Same time, same place

Today we went x-c skiing again at the usual place, but we got to have Sioned and Lorenzo with us as well!
Tryfan and Rhodri were skiing together down this little hill and then Rhodri carried Tryfan back up it.
In the afternoon, Rhodri, Lorenzo and Sioned went downtown Oslo to watch the rugby so the kids and I stayed home and played outside after naptime. We dug our way into the play house in the backyard.
And we also dug the picnic table out so that Tryfan could read his magazine and [pretend to] sell things from the shop.The afternoon light was gorgeous and for awhile we simply sat in the snow and ate icicles. Here are the troops harvesting some of them.

Rest of the week

We had a busy rest of the week! I ended up working at ski school again on Wednesday, the same day Auntie Sioned and her boyfriend Lorenzo arrived. Here are a couple of photos from my time at ski school: learning to sidestep up a hill
Lunchtime, sitting back-to-back on reindeer skins
As you can see, we had brilliant weather for it and I was so happy to be getting paid to ski all day Wednesday in lovely sunshine with this herd of 4 and 5 year olds.
Then I agreed to work again at the barnehage on Thursday even though Tryfan had to stay home sick :-( It was all a bit chaotic but we are so happy to have Sioned and Lorenzo here! Tryfan has a nasty cough right now that has been a lot worse at night and so we've had a string of long nights. On Friday I stayed home with Tryfan even though he was normal in happy spirit and energy. Friday was Carnival at barnehage and so everyone came dressed up in a costume. Tryfan got dressed up too even though he just stayed at home and hung around with me.

Ski School

Today I worked at the barnehage's "ski school" as one of 3 adults with a group of 12 kids. This is the group of 12 kids from the 'utegruppe' that would normally be in the forest this week, but every February the barnehage sends the 'utegruppe' to learn how to ski instead of playing in the forest. I was so thrilled to be invited as one of the 3 adults! (It was only because there was a meeting that day for the teachers that would otherwise have been there -- I'm not that special..)
I didn't take any pictures unfortunately, but it was a lovely day and we went to the Gulhella meadow (where our family used to ski last year quite a lot because it is close to our old house), which I know quite well. Anyway, first we all learned the proper way to get up after falling and we practiced that several times. Then we skied around the meadow a couple of times, then had lunch, skied some more, then had a rest on some reindeer skin rugs, then played a game. The game is called "the hawk and the doe" and it goes like this:
One person is the doe (deer) and stands between 2 poles some distance away from the group, which is standing between another 2 poles. Another person is the hawk and stands between the doe and the group.
The doe shouts "Ok my pidgeons, you must come home now"
the group shouts "No! We are afraid that the hawk will get us!"
The doe shouts "What does he eat?"
Group answers, "MEAT!".
Doe shouts, "What does he drink?"
Group answers, "BLOOD!"
And the doe shouts, "Well come home anyway!"
And then the group tries to ski home to the doe past the hawk. If the hawk touches you, you become part of the hawk force in the next round. If you make it home to the doe, you get to do it again. So the hawk force gets bigger and bigger until everyone has been tagged, and then a new doe and a new hawk are chosen and it starts again! Of course there was some pushing rather than gentle tagging, and some kids were always the first to be targeted by the hawk, but I found the whole game very interesting. I love the message that it's okay to be afraid of something but you have to go for it anyway! Anyway, that was my day :-)
Tomorrow Auntie Sioned is coming to visit for a week and we are so excited!

A sunny day

Sunday we had full sun and it was so strange! We haven't had a really sunny day in a long time. Naturally everyone and their dog was out skiing! We went as well and had a great day. This is the ski path from the parking area to the fields and lake where we have been going lately.
We saw a bunch of our neighbors and so after we were done skiing, we had a little picnic with them. Wonderful!
Here is some footage of the action. Ha ha - its not really action! It's like going for a walk but with skis on and hot chocolate waiting for you when you get to the top of the hill (not pictured but to the left in this footage).

Slightly above freezing

Today we went x-c skiing again to the soccer field and beyond (the normal place we have been going with the kids). The temperature actually got up to around 35 deg F (+2 C) and the sun was shining and it was lovely. Tryfan and Rhiannon are getting so good at skiing!
Here is Rhiannon practicing going downhill the way she learned in the skogen (forest) during her 'utegruppe' session last week.
We had a little picnic at the top of the meadow before going home for resttime and lunch.
Although it is sort of nice to be on the + side of freezing, it sure wreaks havoc on our driveway. Going up and down it is so much easier when the snow is not squishy and slippery.

