July 31st, 2016
Wow. Almost 1.5 years since the last update. Pathetic. So much has happened since the last update, so we'll just start fresh instead. We got back from our trip to Sweden about a week ago. Andreas has created the first batch of albums from the trip:
More will follow in the next update, which should not take another 1.5 years. Promise.
April 5th, 2015
This is very long overdue update. Andreas swapped laptop and has been lazy getting the new one fully up to speed so it can do updates to junestam.com. Since the last real update, we've done loads of stuff: Jakob came to visit, Andreas' parents came over for Christmas, the Junestams went to Whistler, and we celebrated Tilde's 6th birthday. For now, things are a bit more quiet. We are trying to get the yard and vegetable garden in order for the season and are making plans for how to change it in the fall.
There is a new photo album on the picture page, go check it out! Andreas will try to post a few more over the next week or so.
December 23rd, 2014
"'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there." Even though it's not true in the Junestam household, Clement Clarke Moore said it very well. Andreas' parents are visiting from Sweden and we are all busy with Christmas preparations. If everything goes according to plan, we'll have a very nice Christmas Eve tomorrow. For now, we will leave you with a "Merry Christmas" from the kids and Apollo:
October 5th, 2014
We've had summer weather here over the last month or so. Tomatoes were still going strong (until Andreas ripped them out this weekend) and we were on our second crop of strawberries for the season. Today, the sun was shining all day and we had a high of 22C. It was warm enough for the kids to have some ice cream on the deck:
Christina spent the weekend in Las Vegas, leaving Andreas and the girls at home. Even though one would think this would make for a very crappy weekend for them, they managed to make quite nice. Pizza, popcorn, and a movie Friday. Dinner with the Olsens Saturday and a lazy, cozy Sunday.
September 14th, 2014
We've been watching the election in Sweden with a mix of fear and excitement. Seems Sweden will be going back to the so called red-green mess. What is even more interesting is the final tally for the Sweden Democrats. I won't comment on the subject but leave you with this link, a small piece in SvD most politicians in Sweden should read.
In other news, we've been posting pictures to the picture page. A few albums from our trip to Sweden this summer, as well as our Labor Day trip to the Oregon coast with the Olsen's.
September 1st, 2014
Today is Labor Day in the United States and we just got back from a nice weekend with the Olsens on the Oregon coast. We rented a cabin situated between Netarts and Oceanside, only a few minutes from the beach. It was a bit of a drive, but well worth it: The Oregon coast is probably one of the most enjoyable places in the States. The weekend was spent hanging on the beach, enjoying the scenery, and eating well.
Andreas has finally started uploading pictures from the trip to Sweden. The first album can be found on the picture page, more will follow (including pictures from Oregon). As always, stay tuned!
August 8th, 2014
We got back from our 5 week trip to Sweden yesterday and just wanted to say "Thanks to everyone for making sure we had an awesome time in Sweden. It was great to see everyone!". Pictures and write-up will be posted once life gets back to some kind of normal.
May 3rd, 2014
Two new albums on the picture page.
March 29th, 2014
Ha! We're about as good updating this page as people are using the guestbook.
Tilde turned 5 earlier this week, Monday to be precise. She had a party with all her friends the Sunday before at Pump It Up in Kirkland. All the kids had a blast, as they always do there. Afterwards, the Olsen's had us over for dinner so we wouldn't have to cook. Monday started with Tilde getting presents in the morning. Among the things she got was a new bike, a game for her Leap Pad, and a puzzle with America's states. The Olsen's came over around 5pm to enjoy the Thai fish curry Tilde wanted for dinner. That was followed by a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake from Coldstone. We all then enjoyed some coffee and tea while Tilde got to open presents once more. As you can see in the pictures, she really enjoyed her day.
Btw, guess who will spend the 2nd half of the day skiing with dad tomorrow?
