Weekend at Lifjellstua

We spent this past weekend at a mountain lodge about 2 hours drive from Asker called Lifjellstua [www.lifjellstua.no]. We drove down on Friday afternoon (both kids slept for almost the entire drive), then back home on Sunday afternoon (same again!). The photo below was taken Saturday evening during a clarity breaks -- the rest of the weekend was spent in snowy fog. In fact, the encroaching fog is visible in the left part of this photo.The vision was that Rhodri and I would get out and do some cross-country skiing while the grandparents looked after the kids. Good in theory, but in practice was a bit trickier. Still, we managed to get some skiing in on all 3 days. Even though the visibility was poor, it was so nice to be able to just ski away from the front door of the lodge and enjoy the famous Telemark ski region a little bit. Rhiannon got to play outside in the snow with her Grandpa Carl a couple of times too while Grandma Debi hung out with Tryfan.
Fortunately, we nearly had the whole place to ourselves! This turned out to be a really great thing because we ended up taking over the living room area -- lounging on couches and reading, nursing, drinking tea or hot chocolate, talking, coloring and looking out the windows.
Another toddler named Sondre arrived on Saturday and became fast friends with Rhiannon. The two of them had a blast chasing each other around the place and stealing each other's toys.
They served outstanding local food here, and we were able to put the kids to bed (a non-trivial task to say the least!) and enjoy dinner as adults only both nights. Good thing we brought the baby monitors so that we could hear when Trouble(s) starting to wake.
We had a 'family room', which meant that we had bunk beds and a hide-a-bed couch. We didn't use the couch, but we borrowed a travel crib for Rhiannon and Tryfan slept on the bottom bunk with me while Rhodri was on the top bunk. None of us slept very well either night, but we made it through the weekend!
There were quite a few scenes that we didn't take photos of, but which were quite memorable nonetheless. On Saturday, we were supposed to go for a Snowcat tour of the mountains on a tractor-like thing but the weather shut the trip down. Here is Carl during one of his upright ski moments ;-)
Of course, we didn't know that the tour was canceled until after we had very chaotically got suited up in all of our snow kit (and skiing kit, since Rhodri, Carl and I were going to ski 8 km back to the lodge) and walked through the driving foggy snow about 200 m. Sometimes it is just such a huge effort to get out the door, and this time was especially monumental having hurriedly packed extra diapers, wipes, water, snacks, hats, mittens, and then put a tired and crying Tryfan in the Ergo while Rhiannon was wailing about not wanting to sit on a tractor. Quite a scene! It was a relief that the thing got canceled and we could go back and drink hot chocolate by the fire.

Easter party video

Here is a little video that I took at the Easter Party last weekend. I was wearing Tryfan in the Ergo, so the last few seconds are of him tucked up under the Ergo hood and shielded from the snow with my scarf. Enjoy!

Another full day

We had another full day today, starting with a trip to the gym and then lunch and errands around town. For a special treat in the afternoon, we drove to Vollen Bakeri and met our friend Beate with her daughters Carina and Yasmin. Here is Yasmin sitting on Carina's lap and wanting to play with Tryfan's Miss Piggy doll.Tonight we even managed to sneak out and see a movie while the Grandparents babysat. Thank you, Grandparents!

Ambitious plans

I had a grand plan for this morning that actually worked out pretty well! My parents and both kids and I set out at 9am for the gym in the falling snow. We can't all fit in the car at the same time, so that meant someone (turned out to be Grandpa Carl) had to walk into town pushing Tryfan in the stroller. We met up with Elin and her two kids (Sofie and Johanne) at the gym and turned all the kids loose in the nursery/ playroom while we adults got some exercise. Then after rounding everyone up and nursing the babies in the lobby, we walked over to Baracoa cafe in Asker sentrum for lunch. Sofie and Rhiannon took a break from chasing each other around to color in some coloring books that the cafe provided.As I have been writing this down, I realize that really its not all that ambitious of a plan, but somehow the snow falling and the snow on the ground and the 2 kids and the 2 strollers and the can't-fit-everyone-in-the-car situation makes the day feel ambitious! We survived though, and celebrated the rest of the afternoon by reading and hanging out inside.

