Happy Father's Day

One of the best Father's Day presents!

We waited for what seemed like forever at the airport for Rebeca to come through those doors.  Finally she came out - above you see her with her work colleague on the right, Karen.  Karen's husband, Lars, is on the left.  Rebeca was very fortunate to be able to make that long trip from Tucson to Stockholm with some good friends.

After getting Rebeca settled in her hotel room, Guillermo and I just hung around and also rested while Rebeca rested up after that long flight.  Then later that evening we took a hotel shuttle to the airport, caught a bus to Stockholm and then caught a metro to Slussen stop which was close to the hotel Guillermo and I stayed at the previous two nights.  From there, we walked with Rebeca to the old town section of Stockhom where we did a little bit of walking around before having dinner.

Guillermo and Rebeca in the Old Town

Had moose meatballs this evening.

A guard at the King's Palace

We took this picture at 10:00 pm

Unfortunately, at the time, we didn't know that we were missing the bus back to our hotel.  We didn't know that the last bus left at 10pm.  For a while, we were in shock when we got to the bus terminal and learned that there were no more buses going out.  We stood around thinking we'd take the train, which didn't leave until 11:23pm and that did not appeal to us at all.  Finally, we just gave in and even though we had already paid for a round trip ticket back to our hotel, we went ahead and paid for a taxi to take us back.  The good part was that the taxi driver suggested we go back to where we bought the ticket and ask for a refund.  We did that the next morning, and we actually did get our money back which was a pleasant surprise.

We drove from Stockholm to Risvattnet on the 18th of June.  We left the Stockholm airport around 10:30 in the morning and got to Risvattnet around 8pm. Very long drive, but the Swedish countryside was really beautiful.    It was such a happy moment to arrive at the house where Fernando and Eva were!

On the road to Risvattnet

So nice to all be together again!

The bride and groom to-be.

The land around the house was fixed up so beautifully in preparation for the wedding.

Believe it or not, this picture was taken at 10:30 at night.

And this picture was taken at around 11:20 at night.

It's so hard to think it's time to go to bed when you look out the window at 11:20 at night and this is how it looks.

The next few days we spent getting ready for the wedding.  This is how the reception room looked inside before.

Armed with a few ideas, we went into the town of Umea on the 19th to buy groceries and special things for the wedding like ribbon, fabric and flowers.  We sure enjoyed that day in Umea because of course shopping is always fun.  We ate a lunch of sausage and bread in a little plaza in the town and then continued looking around.

On June 20th, the day before the wedding, we started setting things up in the school house where the reception was going to be held, we decorated the ceremony area, made lemonade for the wedding day and other things like that. 

 It was such a joy to be helping to get everything ready and there were quite a few things that needed to be done.  Making the decorative backs for the chairs, putting ribbon on flowers and plants, placing candles, setting up the birch trees and so much more.   We went to sleep that night wondering how Fernando and Eva felt, knowing they'd be married the following day.