Happy birthday to my beautiful wife! Her birthday was on November 21st, and we celebrated big. After giving her loads of presents, I took her out to a very nice restaurant called Ubon (sister restaurant of Nobu). The food and drinks were outstanding – we had sushi, black cod, and some kind of beef. Everything was delicious. I also surprised her with a trip that I had been planning since September…

I took her to Jukkasjarvi, Sweden to stay in the Ice Hotel. Maybe you’ve heard about this on the Discovery or Travel Channels. The Ice Hotel is in the northern part of Sweden inside of the Arctic Circle. It’s made entirely of ice and snow, even the beds.

It all started with the iron ore in the town of Kiruna. This town has the world’s largest, most modern underground iron ore mine. Since mining began here over 100 years ago, it has produced over 950Mt of ore, yet only one-third of the original ore body has been extracted. Jukkasjarvi is just a bit north of Kiruna.

We flew into Kiruna, and this is the smallest airport we’ve ever flown into – it makes Birmingham look big. There is only one runway, and after landing, the plane turns around and drives back up the runway to let us out (no terminal).

From the airport, we changed into snowsuits and we drove a snowmobile to the Ice Hotel, but we took the scenic route through the snow-covered forests. We drove across frozen lakes and rivers, and we stopped for a cheese sandwich and hot lingonberry juice.

We were very fortunate to have such “warm” weather. It stayed between -2 and -16 degrees Celsius, but it’s usually -25 to -30 during this time of year. Each year, a unique Ice Hotel is made of snice (snow and ice) from the Torne River. The riverbed was carved by glaciers 10,000 years ago, and it’s one of the cleanest rivers in Sweden (you can drink directly from it). Massive ice blocks are carved out of the river and stored in huge refrigerated buildings (one holds 2500 tons of ice and the other 5000 tons). This ice is used to build the Ice Hotel the following year. When the Ice Hotel melts in the summer, the water trickles back into the Torne River.

We stayed one night in the Ice Hotel (constant -5 degrees Celsius) and two nights in the “warm accommodation”. When we arrived, we took a tour of the entire hotel. It’s actually built in stages, so we were also able to see part of it being built. Every room is unique (our room was 409), and artists from all over the world come up each year to participate. Some of the ice suites had chairs, couches, fireplaces, etc. – all made of ice of course. We learned how to stay warm when sleeping in the Ice Hotel.

There is also an ice church where approximately 140 weddings are held during the five months that it’s open. We finished the tour by having a drink in the ice bar – out of a glass made of ice! Before going to bed, we went to the Ice Hotel Restaurant (warm place) and had some delicious elk and steak.

Surprisingly, you don’t need to wear any layers when sleeping in the Ice Hotel. The beds are made of ice and they have reindeer skins to make them comfortable. The sleeping bag is so insulated that you only need to wear the one layer. We were also told to wear socks and a toboggan (although Jill took hers off for most of the night). We shared a double sleeping bag and Jill was very warm throughout the night. I woke up several times – sometimes hot, and sometimes cold. I kept adjusting the sleeping bag each time – when you get too hot and sweat, you become cold. Overall, we both slept pretty well.

We were woken up early the next morning to cups of warm lingonberry juice. We had a nice breakfast and then went on a Husky sled ride (there are actually more dogs than people in Jukkasjarvi). These Huskies were beautiful, and they were so ready to run! There were three sleds comprised of 10-12 dogs each, and every single one of them was barking, howling, jumping, and trying to run before the drivers took off the brakes. As soon as the brakes were lifted out of the snow, the dogs were off – and they were fast! They absolutely loved it! The guide dogs were in the front and the stronger dogs were in the back. They took us over the frozen Torne River, through the forest, over a frozen lake, and onto an island.

We stopped for coffee and cakes on the island, but the Huskies needed none of that – they were all howling, barking, and trying to run again while we warming up by the fire inside of the teepee. We had a great time doing this – we’re going to teach Levi how to pull a sled when we move back!

It was already dark by 2:30pm – during this time of year there is only about 4.5 hours of daylight. The sun never breaks the horizon; you can just see the pink reflection off of the sky during this time. The rest of the time is total darkness (pitch black) other than the moonlight. Can you imagine having 19.5 hours of darkness each day? It often felt so late when it was really very early. I think the summer has 100 straight days of daylight to make up for it.

