Pure summer

We've been having a great weekend.
We haven't gone anywhere or even done much of anything besides toggle between playing up at the lekeplass (playground), playing in the backyard, playing in the frontyard, sleeping and eating. In the early mornings and sometimes early evenings, we have read books and watched various videos (Shaun the Sheep, Cars, Mary Poppins), but it is just weird to be inside at all when there is so much delicious sunlight. We have been reveling in the 3am - 11pm light as we come into the last few weeks of increasingly long daylight hours.
Although this isn't the greatest photo in the world, it was taken in a moment that was pure summer to me: Rhiannon with a sweaty head under her bike helmet, wearing thin cotton top and skirt with bare feet standing on the tire swing singing "Here comes Pippi Longstocking". I wish I could bottle up summer moments to save for the gloomy days of late autumn.
On Saturday afternoon, our friends Henry, Elianne, Jack and Felix came over. We hung out at the lekeplass jumping on the trampoline and kicking the soccer ball around, then we went back to the house for pizza and beverages. Here is Jack reading to Rhiannon and Felix (Tryfan had lost interest by this point). Felix is about 9 months older than Rhiannon and this was the first time that they really played well together, laughing and chasing and frolicking together the way that kids in the summertime should.
Rhodri and I tried something new this weekend - we put the kids to bed Sunday night and then played some golf from 7:30- 10pm at the Asker golfcourse while our neighbors babysat. It was a huge success, except that walking 8 holes of hilly golf at the end of a long day just completely wiped us out! I guess we need more practice...good thing that tomorrow is a public holiday so our weekend can continue.

First dentist visit

Rhiannon had her first visit to the dentist this morning and it was a success. The dentist didn't speak much English and I still don't speak much Norsk, but it worked out fine because Rhiannon has clean healthy teeth and there wasn't a whole lot to discuss! She was excited to get a sparkly bracelet and a new toothbrush afterwards. The entire visit took only 15 minutes and it was a mere 3 minute walk from our house, so in terms of visits of this nature, I rank this one as a huge success.

The grass is back

It is so beautiful here right now. All the soft bright green grass is back, the lilacs are in full bloom, and the sun is shining for about 18 hours a day! We had a slow recovery this weekend, a slow transition back to GMT+1. But it was great to just lay low and spend time at the lekeplass now that it is not buried under 4 ft of snow! The temperature is about 70 F/ 20 C with lows around 50 F/ 10 C at night.
Rhiannon has been particularly happy to be home, and her infectious smile rubs off on Tryfan even if he is in a grouchy mood. Here they are giddily eating cucumber on Saturday afternoon.
The kids have both been waking up around 9pm and having a hard time falling back asleep before 11pm (after being put to bed around 7pm). Ugh. But we will persist because we know they are best when they sleep at least 11 hours a night. Thank goodness we had a long weekend to transition from California time!

New skills

During our stay in Goleta, Tryfan learned how to jump! He also learned how to do a somersault (called "roly-poly" in our household) but that video will have to wait.

He also has started saying two words at a time together. His first word coupling was "hello kitty", followed by "more kitty", "oh boy", and "nei Nanon" (as in, "no Rhiannon"). He is pretty clear when he wants to communicate that he doesn't want something ("NEI!"), but when he does want something, he hasn't learned to nod his head or say "yes"/ "yah" -- he moves his jaw up and down instead! It took us awhile to work out that when he does this, effectively opening and closing his mouth, it means "yes".

