After more than a week of not posting, I’m finding it a bit difficult to get back in the game. I had thought that I would have internet access while we were away in Uppsala and had planned to update from there, but that didn’t pan out and I came home to a big gaping hole where my blog used to be and no good words to fill it with. I guess I’ll just have to do the best I can with what I’ve got.

The trip was good but I’m glad to be back home. I’m just not a traveler at heart. Lydia, on the other hand, was sad to leave–hotel life agrees with her very much (especially the bottomless vat of bacon that was part of the hotel breakfast). I think she would rather have spent every day staying in and watching pay-per-view movies instead of sticking to my itinerary, but she was a good sport for the most part. We did manage to see almost everybody I wanted to see, albeit fairly briefly. Even long lunches don’t lend themselves particularly well to in-depth conversation and catching up when you’re trying to juggle three kids.

As far as the kids go, though, I learned two important lessons last week. First, I have really, really good kids. Amazingly good and easy-going and well-behaved. Second, I am a much more competent mother than I thought. Truth be told, I was more than a little apprehensive about how well I would be able to manage all three of the kids on my own. Because Olof works at home, I am very rarely alone with all of the kids for longer than a couple of hours here and there. I have ventured out on my own with all of them only a handful of times, and never on public transportation and never in cities as big as Uppsala and Stockholm. I felt overwhelmed just thinking about it, and dreaded actually having to get out there and do it.

When I was planning the week, I decided to ease myself in slowly and gently by staying in Uppsala the first day. Olof headed off for work just before nine, and the kids and I hit a nearby grocery store for a few odds and ends (and peanut M&Ms — hallelujah!) before venturing out to the toy stores. We met Olof for lunch at Burger King (another hallelujah!), then did some more shopping. The day went pretty smoothly and I went to bed feeling somewhat less nervous about taking the train to Stockholm the next day.

Except for some unforeseen freakiness on Tage’s part about the trains, we made it to Stockholm uneventfully and hit Pizza Hut (can I get an “amen”?) for our first lunch date with friends. Later, Leslie and Alex came along with us for more toy shopping, then we sat and relaxed a while at a café. Leslie and I got some good chatting time in while Lydia, Tage, and Alex played and ran around, then I and my brood caught the train back to Uppsala. The next morning we were back on the train for Stockholm, where we had lunch at a different Pizza Hut with a different group of friends and by the time we went back to Uppsala I was feeling like a pro at the public-transportation-with-many-kids game.

Thursday was a low-key day and we stuck around close to the hotel. The kids and I were on our own for lunch, which was fun. We went to a great little café called Hugo’s (thanks for the tip, BethAnne!). The food was excellent and the atmosphere was cozy and cheerful. I would definitely be a regular there if we lived in Uppsala. I really wanted to go back and take Olof, but we never found the time. After lunch we went back to our base camp where Lydia and Tage took a long bubble bath and played with their new toys and I watched Days of Our Lives and an old episode of Dharma and Greg. I wouldn’t have minded spending the whole afternoon in, but Lydia said she was bored and wanted to go out, so we packed ourselves up and headed off to a bakery she had been eyeing for a couple of days. The food there wasn’t nearly as good as Hugo’s, unfortunately, but you can’t win ’em all.

Friday was our last day, and we had lunch with Olof before making another trip to Stockholm to meet friends for coffee. Our flight didn’t leave until 10:30 that night, so we stayed in Stockholm until just after six, then headed back to Uppsala to meet Olof and make our way out to the airport. It was just past midnight when we finally pulled into our own driveway. Exhale.

In just a few weeks I’ll be hitting the road again and going down to Malmö, in the very south of Sweden, to meet up with some entirely different groups of friends. That time I’ll be taking only Petra with me and, after last week, traveling with just one kid should be a piece of cake. Maybe I’ll have to borrow a few kids while I’m down there, just to make it interesting.