Birthday Wishes

Today is special for two reasons: it is my dad's birthday and our friend Kristin's as well. Elly, Zach and I surprised Kristin with a birthday brunch, but since Grandpa doesn't live in Norway we'll have to send him a song via the web...

Hadeland Glassverk

Today we travelled to Hadeland Glassverk, a glassblowing company about an hour north of town. The small factory produces some amazing stuff. After watching a few of the glassblowers at work, Kelly and I were pretty sure we'd be great at it and were given the chance to create our own works of art (a.k.a. two slightly lumpy glasses).

that little red blob turned into a huge red plate

Kelly's turn

hot stuff

the sand train

doing some digging---these tiny bulldozer's really work

making friends with a pony at the petting zoo

the final product

Zurchisons!

After a tour of the UK, Zach and Lacey swung by Norway for a visit with us. We had a great time showing them some of our favorite places and catching up, but the visit went by way too fast!

climbing rocks in Drøbak

Vigelandsparken

feeding the birds some extremely stale bread

Akershus Fortress

ferry ride to Bygdøy

Climb Every Mountain

Last weekend, I (Kelly) went with a friend of mine to the county of Telemark to hike to the top of the Gaustatoppen mountain. We started about 1000m up and hiked the remaining 850m to the top. It took about two hours and a total walking distance of 5.9km. My friend Pim is a machine, and just hikes around for fun. I have not hiked for years, and it was definitely one of the most physically challenging things I have ever done.

When we got to the top, though, it was all worth it. We could see for miles in every direction, with the town of Rjukan spread out in the valley below. Pim and I spent another 20 minutes jumping between rocks along the top of the mountain. It was amazing!

It took us an hour to get back down to the car, and then we drove back to Oslo for dinner with Bethany, Lucia (Pim's wife) and the families. It was a pretty great day, but I gained a new awareness of certain muscles I had not used much in a long time.

Here are some pictures from the hike:

the mountain

rocky terrain

still snowy

pretty views

view from the top

heading back down

Heat Wave

When you think of Norway, you probably don't think of sandy beaches or outdoor swimming pools, but that's exactly where we've spent our time for the last couple of weeks. Temperatures reached as high as 92 degrees Farenheit and though it was nothing close to a Texas summer, with only a small portable air conditioner for our apartment we were feeling the heat!

roller skating daredevil

doggy-sitting for Kaya

playing in the fountains at our apartments

Zach and Maurits monkeying around

Zach and his daddy conquering a (very) small mountain

sliding down to Elly at Frognerbadet (public pool)

Maurits and Zach

playing at Hvalstrand beach

Zach, Maurits and Lucia