The long journey back

Now that the gory details of our journey are thankfully blurring into a vague memory, I can sit and recapture it all.
We had a long journey back to Norway. Some bits were fine, even enjoyable, and other bits were pure agony. First we took the SB Airbus from Goleta to LAX. This was a good part. We took over the last 2 rows of the bus and everyone slept a little bit. Here we are at the start of our journey.
At LAX, we checked all 4 suitcases + 1 bicycle in for our flight and spent some time in the British Airways lounge. It's nice being able to hang out in the lounges, but we sure got some dirty looks from people (presumably for bringing small children in). This is stressful for me. I don't like people frowning at me or my family. And while I can understand Business travelers not finding it appropriate for wee ones to be reading and snacking alongside their elite selves, today there is no rule against it. I find it is a good opportunity for us to practice good manners, and it is a good opportunity for said elitists to see that there are some well-behaved children out there. Anyway, we still employ the strategy of "quitting while we are ahead", and thus our stay in the lounge was not as long as it could have been. But we were okay with that. It's good fun riding escalators up and down a hundred times!
The flight from LA to London had some terrible moments. Eventually the kids slept for about 4.5 hrs, which was almost half the 9.5 hr flight, so we had that going for us. The 'juice' we gave them seemed to take forever to kick in. They were just wired and giddy and fussy (even Rhiannon was this way), and it was painful. But eventually they fell asleep and we had to wake them up to get off the flight. Here they are en route to 'Flight Connections' at LHR.
Terminal 5 at LHR airport has an awful security zone. Usually we can zoom through the Fast Track because of our tickets, but this time the whole place was clogged and grouchy. After about 45 minutes we were through security and made a beeline for the BA lounge, which has a sound-proof children's play area. This part was good, and then the flight to Oslo was good except that Rhiannon slept the whole time and woke up reallllly grouchy. She refused to get out of her seat and didn't want me to touch her or her backpack, and we were holding up the whole line to get off the aircraft.
In the tizzied state I was in, I left my purse on the floor and didn't realize it until we had gone through Immigration. Of course, by this stage there is no way back to the aircraft and so I had to go to Baggage Claim, ask someone at the service desk for help. After a few minutes, someone had found the purse and I was told to go pick it up at Lost and Found in ~20 minutes. Well, 20 minutes came and went so we went to said place and were informed that lost items were delivered only twice a day, and the next time would be at 10:30pm (it was then ~4:30pm). Our three options were 1) wait until 1030pm, 2) go home and return at 10:30pm, or 3) go home and send someone else to return at 10:30pm. Ummm, no to all of the above. By this time I was in tears and so went to Information and begged for help. Fortunately the lady working there had herself one time traveled from California to Oslo with small children in tow and she understood our plight. She made some phonecalls and was able to deliver the bag to us 20 minutes later, even though she was off duty by that time. Thank you, nice lady at the airport! And note to future visitors to Oslo airport, don't make the mistake I did :-(
So anyway, once we reunited with my purse, we ran to catch the train to Asker. It was packed and our family got split up with Rh & Rh at one end with the larger luggage and Tryfs & I at the other end. But we made it to Asker 49 minutes later, picked up our car which friend Ravi had left for us, and finally got home in pouring rain.
Adjusting to the 9 hour time difference is ongoing. Fortunately Thursday was a public holiday here, and we had to take Friday off since barnehage was closed, so by Monday we should be all set and ready to enjoy the tail end of May.

Last day in Goleta

Our wonderful visit to California is at an end. On Sunday morning after the wedding, we had a belated Mother's Day brunch with most of the family. Breakfast burritos - yum! Here are Tryfan with Mom, Aunt Kim, Michael & Aunt Jana, Uncle Ben & Rachel & Aunt Dawnie, Ted & Grandma Linda.
Monday was one of Mom Debi's 'milestone' birthdays and we had a grand day.
First she and I went golfing at 6am with Aunt Carol and Jackie. Here we are post-golfing: Mom, Aunt Carol, me and Jackie, with Tryfan intruding on our photo. Jackie and I are the same height and she was trying really hard to be taller than me here!
There was a Laker (basketball) game on the telly, so Rhiannon spent the whole time bugging Uncle Eric, Aunt Kristin and my Dad by asking if they wanted to watch Mary Poppins or Cinderella instead.
We had a picnic at the beach to celebrate my Mom's birthday, but unfortunately the clouds and wind came in and it was pretty chilly!
We all got bundled up in blankets, jackets and made the best of it, but after an hour of this we decided to move the party back to the house. Here is my Mom with the kids, Rebecca, Aunt Hobbie and Grandma Bucky.
Once home, we had a more successful party. We all played "Pin the tail on the donkey", struck the pinata, and ate some cupcakes. Here is Grandma Bucky pinning a tail on the donkey.
Pinata time, with birthday cupcakes in the foreground.
My long lost friend Kim showed up when we got home from the beach, thus completing party perfection. (In my opinion, a perfect party must have 1-3 random (but known) people who unexpectedly join it.) Anyway, we have had a wonderful visit to California and can't believe that it is suddenly the end!