February 9th, 2014
We're way too tired to write a real update. Just wanted to let everyone know that we spent the day at Stevens Pass. Tilde is now getting good enough to start going up the chair lift with the ski school. Once she's done that, we'll get one of these so she can ski with mom and dad, something she is really looking forward to! Poor Sophie has to wait for next season before she can start skiing.
Btw, we got about 5cm of snow during the night. The result? When we left this morning, we passed a nice little 10 car pile up and about 20-30 cars parked or in the ditch. This was all during the first 2-3km of the trip. Good times.
February 2nd, 2014
Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl XLVIII champions! Go Hawks!
January 14th, 2014
Wow, hard to believe, but it's 2014 already. We had plans to write an update as soon as we got back from Whistler, but time just flew by. Guess we've been busy again... :)
We spent New Years in Whistler together with Paras, Stephanie, Maurya, and Liam. Since Andreas has traveled quite a bit during 2013, we could use points to get a room at the Westin in Whistler. It has a perfect location right by the gondola. Tilde spent 1.5 days (supposed to the 2, but she got sick the first day) in ski school and loved it. Meanwhile, Sophie had a blast at Whistler's daycare. Having both kids taken care of gave Andreas and Christina plenty of time ski with the Shah family.
Going to Whistler made the family realize how much we missed and enjoyed skiing. With that in mind, we made it back up to Stevens Pass last Sunday, which was the first real powder day. Stevens Pass got about 12 inches during the day....
Jesper, Sebastian, and Rebekka joined us as well for a full day on the slopes.
December 28th, 2013
As always, December is a busy month in the Junestam household: There are presents to buy and wrap, dinners to have before the year is up, and of course making sure all the Swedish Christmas food is prepped. Despite this, we managed to actually spend some time as a family, as well as hang out with some of our friends.
On December 15th, it was time for the annual "Swedish Christmas coffee thingy" (tm). Every year, we have the iSEC Seattle office over for a traditional Swedish "adventsfika". This year, it featured homemade glogg, lussebullar, gingersnaps, arraksbollar, and a few other goodies. People seemed to really enjoy it and we almost ran out of some of the cookies.
The day after (Monday) we met up with Deanna, Joern, and Nikolai in Bellevue for dinner and Snowflake Lane. This is something we've done the last couple of years since the kids really enjoy the fake snowfall and dancing polar bears... :) To be honest, it is fun for us parents as well, since we get to enjoy it through the eyes of our kids.
Later in the week, on Friday evening, we met up with Dagna, Allen, and Tia at the Polish house. The Polish house functions as a restaurant every Friday and Sunday, serving up very tasty polish food. It is always a treat to go there for dinner.
The day after (Saturday) it was finally time to leave Redmond for the cabin we rented together with the Olsen family, where we celebrated Christmas. To increase the likelihood of a white Christmas, we got a cabin called Alpine Acres Lodge in Plain, WA. Plain is located about 15 miles outside of Leavenworth and they usually have snow around this time of year. Not so much this year though. Sunday, everyone except Dorde, Sophie, and Kristoffer went to Stevens Pass for some well deserved ski time. Sebastian, Rebekka, and Tilde all attended ski school, while Andreas, Christina and Jesper hit the slopes. After a long day of skiing we got back to the cabin, had dinner and then collapsed in bed. Monday, everyone jumped into the cars and we drove over to Leavenworth for some pre-Christmas European food. We started with a brunch at Renaissance Cafe (we could not get a table at the Blackbird Bistro which was our first choice) and then walked around Leavenworth for a few hours. To round up the day, we took a rain soaked walk with the dogs and then ended the Leavenworth trip with a dinner at the Andreas Keller Restaurant. The following day, it was finally time for what the kids had been waiting for; Christmas. Both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were a blur of presents, food, drinks, and kids with way too much energy. We left the cabin on the 26th for the trip back to Redmond.
December does not end there, we also found time to get a new bed, install roman shades in the bedroom, attend Mary's birthday party and iSEC's Holiday party, and gear up for the trip to the cabin. Puh! We also have something planned for New Years, but more about that later.
There are two new galleries on the picture page.