Frozen trip to Vollen

Today barnehage was shut so the kids and I had an excellent day together. After breakfast and so forth, we drove to Vollen to play on the beach (which was covered in snow of course) and let Bentley run free. Although it looks like Tryfan is standing on a patch of floating ice, he is actually on terra firma in the photo below, but behind him is a big patch of sea ice with downtown Oslo on the horizon (and not very visible).
We actually had a very traumatic beach trip! We very nearly lost Bentley as he ran after some seagulls across the large patch of sea ice (in the background of the previous photo) and fell into the open water of the fjord on the far side of the patch. He really struggled to claw his way back up to the surface and he was very shaken (and cold!). I would not have been able to go out to help him and we would have had to just leave him.... fortunately that didn't happen but it was really scary! Anyway, after that episode we sought refuge at the Vollen Bakery. We were the only ones sitting outside but we were all bundled up so it was just easier that way. The beach we went to was sort of behind the evergreen trees in the background of this photo (a beach we have previously launched the canoe from in warmer days).
Sunlight and cinnamon rolls make everything better!
After finishing our treats, we drove to our friend Hanne's house to pick up her dog Raja. Raja is going to stay with us for 3 weeks now while Hanne is away on vacation! Should be interesting....
Anyway, after getting Raja and coming home for resttime and lunch, we went swimming to the Risenga swimming hall with our neighbors Monica and Kristoffer. It was really fun - we haven't been there for probably 2 years and the kids are already asking when we can go back. So it turned out to be a busy and sort of stressful day, but at least it is Friday.

The New Fireman Sam

Tryfan's Auntie Nia sent these Fireman Sam jammies that used to belong to cousin Gabriel. Tryfan was SOOO excited to open this gift and he put them on right away. The legs are a little bit long still so when he walks he has to hold up the material.
It turns out that Nia sent the package on the very day that she went into labor with Tryfan and Rhiannon's newest cousin! Valentine was born early the next morning and everyone is doing great. Hurray for them!

Flying solo

These past 10 days I've been away visiting friends in the UK by myself. It felt great to fly solo but 10 days is a long time to be away from my sweet family. Here are some photos of the friends I was visiting... Here is Polly climbing over a fence with baby Joe on her back and her dog (I can't remember his name right now! *** Tully! That's her name***) in the background.
Self-take of Polly, baby Joe and me in front (well, actually obscuring) Easby Abbey in the Yorkshire Dales.
Easby Abbey on a gorgeous but brisk winter's day. I love the carpet of short soft green grass that was inside as well as outside the abbey walls.
My old friend Hiatt with her boy Sam and dog Megan. They live in a tiny seaside village very close to the England-Scotland border. It had snowed the day before so we got to play on a snowy beach.
On the beach with old castle remains in the background. Our plan was to walk the long way to the village pub for lunch, but we got to the pub too early so it wasn't open yet and we had to just make our own pub lunch back at Hiatt's house in Emberton.
I also visited Caroline up in Edinburgh and Naomi up in Fife, then flew back from Edinburgh to Oslo this afternoon. Yay! I am happy to be home but it was a great trip.

More snow, more fun

Today we played out in the snow during the morning and stayed inside for the afternoon. After some sledding down the driveway, we came around to the backyard where Rhodri was digging a path to the woodshed. He dug out a couch for the troops to sit on while drinking hot chocolate.
Rhodri and I took turns x-c skiing today - I had the early shift 9-10:30am and he had the afternoon shift 1-3pm. Sometimes it's more fun to just ski fast and work hard rather than going at a 2 or a 4 year old's pace! Then our friend Michel came over this afternoon and we had fresh cinnamon rolls for afternoon tea.
Tomorrow I am going on a trip to the UK for 9 days -- a combination of visiting friends and attending a training course. I'm excited but I'm going to miss my sweet family!

Peppe's Pizza

On Friday evening, we altered our normal routine of having pizza here at home and instead we went to Sandvika Storsenter to do a little bit of shopping and then go out to dinner! Peppe's Pizza was offering "All-you-can-eat pizza, salad and pasta for 99 kr" (~$17 or ~10 pounds per person). Bargain! We were all really hungry and it was so nice to just dig in. We had water to drink, being the cheapskates that we are, although the kids had some milk also. Here are the troops blowing bubbles into the water. Poor Tryfan could barely reach the straw from the booth seat.
The kids each got a balloon to take home, too, which they were very proud of. I had to explain to Rhiannon about helium atoms and oxygen atoms this morning when her balloon wasn't floating up to the ceiling anymore. She wasn't too impressed.

Tomorrow... (video)

Here is some footage of Tryfan singing "Tomorrow" from the movie Annie. He sings much louder and hits all the high notes only when he is in bed with the lights out getting ready for sleep.