1st Annual Easter Party

The forecast was for snow and I invited a lot more people than I expected to actually show up, so it was always going to be a bit unpredictable...but our 1st Annual Easter Party was a huge success!
Here are Rhiannon, Sofie and Sofia -- the Barnehage Brigade. As soon as Rhiannon found a single chocolate Easter bunny, she didn't care about anything else. She just clung tight to the bunny and savored each little nibble until it was all gone. It is barely visible in her paws below.
Grandpa Carl hid the colored eggs and lots of other foil-wrapped chocolate goodies that they brought especially from the USA for the event. Grandma Debi spent hours last night turning strawberry baskets (again from the USA) into Easter baskets with braided handles for each child to have. As our guest list grew and grew, she had to keep building Easter baskets! Our final head count was 25 adults and 20 kids (not counting babies).
Here are (l to r): Snorre, Rhodri (with the cowboy hat), Phil, Beate (with the braids), Michael, Jamie and Solveig enjoying some Aquavit poured from our special ice basket*.
Egg hunting in action, with the Minx in the lower right corner. We had a little snack corner with pølser and lomper (hot dogs in tortilla-like things), chips and guacamole, coffee and aquavit (in the aforementioned ice basket).
Then when all the eggs were found (Bentley found more than his fair share of the hard-boiled eggs!), we went back into the house for more snacks and playing. Great-Grandma Linda sent a dancing chicken (who sings with his beak moving and flaps his wings to "The Chicken Song") which proved to be a huge hit with all the kids!
Then everyone started getting tired and so lounged on the couch to watch some Thomas-the-Tank-Engine cartoons. Here are (l to r): Hattie, Victor, Charlie, David, Joseph, Sofia, Per, Rhiannon and Victoria.* = We froze a bottle of Aquavit inside a bucket of water filled with daffodils and heather and then took the plastic bucket away to reveal flowers frozen in ice surrounding the bottle. I got this idea from my Aunt Elizabeth many years ago.

Grandparents arrive!

Finally on Saturday morning my parents arrived from California! My Dad had never met Tryfan in person, and my Mom last saw him on the day he was born. Needless to say, it was a very happy reunion.We've already had some wonderful times together. Both Rhiannon and Tryfan took instantly to their grandparents and are thrilled to be able to sit on their laps and have stories read whenever they want. Rhodri and I were able to sneak away and do some cross-country skiing this afternoon for the first time all winter! Hurray for grandparents :-)

Optimism

A good friend of mine recently sent me an email with a link to Barack Obama's recent speech given on March 18th. I finally got a chance to sit down (actually I laid down) on the couch and listen to it. These 37 minutes of Obama speaking about race and future generations of the USA really resonated with me. I like how he is willing to talk -- really talk -- about an issue that is so taboo and complicated. At the risk of offending viewers by this divergent post, I feel such a careful but bubbling optimism when I listened to this speech that I thought I would provide the link here...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords

Not over yet

Just when we thought that the winter was over and spring was here, a nice big storm came into town and dumped ~ 1 foot of snow overnight (and still going). Hurray! We were the only ones outside playing in it this morning, and so we had the whole long sloping driveway to ourselves to sled down.Rhiannon was happy to be able to eat more fresh snow. She loves doing this, although we try to dissuade her from eating the brownish compacted stuff in the parking lot. Eww!

Playing together

Since we are all at home now for the Easter holidays, Rhiannon and Tryfan have been playing together a lot more. Ok well, sort of playing together. Only 1.5 days left until their grandparents get here!Tryfan's favorite toy right now is this Miss Piggy doll. He loves chewing on her sparkly pink gloved arms. Rhiannon's favorite game is taking away Miss Piggy and then giving it back to Tryfan while saying "Vaer saa godt, lille vennen" ("Here you are, little friend").

Foot in mouth

We were happily chewing our feet and listening to Kenny Wayne Shepherd when Rhiannon turned off the music.

Reach out and touch someone

Lately Tryfan has been sleeping in his own little bed in the room next to ours. It was lovely having him sleep in the bed with us for 4+ months, but now I think we all sleep better with him on his own. Anyway, I get up to nurse him usually 2-3 times a night when he wakes up, and if he wakes up anytime after 5am I bring him into bed with me. Today I was nursing him in bed from 5:30 am and we both fell back asleep for a couple of hours. When I opened my eyes, he was wide awake and just looking at me with his big eyes. Then he reached up and softly touched my cheek and smiled and it was just the sweetest thing ever! He is so curious now and wants to reach out and touch everything. He will be 5 months old tomorrow.PS. Yes I got my hair cut. I feel better with shortish hair

Oh so quiet

The rain has gone and so has the winter. Nearly all the snow has melted and it definitely feels like spring. It is Sunday afternoon, one week before Easter, and our neighborhood is deserted. Most of Norway left their homes on Friday afternoon and headed to their 'hyttes' (huts) in the mountains for the Easter holiday. Easter is a big deal here, and every shop and business shuts down for 6 days starting on Wed 19 March. We will stay here for Easter, since my parents are coming in less than a week! Yay!
Right now everyone is having an afternoon nap but me (I got to sleep in until 10:40am, after a long restless night). Rhodri is upstairs in bed, Tryfan is in his stroller in the front hallway, Bentley is on the sunlit rug by the window, and Rhiannon is out in the backyard in her stroller.
The air outside feels strange because it is just so quiet...the occasional car drives past, a lone woman walks down the gravel driveway, the kitchen clock ticks on. Our house is a mess but I don't dare start cleaning in case the noise breaks this golden silence (...sounds like a good excuse anyway!).

