Tryfan does not like having dirty hands, but that doesn't stop him from using his fingers to eat pasta, or pick the blueberries out of the oatmeal, or other eating related tasks that result in "slimy hands". And so as soon as he has something on his hands, he says "himy han-ssss". For some reason, he can say the 's' sound in an exaggerated way when it is at the end of a word but not at the beginning. And that's a bummer, because right now Tryfan's favorite thing is Fireman Sam, aka Brannman Sam (in norsk) or Sam Tan (in cymraeg). So Tryfs says "Hhham" right now, but one of these days he will figure it out.
In other news, today was my last day at work for the next 6-12 months. I am going on a leave of absence and haven't exactly figured out what I shall start with first, but I have a long list of what I want to spend this time doing! At first I was sad to be leaving work for awhile, but now I am really excited.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Folly Farm day
On the rainiest day of the week in Little Haven (Tues July 21), we all took a road trip to Folly Farm, about an hour's drive away. We saw lots of farm animals of course, but this place was more like Disneyland combined with Hoppeloppeland. There were some mini-tractors to drive around if you were under 6 years old, and there were also some real diggers that you could drive if you were at least 3 years old! Here is our little Digger Driver on Daddy's lap.
And the full view. There was sort of a lifting obstacle course, with heavy shaped weights and then matching holes for them to be moved into. So cool! Gaby and Cris are on the next digger over, and Gaby was upset because he wanted to drive it all by himself.
Tryfan drove his own tractor for a little bit, then was happy to ride in a trailer towed by his big sister.
Multi-cultural dinner with our Swedish friends, our Argentine Chef (Uncle Cris), and the Lewis clan.
And the full view. There was sort of a lifting obstacle course, with heavy shaped weights and then matching holes for them to be moved into. So cool! Gaby and Cris are on the next digger over, and Gaby was upset because he wanted to drive it all by himself.
Tryfan drove his own tractor for a little bit, then was happy to ride in a trailer towed by his big sister.
Multi-cultural dinner with our Swedish friends, our Argentine Chef (Uncle Cris), and the Lewis clan.
Beach memories of the cousins
I am so grateful that we have the vivid wonderful memories of last week in Little Haven. Here are some photos to help us remember...
And we had good times up on the terrace as well, late in the afternoon while dinner was being cooked somewhere. They loved playing games with Nain (Welsh for Grandma) Beryl.
And the strange blue lights near the floor in the kitchen were a great attraction.
As was some downtime with Uncle Cris on the couch
And more downtime watching "Fireman Sam" DVD's
One of my favorite memories of the week was listening to Rhiannon and Gabriel (who each had a single bed in a room just for the 2 of them) discuss, argue, fight, whisper and shout at each other in Welsh. It was so cool! I didn't realize that she knew so much Welsh, so I was surprised to hear her spew out a barrage of angry guttural 'ch's, 'dd's, 'll's and other unspellable but beautiful sounds in her arguments.
For the first couple of days, Rhiannon kept trying to speak Norwegian with Gaby and eventually she followed the suggestion to "siarad cymraeg" (speak Welsh). Sometimes they conversed in English too, and Rhiannon even came away with a couple of Spanish words in her vocabulary (since Cris speaks Spanish to Gaby), so the whole language aspect to the week was a bit confusing for the untrained ear. And THEN when our Swedish friends dropped by, Sofia and Rhiannon were snakking norsk, Sofia and her parents snakking svensk, Rhiannon and Gaby in Welsh, Gaby and Cris in Spanish...that's when I just put my feet up and soaked up the sounds. That's what beach holidays are supposed to be anyway, right?
And we had good times up on the terrace as well, late in the afternoon while dinner was being cooked somewhere. They loved playing games with Nain (Welsh for Grandma) Beryl.
And the strange blue lights near the floor in the kitchen were a great attraction.