Ski tour at Sem

This week it has snowed all day every day except for Tuesday, and this happened to be the day that my friend Fiona and I had planned a x-c ski outing! We had a few inches of fresh powder over the groomed x-c ski trails and we had the wilderness to ourselves. It was gorgeous.
We set out from the Semsvannet cafe area and crossed the frozen Sem lake, went up towards Gupu and then Furuholmen stuas (cabins out in the wilderness which are open on the weekends to sell warm drinks and food), then around towards Tveiter Farm and back across the lake. I guess it was about 10 km in total, with the perfect amounts of uphill, downhill, and flat bits. And with all the fresh soft snow, we both felt quite confident on our skis! Here is Fiona:
And me in the middle of the trail just before a pack of 10 huskies came mushing around the corner pulling a very smug looking guy who must have thought he was just so cool.
This is taken from the middle of Sem lake looking up at Skaugum cliff in the background and the dog peninsula by the little (red) house in the middle of the photo. Its always so cool to see places from a different perspective.
Despite living just a few minutes drive from this area, I hardly ever go here to ski. I should go more often though, because it is so beautiful.
Anyway, the rest of the week has been good and fairly uneventful - just snow, snow and more snow with not-too-cold temperatures. Rhodri was away for a couple of days but is back now in time for the weekend. Yay!

Bus riding

We've had Rhiannon's friend Sofia staying with us for a couple of nights while her parents are away on business. Since we can't fit 3 carseats into the car, the kids and I have been taking the bus to and from barnehage -- VERY exciting! Here they are on our walk from the busstop we get off at to the barnehage - it's about a 10 minute walk. The raspberry farm is in the background and although it is about 8:50am in this photo, you can see how dark the sky still is.
I've discovered that I can buy a "local ticket" (as opposed to a "normal ticket") on the bus for 30 kroners (on my way to barnehage) and also use it to come home with all the kids! Bargain! I don't know if I am supposed to be able to do this or if the busdrivers just feel sorry for me traveling with 3 small ones - probably not the latter, actually, since there isn't much sympathy going on in Norway. Anyway, it's been a little chaotic but mostly fun having Sofia stay with us.

Ski success

This weekend we went x-c skiing both Saturday and Sunday at the soccer field near the swimming beach at Ulvenvannet. This place is where most small kids come to learn how to ski because it is mostly flat and machine-groomed so that the ski tracks are in good condition.
Rhiannon is already quite good! She just goes for it, and when she falls down she gets back up without help! Tryfan struggled to keep his feet/ skis going in a straight line, but with big bags of sweets in my jacket pocket as incentive, he held my hand and kept trying.
Here he is with some chocolate in his mouth on Sunday. He had more success on this day after I convinced him to pretend he was a train and he should stay on the traintracks. We were careful not to spend too much time skiing though - both days we quit while everyone was still in good spirits!

Tomorrow...

...tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow! You're only a day away...
Tryfan can be heard singing this song from sun up to sun down and beyond (since the sun goes down quite early and yet Tryfan's singing continues). We've watched the DVD of "Annie" a couple of times since I bought it in November, but that song has really stuck in his head. I will try to get some footage of our little performer in coming days.

Pizza night

We had our friend Haran and his son Sjur over for pizza on Friday night. We almost always have pizza on Fridays and I've been making them now from scratch ever since Monica (our neighbor across the street) showed me how easy it is! Rhiannon and Tryfan help "decorate" the pizzas with all the goodies - they love it. Rhiannon always puts pesto and mozzarella on her pizza.
And so we had a fun dinner with Haran and Sjur (who is about 17 years old) -- they are great conversationalists and have had very interesting lives. Rhiannon loves talking to boys/men and so she spent most of the evening asking Sjur questions, showing him her favorite books and toys, and otherwise charming him. I guess it is normal, right? The barnehage system here in Norway tries to have at least 20% male staff members and so Rhiannon is used to being around male childcarers. There isn't a phobia here about inappropriate behaviour between men and children the way there is in other countries and I am so grateful for that because I see how great it is for small kids to have male role models who are not their fathers. Anyway, I am babbling now. Here is a photo of the kids right before bedtime (very wound up as you can see!) with Haran and Rhodri.
Otherwise we've had a quiet week with not much to report. At least temperatures have warmed up to the point where the kids can play outside again everyday (-10 C is about the limit) and Tryfan can sleep outside again during the day. Everyone is happy about that! It's hard being inside all the time when one is used to playing outside for several hours everyday.

