Summer Visitors!

Summer has brought us 6 wonderful visitors from home!  In early June, the Facklers from stopped to see us on their way home from a month-long European tour.  They arrived by cruise ship in Stockholm, which was impressive to see.  We had a laughter filled 5 days with them before Tyson's parents, our second set of visitors, arrived.

For Tyson's parents, a trip to Sweden was something they had always dreamed of doing: a vacation to the "motherland."  Both the Shepherd and Johnson ancestors immigrated from Sweden to the US in the mid-1800s, and aside from seeing us and the sights of Sweden, the trip for them was largely about exploring the land of their ancestors.  We spent two days in the Östergötland and Småland regions visiting churches and cemeteries.  The highlight for both Tyson and his parents, however, had to be visiting Opphem, the town from which the Samuelsons moved from, settled, and named Ophiem, IL.  The sheer joy and excitement on all 3 of their faces just at seeing the Opphem sign was quite a sight!

Our third set of visitors, Julie's parents, just arrived.  We're looking forward to 12 fun days with them... once they get over the jet lag  ;-)

This link has pictures of our time with the Facklers and Shepherds.  The majority of the pictures are of the church and cemetery explorations.
https://picasaweb.google.com/101852905683847445633/SummerVisitors12?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCK7Eo8vf8rCBCg&feat=directlink