As was some downtime with Uncle Cris on the couch
And more downtime watching "Fireman Sam" DVD's
One of my favorite memories of the week was listening to Rhiannon and Gabriel (who each had a single bed in a room just for the 2 of them) discuss, argue, fight, whisper and shout at each other in Welsh. It was so cool! I didn't realize that she knew so much Welsh, so I was surprised to hear her spew out a barrage of angry guttural 'ch's, 'dd's, 'll's and other unspellable but beautiful sounds in her arguments.For the first couple of days, Rhiannon kept trying to speak Norwegian with Gaby and eventually she followed the suggestion to "siarad cymraeg" (speak Welsh). Sometimes they conversed in English too, and Rhiannon even came away with a couple of Spanish words in her vocabulary (since Cris speaks Spanish to Gaby), so the whole language aspect to the week was a bit confusing for the untrained ear. And THEN when our Swedish friends dropped by, Sofia and Rhiannon were snakking norsk, Sofia and her parents snakking svensk, Rhiannon and Gaby in Welsh, Gaby and Cris in Spanish...that's when I just put my feet up and soaked up the sounds. That's what beach holidays are supposed to be anyway, right?
Monday, July 27, 2009
Home, to a rainy day
We finally made it home around 12:30am this morning. Phew! It is so great to be home, and what makes it even better is the fact that it rained a lot today AND I just purchased some new wellies (aka rainboots)! I was pretty sure that purchasing wellies would mean no more rain, since the opposite is true on many occasions (that is, when you leave the house without an umbrella, it is sure to rain). But happily for me, it was not the case and I could wear my new beauties through several fresh puddles today when I took Bentley on a walk.
Anyway, back to the travel story of yesterday...first we got up, had breakfast and packed our stuff at the Premier Inn. Then our friend Patrick picked us all up in his mini-van and drove us about an hour back to his house south of London (I stayed with them when I was out here in June also). We spent a lovely day with him, his wife Sarah and their 3 kids Charlie (8), Hattie (6) and Joseph (3). We went swimming in their pool, played in their huge backyard, chatted and had a great lunch before taking a bus back to Heathrow airport to catch our 7:30pm flight. In the middle of all this, Sarah and I managed to sneak away to a little shop nearby and that is where I purchased my wellies! Here is the little miss on a floaty poolie thing.
We had a relatively pleasant flight to Oslo, with both kids not sleeping a wink but not fussing or whining too much either. Here are the troops sharing the viewing space out the window.
Tryfan letting his kitty cat look out the window also.
We landed at 10:30pm, collected our baggage and took the Very Crowded Flytoget train at 11:16pm which terminated in downtown Oslo (due to track maintenance). From there we made our way to yet another bus and went the rest of the way to Asker, arriving around 12:20am. Thanks to our friend Ravi, our car was waiting for us just next to the bus station so we had no problem getting home with all our luggage and 2 very sleepy kids. We hoped the post-midnight bedtime would mean extra sleep in the morning, but no. At least on rainy days like today it is easier to cope with unpacking and doing laundry, taking turns resting and recovering. We will be back in action tomorrow now after an early bedtime tonight.
Anyway, back to the travel story of yesterday...first we got up, had breakfast and packed our stuff at the Premier Inn. Then our friend Patrick picked us all up in his mini-van and drove us about an hour back to his house south of London (I stayed with them when I was out here in June also). We spent a lovely day with him, his wife Sarah and their 3 kids Charlie (8), Hattie (6) and Joseph (3). We went swimming in their pool, played in their huge backyard, chatted and had a great lunch before taking a bus back to Heathrow airport to catch our 7:30pm flight. In the middle of all this, Sarah and I managed to sneak away to a little shop nearby and that is where I purchased my wellies! Here is the little miss on a floaty poolie thing.
We had a relatively pleasant flight to Oslo, with both kids not sleeping a wink but not fussing or whining too much either. Here are the troops sharing the viewing space out the window.
Tryfan letting his kitty cat look out the window also.