Snow dog

Bentley loooooves the snow, boy! I've taken him a few times this week just down the street to Ulvenvannet lake where we swam a lot this past summer. It is just so great to explore the lake by foot and let Bentley run wild. He is just a big tumble of flying snow most of the time.
But with these temperatures, his paws do get frozen after not too long outside and he has to lay down in the snow and lick them (which probably doesn't help one single bit). Hopefully it will warm up just a few degrees so we can all play outside for longer.
This week I managed to wear the same exact thing for 7 days in a row (except for undergarments, of course). I call it my new uniform: a big black down jacket, green Finnish hunting trousers, and my trusty Scarpa hiking boots. Choice! I don't know which article I love the most. My hunting trousers are lined on the inside (so I dont need long johns) and soft water-resistent material on the outside with velcro cuffs so I can wrap them around the top of my boots and walk right through knee-deep snow without getting wet or cold, even when it is literally -20 C outside in the sunshine. And I can wear just a t-shirt beneath my jacket and be perfectly toasty. So maybe I don't look very trendy, but I'm not a big one for fashion anyway so at least its nothing new. Here is me with Bentley the wonderdog

Kjempekaldt

"Giant cold" is what the title translates to, and that is what it is here just now. For the past few days and for the foreseeable future, we are having temps of about -14 to -20 C (+6 to -4 F), tending to hover right around -18 C most of the time. The forecast is for much colder actually, but we'll believe it when we see it. Here are some snowflakes on the windshield of our car with the sun rising in the reflection.
This week is Rhiannon's week to go to the skogen (forest), but yesterday, today and probably tomorrow it is too cold for even them to go. Our barnehage draws the line at -15 C if there is no wind, and the thermometer has not spent much time warmer than -15 since Tuesday. So that is sad. They still get dressed and packed for spending the day outside every morning anyway, and if the temperature gets above -15 C, they head out to a nearby campsite (though not their regular site in the big forest). Here is Rhiannon (in red) and her 'utegruppa' (outside group) walking back to the barnehage because it is too cold for them even at the campsite.
And what does she wear to keep warm, you ask? Two complete layers of wool (thin wool long sleeve top and leggings and thin wool socks + thick Merino wool sweater and leggings with thick wool socks) underneath an insulated snow suit (or jacket and trousers, in Rhiannon's case). Then of course good quality snow mittens, insulated hat, a fleece scarf and winter boots. Yes, there are days when she complains about putting these on, but she does like to be warm and toasty. Here she is in her woolies standing in front of the outerwear dress area at barnehage. Each child has their own hook and space on a shelf, but this time of year it is pretty crowded and chaotic in this area!
At least the snow is not melting and promises to be here for awhile, but it would be nice if the temperature raised just a little bit ... -8 C would be perfect ... so that we could play outside more!

Christmas hangover

I spoke too soon. Christmas has NOT finished yet. This week is when all of the "Juletrefest" (Christmas tree party) celebrations are scheduled at workplaces and barnehages. This year we actually managed to attend the one at our barnehage. It's an occasion that everyone gets dressed up for, but Rhiannon insisted on wearing her 'julenisse' outfit and hat. As it turns out, her friend Sofia did as well, but everyone else was wearing something fancy.
We've never actually been to one of these events until this year, mostly because you have to commit to coming back in mid-December when the first full week of Jan seems very far away, and I've never managed to remember to sign us up. But it also just feels wrong and weird to have Christmas parties so long after New Year. It's always been a mystery as to WHY people put on these parties well after Christmas, but this year I found out: it is a Scandinavian tradition to celebrate the end of Christmas, the taking down of the tree, and to eat all the leftover bits of gingerbread, cake and chocolate. Here in Norway, this event also involves a lot of singing, holding hands and dancing around the Christmas tree. Here is Rhiannon in action...
Tryfan didn't want to dance or sing or hold hands around the tree, but he was interested in the chocolate that was in his goodie bag! Here he is with Rhodri talking to Anne, one of his favorite teachers.
Tryfan took this photo of Rhiannon and me.
So NOW Christmas can finally be over! Phew.

The end of Christmas

You know that Christmas is really over when it is time to smash the gingerbread house!

This wasn't our gingerbread house - it belonged to our neighbors and new friends Catherine, Per and Tristan. We have been doing a lot of sledding outside their house and they invited us over for pizza and playing on Saturday night.

You can see that Rhiannon was quick to pick out the biggest, sweet-covered part of the house and saunter off to the best seat in the house. Ahh, the benefits of being a big sister!

It's been a great holiday and I think we are all well rested now, ready for action, and now it is time for everyone to get back to their normal routines. I personally am looking very much forward to some quality x-c skiing time with Bentley in the mornings once everyone is at work and barnehage!

2009, 2010

I didn't write an annual letter this year so I haven't had a chance to reflect on the year that has just finished but I reckon it was a pretty great year. Maybe this week once everyone goes back to work and barnehage I will have some time to myself...
Still, I absolutely love the feeling on New Year's Day when the slate is clean and the air is full of potential and hope. On this particular New Year's Day, I managed to stay in my jammies the entire day despite the fact that I went outside with Bentley twice. I love that I can just put on rainpants, winter boots and my big down parka and still have my pink fleece bunny rabbit jammies on underneath that nobody knows about.