New fun

I'm sure that I have plenty to blog about since my last posting was in early August, but I'm not going to take time for that right now. :)
Here are a few pics from some of our "new fun".

Growing up fast

I thought I would take a moment and write a bit about each girl. In the past many days, I have thought about various things I should share / blog about each of them and their unique personalities, but I haven't written anything down. So, let's see what I can remember. (Probably not much...)

Lexi is a 5-1/2 year old dying to turn 6. She is constantly thinking about when her next birthday is and how old she will be when Lillian is 2 or 3 or 4, etc. She is still our princess prima donna. She wails/cries at the slighest injury or injustice (Lillian is often the cause for her wailing), but she manages to dish out her fair share of annoyance to Lillian. She likes to plan and know what is going to happen. We will go here first, there next, etc. She thinks her Pappa is snill (nice) and Mamma is sint (angry). Go figure. She is obsessed with tucking in her shirts and either wearing tights (year-round) or having her socks stretched up to her knees. She really makes an effort to pick out clothes that match, but sometimes it is pink/white striped tights that match her pink/white striped top. Hmmm... not so much. She was quite keen to repeat the Legoland experience from last year and had a smile plastered on her face most of the time. She took charge of the map and dictated where we went and what we did (most of the time anyway). She has enjoyed riding her bike a bit this summer as well as swimming (both indoors and outdoors). Like I mention in the blog posts below, she has become quite a bit braver and more adventurous of recent. She is the over-bearing big sister that is constantly trying to carry Lillian around - despite our demands that she not. She has selective listening and trys my pateince most days. Harley is still her closest friend, but she has some pretty good real friends as well (both in the Norwegian and English speaking communitites). She weighs around 17kg (37#) and is approx 115cm (almost 4 feet tall).

Lillian is a most advanced 21 month old. She wants to do everything everyone else is doing. There is no reasoning with her. She is stubborn and very persistant. She is learning a few bad habits from Lexi - whining to try and get something - for one. Her speech is starting to come on - her vocabulary is 20 words or so - mostly all Norwegian. She has had a much stronger influx of Norwegian in these early days than Lexi did. She started barnehage at 14 months (Lexi was 19mo), she started 100% Norwegian barnehage (Lexi had a year of 50/50 English and Norwegian), etc. Some of her words are ha det (goodbye), tutti (slang for her pacifier), bleie (diaper), boller (bread roll), nese (nose), øye (eye), øre (ear), munn (mouth), Mamma, Pappa, car, bird, ja (yes), nei (no), eple (apple), etc. There are more, I am just not thinking of all of them. She understands everything - both languages, and attempts to say any and everything. She still loves to eat and has (unfortunately) a sweet tooth. For breakfast, she likes some cheerios (or weetabix), some toast with butter and possibly some fruit. Her favorite fruits are strawberries, blueberries, bannanas, watermelon, apples, pears, grapes, etc. For lunch, she likes grill cheeses sandwiches (with ketchup for dipping), tomotato soup, ham sandwiches (she loves ham), etc. For dinner, she loves pizza (with ham and bacon), pasta with white or red sauce, rice with butter or sauce, etc. She still isn't much of a vegatble eater which includes (unfortunately) potatoes (mashed or boiled). She loves her McDonald's chicken nuggets and fries, but most of all, she loves to eat what you have. Your plate and her plate can be identical, but it always tastes better coming from your plate. She is also a very social eater and will eat whenever anyone is eating - i.e. she likes her breakfast first thing in the morning, but will eat again when Tim has breakfast a bit later. (Bad habit?) She has taken to rejecting her bib and high chair. She wants to sit in a normal chair like Lexi and who needs a bib? (Rice meals are the messiest.... sticky rice everywhere). Oh, and she likes Chinese noodles. She insists on having a napkin beside her plate and cleans as she goes (sort of). She will also hand back her plate when she is finished. She is also drinking out of normal cups - who needs those sippy cups anyway? She is a Pappa's girl and much prefers males to females. She bonds with all of our male friends and would much rather have Tim change her diaper or give her a bath or put her to bed than me. (Fine by me :)) She much prefers to be naked and if she must have on clothes, barefoot is best. Socks are only for taking off. She refuses to leave hair clips in her hair or allow any sort of ponytail to keep her wild locks from falling in her eyes. She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and says "O Toodles" with them and does the Mouse-ka-dance.
I'm sure there is much more, but I have written a novel about Lillian and a bit less about Lexi. Hmmm.... (Oh, lastly - Lillian is still small. She weighs around 10kgs (22#) and is only 80cm tall at best (31"). She seems to be slower than Lexi in the height department.)