The fabulous "Ngans" wedding

Well, the deed is done and I have a new sister! Rebecca Ng is now wed to my brother Will Gans, and thus we have the new Ngans household (although they didn't legally combine their surnames). As you can see, Rebecca looked absolutely stunning and Will didn't look too bad either.
Earlier in the day on Saturday, the trusted family hairstylist Marcy somehow persuaded Rhiannon to have her hair done up in a "Princess style". Usually she refuses to have her hair brushed, washed or styled in any way, but Marcy was magic :-)
Family pose in front of Grandma Bucky's backyard, where the ceremony took place.
The Gans side of the family: us, Will, Rebecca, Kristin, Eric, Heidi, Mom Debi, Dad Carl.
Toasting at the reception with champagne (Rhodri), sparkling apple juice (Rhiannon), and an orange lollipop (Tryfan). Both kids were acting particularly whiney and miserable after the ceremony, and then after the pinata spilled candy out all over the deck we let the kids each have a lollipop and they both perked right up! Ah, the occasional blessing of sugar!
The day was beautiful for the ceremony at 4pm and then grew foggy and chilly during the reception. They had a pretty quick ceremony, starting with a rambunctious Groom Procession, which consisted of about 12 guys (including Will) running around whooping, blowing whistles, shouting and jumping - what an entrance! A bit later, my sister Heidi and I jointly read a passage from the book "Winnie-the-Pooh". This little dialogue between Owl and Christopher Robin was interrupted when a bee flew down Heidi's dress and I tried to fish it out. Eventually it did get out and flew away, but it was quite a funny episode. Of course, there were sincere and serious parts as well, but the whole event was absolutely enjoyable. The reception was fun, with good food and drink, lots of dancing and socializing. There were many people that I didn't get to catch up properly with, and I am sad about that, but that's how it goes at weddings.

Pre-wedding activities

Today was quite a busy day - lots of bustling around getting Grandma Bucky's house ready for the wedding ceremony and my parent's house ready for the reception tomorrow! First we had a ladies outing to the nail salon. Here is my Mom, me, Rebecca and Grandma Bucky (l to r).
Practicing in Grandma Bucky's transformed backyard.
Will and Rebecca in their Chinese wedding outfits at the rehearsal dinner at Glen Annie Golf Club.
We had a great dinner and the kids were very well behaved. Rhiannon told us that she was tired and wanted to lay down around 8pm, so I made a nest for her in the fireplace area of the bar and got her dressed into her jammies, and she was out like a light! Tryfan, on the other hand, had a 3.5 hour nap earlier in the day so he was ready to party until the end.
One sad thing that happened was that I accidentally stepped on Rhiannon's foot with my high heel - OUCH! There was some blood and Rhiannon sure milked it for all it was worth. But she should be all fine for the wedding tomorrow. We are all so excited!

SB Wine Country visit

We spent today in the Santa Ynez valley with my cousin Ryan and our friends Heidi, Brett, Elke (3) and Tate (18 mo). First we visited Ryan's house, rode his tractor, looked around his house and then visited a nearby miniature horse farm. Here is Ryan in the foreground with Rhodri driving the tractor with Elke and Rhiannon on his lap.
There were so many new baby horses! They were really cute but since we couldn't go inside the pastures, the kids were more interested in the bugs crawling on the ground.
We had a picnic at Fess Parker's winery a few miles away from Ryan's house. This winery has the best soft grassy lawn, complete with picnic tables in the shade. We adults took turns going inside for some wine tasting. Great!
Bare feet in soft shady grass on a hot day - life doesn't get much better than this.
Rhiannon and Elke had a good time jumping off the picnic table and anchoring Ryan's legs to the ground.
Today had the rare distinction of turning out exactly how I had hoped - a successful wine tasting expedition with 4 small children in a gorgeous place!

Mother's Day 2009

On Sunday when we were camping, us ladies left the Dads in charge while we escaped downtown for some girl time. It was so great! We tried on clothes at Anthropologie (one of our favorite shops) and then had lunch at Palazzio's before heading back in time for a great BBQ that my parents put on for us.
Ice cream cones for everyone at the BBQ. Here are Isabella, Elke, Tate, Rhiannon, Tryfan, Tyler and Aidan.
The BBQ scene with the 4 of us camping families, my parents, Grandma Bucky, cousin Wheeler and friends Butch and Dorothy in the background.

Camping extravaganza at the beach

After our night of luxury, we scooped up the kids and went camping at El Capitan State Beach with 3 other families as a Mother's Day celebration with 3 other families that have kids the same ages. This was a much anticipated weekend as we booked the campsite back in February! I have hundreds of photos, but here are just a few.
Our whole group (except Tryfan who was sleeping in the car): [back row]: Rhodri, Espi, Mike, Heidi, little Tate, Brett; [front] Rhiannon, Isabella, Elke, Aidan, Deanna, Tyler, Lisl, Lisa and Lexy the dog.
Us in front of our new tent! It is so great - has 2 bedrooms with a open lounge area in the middle.
Sleep, beautiful sleep :-)
The very popular stomp rocket that Lisa & Isabella brought.
Eating dinner at the tiny person table. Many art projects were also conducted here in between meals.
Deanna teaching the lil ones (Rhiannon, Tyler, Elke and Isabella) how to toast "s'mores" over a campfire. None of the girls had ever been exposed to s'mores, and they all had different reactions to it. Elke's eyes turned into saucers and she poked it to make sure it was real, then happily nibbled away until it was all gone; Rhiannon waited until it had cooled off a bit, then quickly gobbled it up; and Isabella just stared at hers for awhile and then politely put it aside and gazed into the flames. Tyler had clearly experienced s'mores many times before, so he coolly sat back and ate his without any fanfare.
We just had to walk down a staircase from our clifftop campsite down to this lovely beach.
Tryfan happily shoveling sand and jumping at the same time.
More photos to come, especially of our Mother's Day BBQ dinner at my parent's house!

