Festivalen

So Gini and I have been reading emails from some friends who just moved to China and it has got me reminiscing about our transition to Sweden. It is funny that even though they are in China and we are in Sweden we have some similarities. I enjoyed reading their letter so much it made me think that people would also enjoy our experiences.

So Gini and I brought bikes back with us when we came in June, there are a number of trails that people use for biking in the summer, and cross-country skiing in the winter. It is so nice to just get out in the bikes, and with it being light 24 hours a day we can go for a bike ride and just get so lost in the time and not realize how long we have been gone. 

The beach on the river by our home, since we have started riding bikes we have found little gems hidden away like this all over.

Sometimes he gets bored.

Before we got him a seat, he would ride in his baby carrier strapped to my bike. It was fun because he would be right in my ear and just talking and saying things like, GOTTA GO!!!!

Gini loves riding her bike.

Even through the forest.

And by the water.

Now that we have a seat, we can go to the grocery store and run other errands with ease.

This past week, was a HUGE party in Lulea called Festivalen. It is a large music festival that has stages all over down town and a carnival, and a bunch of other outdoor activities. Gini and Owen loved it and went and enjoyed it alot more than me. The thing about a music festival in Lulea is that the festival can go well into the night because it never gets dark. It was hard at times because it went to 3 AM but it was still fun.

Owen loved all the bounce houses.

This Russian carnival came to town, the rides were pretty rickety but we had a lot of fun.

They had this Cars ride, and Owen has become obsessed with Cars, so he rode this probably 10 times.

Don't know how I feel about him eating these cars, but kids do what kids do.

The past week, I went up to the mine for a meeting. A regular problem that the operations have are reindeer. They are domesticated and herded by the locals and they basically have the right of way. The trucks will often hit them and there is a lot of legislation protecting them and they often say how will the mine affect the reindeer and other things. Well on the way up you see them all the time on the road.

This brute, couldn't have been bothered by us and would barely move off the road.

We were in the dead center of the mine, it is an open pit mine. This guy was just chilling right on the edge of the mine. They were blasting, and using heavy equipment within a kilometer of him but he just kept on munching. There were two other buddies with him.

After seeing how these animals moved, I doubt it would be a very sporting or fun hunt. I think we can take Swedish reindeer off my bucket list.