The island...... Saturday morning we walked across town carrying all our food and beverages for the weekend and boarded a fairy bound for a small swedish island. The boat ride in itself was enough fun for one day as you could see from the water how really beautiful stockholm is. A little over an hour later we reached our destination. Marcus and Esa were waiting for us with their two toddlers in tow. As we stepped off the boat we couldn't believe how beautiful and mysterious this seemed. Their are only less than 100 homes on this island and no cars,so it has a really wild and free feeling. The trail to the house was so beautiful. Aylas granddaughters held hands, while wearing their rubber boots and picked wild blueberries and strawberries on the trail. That was such a cute sight. i was surprised to see how private their cabin was, for some reason I expected all the houses to be right next to each other, but they have the most serene green grassy area, and from the cabin you can see the baltic sea, every now and then the white sails of a boat would gently roll by. We again were blessed with the most incredible warm weather. This meant a lovely day swimming in the sea and warming ourselves on the rocks. Esa is a fabulous cook. For lunch we ate traditional swedish lunch with pickled herring and lox and potatoes. I really love this. For dinner we ate a meal that we could have gone to the most expensive swedish restaurant and not had it be that good. They grilled all sorts of fresh vegetables which they served with this incredible chevre mousse. Then their was grilled venison with caramelized onion compound butter which she had made. She and marcus are so incredibly hospitable and generous. They prepared the most delicious meals which we ate on their deck enjoying the peaceful sounds of nature. They also have a great sauna that we spent hours in, then would run to the sea to cool ourselves in the fresh cold water.. The best part came in the evening though when we all went into the sunroom, in a candlelit room we sat all night sipping champagne and coffee. jimmy and marcus took turns playing the guitar and singing and then the real treat came when esa this sweet, soft spoken girl privileged us with her singing. It never fails to amaze me when small soft people can surprise you with such a powerful strong and angelic voice. She sang traditional swedish songs that made momika cry. Her and marcus sang a lovely duet, together they filled the room with a magical combination of music that warmed our hearts and as I sat there and drank in the sweet music I knew this was an evening I will never forget. Soon Yarmo even sang a song, some sort of finnish song and from what I have been told this is a rare treat. He was giggling so hard that he had tears in his eyes. I absolutely love yarmo and alya( even though I know i am horribly misspelling their names and the names of their offspring) Yarmo is one of the few men in my life that I would give the complement of reminding me of my father. He clearly has no mean or dishonest bones in his body. He is a more outgoing version of my dad but like my dad he is one of those people who wouldn't have it come up into his heart to be unkind. Ala is equally as good and kind and one of the funnest woman I have ever known. So in this room full of windows with the glow of the soft swedish summer air and candles and champagne glasses and some of the best people I have met in my life we sat laughing and singing and talking until the sun welcomed a brand new day to do it all over again. This whole weekend was a real treat. When monday came and we boarded our boat to stockholm we all waved from the deck of the boat and said goodbye to our new friends until the island slowly disappeared out of our sights, but never our minds and hearts.