We landed at 10:30pm, collected our baggage and took the Very Crowded Flytoget train at 11:16pm which terminated in downtown Oslo (due to track maintenance). From there we made our way to yet another bus and went the rest of the way to Asker, arriving around 12:20am. Thanks to our friend Ravi, our car was waiting for us just next to the bus station so we had no problem getting home with all our luggage and 2 very sleepy kids. We hoped the post-midnight bedtime would mean extra sleep in the morning, but no. At least on rainy days like today it is easier to cope with unpacking and doing laundry, taking turns resting and recovering. We will be back in action tomorrow now after an early bedtime tonight.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Queuing in Heathrow Hell
So it is Saturday night now and we were supposed to be home yesterday about this time, but we haven't made it there just yet. After a 5-hour road trip across Wales and western England yesterday, we were very proud of ourselves for managed to get to Heathrow airport with just over 2 hours until our flight back to Oslo. We returned the rental car, checked in our bags, did some last minute shopping and...our flight was canceled, along with 9 other flights to Europe. Apparently there were storms somewhere and British Airways canceled these 10 flights. Whatever. We didn't have any say in the matter, so we joined the thousand-plus other stranded travelers in the ultra long queuing adventure around the airport. Rather inconvenient for everybody, since this particular Friday afternoon is The Busiest Travel Weekend of the entire year at Heathrow (beginning of summer vacation for which many families travel abroad). Anyway, first we collected our baggage after going through Immigration. Thank goodness we had bought a bag of lollipops! The kids were very very good and sat patiently for 1.5 hours with intermittent breaks to push trolleys around and play chase around the concrete pillars.
Then we went through Customs, queued to get on an elevator, and took the elevator upstairs to stand behind the thousand-plus people waiting for one of the 12 customer service agents to rebook our travel. By the time we got in line, it was about 6pm and things were looking very grim indeed for us. For some reason, I wasn't really bothered at all nor was I anxious to get things sorted out. There was probably a large amount of overwhelmedness combined with end-of-vacation relaxed to the point of not really caring about beating the crowds or coming up with any cunning plans. It felt strange, because usually I am all over that! Anyway, I did venture out to the BA "Club" section with Tryfan in my arms to garner sympathy and enquire about any other options that might be available aside from waiting in a very very very long line that wasn't noticeably moving. I followed up their suggestion of calling BA Customer Service and trying to rebook our flight that way: the earliest next available flight to Oslo was unthinkably far away of Sunday night at 8pm! Umm, no. But if we waited in line, we might be able to get a non-BA flight to Oslo. So Tryfan and I rejoined the queue and then Rhodri managed to get the attention of a BA-uniformed gentlemen who felt sorry for us, took our boarding cards and attempted to bypass the queue to find some kind of solution for us, but even he was unsuccessful. We then decided to abandon our position in the queue and find a hotel for the night, then start anew in the morning. So we queued for help finding a hotel in the area that had an extra bed for Rhiannon and a baby crib/ cot for Tryfan, eventually found one that cost a ridiculous 320 pounds (~$500) for one night, then caught the bus to the hotel and queued to check in! By now it was 8pm, then 9pm when we actually got to the room, and all the time Rhiannon and Tryfan were just so good. I mean, they were wild and a little crazy but smiling and talking with everyone (esp Rhiannon our little social butterfly!). Tryfan was running around the lobby with his precious kitty cat between his teeth. Fortunately we had bought some rather healthy food at the grocery shop at the airport, so we munched on pasta salad and fruit while Daddy waited in line to check in.
Finally we got to the room, bathed, read a story and settled into beds. Neither Rhodri or I had any desire to try and figure anything out so we just went to sleep and hoped for a better day today. Saturday. In the morning, we decided the best strategy was for Rhodri to go and wait in the queue to get our flights rebooked and I stayed in the hotel with the kids. So that's what we did all day. A long, impatient day of not knowing if we would be staying another night here or in another hotel or if we would find a way home on this day, but trying to get some semblance of normalcy in as well -- a nap for Tryfan and some running around for the kids. In the end we were successful -- after waiting in line for almost 7 hours, Rhodri was able to book us a flight home on ... wait for it... Sunday night around 8pm. But we did have to move to a different hotel that is 'partners' with BA so they would pay for it. Here are the troops riding the baggage cart and chatting with Norman the Concierge.
So now we are at a more child-friendly but rather strange hotel nearby our first one - it seems to be exclusively for stranded travelers whose flights have been cancelled. It is loud, cheap and cheerful with kind of a theme-park atmosphere and different languages spoken at every table in the cafeteria-style restaurant. It could be waaaaay worse though. Plenty of people are in situations far more distressing and upsetting than ours, with whinier kids and missed onward connections, ruined vacation plans and so forth.
