from the Embassy, were going. They have 4 older kids, 2 of which babysit for us. The oldest is Luke, 16, the boys just LOVE him. So it was a good time to go when we would have a little help so we could go to the temple together.

We got on plane, then the bus, 2 hours, then the metro 30 mins. Got in at about 9pm with 3 very tired children. They have some really cheap temple apartments you can stay in. They are very useful, they have a huge kitchen in the basement with a toy room for kids and a TV and a piano. The kitchen has tons of ovens and fridges and cupboards for people to be able to come to the temple the cheapest way possible. You can bring your own food, cook it there and you don't have to buy the expensive things in Stockholm.

So anyway, that night, we put the kids to bed in that tiny room with those tiny 4 cots. They had a little crib for Isabel and we stuffed the cot in the bathroom. The night was pretty aweful to say the least. Sawyer was miserable, he didn't feel well and in the middle of the night he woke crying wanting to go home. Isabel woke up crying and finally was able to put her back to sleep, but she was not liking the bathroom. Then, of course, the kids woke up way too early. So Kelly took the boys down stairs to the toy room to watch a movie while I tried to put Isabel back to sleep.
That day I went to the temple in the morning, then we decided to walk around Stockholm with our friends the rest of the day. It was fun to see it again. It is such a beautiful city. And it was such a beautiful day. Pretty windy though. I was really impressed with Lincoln. He walked/ran the whole entire time. We were there with our friends the Bailey's. There kids are: Luke 16, Anna 14, Molly 12 and Daisy 9. They just love Lincoln and Sawyer and were playing games with them the whole time. To get Lincoln to walk, Molly and Daisy played a game trying to catch the wind monster. They used their scarves and they ran around catching the wind. It was so nice to have him not thinking about being tired. He didn't want to sit on the stroller wheel once. THat is really amazing for Lincoln.
We saw the sites and went into my favorite museum that is based on the books written by Astrid Lindgren. She wrote Pippy Longstocking and tons of others. She is the most famous child author in Sweden.
That night was worse than the first. Sawyer was feeling much worse(bad parents for taking him out all day). Isabel was feeling pretty bad also. After finally getting Sawyer to sleep, I got Isabel to sleep, but she woke up around midnight and I couldn't get her back to sleep. This hotel is made very economically, the walls are thin and everyone heard this child screaming. I finally made it downstairs, waking everyone up, and I was down there for the next 2 hours trying to get her calmed down and back to sleep. So we didn't get much sleep. THe next day Kelly and went to the temple while the kids babysat. Then our babysitters brought the kids to the temple so we could all take a group picture of all those who were able to go. Isabel screamed the whole time once she saw me. So all those pictures have a screaming child in it. I need to get me a copy.
Kelly went to the temple one more time that evening, I wanted to go again also, but I couldn't get Isabel down in time.
On the way home, Sawyer was getting worse and once we got home I took him to the doctor and he ended up having a double ear infection.

So I would have to say it was well worth it to be able to attend the temple while we are here, but it was pretty miserable in that tiny room with sick kids.