Happy kids, exhausted parents

We just got back from a long weekend in Denmark where we repeated the activites from last year - only this time, we were way more effective. We spent 3 nights and essentially 2 days there - the other 2 days were pretty much travel days. But, we were at Legoland twice, the playland twice and the indoor water park three times. Whew! That might give you an idea as to why the parents were a bit tired. Jen, we missed you! Here are some pics from the long weekend in Denmark and then the day or so we spent in Arendal and the trip to the zoo (dyreparken) on the way back to Feda. Enjoy!

My little girl is not so little anymore...

Look Mamma, a bird!

Gorgeous Lexi at Legoland

Want some apple? I'll share...

Lexi was so bold on this trip - several rides that she wanted to ride alone (she is normally "too scared") and she was super bold in the indoor water park - daring to experience new things. The above pic is on the safari train at Legoland.

Lexi and the Lego Lion

We stayed at a 4-person holiday home (same as last year) at Lalandia. Super nice, but it is the "hytte" experience which means you bring your own towels and linens (or pay extra to rent from them) and you have your own kitchen, etc.

Proof that she has worn some of the cute outfits Grammy and Pops sent over in May...

Inside Lalandia (a resort place), they have painted the ceiling as if it were sky with backdrops, etc. Lexi was dying to try the bungee hopping on the trampoline. She got to do it twice (Lillian was too little and very sad that she didn't get a go.)

Lexi learned to turn flips while hopping - very brave

Tim and the girls with the Lalandia Monky Tonky

Lillian is so much braver than Lexi about everything and wanted to try all slides.

Don't know why this pic got turned, but as I mentioned, Lexi was so much braver about getting water in her face and going under water, etc. However, as you can see, she still tried to get her head up when sliding.

Hmmmm...this cotton candy (sukkerspin) is pretty good

No Mom, I don't want to look at the camera

This frog jumer was one of Lexi's favorite rides. It takes the kids up and drops them down in steps and hops up again. She loved it and rode it several times. Poor Lillian had a bit of a melt-down as she was not allowed... she wants to do EVERYTHING that big sister does!

Back in Norway, we headed to the hytte in Arendal. It was, er, um, slightly wet on Monday.

Due to the poor weather in Arendal (very unusual), we packed-up and headed back to Feda with a stop at the zoo (Kristiansand Dyreparken) on the way home. Since Lexi refused to ride the log ride with him (previous experience), Tim thought that Lillian might like it. He says she really liked it except for the water-in-her-face part. Hmmm...what do you think?

The lion show is one of my favorites at Dyreparken. They have 8 lions, 3 males and 5 females and the lion keeper tells all about them while tossing out little "snacks". The highlight is when he releases the horse leg on the zip line. I realize that I did a poor job cropping the above photo. The lion above was actually hanging in the air and eating off the bone while the leader of the heard Aslan looked on.

Lexi was the driver and the tractor had a gas pedal / accelerator which she thought was cool.

I guess the friendly guy that agreed to take our family pic couldn't see the poor positioning of the sun/shadows. Hmmm....

Tim and the girls on Captain Sabeltann's pirate ship - Den Sorte Dame

I was trying to get a prof photo with the sunlight in her hair and the flowers, but she just wouldn't look at the camera.

And we blinked again and July was gone...

Once again, I am "batch blogging". I just can't seem to find the time to blog more frequently, but some of our pics and adventures are too precious to keep to myself. July was a normal month for us of work and barnehage. As many may know/remember, July is usually the "holiday" month in Norway. Which means that it is like a ghost town at the office (less than 50% present) and it was a bit sad to drop the kids at barnehage everyday as it was definitely reduced staff and reduced kiddos. On one hand, the girls got lots of extra special attention, on the other hand, Lexi kept asking me "when do we go on holiday" as all of her friends had already left for holiday. Sigh, sigh, the trials and tribulations of having 30 days of holiday per year :)

I was recently logging my time at work in our system (for payroll purposes), and I thought to myself "wow, July has been our first sick-free month since last November". But, alas, I was wrong. Lillian was well, but we were home with Lexi and a stomach bug early in the month. Oh well...almost.