In the trenches (again)

Rhiannon ended up staying home all week, and we did have some good times but we had some extreme times as well! Two kids not feeling good is not much fun at all, and rain seems to make things worse. These photos show the demeanor of the two -- Tryfan smiling even though he is coughing and has a runny nose, Rhiannon a bit more surly and temperamental. But you get that on the big jobs (as Rhodri likes to say). Also, I am sending a big up to Rhodri for coming home from work twice this week to help get Rhiannon to sleep at lunchtime. Thanks, Rhods!
There were some moments when everyone (including Bentley) was howling and the only solution was to get outside into fresh air. Usually Tryfan was crying because he was tired and wanted fresh air to help him fall asleep, Rhiannon was desperate to get outside to the playground but didn't want to put her jacket on (or mittens or hat..), and Bentley needed to get out and pee!
We also used up the entire month's quota of "watching telly". I know the 50 Hz TV signal is not good for our little people's brains, but there were times when it was such a sanity saver. The problem is that now I cannot get that annoying song from "In the Night Garden" out of my head..."Yes my name is Iggle-Piggle..."

Rhiannon is starting to bust out with some funny stuff. One day when we were up at the playground, I called to Bentley because I couldn't see him and Rhiannon promptly yelled "Bentley, listen to Mama!" at the top of her voice. If only she would take her own advice!

'Cwtshing' on the couch

Its been a long few days. Rhiannon has been a little bit under the weather, and the weather has been pretty yucky lately (lots of rain, no snow, windy, and generally unpleasant). Times like these mean that we do a lot of 'cwtshing' (pronounced 'koo-ching', and is the Welsh word for cuddling) on the couch, in bed, in the favorite chair. Rhiannon stayed home from barnehage both Monday and Tuesday, so she has done a lot of cwtshing especially with her favorite little brother. We also have had a visitor for the past few days. My thesis adviser Steve was in town on business but we got to spend plenty of social time with him over the weekend and during the evenings. On Saturday we went into Oslo and toured Vigeland park while Rhodri was watching Wales beat Ireland in the Six Nations Rugby Tournament. Unfortunately, Rhodri forgot to put shoes on Rhiannon that day and it was raining (of course). Steve was a very good sport and we managed to walk around Oslo until we found a place to buy Rhiannon some new shoes. Too bad we were in the most expensive part of the city! I can't even say how much her shoes cost, but she did need some new ones anyway. Lets hope they last awhile...

Very specific ideas

Rhiannon has just had a burst of language breakthroughs recently. She is now able to say what she wants to say in English and in Welsh (depending on who she is talking to). It turns out that she has very specific ideas about what she wants: "I want cold water in this yellow cup please" or "Mama, sit down right here" or "Daddy, move your toast and read me this story". She also changes her mind quite frequently, so at the moment she has us moving and reading and sitting at her beck and call. Yes, it could get out of control but at the moment it is pretty fun!

A walk in the woods

On Sunday, we decided to all go for a walk in the woods. The idea was that I would carry Tryfan in the Ergo, Bentley would scamper, and Rhiannon would fall asleep in the frame backpack for her daily nap and we could all enjoy the spectacular sunny day. Things didn't turn out that way...this wasn't really a walk that one could fall asleep on.We started at Gulhella train station, about a 5 minute drive from home, and made our way up the flank of Vardaasen mountain (the mountain with the ski slope visible from our living room). After a bit, we detoured off the main path and took a smaller path which turned out to be less walking and more scrambling up and down outcrops of rock and across icy snow patches. But we both were (of course) VERY careful.
We didn't go all the way to the top because we realized that Rhiannon was never going to fall asleep in these conditions (although we kept looking skeptically further up the trail and saying "well, it looks like its going to flatten out a little bit..."). But we did get high enough to be rewarded with gorgeous views of the Oslofjord.Eventually Rhiannon did fall asleep -- once we were back on the main path and about 5 minutes away from the car. We just left her in the backpack next to the car while I nursed Tryfan and Rhodri read a magazine. Success!

Just us

We are back to being 'just us' in the house. It was a really fun week, but its nice to wind down a little bit and just chill out with not many activities. Tryfan has been so smiley and interactive lately, especially when Rhiannon is around.