All we want is to get home, but really we don't have to be back for anything other than Monday work and the start of the new year at barnehage (which is not a big thing because most Norwegians will still be on holiday). But even that is a bit 'whatever' because I received a letter the other day offering me a leave of absence from work that would be effective August 1st! So I am still trying to get my head around that one because Aug 1 is a week from today and thus my motivation to get back into work this week is dramatically sidelined by the thought of finding something else to fill my time for the next 6-12 months.
Anyway, for now I will continue to relish the memories from this past week in Little Haven. I will get back to posting more pictures, stories and other highlights from the week of July 17-24 soon because it was actually one of the most perfect vacations - better than I could have imagined. Wish us luck on getting out of Heathrow though...
Then we went through Customs, queued to get on an elevator, and took the elevator upstairs to stand behind the thousand-plus people waiting for one of the 12 customer service agents to rebook our travel. By the time we got in line, it was about 6pm and things were looking very grim indeed for us. For some reason, I wasn't really bothered at all nor was I anxious to get things sorted out. There was probably a large amount of overwhelmedness combined with end-of-vacation relaxed to the point of not really caring about beating the crowds or coming up with any cunning plans. It felt strange, because usually I am all over that! Anyway, I did venture out to the BA "Club" section with Tryfan in my arms to garner sympathy and enquire about any other options that might be available aside from waiting in a very very very long line that wasn't noticeably moving. I followed up their suggestion of calling BA Customer Service and trying to rebook our flight that way: the earliest next available flight to Oslo was unthinkably far away of Sunday night at 8pm! Umm, no. But if we waited in line, we might be able to get a non-BA flight to Oslo. So Tryfan and I rejoined the queue and then Rhodri managed to get the attention of a BA-uniformed gentlemen who felt sorry for us, took our boarding cards and attempted to bypass the queue to find some kind of solution for us, but even he was unsuccessful. We then decided to abandon our position in the queue and find a hotel for the night, then start anew in the morning. So we queued for help finding a hotel in the area that had an extra bed for Rhiannon and a baby crib/ cot for Tryfan, eventually found one that cost a ridiculous 320 pounds (~$500) for one night, then caught the bus to the hotel and queued to check in! By now it was 8pm, then 9pm when we actually got to the room, and all the time Rhiannon and Tryfan were just so good. I mean, they were wild and a little crazy but smiling and talking with everyone (esp Rhiannon our little social butterfly!). Tryfan was running around the lobby with his precious kitty cat between his teeth. Fortunately we had bought some rather healthy food at the grocery shop at the airport, so we munched on pasta salad and fruit while Daddy waited in line to check in.
Finally we got to the room, bathed, read a story and settled into beds. Neither Rhodri or I had any desire to try and figure anything out so we just went to sleep and hoped for a better day today. Saturday. In the morning, we decided the best strategy was for Rhodri to go and wait in the queue to get our flights rebooked and I stayed in the hotel with the kids. So that's what we did all day. A long, impatient day of not knowing if we would be staying another night here or in another hotel or if we would find a way home on this day, but trying to get some semblance of normalcy in as well -- a nap for Tryfan and some running around for the kids. In the end we were successful -- after waiting in line for almost 7 hours, Rhodri was able to book us a flight home on ... wait for it... Sunday night around 8pm. But we did have to move to a different hotel that is 'partners' with BA so they would pay for it. Here are the troops riding the baggage cart and chatting with Norman the Concierge.
So now we are at a more child-friendly but rather strange hotel nearby our first one - it seems to be exclusively for stranded travelers whose flights have been cancelled. It is loud, cheap and cheerful with kind of a theme-park atmosphere and different languages spoken at every table in the cafeteria-style restaurant. It could be waaaaay worse though. Plenty of people are in situations far more distressing and upsetting than ours, with whinier kids and missed onward connections, ruined vacation plans and so forth.All we want is to get home, but really we don't have to be back for anything other than Monday work and the start of the new year at barnehage (which is not a big thing because most Norwegians will still be on holiday). But even that is a bit 'whatever' because I received a letter the other day offering me a leave of absence from work that would be effective August 1st! So I am still trying to get my head around that one because Aug 1 is a week from today and thus my motivation to get back into work this week is dramatically sidelined by the thought of finding something else to fill my time for the next 6-12 months.
