Traveling with kids in northern Sweden: visiting Lövvattnets Family Farm

There's actually a chicken hiding in that currant bush!

Summer time in northern Sweden can be absolutely gorgeous if you get some sun and some warmth, and July is usually the best month for that. Glittering lakes, lush birch trees, summer flowers in the meadows, nights that don't truly get dark... it's all right there.

If you are visiting this part of the world, you'll notice that there are lots of little farm houses scattered all over the landscape. Many of them are small family businesses, and grow only feed for cattle and horses, and maybe keep some sheep, cows, horses, pigs or chickens. In recent years, it's become more common for these small farms to sell produce directly to the public.

At Lövvattnets Lantbruk (Lövvattnets Farm: the link goes to their Swedish language Facebook page), the owners have taken a further step: in the summer, they've opened up their farm to tours, organized a small shop and cafe, and they sell farm produce and products like meat and cheese directly to visitors.

I visited the place last week with my family and my children, and I'd definitely recommend it as an outing for a family. The farm is quite literally located in the middle of nowhere, in the tiny village of Lövvattnet outside Lövånger.

Nom nom nom...

When we visited the shop and cafe were closed, but we could look at the sheep with their lambs, the calves, the ducklings and chickens, the horse, and especially the puppies. There were nine very active, and very cute puppies and assorted other dogs that played and goofed around with the kids and each other while we visited. Definitely a hit, especially with my dog-crazy daughter.

The farm, shop and cafe are open Wednesdays and Sundays, 11 am until 3 pm, from June until the last day of August (summers are short up north!). The owners are new, and I could tell the "open farm" idea is something they're still working on (not a lot of signage or parking), but the farm is friendly with lots of animals to see. We might head back there this week to check out the store! 

Driving directions: From Lövånger, drive towards Vebomark for 6 km, then turn left onto the small gravel road leading to the farm. You can also find the farm on Bing Maps. The GPS coordinates are 64.34876, 20.50362.

Contact information: The phone number is 070-807 58 48. Or find the farm on Facebook.

Traveling with kids & dealing with homesickness: the Toot & Puddle connection

A little while ago, I wrote a blog post about how to deal with homesickness and separation anxiety when you're either traveling with kids, or traveling away from your kids. Right now I'm living that reality since I'm in Sweden with the kids while my husband is still in Canada. The kids are having an awesome time with grandparents and other family here, but of course they do miss their dad.

Since we arrived in Sweden, my 8-year old son has watched Toot & Puddle: I'll Be Home for Christmas at least 20 times (it's part of the DVD-stash I brought along for the trip). At first I was really wondering about this new DVD-obsession. After all, it's a Christmas special, and it's summer-time now. Why the sudden interest? Then, I finally sat down and watched it with him. And as soon as I did that, I got it. I guess I'm just a little slow on the uptake sometimes.

The Toot & Puddle connection
In this episode of the show, travel-happy Toot travels to Scotland by plane and promises his home-loving friend Puddle that he'll be back in time for Christmas. Toot learns about kilts and all sorts of other Scottish traditions with his family over there. Meanwhile, Puddle stays home, getting their house ready for the holidays and missing Toot.

In the end, Toot does manage to get home just in time for Christmas, but he runs into all sorts of travel-related delays at the train station and airport, and there are more delays in store once he lands back in America as well.

The attraction is pretty obvious, right? My son is watching this show obsessively right now because he can totally and completely relate to it. Every morning and every night, he and my daughter tell me that they miss their daddy. At the same time, they also want to stay in Sweden and have fun with their grandparents, something they've been looking forward to for months.

Interestingly enough, my son also tells me how much he misses daddy right after he's had a lot of fun over here: like right after he's gone fishing, or played in the inflatable jacuzzi. It's almost as though he's feeling a little guilty about having so much fun when he's also missing his daddy. I know how he feels, of course.

