What was I thinking????

For those of you that don't know this. Lexi has two passports. A Norwegian one and a US one. She will be able to hold two passports until the age of 18 when she (by Norwegian law) will have to choose one. She has had these passports since she was about one month old as we traveled for the first time when she was about 3 months old. She has to travel into and out of the US on her American passport, but uses the Norwegian for other travels and back into Norway.

Whilst her US passport is valid for 5 years, her Norwegian is only valid for 2. I recently realized that it had expired in Feb of this year. So, I went online to print out the renewal application and gathered all of the necessary stuff (expired passport, Tim's passport, money, got Tim to sign the forms since he wasn't coming with us, etc.). I planned to take Lexi on Monday morning and figured we would take her new passport pics in the photo machine that is on-site.

What was I thinking???? As I was driving to the police station (where the passport renewal office is), I suddenly thought - how am I going to get a two year old to take a proper passport picture??? Looking at the camera, mouth closed, eyes open, etc. I seriously contemplated driving to a photography studio to get them taken (like we did two years ago), but figured it wouldn't be open at 8:10am on a Monday morning.

So, we continued on. At the photo machine, we adjusted the chair up and her eyes were nearly at eye level (meanwhile ignoring all of the signs that they recommend children 5 and under get passport photos taken by a photographer or that mouth should be closed, eyes open, solemn, etc.). We deposited our first 50 kr ($8) and started the process to take up to four photos. It takes a pic and then asks you if you want to select it (preview screen) or want to continue. You can take all 4 and then choose the best one. Well, we didn't make it that far. Little Miss hit the touch-screen button after pic #3 and selected it. Mind you, pics 1 & 2 were OK, but she was sitting a bit low. So, I had adjusted her up in pic #3 and that is when she decided to ham it up for the camera. So, my child, who is just like her father and really doesn't "cheese" for the camera, suddenly starts making all sorts of funny faces as she can see her reflection in the screen. So, here is the result of my first eight bucks. (my color scanner is messed-up which is why the color is off, but I think you get the idea)


What do I do? Naturally, deposit 50kr more - it's still cheaper than a photographer. So, we manage to take all four pics this time. She sits on my lap to get the extra height and I have to hold this white board between us to create the white background. Here is the best of the four (the only one with mouth closed) and THANKFULLY, they accepted it. So, for the next two years, here is her Norwegian passport pic. We got the new passport in the mail today and it is super funny (in black and white).

What was I thinking????

The value of a Hallmark greeting card...

I am reminded of the Mastercard commercials (it is Mastercard???) that advertise various events in random people's lives and end the commercial by saying "The value of XXX, PRICELESS".

Well, Grammy and PaPa, you'll be happy to know that you no longer need to spend $50 shipping boxes with goodies to Lexi for each holiday - a simple musical card is the best entertainment. In this video clip, the St. Patrick's Day card and the Easter card are demonstrated....

Of course, I will always welcome presents...

Catching up with Deb and the girls in London

Lexi and I just spent a long weekend (Fri-Sun) in London catching up with our favorite friends that now live in Mexico (Deb and Elita) and meeting Elita's little sister Lailah (8 months). We were sad that our other friends Jacinta and Grace couldn't make the trip from Ireland, but understood that they were having an extended family weekend together with Jacinta's family. We were also sad that Cousin Jennifer was pony trekking in Wales and missed our fun day in the Regent's Park area! Despite the dismal weather forcast, we had gorgeous weather on Saturday for our day at the London Zoo.

We are now pros at travelling to/from London and look forward to meeting-up with Grammy, PaPa, Aunt Brenda and Cousin Jennifer in just a little over two weeks time!

Easter 2009 in Feda

Well, we spent a quiet, relaxful weekend in Feda for Easter. Tim spent most of his time working on the boathouse, Lexi played with Cousin Jennifer, Cousin Luna and second (or third?) cousins Karine and Mette. It was filled with egg coloring, egg hiding/finding, egg throwing, hot dog roasting and much more.

Hike to Preikestolen...

Jen and I decided that she couldn't leave Norway without doing at least one of the area's "touristy things". So, we left Tim and Lexi and the others in Feda and headed back to Stavanger last night. We got up early today to take the ferry over to Tau and to get to the parking lot where you start the climb. Preikestolen is also called Pulpit Rock and is about 1800ft over Lyse Fjørd.


The weather wasn't perfect as you will see from the fog that hadn't cleared out, but it was still a gorgeous view. It took us about 1.5 hours to hike up and about the same on the way down.

Easter Package

Lexi received an Easter package in the mail today from Grammy and PaPa. THANK YOU! Here are a couple of video clips. Sorry if the quality is reduced (especially sound), I tried to downsize them a bit for a faster upload. Background info, the child had already stripped off her pants and tights which is why she is just in her one-piece body and she has a purple heart sticker on her cheek and the TV is on mute in the background which was a causing a bit of a distraction...

Munch, munch, munch, Lexi loves her chocolate....

Sunshine and sand!

Lexi and I took a trip to the local beach this afternoon. As you can see, the sun was shining, but it was still pretty brisk with the wind blowing in off the water. But, it definitely feels more and more like Spring - thankfully!

I like this picture (taken this morning before church) because you can see that Lexi is now only lacking 3 teeth... the fourth hole is now filled with a tooh (lower left). Guess you have to blow up the picture to full size to see what I am talking about :)