Here are some random pics to enjoy.

Samuel, Lexi and Lillian after dinner at Lajla's house

The girls wore their Old Navy shirts on the 4th,  but I only got a pic of Lillian as the barnehage called us mid-day and we had to pick-up a sick Lexi. She came home and slept all afternoon - tummy troubles. Tim and I both had meetings and opted to wear a bit more professional attire on the 4th :) Thanks for the shirts Grammy and Pops!

Tim borrowed his buddy's ATV to haul some stuff around in Feda. The girls loved it!



Wearing sister's sandals.... what more to say?



Hiking with Pappa

Enjoying some sunshine and COLD water temps

A family pic in the boat

A family pic at Orresteinen (the look-out point over Feda fjord behind Lajla's house)

Driving Pappa's motorcycle (as it is stationary - in the garage)

Just can't beat sliding

Looks, it's a crab!

Hmmm... more crab

Sand play at our little beach in Feda

The water was slightly chilly - Lexi opted for a wet suit :)

Catching up on May and June

Time for another batch of pictures... as I dumped the latest set of pictures from the camera, I realized that (as per usual), we have been plenty busy with "stuff". Here are some pics from May and June.

Lillian loves her new tree swing that Tim installed right outside of the boathouse.

Lexi and Tim head out for one of the first paddle trips of the season.

Stylish Lexi playing in the sand - this was early May and our temps were still chilly.

Lillian isn't so sure what to think of the baby lambs - these are the "koppelam". The lambs that lost their mother during the birthing process and are bottle-fed.

Lexi and our family friend Amalie showing their gorgeous smiles.

Did I mention that this child LOVES ice cream? Well, any food or sweet, really...

When we got back from Spain, Norway had a week of wonderful, sunny, hot weather. The girls wore shorts and t-shirts everyday. This pic was taken at the zoo in Kristiansand. We met-up with our good friends Joe, Jacinta, Grace and Rachel for an outing.

Lillian, Lexi, Grace and Rachel at the zoo

Sweet Lillian

Best friends

Tim put the sailboat on the water for the season

I never remembered to take a pic of the girls when I picked them up from barnehage that week that we had glorious weather. All clothes looked like this. This happens to be one of Lillian's outfits :)



Lexi is enjoying a sunny day at the local beach while watching the Sola Air Show.



I made Lillian bundle-up to walk along the Sola beachfront. The wind was still cold and they were both recovering from another round of colds. She just didn't understand why this beach was different from the warm beaches in Spain.

Lexi and I just spent the weekend in Uley (2 hours west of London in Gloucestershire) visiting our dear friends Nikki, Naomi and Lilja. They weren't exactly cooperative for group pics, but I managed some great individual shots.

Beautiful Naomi is now 8 years old

Stylish Lilja will turn 6 this July

New puppy Teddy was the center of attention - he is a cross between a labrador and a miniature poodle



In case you wondered - Lexi IS her father's daughter. We went on a nice walk Sunday afternoon. The weather had improved; so, I told Lexi she could either wear her tights with her trousers or her socks. She chose socks, but proceeded to "tuck in her trousers". When I tried to retify the fashion statement, she insisted that they needed to be like this to prevent the wind from blowing up her trouser leg and making her cold. She was adamant (despite my protests); so, I eventually gave up the battle. :) Can you say practical?



This was supposed to be the posed group pic, but Lexi and Lilja insisted on goofy faces

This was supposed to be the funny face pic, but Lexi opted to show her funny face to opposite direction

Gorgeous Nikki is giving Lilja a go on the zip line

They had done face painting at barnehage on Monday. By the time I remembered the camera, this is what was left of the face paint. Lillian turned 19 months old on 10.June! She is so much fun at this age. So helpful (most of the time) and wanting to learn so much. She adores her older sister; but, most of the time, Lexi thinks Lillian is the bothersome little sister. Sound familiar? Lillian is full of hugs and cuddles, still has a very healthy appetite, has her 11th tooth trying to poke through, loves barnehage, loves being outdoors, loves hopping on the trampoline, loves routine, loves her Pappa (yes, she is definitely a Pappa's girl) and loves her big sister. She still only has a handfull of words, but I'm sure her speech will come on when it is ready. She understands so much and has an amazing ability to comminucate non-verbally (pointing, nodding, dragging you where she wants you to be, etc.).



Pappa Tim with his girls (Happy US Father's Day)