New Year's Eve

After sledding in the morning, lunch and then a quiet time, we went to neighbors Catherine and Per's house for afternoon tea and biscuits! They are new friends of ours and have a son who is just a little bit younger than Tryfan. Fortunately they live just around the corner from us and so we didn't have far to travel. All 3 kids played alongside each other really nicely and so we adults could actually have a decent conversation!

We went straight from there to our neighbors across the road for a full fancy dinner and evening to bring in the New Year. Tryfan and Rhiannon took turns using my camera and they are actually getting better at taking photos. I made this collage using some of the better ones:
The mandatory family photo
Rhiannon and Kristoffer at the dinner table. They were giggling and talking in their own secret code the whole night, although I am pretty sure that most of their language is made up of the words 'baesj', 'tiss' and 'promp' (poo, pee and fart). They sure thought they were funny though!
We had a delicious dinner with nice wine to go with it and the kids played together really well with no tears or injuries, and then we took them outside for some sparkler fireworks before bed.
We brought their jammies over with us and so all the kids went to sleep while we adults stayed up talking and drinking wine. We went outside to light off fireworks in the front yard (as all Norwegians seem to do) under a partially obscured blue moon and falling snow, opened some bubbly and brought in 2010! When it was time to go home around 1:30am, we simply carried the kids still inside the duvets and put them straight into their beds. Nobody woke up until 8:30am the next day... Success!

Other Romjul happenings

I forgot to mention a couple of other things that have been happening this week. First, Rhodri and I (with Bentley) have been able to take turns x-c skiing every day this week. We can actually ski from our driveway down the road (which is packed snow without gravel on it) to Ulvenvannet lake and ski across that to the groomed trails at Kjekstedmarka. Luxury! I so love the minimal prep and mobilization work that is required to x-c in this way. So even though it has been really cold, we've taken turns enjoying the gorgeous ski conditions. The perfect snow, clear skies and full moon ski tours have been a highlight of this week.

Second, Tryfan has been really keen on using the toilet this week. I think he is a bit too young to be doing this, so we have not been prodding him or actively encouraging him to do this. However, we do have an M&M Incentive Program and Tryfan looooves sweets! So he has been practicing his pee-on-demand skills as well as a #2 in the potty on one occasion.

The #2 production scene was quite humorous although he was alone in the bathroom during the episode so we didn't actually witness it! Based on the 'evidence' there was something that went straight into the potty which was followed by a surprised, standing-up movement which resulted in some more 'evidence' in a different location which he attempted to relocate to the primary location (inside the potty) without success. What Rhodri and I saw was a nekkid running boy with brown hands... Eeehwww!! And that's when we discovered the evidence and pieced together what must have happened. We tried to be happy and enthusiastic and proud of him while at the same time laughing hysterically and trying to contain the brownness from spreading onto clothes, skin and hair. All of the excitement and strangeness of it brought tears to poor Tryfan's eyes, but I think the handful of M&M's helped convince him that he did a good thing. Anyway, I apologize for the graphic nature of this post, but as this blog also serves as our memoirs, this week wouldn't be complete without including it!

Romjul

I learned this week about "Romjul", which is the term given to the period of time between Christmas and New Year. We've had a quiet Romjul and it has been really nice. After our ski outing Monday, the temperature dropped to -20 C for a few days in a row and we stayed cozy inside. Today it warmed up and we got some sledding in.
Rhiannon and Tryfan did a good job of cooperating to get maximum usage out of the sled. Although it belongs to Rhiannon, she has found that if there is another person sitting behind her, the sled goes faster! So their system is for Rhiannon to pull and Tryfan to push the sled up to the top of the hill, both climb on, wait for a sign that the street is clear, and then zoom down. Our neighbors Kristoffer and his Daddy joined in the action, and in fact they have expanded the sled run to have a cheeky little chicane as it crossed the street and dog-legs to the right for a continuation along the side of their house. Fun!
In other news, we were delighted to receive a package from California that had a new doll in it for Rhiannon. The doll's name varies daily but her current name is "Goleta Laleea". Whatever. Apparently Goleta gets along pretty well with the rest of the baby dolls in Rhiannon's flock.
And so this afternoon we have plans to go to a neighbor's house for afternoon tea and then to another neighbor's house (Kristoffer and his family) for a posh New Year's Eve dinner.