We went on a “Sami Experience” later that afternoon. Sami actually means “meeting place by the lake”. The Sami (Laplanders) encompass northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Traditional Sami occupations are hunting, fishing, reindeer herding, and farming. The population is estimated at about 85,000, with 25,000 living in Sweden.

Our guide was a 21-year old Sami who is a reindeer herder. His father and grandfather were also reindeer herders. He picked us up at the Ice Hotel, and we rode a sled that he pulled behind his snowmobile to his viste (homestead) where he kept his reindeer. He had about 25 reindeer here, and he said that we had to catch two of them so they could take us on a sled ride. We thought he was kidding until he handed out ropes and told us to lasso them. When trying to catch them, they all ran away and scattered. After several misses and some good laughs, Jill and I both caught a reindeer.

Now that we had the reindeer, we got to hook them up to the sleds and go for a ride – by ourselves. This made us a little nervous at first because we had never done this before and they seemed to be a little wild (it was both of the reindeer’s first time to pull the sled too). Keep in mind that it’s pitch dark outside and very cold – we were afraid they would not come back and take us into the wilderness. But they stayed on the snow track and brought us back safely. After they had pulled everyone, we got to feed all of them.

Next, we went into a teepee and sat on reindeer skins (on top of twigs) around an open fire where he cooked dinner for us. Ironically, he cooked us all reindeer meat and we ate it on pita bread. Reindeer meat is outstanding and possibly one of my favorite meats now. He served us lingonberry juice in the traditional cups in which the wood is dried for one year and then the cup is carved out of it (he sold us two that his grandfather made).

We sat around the fire, talked, and learned about the Sami culture. Each reindeer herder marks their reindeer by cutting a unique shape out of their ear. During mating season, they let them go into the forest and hope theirs become pregnant. When I asked him how many reindeer he had, he said it was like asking him how much money he had since this is how they measure wealth. The coldest weather he’s ever been in is about -52 degrees Celsius, and he kept warm by wearing reindeer pants, shoes, and gloves that he made on his own. He has only been to one big city (Stockholm) and wants to stay in the forest and be a reindeer herder for the rest of his life.

We met a couple from Yorkshire, England (Tim and Jess) on our Husky sled ride, and we met them at the warm bar that night. We had a great time getting to know each other and drinking our P2 "funky drinks". We all stayed up a little later than we had planned, and the next morning came very early.

Jill and I went on a snow shoe excursion and hiked up the mountain to the “Puimonen” view point. This was a pretty tough hike and it got hot quickly with all of our layers – I ended up shedding some of mine. It was worth it though – walking up the mountain through the snow-covered trees passing animal tracks was really nice. The view from the top was awesome – we could see the Ice Hotel, the frozen Torne River, and lots of pretty trees.

At the top we took a well-deserved rest – we built a fire and had lingonberry juice and cakes. We took the quick route down – we abseiled down the cliff! Jill and I are both scared of heights, so this was very scary for us. Jill wanted to get it over with, so she went first – she is really brave! I went next, and she had a great view of me coming down – I’m sure she had a couple of nice laughs watching me freak out! We both had a hard time leaning backwards off the cliff trusting the ropes – it’s just not natural. But we made it and it was a great experience for us.

As we hiked back down the rest of the mountain, we passed lots of fox and reindeer tracks. We learned that although most bears hibernate in caves, some just bury themselves in the snow – so our lesson was to never mess with a hump of snow! Another good thing we learned was if you ever got stuck out in the cold or a storm came, you should dig a hole in the snow and bury yourself. This will keep you in a constant temperature of about -5 degrees Celsius. You should also put a red scarf on top so you can be found when people come looking for you.

We took some cool sleds down the street to the Homestead Restaurant for lunch that afternoon where we enjoyed some meat soup, salmon soup, lingonberry juice, and a chocolate ball. We stopped by the oldest wooden church in northern Sweden on the way back, and then we took a kip before our next activity.

That evening we drove snow mobiles in search of the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights are a beautiful green glow mixed with other colors caused from explosions from the sun and the gases hitting the atmosphere. They are always present in the Arctic Circle, but not always seen. They cannot be seen during the day and they cannot be seen when clouds are present. This excursion did not guarantee that we would see them, and many times people who go on this trip do not.