It's OK to be homesick
So I tell him it's totally normal and OK to miss home and to miss daddy, but that it's also OK to have lots of fun while we're here. I tell him we're staying here to have fun and socialize and do things with our Swedish family, and then we'll head home again to the other people that we also love. It seems to help.

Watching Toot & Puddle seems to help too. At the end of I'll Be Home for Christmas, when the two friends finally reunite, they tell each other about what they've been up to while they've been apart. The moral of that story really hits home with me and my children right now.

Traveling with kids: 5 observations from our latest trip

After almost 20 hours of travel, kids do get kind of tired...

I spent this past weekend on planes and in airports as I traveled with the kids all the way to Sweden from Vancouver. We started off with a 3 hour drive to Seattle's Sea-Tac airport, followed by two flights with Iceland Air, and one domestic Swedish flight up to my old hometown in Sweden.

What did I learn from my latest long-haul travel experience with kids? Well, here are 5 observations I made:

1. I love Sea-Tac International Airport
Their play room is a dream come true when you've got some time to kill while waiting for a flight with kids. A whole room, all full of climbing equipment, crawling tunnels, and slide-y stuff, plus comfy seats along the walls for parents.

With the large bathroom (complete with a change-table of course), as well as a nursing room, it's a five star facility in my book. My kids spent about 1 1/2 hours playing there, running around and having fun with lots of other kids while the parents lounged on the sidelines. Just awesome. Every airport should have something like it.

2. I love catching a connecting flight at Iceland's Keflavik airport 
It's a small airport, so thereäs no long walk to the next gate. Security and immigration were fast and friendly and there was barely even a line-up. Our time between flights was just over one hour, and we still had time to grab a snack before boarding the next flight!

3. The kid-friendliness of the food on Iceland Air leaves something to be desired
The kids did get their free kids' meals. But on the first flight from Seattle to Keflavik, this consisted of a ham and cheese sandwich with some kind of red relish on it. Kids were not too much into that unfortunately (neither was I when I tasted it...).

Next flight, Keflavik-Stockholm, was better food-wise, with a ham and cheese croissant, chocolate bar, bag of pretzels, and a juice box. Of course, picky-eater 4-year old did not eat her croissant, but at least the 8-year old had a pretty good meal.

The airline does offer food for sale, but there's nothing very kid-friendly available (at least not for those of use traveling with picky young eaters). Mixed salads, sushi (which was very good mind you), a wrap with veggies, and a couple of other items. I would have loved it if there was at least something simple like yogurt, fresh fruit, or a veggie plate with dip.

4. Kids can survive quite well on snacks
My picky-eater survived quite well for the 20 hours on granola bars, a couple of bags of chips, chocolate bars, water, crackers, pretzels, and the tiny side-salad she scavenged from my in-flight meal. Oh, and a few lollipops tossed in for good measure. Not the healthiest diet ever, but she didn't complain!

Bringing your own snacks (in my case the granola bars, crackers and pretzels) is essential if you have a kid who might not eat the airline food. Hungry, tired kids on a plane are way harder to deal with than kids who are "just" tired. Next time I'm adding raisins, and maybe baby carrots to my snack-stash.

5. After almost 20 hours of travel, kids might not do well in line-ups
When we arrived at Arlanda airport, Stockholm, the kids were seriously exhausted. They had been good sports for the whole trip, but here we had a couple of minor melt-downs.

My 4-year old cried for half an hour because I wouldn't buy her a stuffed reindeer, and my 8-year old decided that he wanted to go back to Canada, and didn't think we should check in our luggage for the next flight (and let all this be known quite loudly...).

Combined with a busy, messy airport terminal (Arlanda's terminal 4 is in serious need of a remodel in my opinion), it was not a great travel-moment. Still, we survived, made it to the gate and on to our last flight of the trip. Both kids promptly fell asleep as the plane took off.