Anyway, for now I will continue to relish the memories from this past week in Little Haven. I will get back to posting more pictures, stories and other highlights from the week of July 17-24 soon because it was actually one of the most perfect vacations - better than I could have imagined. Wish us luck on getting out of Heathrow though...
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
To the beach!
We've been in Little Haven on the Pembrokeshire coast since Friday, and we have had such a great time -- hard to believe our week is nearly over already! Gabriel, Rhiannon and Tryfan running running, Tryfan always a few paces behind them.
Here is the beach at low tide between Little Haven and Broad Haven.
Very happily digging in the tide pools. The Little Haven point is in the background with the houses on it.
Rhiannon and Gaby taking a break, eating ice cream in the sun.
More ice cream in the sun. I took this photo right after the 3 of them "cheers"-ed their ice cream cones together.
The top terrace (out of 3!) on Saturday afternoon: kids playing, adults reading the paper and drinking cups of tea, all of us enjoying the stunning location and sunshine!
We have been 4 adults and 3 kids Fri-Sat-Sun, and then Nain Beryl came on Monday, then Taid Trefor came today (Wed). Our daily regime is: hang around inside watching telly, drinking tea, eating breakfast until about 9am, then everybody head out to the beach in rain gear, come in for lunch and a nap, then go back out to the beach in swimsuits (with the addition of wetsuits after a few days), then in for tea and snacks in the late afternoon on the terrace, followed by dinner and all that. Great life!
Here is the beach at low tide between Little Haven and Broad Haven.
Very happily digging in the tide pools. The Little Haven point is in the background with the houses on it.
Rhiannon and Gaby taking a break, eating ice cream in the sun.
More ice cream in the sun. I took this photo right after the 3 of them "cheers"-ed their ice cream cones together.
The top terrace (out of 3!) on Saturday afternoon: kids playing, adults reading the paper and drinking cups of tea, all of us enjoying the stunning location and sunshine!
We have been 4 adults and 3 kids Fri-Sat-Sun, and then Nain Beryl came on Monday, then Taid Trefor came today (Wed). Our daily regime is: hang around inside watching telly, drinking tea, eating breakfast until about 9am, then everybody head out to the beach in rain gear, come in for lunch and a nap, then go back out to the beach in swimsuits (with the addition of wetsuits after a few days), then in for tea and snacks in the late afternoon on the terrace, followed by dinner and all that. Great life!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Old friends, new babies
We are 2 days into our trip, and so far we've had a great time. First we flew to London on Wed midday, rented a car, and drove to Bristol to stay with old friends Gareth and Rachel and their new baby "JJ". Here are the troops on the play airplane at Oslo airport - they had it to themselves for the first time ever and made full use of the cockpit.
It was very rainy and stormy during our 1.5 hour drive to Bristol, but once we got there we had lovely weather - perfect for sitting outside. We gave presents to the Baby JJ and then let the kids run wild in the grassy back garden, trying to chase the resident kitty cat.
Rhodri and Gareth's longtime friend Huw came over for dinner and the 3 Welshmen were happily chatting away in cymraeg for the evening while Rachel and I talked about babies :-)
On Thursday morning we visited my longtime friend Polly and her 5-day-old baby boy (as yet unnamed). The last time I saw her was 5 years ago when we ran the 2-day KIMM mountain orienteering marathon as partners. Since then we have both become Mamas, and it was so wonderful to reunite. No photos unfortunately, except for those in my memory.
From Polly's house, we went on to the very small village of Rudge less than an hour's drive from Bristol and we stayed at the Full Moon Inn for the rest of the afternoon and all night. Our longtime friends David and Jen drove up from Southampton (~1.5 hrs drive) to meet us for playtime in the beer garden and then dinner. Their two kids Katherine (4.5) and Jonathon (2) played with our two while we adults hid under the cover of umbrellas and took turns mediating conflicts.
After a hugely successful and delicious dinner in a dining room we had all to ourselves, we put all the kids in the bath and started the bedtime routine.
Everyone got into their jammies and bounced on the bed for awhile, then we gave kisses and hugs all around and said goodbye. Thank you so much Dave and Jen for coming up to Rudge to meet us!
