Happy Halloween!

Halloween is pretty new to Norway---they've only celebrated it here for about a decade, and it hasn't quite caught on in every neighborhood.

We managed to find one house (and only one house---even after searching for about an hour!) to trick-or-treat at. They were thrilled to meet Zach and loaded him up with goodies.

Suiting up in long underwear

Practicing his lion roar (very loudly)

We were thrilled to find this house!

The very nice lady who answered the door---she was as excited to see "real" trick-or-treaters as we were to have found a house welcoming us!

Zachy and Daddy acting silly on the bus. We rode around for about an hour trying to scope out a neighborhood to trick-or-treat. We didn't have much luck, but we had lots of fun looking.

Cookie Baking and Friend Making

Today I got together with a Elly for a lesson in conversion baking. The ingredients weren't particularly cheap and our first batch didn't turn out looking quite right, but after a little trial and error we churned out some pretty delicious and relatively normal looking chocolate chip cookies!

Tonight Kelly, Zach and I went to hang out at Marlon and Kristen's apartment. They are a couple we met at ALC who are from Texas City, go figure. We had lots of fun talking and Zach had a great time exploring some new toys and playing with their big sweet laborador.

Winter Wonderland!

This morning we woke up very surprised to see SNOW! It is pretty rare for it to snow so early in the season (technically it is still autumn here). As soon as Zach was up and bundled, we went out to play. We built a tiny snowman, had a snowball fight, and just generally stomped around and enjoyed ourselves.

Zach Couldn't Wait to get Outside

Snow from our Balcony

Our Tiny Snowman

Snowy Trees

My Snowy Self Portrait

Snowboot Footprints

Happy Zach

Unfortunately the fun couldn't last forever and Zach wasn't thrilled about going back inside:

Sognefjord and Bergen

Does Zach ever tire of trains---NO! Even while riding a train, his favorite thing to do is play trains.


We rode the train from Oslo to Myrdal (which is 800+ meters above sea level, extremely cold and very snowy!), then made a very frigid switch over to a scenic train to Flåm.

The train made a brief stop for a photo op at the Kjosfossen Waterfall. It is massive (300+ meter freefall of water), loud, and gorgeous!

The scenery was amazing. Everywhere we looked there were snowcapped mountains with streams running down, sheep grazing in pastures, frozen lakes... so beautiful.

In Flåm we boarded a boat that took us cruising down the Sognefjord, the world's longest fjord with mountains as high as 1800 meters. The views were truly breathtaking, and even though we took about a million pictures, none of them come close to capturing the awesome landscape:

On the Boat

A Rainbow!

One of the Streams Running Down the Mountains

The boat docked in Gudvangen; from there we took a short bus ride through the mountains to yet another train that took us from Voss to Bergen. It was quite a journey!

Our first day in Bergen was cold and wet (which we hear is pretty much the norm for Bergen in October---too bad no one told us BEFORE we went, lol)!

We hid out at the Aquarium for the majority of the day. In addition to fish, fish, and more fish, they had crocodiles, penguins, a submarine, monkeys, and this enormous (fake) sea turtle:

Not perfect funicular-riding weather, but that certainly didn't stop us (notice how damp our pants are!):


The weather had improved by the next morning, so we rode up again. This time the sun was out and the view was beautiful:

We also did some shopping near the harbor area:

We toured Bergenhus Fortress, Haakon's Hall, and Rosenkrantz Tower (built in the 1500s and super cool):

Zach showing off his muscles near an arrow slit in the fortress

Walking down the tower's spiral staircase

On our last night in Bergen, we treated ourselves to an over-the-top chocolate dessert extravaganza---I think this might have been the highlight of the trip for Zach!

And then it was back on the train in the morning for the ride back to Oslo. On our way we stopped at Europe's highest station and played in the snow:

We had a fantastic time!

kElly, Elly and Elly

Today was another fun day. We met Daddy for lunch at TGI Fridays---laugh at the silly Americans going to an American restaurant in Norway if you like, but occasionally (which is about once a week for us, lol) you just crave a taste of home (even though we don't actually frequent Fridays in the U.S.). And at 89 kroner for a lunch meal, it is actually quite a bargain!

Afterwards, Zach and I headed to our favorite park to meet up with our friend Elly. She is an intern at ALC, the church we've been visiting here, and knew of an awesome little coffee shop with the best mocha I think I've ever had. I think it tastes even better sipped outside in the chilly but sunny weather!

