Winter camping?!

As I walked away from the train, I saw my fur ball standing next to my hubby. He hadn’t noticed me yet. As I crept closer, he saw me and stared at me in disbelief! His eyes were wide as I gave him a hug. After our hug, I gave my man a big hug and a kiss. It felt good to be home!

My body felt exhausted. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep while Birk (my hubby) drove us home. The plane rides from U.S. back to Sweden took around two days! My inner clock was all out of whack. After an hour of driving, we made it home.

Once we stepped inside our home, Clyde (my dog) realized that this wasn’t a dream. I was real! He snuggled on top of me on the couch while he told me about all the things that happened while I was away. I kept saying, “Oh ya?! You don’t say?! He did what?!” My husband looked at me and said in a humorous tone, “Don’t believe him!”

As I sat in our kitchen, feeling as though my body was over cooked noodles, Birk told me, “After food, I have a surprise for you.” I thought he hates surprises. Why can he give me one and I can’t do the same for him?!

After the delicious meal, my tiredness was setting in. “Okay, now you have to put on warmer clothes. Stuff for the outside weather!” My happiness dropped. I wanted to snuggle in bed with the two guys I have missed. My energy felt like it was on fumes. But what he said reminded me what I brought back from U.S. I pulled out two pairs of snow pants. A smile grew on his face. “Perfect! Put yours on!”

“Whaat?! What the hell are we doing?!” I boomed.

“It’s a surprise.” He repeated again

I watched as he was packing food items in our broken basket. Wintertime doesn’t feel like the best time to go for a picnic. Then it clicked. “Are we going camping!?” I asked frantically.

“Oh man…” he said in a guilty tone as he kept packing, “It was suppose to be a surprise.”

Outside was below freezing. The cold and I, we don’t go well together. I was not pleased, but I was willing to try it out. Besides having the regular clothes on, I put on extra mittens and an extra scarf.

We began our journey to the lake that we usually go to that is near our house. In the winter, the gate is usually locked. But he opened it with ease. “Who plowed the road?” I asked knowing full well that the land owner had not done it. “I did!” He gleefully responded. What we had for plowing snow was a four wheeler. The road we were on was about a 5-10 minute drive before we get to the lake. That’s a lot to plow!

My grumpy feelings began to soften. As we approached the lake, I noticed two big circles on the lake that he had also been plowed. As I pointed at it, he said, “For ice skating.” Ohh, silly boy. My heart started to sink and feel warm.

I grabbed some blankets from the car and he took the rest. We ventured to a spot overlooking the lake. He had set up his tent tipi with a mattress and a wood stove inside. There was around three bags of chopped wood. I felt like tearing up. He didn’t need to do all this, for me.

As the day went on, we enjoyed walking on the frozen lake, ice skating, and grilling up some veggie hot dogs. Clyde was overwhelmed with joy that the three of us were together again. My eyes became heavy as we watched the sunset. Clyde was on my lap and birk was by my side.

Not a bad first day back in Sweden!