The last five days of December will be wrapped up in this one last post. The pages are very simple. There isn't a divider between the double page spreads and they are just decorated with patterned paper, with a digital stamp thrown in here and there. But I love the photos and the memories that are behind them. I will do a separate "wrap-up" post on my December Daily journey, but for now here is what we did the last few days of 2011:
December Daily : December 26th-We wanted to get out of the house and decided to take a drive to Jurmala and to check out what the beach is like in December. Since Ryley practically lives at the beach, he decided to stay behind. It was cold, windy and the tide was way in! It was a lot different than in the summer-no beach bars or playing in the waves-but we got some great photos! After the beach we stopped in for a bite to eat at a local café. We had a great afternoon!
December Daily : December 27th-It was a rather quiet day here, but we did get a box or two in the mail! I love stretching out Christmas morning. It's like celebrating the 12 days of Christmas!
One of the things we have been contemplating on doing with the kids while they were here was taking a side trip to Stockholm, Sweden. There is a ferry (it's more like a small cruise ship) that travels between Riga and Stockholm. It is a popular trip to make and after much debate we decided to go for it! So most of today was spent figuring out if there were still tickets available, if we could get the dogs in a kennel and booking a hotel in Stockholm.
December Daily : December 28th-The morning and afternoon was spent getting ready for our trip to Stockholm! We didn't have to be at the port until 5pm, so there was plenty of time to get packed and take the dogs to the kennel. We really didn't know what to expect food-wise on the ferry so I ended up packing sandwiches, clementines, and other snacks to munch on (it's the mom in me).
After waiting almost an hour in line at the port to get our cabin assignments, we were finally aboard the ferry! Like I mentioned before, the ferry (the Tallink) is more like a small cruise ship, complete with restaurants, bars, a casino, and duty free shops. The cabins were small, but again, this is a ferry, not the Royal Caribbean. We quickly ate our sandwiches in our cabins and then we were off to explore the "ship." We ended up spending the evening on the second level of the ship's Sky Bar. There was some-for lack of a better word-"entertainment" on the stage below that we watched while enjoying cocktails. Dustin, Becca & Ryley left to explore the duty free shop. They were gone for awhile and it didn't take us long to figure that they probably bought a bottle of their favorite adult beverage and took it to their cabin. We went to say good-night and sure enough they there were having a little party in their quarters. They will wake in the morning to find that Absolut and a choppy Baltic Sea is not a very good combination!
December Daily : December 29th-It was a rough morning for Dustin & Becca. I wasn't feeling all that great either, but mine was to do more to sea sickness. Dustin and Becca had vodka mixed in on top of the rough seas. Yuck! After getting off the boat, we took the bus to our hotel and then it was off to explore the city. We didn't have a specific agenda. We just roamed the streets, taking in the city, stopping at sites that interested us. Stockholm is very beautiful. Lovely streets, very colorful buildings (which for some reason surprised me) and festive decorations! The only drawback to Stockholm is that it is VERY EXPENSIVE. Especially food! We were in Old Town looking for a place to stop for lunch. Many of the restaurants had their menus posted outside their door...$25 for a burger! Yikes! We were warned about the price of food here, but $25 for a burger is a little steep! We ended up at Pickwick's, a pub just outside of Old Town. It was a little pricey, but not as expensive as others we have come across. There is a snapshot of part of the menu in the photo below. Notice what they offered for a starter...Reindeer with sour cream! Chris and the boys had one of the daily specials...reindeer and moose meat with potatoes. I actually had a taste and wasn't that bad! I feel a little guilty having a bite of Rudolph with it being only a few days after Christmas! After lunch we walked some more and then then stopped for hot chocolate and a Belgian waffle! So good! I couldn't leave Sweden without have Swedish Meatballs, so that evening we kept looking for a restaurant that served them. They weren't as easy to find as one might think! But we were successful in our search and the meatballs were sooooo worth the wait!
December Daily : December 30th-After a good night's sleep, it was time to hit the streets sightseeing again. Today we had two things we needed to see before heading back to the ferry at 3 for the voyage home. The first was Stockholm's indoor market. I have a "thing" European fruit and vegetable markets. And the one in Stockholm didn't disappoint! It was full of fresh fruits and veggies, cheeses, fresh lobster and crab legs, even freshly made pasta! It was really cool! So worth finding! The other place we had to visit was the Vasa Museum.
The Vasa Museum was built to house a Swedish Naval Ship-The Vasa-which sank on its maiden voyage in the 1628. 333 years later the ship was salvaged intact! It is massive & quite impressive! It is the largest 17th century ship in the world. If you ever get to Stockholm, don't miss this museum!
By 3pm we were headed back to the ship for our trip home. It was a short trip, but we had a great time!
December Daily : December 31st-We returned home only to find the Christmas tree practically toppled over. Guess it is time to take it down! While taking the ornaments off the tree and putting them away, the tree ended up completely falling over, breaking only one ornament (totally fixable!), but oh what a mess it left! I had the vacuum cleaner running non-stop for 45 minutes!
We spent New Year's Eve with friends at Jon's house and celebrated the the big countdown with champagne and watched the fireworks by the Freedom Monument. I didn't have any photos from the evening that were not blurry, so I found another piece of "subway art" on Pinterest, printed it and placed it on the last page of my album.
Happy New Year everyone! May your 2012 be filled with health & happiness, surrounded by family & friends!