It was very rainy and stormy during our 1.5 hour drive to Bristol, but once we got there we had lovely weather - perfect for sitting outside. We gave presents to the Baby JJ and then let the kids run wild in the grassy back garden, trying to chase the resident kitty cat.
Rhodri and Gareth's longtime friend Huw came over for dinner and the 3 Welshmen were happily chatting away in cymraeg for the evening while Rachel and I talked about babies :-)
On Thursday morning we visited my longtime friend Polly and her 5-day-old baby boy (as yet unnamed). The last time I saw her was 5 years ago when we ran the 2-day KIMM mountain orienteering marathon as partners. Since then we have both become Mamas, and it was so wonderful to reunite. No photos unfortunately, except for those in my memory.From Polly's house, we went on to the very small village of Rudge less than an hour's drive from Bristol and we stayed at the Full Moon Inn for the rest of the afternoon and all night. Our longtime friends David and Jen drove up from Southampton (~1.5 hrs drive) to meet us for playtime in the beer garden and then dinner. Their two kids Katherine (4.5) and Jonathon (2) played with our two while we adults hid under the cover of umbrellas and took turns mediating conflicts.
After a hugely successful and delicious dinner in a dining room we had all to ourselves, we put all the kids in the bath and started the bedtime routine.
Everyone got into their jammies and bounced on the bed for awhile, then we gave kisses and hugs all around and said goodbye. Thank you so much Dave and Jen for coming up to Rudge to meet us!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Hanging around
Yesterday and today I stayed home with the kids since barnehage is closed. 
We've had long but fun days - picking more strawberries and blueberries which the kids have found around the yard (Tryfan especially loves berry hunting); taking Bentley on walks around the neighborhood, all 3 of us holding hands on the quiet streets in case a car or bike or another dog decide to share the road with us; riding bikes around the neighborhood - Rhiannon on her pink bike (always with a baby in the babyseat) and Tryfan riding behind me on my bike. We don't take Bentley on these outings - that would be way too dangerous! But mostly we have just been hanging around the house, unpacking boxes in the garage and moving stuff around. Here are the urchins doing somersaults (aka roly-polies) on some bubble wrap packing material in the gravelly driveway.
Today we also ran some errands together - first we went to see Dr. Weekend and Dr. Heidi near our old house (actually their names are Dr. Viken and Heidi his assistant). I made an appointment because Rhiannon hasn't been hearing what we have been saying lately! We wanted to find out if her affliction was just a 3-year-old spell of not listening, or if she had earwax buildup or what (turned out to be a bit of earwax). Anyway, it was a good visit because "Dr" Heidi loves kids, especially these two, and they both instantly bonded with her. The kids were so good, sitting still with Dr Weekend looked in both of their sets of ears, that they each got a green ring to wear.
After the doctor visit, we took Bentley to his farm where he will stay for 10 days while we are in Wales! Yippiee! We are flying to London tomorrow and then driving west to visit friends in Bristol and Southampton (sort of) before continuing our journey to Little Haven on the Pembrokeshire coast of south Wales. We are spending a week at this house with Rhodri's mother, his sister Nia and her family, and hopefully Sioned and Rhodri's dad as well. Woohoo!! We cannot wait!
We've had long but fun days - picking more strawberries and blueberries which the kids have found around the yard (Tryfan especially loves berry hunting); taking Bentley on walks around the neighborhood, all 3 of us holding hands on the quiet streets in case a car or bike or another dog decide to share the road with us; riding bikes around the neighborhood - Rhiannon on her pink bike (always with a baby in the babyseat) and Tryfan riding behind me on my bike. We don't take Bentley on these outings - that would be way too dangerous! But mostly we have just been hanging around the house, unpacking boxes in the garage and moving stuff around. Here are the urchins doing somersaults (aka roly-polies) on some bubble wrap packing material in the gravelly driveway.After the doctor visit, we took Bentley to his farm where he will stay for 10 days while we are in Wales! Yippiee! We are flying to London tomorrow and then driving west to visit friends in Bristol and Southampton (sort of) before continuing our journey to Little Haven on the Pembrokeshire coast of south Wales. We are spending a week at this house with Rhodri's mother, his sister Nia and her family, and hopefully Sioned and Rhodri's dad as well. Woohoo!! We cannot wait!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Serious berry harvesting
I recently invested 100 kroners (~$15) in a berry picking tool. These Norwegians are serious about picking berries, I tell you! So I took a couple of hours today and went on my own little adventure in the forest, equipped with a backpack full of empty tupperware containers, my new tool, a map, a compass, and Bentley by my side. Great success! I came back with my containers filled with wild blueberries (and leaves and small green berries), a wet and tired dog (i let him jump in the lake), and stamps from 3 orienteering controls that I had located. Here is Tryfan holding the berry tool and eating blueberries as I was washing them.