Elly and I had a great time talking while Zach played his little heart out. I took a video of him on the slide this time, but it was super sunny today, so you'll have to kind of use your imagination a little bit:

Speaking of Elly... he was completely captivated by a Facebook video of the other Elly (his tiny American "girlfriend" he left behind in Houston) this morning and insisted on watching it over and over and over again.

Busy Playing

Zach and I played another morning away at Frognerparken. Sorry, no pictures this time because I was just too busy chasing him around and helping him down the slide (like a million times!). He's getting more adventuresome now that he's gotten to know this particular playground, and he somehow manages to make friends and have kids chasing him around even though they can't understand a word the other is saying.

Most of the kids at the park are in "barnehagen," kind of like preschool or daycare, and wear bright yellow construction-worker style vests to identify them. Zach now thinks it is very stylish and asked if we had one for him. Peer pressure is a powerful thing!

Dr. Zachy

Zach had a blast playing Dr. Mario with us on the Wii last night. He's not the greatest player, but he sure is cute trying.

Zachy vs. Mommy

Zachy Wins!

Concentrating

Zachy vs. Daddy

Zachy Loses! (mean Daddy)

English Finally Comes in Handy

Today we met Sameer, a sweet 5 -year-old boy who's in need of some tutoring in English before he enters International School next year. I'll be helping him with his workbook lessons for an hour a couple of days each week, and hopefully he'll also get to join us for some "field trips." Samir and Zach share an obsession with trains and had lots of fun playing together.

Hide It Under a Bushel?

NO!

Sunday School was great! The kids learned about Adam and Eve, colored, played a game, shared a snack, and sang some familiar songs...

Vigelandsparken

After stopping by our local bakery for some breakfast pastry treats, we visited Vigelandsparken, a huge sculpture park housing the work of Gustav Vigeland. It was a gorgeous but chilly day---definitely the coldest we've seen so far. There was even frost on the grass!


There are more than 200 sculptures in the park, each one a depiction of an emotion or condition. Zach busied himself by harassing yet another group of birds (this has become his Norwegian tradition) and he enjoyed climbing the stairs and imitating some of the poses.

A group of Asian tourists took a break from admiring the artwork and began posing and taking pictures with Zach! A bit odd, but we'll take it as a complement I guess!

This evening we were invited for dinner by one of Kelly's co-worker friends. We had lots of fun eating a delicious meal (and two desserts!) and getting to know Thomas and Kristen and their kids:
Casper (a sweet 6-year old who offers piggy back rides to toddlers), Edvin (who is just a day younger than Zach and no less energetic), and Nelle (2 months old and so precious).

We're Official!

After enjoying a delicious lunch with Kelly (it was quite a bargain at just 89 kroner each!), we all had to report back to the visa office for more forms. Zach met his match there---a cute little Pakistani girl who was not good at sharing legos either. While they haggled over who had what first, threw blocks at each other, and were even repremanded by the very stern looking security guard for being too loud (no, not my proudest moment ever), we finished up our paperwork and we are now officially allowed to be here for a year (and I'm sure the security guard is thrilled we won't need to come back).

We parted ways with Daddy and then rode the subway and bus back to our neighborhood to do our daily grocery shopping. Zach is always eager to go to the market because he gets to push around a tiny grocery cart. Even though he's run these things into my heels about a million times, I still think it is pretty darn cute.

Also pretty cute:

A Day at the Beach

So what does a Norwegian beach look like---really really beautiful! I took some pictures, but trust me, they do not do it justice.

Zach spent his time collecting seashells and sand in a cup and then "setting them free back into the ocean where they live." He also found a few ducks to harass. I just sat back and enjoyed the sun and the view!

Walking to the Beach

Loading Up His Cup for the Billionth Time

Zachy and Mommy

We had a slight disagreement about when to leave, which prompted this conversation:

Tour de Norway

Zach discovered the thrill of riding downhill today:

Biking Down the Sidewalk

Down by the Dock

Preparing for Another Ride Downhill

Internasjonale Barnekunstmuseet

Zach and I ventured out to the International Children's Art Museum this morning, which turned out to be as strange as its name sounds in Norwegian.

The museum (really a large house right in the middle of a residential neighborhood) is covered from floor to ceiling in children's art from around the world. It is an odd and cluttered place with art in absolutely every nook and cranny, but Zach had a blast exploring the different rooms and creating some art of his own (sorry, no picture taking allowed inside).

He also enjoyed the small playground out back:

No outing is complete without a song by Zach: