National Day - morning

May 17th started out with a clear sunny sky and a cool wind blowing. We caught the 9:00am train into Oslo and met our friends Leendert and Annike who are both Dutch but have lived in Oslo for 10 years (we work with Leendert). They had already staked out prime real estate at the Royal Palace so that we would have the best view of the big event of the day -- the Barnetoget (which means "Children's Parade"). Nearly every single person in the city was dressed in their finest clothes, and those that had Norwegian national costumes (called "bunad") wore them. Here is the Minx and her Daddy in front of the fountain at National Theatre.The city was absolutely gorgeous with everything in full bloom
It was pretty crowded along the parade route, but especially up by the Palace. We were right in the front row, though -- straight up from the lady in red (below).
When the parade arrived at the Palace, the King and Queen (by the red banner), along with the Prince and Princess (back to the left), came out to the balcony to watch.Then the thousands of children started marching past with their schools. Everyone flying their flags and many of them playing musical instruments.
We watched the parade for about 30 minutes and then abandoned our prime viewing location for others to enjoy. After awhile, everyone looks about the same! We walked down to Aker Brygge (the waterfront) and had some ice cream, then took the train back to Asker for the afternoon activities. The parade went on for hours because every school in the area was marching in it. I was so glad that we went to the effort of getting dressed up and going into Oslo because it really was amazing to see the whole city looking their best. I think Rhiannon enjoyed it too although we left her flag at home (intentionally)! She was the subject of several people's photos when she wanted to sit down and suck on bits of gravel while wearing her fancy dress.

The day before National Day

Today was Norwegian National Day and it was such a big event that I cannot even begin to post photos of it or tell about it! I will first post some photos of yesterday (may 16) when Rhiannon's barnehage had their own National Day celebration (since of course today it was closed). The teachers told us to have Rhiannon "dressed up" which we interpreted as wearing the national outfit. However, it turned out that she was the only one wearing it! Everyone else was most likely saving their good outfit for the real National Day and instead wearing just dressy clothes on May 16th. At least she wasn't old enough to be teased.
Getting ready for the parade
About to start walking...notice the Minx pestering some much larger little boy with her flag! There was a lot of flag poking going on this day.
Here is the school parading through the neighborhood. There were several other parents there and we just walked around the block singing (okay, I didn't sing because I don't know Norwegian songs!) and shouting "hip hip HooRAH!!" with great enthusiasm. Rhiannon liked the "hurRAH" part a lot and would wave her flag while shouting this.

Number 2 on the way!

Well, we are adding another Lewis to the clan in early October! We have known this for awhile, but today was the ultrasound. We did not peek at the gender so the new Lewis will be a surprise to us all. I have been already feeling a lot of movement for a few weeks now but I am also still feeling the nausea - yuck :-(
I am 19 weeks now -- almost halfway there -- and I am already quite large!

Preparations

Well, its all happening here now! Everyone in Norway is busy making preparations for "Norwegian National Day", which is on May 17th. There are mandatory community clean-up events going on at home, at school, and at work -- called "dugnad". There are new flowers planted all over, lawns mowed, roadside trash picked up, cakes being baked and all sorts in preparation for National Day. It seems this holiday is even bigger than Easter (which was pretty big!). We have been participating in all this of course, and otherwise we are just ticking along at school and work. Here is one of the 10 seconds that Rhiannon kept the headband on her head...
You can see our lawn hasn't been mowed but its nice to have lovely green grass for Rhiannon and Bentley to play on.
We went to the "hundelufting" (leash-free dog area) yesterday at Semsvennet lake and Bentley got to play with lots of other dogs.
Semsvennet is such a beautiful place and yesterday the patchy dark clouds made the lighting spectacular (although you can't really tell from this photo). We learned from a fellow dog-owner that this lake has the largest variety of fish in all of Norway -- 22 species!

Inside the canoe

This weekend my friend Rob came to visit from Massachusetts. As soon as he arrived in Asker, we dragged him into the canoe for some Saturday afternoon paddling. Rhiannon loved being carried down to the dock inside the SS Meerkat!
As soon as we were out on the water, the Minx fell asleep even though she was mostly standing with her head propped up by the life jacket! I think she liked the motion of the rocking canoe and the sound of water going past us. It turned out to be rather windy and choppy out on the fjord though, so once we got out from behind the shelter of the Konglungen peninsula, we headed straight for the Holmen Fjord Hotel for some tea and cakes.
One of Rhiannon's favorite places to play lately has been this blue plastic bin. She climbs in and out and in and out, bringing various items (shoes, finger puppets, snacks...) along and cackling to herself all the while. Maybe she is pretending to be inside the canoe?

Mid-week holiday

Hurray for mid-week public holidays! Today was Norwegian Labor Day so we were all off work and school and everything was closed. Since today was Tuesday, that meant that most people took Monday off and at least part of last Friday as well in order to make a long weekend out of this holiday.
We didn't, but we did play hookey yesterday (Monday) morning...we got up as usual and got ready for the day, took Rhiannon to barnehage and then raced off to play golf at the Asker Golf Club! Yesterday was a stunning day with clear views over the Asker valley and down to the fjord, sunny and warm but with a crisp breeze that reminded us we are in Norway. It was a perfect morning for skiving off work and sneaking in 18 holes. I hadn't played golf in about a year so it took me a few holes to get going. And of course, there are no golf carts in these here parts so it ended up being a lot more walking than I am used to (sad to say!). We finished in time to get half a day of work in at the office (which is a mere 2 km from the golf course!) and then we had all day today as a real holiday. Nice!

So today we hung around the house and then went exploring to a nearby lake that we had never been to called Damtjerne. We hiked through the woods up onto the top of a cliff and then around the lake. Sun-heated fir needles laying on damp earth smell the same here that they do in the North Cascades, I am happy to report. It was so lovely to smell warm forest smells.

Daily life images

Here are some recent pictures from just around the house in our daily life.
Rhiannon LOVES the vacuum cleaner! She pushes it around holding her hands and head over the vent so that it blows her hair straight up as pictured below.
Occasionally I try to put a hair clip in Rhiannon's hair. As long as she doesn't notice me putting it in, the clip will stay there for awhile. But on this day she noticed herself in the mirror and then she noticed the clip in her hair - of course she pulled it straight out.
As we are getting the final bits and pieces ready for nursery school and work in the morning, Rhiannon usually pesters Bentley.

A day at the beach

Saturday was forecast to be sunny and warm so we planned an all-day-at-the-beach day and invited 3 other families to join us: Phil & Emily, Henry& Elianne and kids, and Richard & Elaine and kids. Of course we brought the SS Meerkat, our trusty canoe! When we arrived at about 10am, it was cloudy and windy and cold. We made a little nest in the tent for refuge, but the Minx was way more interested in playing with sand, rocks, shells and the rest. Eventually the sun came out and it did warm up and we basked. Here is our camp with the Hvalstrand diving platform in the background.
Rhodri, Phil and Richard went fishing for a long time and then came back and let Richard's son Alex climb in for the photo below. The "three oafs in a boat" situation led to some reportedly sketchy moments when they encountered speedboat wakes and the SS Meerkat got excitingly tippy.
Rhiannon really wanted to go in the canoe as well, so we took her out for her first ride! She was so entranced by the water flowing past the boat that she forgot all about her cookie until we were back on land. Sadly, we don't have a photo of this outing but there will be others. Rhiannon wanted to keep the life jacket on until we had to leave for the day!
And she kept climbing into the canoe as we were getting the car packed up. I think she is hooked!
But the BEST part of the day was that she was fast asleep for the night by 6:30pm and slept all the way until 9:30am Sunday morning! I think we will be having more days at the beach...

Language barriers

The Minx has been talking more and more, but we usually don't understand what she is saying. We were thinking that it was just normal baby talk babble, but then found out that she was actually saying "Look!" when she said "[blah blah]...... SAAAAW!" Its just that she is saying it in Norwegian. So she may be saying other things now too but we just don't understand.
Here she is post-bath in her Welsh dragon bathrobe - not quite settled down for sleepytime just yet!Last week I was away on business (to the Canary Islands, so dont feel too sorry for me!) so Rhodri was holding down the fort all week. When I came back, I found out that the Minx is very obedient when one speaks in Welsh to her -- she sits down, holds out her hands to be cleaned, and other tricks which I am only just learning about! Although I always speak in English to her, I realize that this dose is just a small fraction of what she is hearing the rest of her waking hours. However, at the moment when I need her hands to be cleaned, I have been asking her in Welsh to hold them out (after saying it in English gets me no where)!

Definitely Spring

Now it is really spring!
Last weekend (April 14-15) was warm and sunny, with sunrise about 6am and sunset around 9pm! We spent the weekend mostly around the house. All of our neighbors were outside playing, riding bikes, wanting to borrow Bentley to go on walks, jumping on the trampoline that was set up for the summer season, and just sitting around soaking up the sunshine. Here are 2 of Bentley's admirers who come by everyday to brush him after they get home from school.Here is the Minx talking to herself and playing in the sandbox up at the playground behind the house.

Auntie Sioned's visit and some canoeing!

The big news this week was that Auntie Sioned (Rhodri's younger sister) came to visit! She arrived on Monday night and left Friday afternoon. We had a really great time with her and fortunately the weather was gorgeous the whole week -- after the snow melted on Tuesday morning.Rhodri was able to take some time off and explore Oslo with his little sister. We enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine in our backyard with tea and biscuits (cookies)
Rhodri and Sioned took the canoe (called the 'SS Meerkat') out on the fjord Friday morning while I was at work :-(
We also took the SS Meerkat out today (Sunday) although Sions was already back at home. Our friend Emily came with us and we took turns hanging out with Rhiannon and paddling in the canoe. We actually have lifejackets for all 4 of us to go but naptime took precedence. Here we are loading the canoe back onto the car while Rhiannon eats some gravel.
Here was the naptime hangout spot with the launching dock in the background. This great beach is about 5 min drive (30 min walk) from our house and today it was packed with families BBQ'ing and playing in the sand.

Crashing

Rhiannon has been really into crashing her wagon lately...

Goodbyes and a false alarm

This weekend (Thursday) we said goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma Gans who had to go back to California. We had a great time with them and we already miss them :-(
On Wednesday night before they left, we went out for an early dinner with Phil and Emily which was a grand success. The Minx prowled around the restaurant saying hello to whoever would smile her direction and kept the entire place entertained while we dined.
Then after enjoying nearly 2 weeks of warm temps and lovely sunshine, we had a surprise on Easter Sunday -- it snowed nearly a foot during the afternoon. Maybe Spring is not quite here? Rhodri had only just arrived back home on Easter morning so we all got to enjoy this snowfall together. We had Phil and Emily over for a 'proper' Easter dinner and it was so lovely to enjoy good food, good company and beautiful falling snow.

Crackers

While Rhodri was gone last week, I started a new technique to squeeze a few more minutes of bedtime in after Rhiannon woke up but before we went downstairs for breakfast: feeding her crackers in our bed. Yes, this technique produces a LOT of crumbs on the sheets, but it's worth it. Here she is bathed in early morning light...

More from the weekend

The Minx wasn't actually as thoroughly bored as she looks here! She was completely transfixed by a little boy who was sitting at the table next to us at breakfast on our last morning at Engo Gard.On our first afternoon here, we went fishing in the fjord and Rhodri caught a sea trout! Of course, Rhiannon was not in the pack once the fishing started...she and I played in the sand and rocks nearby.
Here is the glass-enclosed bath house where we swam one day with Rhodri, Rhiannon and Grandma Debi in the foreground. Rhiannon would have been into the swimming except that the pool was a little too cold for her and the jacuzzi was a little too warm. So she and Rhodri walked around and around the perimeter of the pool holding hands while the rest of us enjoyed the water. On Saturday we had a cycling adventure. We drove to nearby Hvasser and rented bikes but they didn't have a baby seat so Rhodri had to carry her in the pack. We rode up to Lilleskagen beach and then down to the other end of the island to have a picnic on some smooth rocks at another beach.Here is the smooth rock picnic spot. It was a litte bit windy but we all had jackets and the Minx had her 'parkdress' to keep her toasty (windproof breathable coveralls that she plays in at barnehage now that the winter is over).Then we rode bikes back to Hvasser and drove back to Engo Gard in time for Afternoon Tea! Here is the port of Hvasser (its not too big!) with us looking windswept and interesting except the Minx was hiding from the camera.

Pure luxury for the weekend

This weekend we ventured south from Asker only 1.5 hours drive to a place called Engø Gård
http://www.engo.no/english/, which turned out to be such an amazing place to stay! We took a squillion pictures so here in the first installment...
Some of the flowers were in bloom and Rhiannon loved touching them, smelling them, and trying to chase insects around that were crawling inside them.This place is on an island (that you can drive to) and is an old farm that has been converted into luxury accommodation with outstanding meals. It is one of two places in all of Norway that made the ranking for "Relais & Chateaux" (some luxury guidebook thingy). Needless to say, we had a really good time and got very well fed. We also went swimming in the glass enclosed bathhouse, fishing in the fjord (and Rhodri actually caught a sea trout!), went on several lovely walks and had a cycling adventure. Here is our car 'Max' in front of the house that Rhodri, Rhiannon and I stayed in.
We were served a fancy Afternoon Tea
and enjoyed fine dining in the evening
Rhiannon absolutely loved playing in the bedet
She ended up sleeping in this bathroom actually because the toilet was in another small room. This arrangement worked really well and she slept like a log from 7:15pm to 7:15am both nights we stayed here! She did NOT like the huge jacuzzi bath, however.