Unpleasant start to the season

We kicked off the [cross country] ski season this year with our friends Fiona, Karl-John, Finn and Magnus. Today was brilliantly clear and cold, with soft snow in every direction. Perfect! We decided to go to Kjekstedmarka which is really close by our house. The trip started with a steep downhill followed by a steep uphill, and then it was pretty flat for the rest of the tour. Since Finn, Magnus and Rhiannon skiied together at the end of last season, we thought it might be good for everyone to team up again. Good in theory, but..
... we were not too far from the parking lot when the whining and crying started. We decided at that point to do a one-way trip and have the Daddies ski back to get the cars and meet us on the other side of the lake we skiied across. Here we all are (except Rhiannon who was blazing ahead behind me) getting ready to cross the lake. Tryfan was in the pulk towed by Rhodri.
Crossing the lake by Dikemark on an ungroomed ski trail. Karl-John, Rhiannon, Magnus and Fiona were leading and Rhodri was pulling Finn and Tryfan in the pulk by this point. It only went downhill from here... Tryfan was crying non-stop and we still haven't figured out why. He might have just been generally cold and miserable. It was, after all, -11 C.
The point at which it all went to hell. We have crossed the lake now and are on the other side by the soccer fields/ beach. All skis have been removed, snacks and hot chocolate broken out to be shared but it was too late. This is when the Daddies went back to get the cars (lucky them!). I think Rhiannon was the only one not crying in this photo.
So the Daddies got the cars and helped us all get back to them, drive the 2 minutes back to our house and thaw out. I think today set a new record for most disastrously, enormously unpleasant of an outing with children! We laughed about it later, of course, when we were toasty inside with cups of tea and leftover Christmas cake that Fiona had made and the kids were playing together in the living room without our supervision.
But at least we got the first outing over with. Hopefully our next one will be better!

Beautiful Boxing Day

When we woke up today, we discovered that we had another 18 inches of fresh snow that had fallen overnight. So great! Actually it was still snowing in the morning and didn't stop until about 2pm. We spent a good part of the day outside in the driveway sledding. This is the view out to the backyard, taken ~3pm.
The troops built this fort in the living room and were happily munching on Christmas sweets and giggling together in the early morning. Tryfan's head is peeking out to the right side of the fort in this photo.
Some sledding action down the driveway: Rhiannon steering and Tryfan holding on tight!

When Tryfan was taking a nap, Rhiannon and Bentley and I went for a walk through the neighborhood. I hooked up Bentley's harness to the towrope of Rhiannon's sled and voila!
We walked down to the canoe launching spot and were surprised to see water that wasn't frozen. It was so lovely with the waxing crescent moon, clear skies and whiteness everywhere.
While I was sitting in a snowdrift making sure no cars were coming so that Rhiannon could sled down the driveway, I saw these snowflake crystals next me and took a photo using the 'macro' focus.
I was amazed that with some photo editing tools my gray blurry photo was transformed to this!
This is the view out the kitchen door to the backyard while I am trying to capture just how much snow is back there -- it is usually 2 steps down from the kitchen door to the deck below! Bentley's nose is just visible to the left of the photo for some scale.

Christmas Day

It's hard to imagine a more Christmasy Christmas than this day has been. We woke to about a foot of fresh snow, and then it snowed all day long. Just exactly the kind of day that we had all been hoping for.
Thank goodness we didn't have to drive anywhere because it was lovely and wonderful to just savour the day in our own time. Santa brought us a waffle iron, so we were able to make waffles for breakfast! We talked on skype video to the Welsh contingent and that was great fun. We opened presents slowly and deliberately and tried to make time to enjoy each one. We were sent some really lovely presents from family and friends, and Santa delivered a steerable sled to Rhiannon while Tryfan got fireman boots (wellies). Great excitement! Rhodri and I gave just one present for both kids to share - this Peter Pan video which we all watched together later in the day.
Just like Rhiannon with her elf hat, it is difficult to get these boots off of our little Tryfan!
We spent most of the day inside, but we did let go outside to play in the snow for the last hour or so of daylight so that Rhiannon could test out her new sled. Then we had a delicious roast lamb and veg dinner that Rhodri made, talked to the California contingent of the family on skype after dinner, and had an early bedtime. There can't be too many occasions in life more magical or special than Christmas spent with children aged 2 and 4 (and the snow outside with a cozy fire in the fireplace was a great bonus).

Christmas Eve

In Norway, Christmas Eve is what it's all about. That is when everyone has a big dinner with their family and sometimes Santa Claus (Julenissen) comes to visit the house and deliver presents in person! We spent Christmas Eve with our friends Fiona, Karl-John and their twin boys Finn and Magnus. The last time we saw them was in September when we all went canoeing together, but it didn't take long for the laughing, chasing and playing to begin. Here are Tryfan, Magnus, Rhiannon and Finn.
We had a very civilized and traditional Christmas Eve dinner of ribbe (pork belly), brussel sprouts, potatoes and applesauce, with English trifle for dessert! Yumm.
After dessert when the troops were back into play and chase mode, we heard the doorbell ring! We hurried down the stairs to catch a glimpse of Santa.... Here they are waiting for Rhodri to open the door! Finn was hiding behind his Mama's legs because he was a bit scared.
Alas, Santa had already gone but he did leave a bag with presents in it for the 4 kids.
Truly a wonderful magical Christmas Eve. We spent the drive home trying to spot Santa's sleigh and reindeer in the sky.
Before going to bed, we made sure to leave cookies and milk for Santa, then read "Twas the Night before Christmas".

