We recently returned from a trip to Stockholm and I finally got our photos organized from the trip, so I figured it was time for a post! We spent five nights there, staying at a house outside the city in the suburb of Saltjö-Boo. This was another home exchange for us — our sixth (though we have actually hosted home exchange guests seven times now because one of our exchanges is a non-simultaneous exchange) and it was extra fun because KC’s sister happened to be on spring break and flew out from California to join us! Taking pictures with a 1 year old and almost-3 year old is a real dream.

In case you can’t tell from the number of layers we’re wearing in these pictures, it was pretty darn cold during our stay. The high was generally in the low-30s (around 0°C), but with the wind chill it regularly felt like low-20s. We are fairly well-equipped for cold weather now (hi down jacket, iloveyou) but I suspect that exploring Stockholm in the summer might be a tiny bit more enjoyable. We had a good time exploring the city, but this was not our most successful trip, by far. Things kind of went south on our way to Stockholm when we discovered that Lark had a stomach bug which resulted in her puking in the Uber going to the airport, at Schiphol while we were waiting in line to check our bags, on the plane while landing, and in our rental car. I have perfected my puking-baby positioning skills after the numerous stomach bugs/car sickness episodes, so I am proud to say that I managed to “redirect” or catch all the vomit during the six (yep, SIX) separate episodes, aside from when we were on the plane, because the landing was especially bumpy. This meant that Lark was not only melting down because she was puking (in front of everyone on the plane!) but she also barfed all over me and on Prim in the process, which of course resulted in Prim flipping out for a moment as well.

Basically that landing was us looking like every parent’s worst nightmare. Covered in puke with two screaming children. What a dream!Really just killing it at this whole “motherhood” thing, guys. Of course after Lark was sick the first day, Prim got it — puking and a fever of 103.1 on Easter Sunday. Luckily KC, Lark and KC’s sister were able to go out and explore a bit while I was home on sick duty. Happy Easter! With a puke bucket. To make matters worse, while hauling Easter baskets down the slippery wooden stairs the night before (stupidly, in wool socks) I managed to fall down about 6 stairs, bruising myself fairly well in the process.

But honestly, with the number of trips we have taken and still have planned, it’s not surprising that at least one of them would be less than ideal. And really, KC and I have been so tired from the insanity of the holidays, busy season, our trip to California and prepping for our move back to the states, it was nice to have some down time where we just hung out together and did nothing.So lest you think we have nothing but amazing trips with these wonderfully-behaved, well-traveled children of ours, let me assure you that it doesn’t all go according to plan. That picture above is from our flight back to Amsterdam, when 20 minutes prior to landing Lark decided that she was just OVER IT and had a full-blown, category 5 meltdown (yes, even nursing beyond a year doesn’t solve all meltdowns at this age! Yayyy…)

Hoo, well… We’ve had better trips, guys. For sure. But we’re off to Bordeaux next week! No rest for us, apparently, haha. At least Bordeaux will have ALL THE WINE to temper those tough moments. That really makes parenting on vacation infinitely more palatable. It was real, Stockholm. I’ll give you that.