The snow mobile ride through the dark forest was outstanding – pure beauty that cannot be described. We stopped for a break and our guide showed us “beard moss” that is a great way to start a fire from a flint. It was so cold that we had ice on our helmets! We drove way out to a cabin where our guides cooked up an excellent meal for us over an open fire – we had salmon sandwiches, moose soup, cheese sandwiches, coffee, and lingonberry juice. The described the Northern Lights and talked life in the Arctic – they are actually moving the city of Kiruna because they found lots more iron ore under its current location.

As we were finishing our dinner, one of the guides came and got us as the Northern Lights had appeared! We all rushed out and I cannot describe the incredible site that we saw. We had seen them the night before on our Sami Experience, but it was not as good as this. I will just say that it was an awesome display of green with some red mixed in, and the lights were moving as if they were dancing. This lasted for about 30-40 minutes, and our guide said that this was a really good one to see – we are very thankful to have had this experience. Unfortunately, our pictures did not turn out, so we can’t show you what we saw that night – but it was incredible!

Tim proposed to Jess under the Northern Lights – I don’t think you can get much more romantic than that! We all celebrated with a bottle of champagne later that night (thanks for including us). Congratulations to both of you – we are very happy for you and we are really glad that we met. We hope to come visit you in Yorkshire some time!

Every good thing must come to an end, but we went out with a bang. We took a moose safari on our way back to the airport. We saw lots of huge moose, some reindeer, and Jill even found a red fox. We also saw a patamagin (white snow bird) both on the safari and the night before. The sky was extremely beautiful that day – the sun reflected hot pink and orange, and this mixed with the snow-covered ground is really a beautiful atmosphere. It’s really neat to see the solid white frozen lakes because there are no trees or anything – just a huge solid white open area. This safari was in an unusual pieced of transportation for the area – a van. The local traffic consists mainly of snow mobiles, dog sleds, reindeer sleds, etc. And although some paths have been created, you can pretty much make your own road.

Other stuff:
We got together with our American friends for Thanksgiving – lots of great food, fun, and laughter. We were really glad that we were able to eat turkey since we didn’t make it home for the holiday. A special thanks goes out to the Triefenbachs for hosting such a great dinner.

What else? The dollar has been very weak lately – it’s been hanging around 1.98 dollars to one pound. We should be able to buy twice as much in the States right now! Just to give you an idea of the multi-cultural feel of London, we had American, British, Indian, Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Italian, and Greek food all in one week!

We got together with Andrew, Kelly, Rino, and Beth and went to Wimbledon Village for a Russian Christmas market. After that we all went to a pub and had some pints and got to know each other better. We met some people from Samford (Alabama) who were in London to study theater. The next weekend, we went ice skating at the Tower of London with Andrew, Kelly, Jeremy, and Katy – great atmosphere skating around in the moat! We finished that evening with three drinks each – the bill was 55 pounds per couple – that’s over 100 US dollars! This gives you an idea of how expensive it is in London.

Justin cooked his famous roast for us before we left on holiday for the Ice Hotel – one word – delicious! Any time you want to cook that again, let us know! Thank you very much!

I won my division in Fantasy Football and the playoffs are this weekend. I’m the underdog against Carter, but I’m going to put up a fight. The reigning Super Bowl Champs won’t go down that easy!

We’re actually in the air now on our way home for Christmas! We had loads of fun in the airport (as usual). Jill had already spoken to Delta (both in the UK and the US) and they said we could carry on a laptop plus one bad and a purse plus one bag. So we pack lots of special breakable items in our carry-on (like we usually do) and when we went through security, they would only allow one bag each (purse and laptop now count). So we had no choice but to check our bags with our breakables (even though they had “fragile” stickers on them, the sure didn’t treat them that way).

I just had to turn off my laptop because it was so bumpy – glad that’s over! We just landed in Atlanta and sat on the runway for 40 minutes waiting on a gate to open. You guessed it – this caused us to miss our connecting flight to Birmingham. Next flight – 4 hours later! What a day!

We can’t wait to see everyone – it’s been almost six months since we’ve been home (remember that I canceled my August trip home due to the terrorism stuff). We know the kids have been growing like weeds – we can’t wait to see what they’re up to! I’m actually going to very extremely busy with work during our time in the US – I fly to Phoenix tomorrow for a couple of days, and before we come back I have to go to Phoenix again, Atlanta, and Orlando. We just landed – it’s 72 degrees Fahrenheit; we were in 0 degrees two days ago – nice 72 swing!

Check out our new pictures here – Ice Hotel and London. We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year! Don’t forget to remember the reason for the season. Until next year, we love and miss you all! Take care and God bless!