Sweden!

We had a mostly good trip to Gothenburg, Sweden earlier this week. It was very exciting and fun to be on a road trip and the kids were pretty good in the car looking for Christmas trees, reindeer hiding in the woods and fields that we passed, and tractors. We left at 9:15am and got to Gothenburg ~1:30pm with only one pit stop along the way. We [stupidly] drove right into the city center and found a place to park, then walked around downtown for a bit before going to check in at the hotel. We stayed at Gothia Towers because it was adjacent to the Liseberg Park where there was a grand Christmas celebration with lots of lights, market stalls, etc. Normally I avoid places like this because it is all "CANDY CANDY! HYPER LIGHTS LOTS OF PEOPLE!" but we figured we would give it a try since Rhiannon's friend Sofia and her Mama are Gothenburg natives and wanted to meet us here. So anyway, we went there for a couple of hours on Monday night and it was a bit hellish but then it was over. Sofia and Rhiannon were happy to see each other and run around. Here is the scene..
Once into our hotel room, we made a nest on the floor for Rhiannon and Tryfan to sleep toes-to-toes. We were on the 14th floor and so had a lovely view over the Liseberg Park we had just been to. Here is Rhodri telling a bedtime story to the troops.
Once the kids were quiet, Rhodri and I went upstairs to the restaurant on the top floor and had such a delicious meal sans kids! We had the monitor with us so we could hear if they made any peeps (which they didn't). Hurray for us!

Tuesday morning we watched cartoons while all of us lounged in bed, then went downstairs to a great buffet breakfast. The troops were very eager to ride on a tram so after much hassle involving checking out, finding another place to leave the car, finding correct Swedish coinage to pay for parking, we hopped on a tram and went to the Universeum (Science center/ aquarium/ indoor rainforest). Here they are on the tram. Note that Rhiannon is *still* wearing the elf hat. She wakes up each morning, puts it on right away and then doesn't take it off until bedtime.
It was a pretty good Science Center and we spent about 3 hours there before starting the drive home. Here is Rhiannon walking on a rope bridge over a pool of fish and rays and other sealife.
So it was a good place to spend the morning and get some wiggles out before driving home. The kids slept in the car on the way home and we stopped at a shopping center to stock up on food and beverages (Sweden is quite a bit cheaper than Norway for this stuff). We got home about 8pm last night. A good trip, definitely worth the effort. And now we are happy to stay put for a little bit here in Asker for the holidays.

Finally, a Christmas tree

Today we finally got our Christmas tree! Most people in Norway seem to wait until around this time to get their tree, so we were not the last ones. There are plenty of gas stations with trees for sale in their parking lots, but we wanted to get ours from a local farm (as we did last year). Fortunately there is a farm just across the road from where we live!
Rhiannon's best friend Sofie and Tryfan's best friend Johanne came over to our house with their Daddy first, and then after some inside playing we walked over to the farm. We pulled the little kids in sleds. Here are Tryfan and Johanne sharing a pulk as we were getting ready to go.
They are so cute together since they have matching snowsuits! Here they are in front of a tractor at the farm.
The afternoon turned a bit chaotic after this photo was taken... the little ones were ready for naps, the big kids wanted to go for a ride in the sleigh pulled by a horse but there were many people waiting in line before we could go, we all forgot to bring money, and it was cold and snowing! So I ended up walking home with Tryfan and Johanne and putting them to sleep in Tryfan's bed while the Daddies rode on a horse-drawn sleigh to find Christmas trees in the forest. Anyway, we got a lovely tree in the end and eventually the day finished. Some days are a struggle. But tomorrow... we are going to Sweden! We are really excited because none of us have ever been there so we are staying at a hotel downtown Gothenburg for one night. Yay!

Making pepperkaker

We went to our friends Henry, Elianne, Jack and Felix's house today and we all sat down to make gingerbread (aka pepperkaker) at their dining table. So lovely! Felix and Tryfan were mostly focused on just eating as much dough as possible, but the rest of us made nice cookies.
They kindly invited us to stay for dinner and we accepted! Rhiannon took this photo of all of us (except Jack who had already left to visit his friends nearby). It was a really great afternoon and evening.