Close up of the gorgeous blue juicies! This photo shows a disproportionate amount of leaves because I was in the process of separating the berries out and most of them had sunk to the bottom. These lovelies turned into a delicious blueberry cobbler for dessert tonight. Yum!
The fabulous tool! It looks to me very similar to the claws of a bear that would be raking the bushes for berries, except that there is the handy storage compartment behind the claws!
I could not believe how many blueberries carpet this forest, and it's only 5 minutes run or 10-15 minutes walk from our new house! Plus this particular forest is on the flanks of the mountain Vardaasen (the one with the ski slope that was visible from our last house, but the other side of the mountain) and there are several lakes in the area, and it is just so wonderful. I love exploring this area. And today was my first day doing any sort of orienteering in 5 years! It felt so good to run thrashing around in the bushes and trying to find my way to the control stations that are permanently installed in the outback of Norway from April - October. There were a few moments of wondering if I still knew how to read a map and follow a compass, wondering if I actually was in the location that I thought I was, but I didn't get too lost. I reckon this won't be my last adventure in these parts...
Close up of the gorgeous blue juicies! This photo shows a disproportionate amount of leaves because I was in the process of separating the berries out and most of them had sunk to the bottom. These lovelies turned into a delicious blueberry cobbler for dessert tonight. Yum!
The fabulous tool! It looks to me very similar to the claws of a bear that would be raking the bushes for berries, except that there is the handy storage compartment behind the claws!
I could not believe how many blueberries carpet this forest, and it's only 5 minutes run or 10-15 minutes walk from our new house! Plus this particular forest is on the flanks of the mountain Vardaasen (the one with the ski slope that was visible from our last house, but the other side of the mountain) and there are several lakes in the area, and it is just so wonderful. I love exploring this area. And today was my first day doing any sort of orienteering in 5 years! It felt so good to run thrashing around in the bushes and trying to find my way to the control stations that are permanently installed in the outback of Norway from April - October. There were a few moments of wondering if I still knew how to read a map and follow a compass, wondering if I actually was in the location that I thought I was, but I didn't get too lost. I reckon this won't be my last adventure in these parts...
Friday, July 10, 2009
Strawberry picking and our first house guests
Today was the last day of barnehage for the year - hurray! It is only closed for 2 weeks summer holiday, but we figured we would get a few hour jump start on it. I picked up the kids at 3pm and met my friend Fiona with twins Magnus and Finn to go pick strawberries and then come to our house for dinner. Our first house guests!
We had a good time picking in wet (though not rainy), cool conditions - perfect for berry picking - although Tryfan wanted to go touch the tractor the entire time (which was up at the top of the hill while we were picking at the bottom), while Rhiannon and the 'big boys' just ate and ate and ate. Anyway, we came away with about half of a case of lovely strawberries.
On the way back to the car, the kids found a big mud puddle and did some satisfying jumps in it, which splashed Rhiannon inside the car she had found. But she decided that she would rather suffer the muddy splashes on her face than give up the car for one of the boys to take over!
Back at the ranch, the kids ran wild in the backyard and then inside once the rain started to come down. By then the Daddies had reunited with us and we all had pizza and homemade (Fiona's) cheesecake. Hurray!
Its good fun shouting 'baesj' (poo) really loud in someone else's house
We had a good time picking in wet (though not rainy), cool conditions - perfect for berry picking - although Tryfan wanted to go touch the tractor the entire time (which was up at the top of the hill while we were picking at the bottom), while Rhiannon and the 'big boys' just ate and ate and ate. Anyway, we came away with about half of a case of lovely strawberries.
On the way back to the car, the kids found a big mud puddle and did some satisfying jumps in it, which splashed Rhiannon inside the car she had found. But she decided that she would rather suffer the muddy splashes on her face than give up the car for one of the boys to take over!
