Wander & Nest

We have been looking forward to Swedish midsommar since we arrived and it’s finally here! It’s the celebration of summer and a national holiday in Sweden. We were so fortunate that a colleague and friend of Wylie’s invited us to their home in Umeå, in northern Sweden, to celebrate the holiday.

We first took the high speed train to Stockholm then transferred to the 10 hour night train to Umeå. The night train was quite the experience! We booked a sleeping car for 3 which was perfect for us. We had 3 beds, but Mara and I shared, a bit of storage and a tiny sink. Bathrooms were down the hall and showers were even available but we didn’t use them. The beds were actually surprisingly comfortable! Mara was so excited, she absolutely loved the novelty of sleeping in a bed on a train. We brought her normal bedtime books and did as normal of a bedtime routine as possible and surprisingly she slept all night, well from about midnight to 7am, which was a huge win! I on the other hand did not sleep much, the clanging sounds under the train were just so loud, even with earplugs and a white noise machine blasting it was impossible for me to tune out. I finally dozed off around 3am during a 45 minute stop where the train split off into 2 and goes different directions. Wylie also slept a bit on and off, neither of us were super rested but at least Mara slept!

We arrived in Umeå around 7:30am then walked to the central bus station to catch a bus to the airport to pick up our rental car. All of that took less than an hour! At the airport we met up with Wylie’s friend and our host, Marta. She flew in from a work trip at the same time we arrived so we met at the airport and headed to her home. We opted to rent a car seat instead of hauling ours around and we learned that car seats are rear facing in Sweden until around age 4! That was an adventure but we made it work for Mara with lots of help from her iPad.

We arrived at Marta’s home and were immediately blown away. It was absolutely beautiful, right on the lake, tons of open space and clearly a perfect place for kids to play. We had a late breakfast of toast and so many homemade jams (gooseberry, dandelion, pine!), Mara played a bit in the drizzle, then we all took a bit of a rest before the rest of the family came home.

The rest of the family came home after our rest and everyone got to meet each other. Hudson, Marta’s husband, is originally from Texas and has been in Sweden for over 10 years, first in Gothenburg where he and Marta met, then the two of them moved up to Umeå for Marta’s job at the university. Then there’s Raphael, who is almost 5, Charlotte, who is 3, and Benjamin who is a year and half. So with 4 kids under 5 for the long weekend, we were in for a wild ride! Marta is from Switzerland and speaks to the kids in French which was awesome for us to be able to hear! And it gave us confidence because we understood about 90% of French for kids so that’s a good start. We had a delicious raclette dinner then headed in for the night… which never got dark! The picture below was at midnight.

We stayed in the guest house behind the large barn, both classic Swedish red, and the main home is the yellow one. The lake was just across a small field and a made for a really stunning view from the porch. The guest house was really comfortable and had electricity but no plumbing, which wasn’t a big deal because the main house was 10 meters away and again, it never got dark! No flashlights required ever.

The next day was midsommar’s eve and the day for festivities. It was mostly warm and sunny day except for some wind. We went to a community celebration complete with songs and dances around the maypole. Hudson and Marta prepped a picnic of all the Swedish midsommar classics including herring of many flavored varieties, cheese pie with cream and roe, shrimp salad (mainly mayo), potato salad, etc. It was all… interesting. Definitely a win if mayo is your thing. The herring was a must-try because it’s so ubiquitous with midsommar, but one bite for me was sufficient. The kids had a good time playing on the grounds, in the sand, and of course Mara went straight for the water.

After the picnic we went back to the house for a BBQ courtesy of Hudson. After wrangling the kids to bed, the adults got to enjoy the bright skies with a 1am jacuzzi!

After a good sleep we were ready for a day on the lake. We rented canoes from Marta and Hudson’s neighbor who owns a canoe rental business (talk about convenient!) and loaded the kids up for a paddle to a beach across the lake. The weather turned cloudy just as we arrived to the beach, but again that didn’t stop Mara from playing in the water. We had some snacks and then loaded back up to explore the canal off the lake. It was so fun! Charlotte came in our canoe and her and Mara were great little rowers, it was really sweet to see them working so well together and laughing uncontrollably.

We hung out at the house for the afternoon, Charlotte and Benjamin went to bed early and Mara and Raphael stayed up for a dip of their own in the jacuzzi. Mara was truly living her best life. She was so excited to play in the “hot pool.” After all that activity she went to sleep quickly and the adults had dinner around the fire-pit. Hudson made reindeer stew, his version of a traditional Sami dish of reindeer meat called Suovas. On its own the meat was a bit intense for me but together with the mashed potatoes and homemade lingonberry jam it was quite good. We also sampled a number of Hudson’s home brewed beers – lavender, pine, and my favorite – dandelion. They are real homesteaders, making so many delicious things with what grows on their land.

The next day we left home and ventured first for ice cream at a farm called Glassbonden. In addition to having ice cream before lunch, the kids got to play on the many toys on the farm. And it had stunning views of the river, really an ideal ice cream experience.

After our morning ice cream we stopped at a grocery store to gather supplies for a hike. Mara quickly fell asleep in the carrier as she does, and we had a nice walk along the Vindelälven river and over swing bridges. We stopped at an open grill that was fully equipped with wood and Hudson grilled up sausages we bought for lunch. Mara woke up mid way through lunch and we all slowly ventured back, with a stop at a playground before getting back in the cars and heading home.

We had a low key dinner at home and said a late night goodbye to Marta and Hudson. The next day was a normal Monday for them, which meant they were all out the door by 6:30am. We were happy to get to take our time before making our way to the town for a couple of hours then flying back to Gothenburg. Mara was actually quite happy to get to play by herself in the morning, especially after lots of toddler negotiating for the best toys all weekend. We went to a scenic restaurant literally on the river for lunch, the food was good, there was space for Mara to jump around a bit, and views were great – win win win. Then we walked around town before heading back to the airport for our two short flights.

This trip to Umeå was so great and exactly what we needed. It may not be the easiest to get to, but it was definitely worth the trip. I’m sure we will be back… maybe even in winter if we’re feeling extra brave and want another truly unique experience of extreme cold and just a few hours of sunlight per day… or maybe we’ll do summer again.