Kjekstedmarka tur

Today was really cold again, though slightly warmer than the past couple of days. It got down to -16 C at our house yesterday but today it was a balmy -10 C. We went on a family outing to some nearby woods (called Kjekstedmarka) that I had never been to before.
Tryfan got to ride inside the pulk and [eventually] sleep while Rhiannon sat on top and held on tight! Normally we ski when we pull the pulk behind us, but there are no groomed ski trails yet and the snow isn't too deep so we just walked.
The ground was very pockmarked with deep footprints in the snow which had been frozen and then re-snowed upon, so it was a bumpy and at times exciting ride for the troops. Here is a little video showing part of our expedition.

The fog had frozen to the leafless branches of all the deciduous trees. I just love it when this happens - the trees are completely transformed.

Nissefest

Today was the annual Nissefest (Elf Party) at barnehage! Everyone dressed in their elf outfits and they were so cute.

Celebrating sunrise

Today Bentley and I went on our daily scamper to the Asker golf course (after taking the kids to barnehage) and were treated to a gorgeous sunrise around 9:20am. Here is the view from the 9th fairway (also a favorite spot for sledding although the hill isn't visible from this picture).
Bentley, sooo happy to be free to sprint, pounce and nuzzle in the snow.
Further up the 9th fairway watching the first rays come up on the side of Vardaasen hill. I love looking at the evergreen forest standing proud and imposing behind the delicate deciduous trees.
It is so wonderful to take the time to appreciate such things as sunrises. I am very grateful for this day.

Meeting Santa at a farm

On Sunday we went to the Company Children's Christmas Party which was on a farm north of Oslo. "Julenissen" (aka Santa Claus) made an appearance and so we lined up to meet him. Here they are, next in line to go shake Santa's hand! Tryfan was skeptical but really excited and Rhiannon was just plain excited.
Santa gave big bags of candy to each child - we are rationing them in our house now, a couple of pieces everyday after barnehage if they use good manners to ask for them.
Rhiannon also got to ride a horse by herself, which she was extremely proud of! There was a long line so she and I stood in it until we got to the front and then she got scared and didn't want to go, but got on anyway and held tight for a walk around the corral (led by the lady below).
Here is a close-up of her face from the previous photo. I love how visible her pride is here.
The whole afternoon (3-5pm) was great though cold and without much snow. We saw lots of familiar faces and friends here but didn't get too much time to chat as all the kids wanted to go their own way and weren't keen on just sitting by the fire socializing.

On the drive there and back, and in fact anytime we are in the car these days, Tryfan is on the lookout for Christmas trees (with lights on them, as they are the only kind visible on these dark days). He gets really excited when he sees one, and it doesn't matter if we see 50 of them over a matter of minutes, the 51st Christmas tree is just as exciting as the 1st. I love this undulled enthusiasm, although it is hard to maintain equally enthusiastic replies to him without getting the urge to be sarcastic. No WAY! A Christmas tree? With lights on it?! On your side of the car?! Wow!

Rhiannon's birthday party

Today we celebrated Rhiannon's birthday by having 9 of her friends (mostly from barnehage) come over. After eating some cheese quesadillas (totally non-traditional Norwegian food for a birthday party, but I am SO sick of hot dogs!), we played "Musical Statues". Here are the kids dancing to Mamma Mia...
After playing a couple of games and then just letting the kids run wild for awhile, we opened presents. Everyone sat in a circle with their gift and Rhiannon spun a bottle in the middle to see who would give their gift next. A couple of the parents stayed for the whole party which turned out to be great since they could help with the language translations!
After another session of running wild (jumping off the chair and couch, racing cars down the hallway, pretending to be babies in Rhiannon's bed, so on and so on..), we all sat around the table one more time for some cake. I made a birthday train out of Jello and we had some gingerbread cookies that Rhiannon and I had decorated earlier in the day.
Here is a close up of the birthday Jello train. I used empty milk and juice cartons as forms and did a mix of packet 'Gele' and plain gelatin sweetened with grape juice. We had vanilla sauce on top of the Jello and it was all very yummy (if i do say so myself!).
For the birthday finale, we had each of the kids shout down their hellos and say their names for the troll that was hiding downstairs. The troll would shout back that he was only a very nice troll and they could have a goodie bag as thank you for coming. Well, the troll meant to say this but as he was improvising in pidgeon-norsk and trying to talk in a very gruff but nice voice, I don't know if he was completely understood! We had a basket tied onto the end of a rope in the middle of the stairwell that the kids pulled up from the downstairs troll to receive their goodie bag. And that was the two hours gone! I think everyone had a good time but we were happy when it was finished. Phew!