Aspinwalls Abroad: Our Recent Wave of Visitors

Ok, so I have to admit, "wave of visitors" is a stretch! But we did have 3 visitors this month! Our first vistor since Tata and Lisa left, was Troy. Troy is an undergraduate student that works in Craig's lab. He was able to get grant funding to come and work with Craig here. He didn't stay with us but we saw him often. He even got here just in time to go to the Crayfish party with us on his first night here! Here is a picture of him that Brenna took as he was getting ready to eat some kebab with us at our favorite kebab place.

And a picture of our favorite kebab to go with it!!

(I am going to stray a bit to tell you about the kebab. Kebab is a lamb/beef mixture like gyro meat but the Turkish version. It is served over a pile of hot french fries...YUMMY You can also eat it over rice but that just seems too healthy to me. Anyhow, we eat it waaayyy too often!)
Will and his best buddy, Woje, arrived on Aug. 20th. I was so excited to see my little bro and so glad to get to share this experience with him! His visit overlapped Troy's but they never got the chance to meet. Will and Woje spent their first day hanging out with the kids and I at Grona Lund and the park. Woje even won a giat sized basketball. Will and I got to ride the new coaster, Insane. I have been waiting to ride it and finally, with the help of Woje as the babysitter, I got my chance. Will and Woje decided they HAD to take a cruise and check out Helsinki in Denmark or Norway....or FINLAND! That was their stupid joke but I thought I would throw it in there in case they read this.

Will at the park looking cool in his Tucson Toros shirt

Woje and Will testing the park slide that the kids call "fast slide"

While they were partying on the boat, we were saying goodbye to Troy. We went out for some dinner and hit the park with the kids.

Will and Woje returned Sunday. I went to look for them and be the nice big sister and help them back to the apartment with bus passes, but they were nowhere to be found. Afer waiting for multiple buses, I gave up and headed home. The whole way, all I could picture was the guys lounging on the couch waiting on me and laughing. Luckily for Will, this wasn't the case. They did make it home on their own about a half our later. Although Will was feeling quite sea sick, we decided to head back out to the Vasa Museum while Craig babysat the kiddos.

The Vasa is a great musuem but the lighting is terrible for pictures! Sorry...they were all too dark! The Vasa is a viking ship that has been recovered and restored after spending 333 years under water. It was fun to hang out with the boys and enjoy the museum without my noisy little ones. Afer getting home, we invited Erik over and had a small BBQ outside. Our dessert got moved inside due to rain...bummer.
Here is Brady with Erik in another picture Brenna took. She loves the camera!

Monday was already Will and Woje's last day in Sweden. We took a walk through Galam Stan, watched the Changing of the guards, and headed back to meet up with Criag and the kids. We met up and went for pizza. This place served the biggest pizzas! In Sweden, the pizzas are very thin and considered individual pizzas. These were so big though that they spilled over the edges of our plates and onto the table!! We headed to the park for a bit and then home. Will and Woje went out to the 80's heavy metal bar down the street...strange place! They discovered earlier in the trip that you can play blackjack at most of the bars and they let you play with your credit card...DANGEROUS! We had to say good bye early in the morning. I really am so lucky to have gotten to have this special time with my brother. I wish my big brother had been able to come as well. Maybe next time. Next visitor...MY MOM...YEAH!
Not the best smile....Will and I in Galma Stan