Back at the ranch, the kids ran wild in the backyard and then inside once the rain started to come down. By then the Daddies had reunited with us and we all had pizza and homemade (Fiona's) cheesecake. Hurray!
Its good fun shouting 'baesj' (poo) really loud in someone else's house
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
First days in new house
We are slowly getting settled in our new house. Last week was so hot, and then on Sunday (July 5th) it rained all day and the house finally cooled down to a comfortable temperature. During that entire time, I couldn't find my camera battery charger and so couldn't download the photos of these nuddie cuties! Here they are eating lunch at our dining room table before we purchased an grownup-sized one.
This was our first meal in the house -- I think it was on Thursday night (July 2nd).
The very popular playhouse in the backyard! We moved the play kitchen out here over the weekend -- I hope to be served many pretend meals on the tiny picnic table in coming months because it is quite a nice spot.
First night here, Rhiannon reading stories to Tryfan in her bed.
For the most part, the transition hasn't been too bad. Of course, the kids haven't been sleeping that great due to the unfamiliarity of their rooms and also the heat. But I think we are out of that phase now. We really like this house -- the backyard, the kitchen, the living room, the bedrooms, the bathroom, the garage and the location! In fact, there isn't much that we don't like about this house. We do miss our old neighbors though, and the wonderful lekeplass that we shared with them. Once we finish unpacking boxes, I will post some photos of the house.
This was our first meal in the house -- I think it was on Thursday night (July 2nd).
The very popular playhouse in the backyard! We moved the play kitchen out here over the weekend -- I hope to be served many pretend meals on the tiny picnic table in coming months because it is quite a nice spot.
First night here, Rhiannon reading stories to Tryfan in her bed.
For the most part, the transition hasn't been too bad. Of course, the kids haven't been sleeping that great due to the unfamiliarity of their rooms and also the heat. But I think we are out of that phase now. We really like this house -- the backyard, the kitchen, the living room, the bedrooms, the bathroom, the garage and the location! In fact, there isn't much that we don't like about this house. We do miss our old neighbors though, and the wonderful lekeplass that we shared with them. Once we finish unpacking boxes, I will post some photos of the house.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Hot days with boxes and no internet
We have had a heat spell with temps in the 90's (F) -- not much incentive for unpacking boxes except to jump in the lake at the end of the day! Here is Tryfan when we picked him up from barnehage the other day. We forgot to send his sun hat so he had to wear Rhiannon's!More later, we haven't had internet until now...
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
The New House
We have been moving for the past week and a half now, and we are ready for it to be finished, especially with all this hot weather we have been getting (85-90 F everyday)! First we started moving out of the old house into the temporary apartment on June 22nd, then started moving into the new house on June 29th. We are now all done at the old house (as of today) but still living in the apartment while moving into the new house. Confusing! Good thing all 3 residences are within a 5 mile radius. Here are the troops twirling in Rhiannon's new purple bedroom
And here is Tryfan peeking out from the deck into the huge kitchen area.
It's a great house, owned by a Norwegian man and his American wife and their 3 children (12, 9 and 8 years old I think) who are living in Louisiana for 2 years. Unlike our previous residence, this is an 'enebolig' (a single family dwelling aka detached house) and it has a big lovely backyard with a playhouse, a slide that is built into the hill, a sandbox, and a spacious deck. We have met most of the neighbors already, as our new landlord arranged a get-together a couple of weeks ago that involved strawberries and ice cream on a warm Friday afternoon. I think tomorrow will be our first night spent there and we are really excited!
And here is Tryfan peeking out from the deck into the huge kitchen area.
It's a great house, owned by a Norwegian man and his American wife and their 3 children (12, 9 and 8 years old I think) who are living in Louisiana for 2 years. Unlike our previous residence, this is an 'enebolig' (a single family dwelling aka detached house) and it has a big lovely backyard with a playhouse, a slide that is built into the hill, a sandbox, and a spacious deck. We have met most of the neighbors already, as our new landlord arranged a get-together a couple of weeks ago that involved strawberries and ice cream on a warm Friday afternoon. I think tomorrow will be our first night spent there and we are really excited!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)