Traveling with kids to Sweden

I'm off to Sweden with my kids for an extended visit. Hopefully we'll have a good, uneventful trip and an awesome stay over there. I will update this blog during my vacation in Sweden, so stay tuned!

12 Canadian places I'd like to visit with my kids

July 1st, Canada's birthday, is the perfect time to think about all the places in Canada I'd love to visit with my kids.

1. Digging in Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta
Who doesn't want to take their kids to this place? It's one of the best places in the world to dig for dinosaur fossils. There are educational exhibits, programs, shows, and tours. I think my kids would love it.

2. Skiing in Whistler, British Columbia
Since my family lives just outside Vancouver, Whistler/Blackcomb is not too far away from us. The two mountains, Blackcomb and Whistler mountain, have some awesome runs. I still haven't gone downhill skiing with my kids (they have tried some cross-country skiing though), but when I do, I'd love to take them on the slopes here.

3. Camping in Jasper & Banff, Alberta
Just the drive up into the Rocky Mountains from British Columbia is breathtaking, and the drive between Jasper and Banff is equally amazing. Lots of hikes, wildlife, and amazing scenery. I just want to bring our tent, sleeping bags, and the kids and experience the Rockies.

4. Driving to the Yukon
Yukon is one of Canada's territories, rather than a province, and I'd love to head up there sometime (I'm thinking summer time might be the best time of year), and experience this part of Canada with my kids. 

5. Seeing Niagara Falls, Ontario
I'd love to see Niagara Falls at least one time in real life after having seen it in so many movies and TV-shows. There are a lot of family attractions and activities around the falls: I'd definitely want to take the kids on a boat ride on the Maid of the Mist, and for a walk in the tunnels behind the falls.

6. Exploring Quebec City
I've never been in any of the provinces east of Alberta, and Quebec City feels very far away when you're in British Columbia. I'd love to go there with the kids and experience the place first hand: castles, fortifications and walls, the old town, and maybe some walking/hiking in Parc National de la Jacques-Cartier.

7. Visiting Prince Edward Island
I've never seen Canada's East Coast, and every time I see pictures of PEI, it just looks like such a beautiful place. Plus, for some reason, I've gotten it into my head that I'd love to ride bike around the island with my kids. Or maybe we should just stay close to the ocean and go for long beach walks? 

8. Taking a boat tour in Newfoundland
There are lots of boat tours and trips you can take off the BC coast, but I'd love to see the Atlantic side of things too in Newfoundland. Whale watching, ice berg viewing, cruising for sea birds life puffins... I could definitely get into that! 

9. Going on a polar bear safari in Churchill, Manitoba
There are lots of tour companies in Churchill that offer various kinds of polar bear viewing and polar bear safaris. I think my kids might just fall off their tour-bus chairs if we got to see some real-life polar bears.

10. Adventuring in Nunavut
Nunavut is Canada's newest federal territory and they have one heck of a gorgeous tourism website. And who can resist the description of what you'll experience at the floe edge, where the sea and ice meet:

From April to July, the floe edge is the most dramatic, dynamic place to be, as the sea meets the retreating ice edge. Whales swim metres from shore. Walrus and seals haul themselves out to bask in the sunlight. Polar bear cubs enjoy an ocean dip. ---- Thousands of caribou and musk-ox take their first halting steps on the tundra. Millions of birds arrive from the south to start their families. Experience the rebirth of the unspoiled Arctic.

11. Hiking the West Coast trail on Vancouver Island. British Columbia
This is not too far away from where we live, and when the kids are a little bit older, we will definitely try this trail. The west side of Vancouver Island is a beautiful place, and I'd love to go for a serious wilderness hike here. 

12. Skating on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Ontario
July first might be the wrong time of year to think about skating outdoors, but skating on the Rideau Canal is one of those iconic Canadian things that I've heard about and seen pictured in books and on TV since I first moved to Canada. I'm the worst skater in the world, but I'd gladly shuffle around the ice in my winter coat just to let my kids experience this.