Night of luxury

As a delayed celebration of our 10-year anniversary, Rhodri and I left the kids with their grandparents for about 24 hours and we had our own little adventure at Ojai Valley Inn & Spa. It was a huge success! We called a couple of times to check in, but the urchins didn't even seem to miss us. They were just fine, no crying or grouchiness when they were put to bed, and when they woke up on Friday morning, they weren't bothered that Mama and Daddy weren't sleeping in their normal spot. I think we may have to do this sort of thing again...
In addition to being a special place to stay, the Ojai Valley Inn also has a really great golf course so we played in the morning in the delightful company of our longtime friend and golf companion, Jacques. Back when we lived in San Diego, the 3 of us used to golf every Sunday afternoon at Singing Hills golf course starting around 3pm and would follow it up with Cadillac margaritas and a great dinner in the bar. Needless to say, we were really happy and grateful that Jacques was willing and able to drive all the way up from San Diego that morning and play golf with us.

Grandpa's garden

Grandpa Carl has a very cool garden, which is producing celery, lettuce, radishes, swiss chard and lots of beets at the moment. Rhiannon helped him harvest some goodness for dinner.
This is a raised-bed garden, built by layers of alfalfa, newspaper, and hay with some dirt thrown in for good measure. In addition to the above veggies, there are also peas, beans, carrots, tomatoes and corn growing happily in the backyard.

Tonight Rhodri and I are sneaking away to Ojai Valley Inn for the night and the grandparents get to have the urchins all to themselves for about 24 hours. Thank you, Grandparents :-)

Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

We took a family trip to the SB Zoo today. It is such a beautiful, manageable little zoo with lots of trees, flowers, grassy play areas and of course animals. We saw the giraffes, gibbons, elephants, a gorilla, some penguins, otters, and snakes. The gibbons were singing to each other when we were visiting them and climbing waay up high in the eucalyptus trees. And then the elephants were playing in the mud and squirting water all over themselves when we saw them. The gorilla was sitting in the shade resting when we first saw him, but we lingered for a long time and eventually we saw him walking around - he is BIG. The otters and penguins were swimming (in separate pools), and the snakes apparently got mad at Rhodri -- or at least, that is what Rhiannon has been telling everybody! Here are the troops during our lunch break.
We went on a train ride around the perimeter of the zoo - very exciting!
By the time we got home, it was really hot (~90 deg F / 30 C). Tryfan insisted on taking off all his clothes and soon Rhiannon did too. Grandma Debi taught Rhiannon how to play "Doe a Deer" on the piano and she was really stoked.
In case any of you readers have heard about the fire in SB, I can assure you that we are safe and fine. The 'Jesusita Fire' started yesterday afternoon but by this morning it looked placid and non-threatening, and I think a lot of people sighed in relief. However, about the time that we were heading home from the zoo in mid-afternoon, the sundowner winds whipped up again and the temperatures soared up to the 90's and the fire really took a nasty turn. Thousands of people have now been evacuated, power keeps shutting off downtown, and many homes have been burnt. But Tryfan is sure excited when he sees television footage of helicopters, and there has been plenty of that for him tonight.
For more information, I think the best news source in SB is http://www.independent.com/

Beaches, sunshine and golf

Sounds good, huh? Well, it is! So far this week we have been shopping in downtown Santa Barbara and we also went to the beach a couple of different times. Here are the troops at East Beach on Monday afternoon with kelp in the background.
Different beach, different day. This was Tuesday at Goleta Beach, and we met up with some of my old friends from Jr High School days and our kids played together.
Here is the gang at the beach. It got increasingly windy and we had to take turns holding the umbrella so it wouldn't blow away. None of us got sunburned though, and that counts as a success.
After both Rhodri and I were able to sneak away to play a bit of golf over the weekend, Rhiannon has been curious about it so we bought a set of Hello Kitty clubs for her and Tryfan to use. They did a really good job of sharing the clubs and balls as we chased them around the yard.
Grandma Debi is a master storyreader! Tryfan absolutely loves to climb up onto her lap and have her read a story to him.