Belated Valentine's and Snow

We are just destined to have a white winter. Yep, the snow is still on the ground and we get new little batches every now and again.

Here is a picture of Lexi with the snowman that she and Tim made this evening outside of our house. (or is it more like a snow - bear???)


The postal service failed us and Lexi didn't receive her Valentine's Day package from Grammy and Grandpa until Monday 21.february. (It had apparently arrived at the local post office on the 11th, but we never received a notice to go and collect it :( Anyway, the video clip of Lexi opening her package is below, but the highlight (besides the chocolate) was the Princess Wand. She insisted on donning her Snow White costume (birthday present from Grace) and using the wand! Here is Lexi walking back to the boathouse entry door last weekend. The snow is hard packed and lots of it!

Here is a pic of Lexi, the car and the trailer as we getting ready to head home (back to Stavanger) on the Sunday evening. Snow, snow everywhere!

Here is the video clip. THANK YOU Grammy and Grandpa for the wonderful present!

Girls Weekend 2010!

Riga here we come! Girls Weekend 2010 was in snowy Riga, Latvia (as if we haven't had enough snow here in Stavanger). 6 of us gathered at Sola airport at 0445 last Friday morning for an 0545 flight to Bergen and then onwards to Riga. We had a great weekend of sightseeing, shopping, spa treatments and plenty of café visits with coffee, tea and pastries. Yum, yum. We got home Sunday evening at 2130; so, it was a full three days of fun. Thanks to all of our hubbies who stayed home and watched the kiddos! Here are some pics from my camera. Unfortunately, the group pic was taken on another camera. I don't seem to have any pics of Siri and Carrie, but plenty of Nikki, Scottie and Maria.

Maria, Scottie and Nikki

Dome Cathedral Brandee & Maria
Our hotel which had a Skyline Bar on the 26th floor with awesome views
Scottie and Brandee posing with one of three giant snowmen in the park Maria and Nikki Scottie and Brandee
Scottie and Nikki in front of an art museum Scottie and Brandee with the same art museum
View of Riga Old Town from the Skyline Bar View of Riga Orthodox Cathedral

Boathouse update

Yes, it is 2010, and yes, we are still slaving (er, um, I mean working) away at "the boathouse project". We are definitely making progress and it is more and more measureable, but there are just so many "little details" left. Oh well, we'll get there one of these days. :)

Tim surprised me this weekend. He had CONTRACTED a local guy to come in with a huge sanding machine and sand the 1st floor and then oil/varnish it! Did you hear that correctly??? We actually paid someone to do some of this work for us! My "do it yourself" husband decided that it would be worth it and consequently, we got to spend Saturday at the local water park. Woo hoo! (ref blog entry below)

Well, the floor looks amazing! It is awesome and gave us all a feeling of measurable progress. Here is a pic of the 1st floor looking towards the river. Check out the floor! No Tønnessen elbow grease required :). You may remember that the 1st floor of the boathouse is not insultated. In other words...through the cracks in the wooden floor beams, you see the river.

Here is a view towards the corner where we will (eventually) have a little sofa/sitting area around the fireplace.

Here is our "old" masterbed from Stavanger that we brought to Feda. I stained it mahogany brown Saturday evening. So, the pic was taken while it was drying on the 1st floor. It will soon claim its place in the master bedroom on the second floor. (PS...did you get the gist? The masterbed from Stavanger? That means that all of the masterbedroom furniture from Stavanger came to Feda. That means that we are 95% complete on a master bedroom re-model in Stavanger. You know, just the usual... new laminate flooring, new paint, newly painted window trimwork, newly stained baseboards, new blinds, new furniture, etc., etc. That has been our "evening hobby" during the weekday nights in January. Will have to take pictures of it when I get the energy :)


Here is a pictures of the freshly oiled kitchen countertops (this was my Sunday afternoon project)

Here is the new family bunkbed that is in one of the guest bedrooms

Here is the new Ikea dresser that is in the same bedroom as the bunkbed above. (This was Tim and Lexi's Saturday evening project while I got high on the mahogany brown paint smell while staining the bed on the 1st floor.)

Here is the sink/mirror in the 2nd floor bathroom

Here is the bathtub in the 2nd floor bathroom. Lexi can't wait to take her first bath in it. (We've not officially "moved in" to the boathouse yet.)

Here is the shower in the 2nd floor bathroom.

See the newly hung ship's steering wheel above the window in the living room. This belonged to Tim's maternal grandfather. He was a seaman and it came from one of the ship's that he sailed around the world on.

Pics from the weekend

Here are some random pics from the weekend. We went to Feda and enjoyed a bit of "work", a bit of fun and some fresh air.

Here is our backyard in Stavanger...

Lexi absolutely LOVES her hot pink jogging suit that Aunt Brenda, Cousins Jonathan and Jennifer and Great Granny gave her as part of her birthday present. (The hat is a new Sleeping Beauty hat from her friend Grace.)
On Saturday, we went to an indoor water park that is only about 30 min from Feda. Our friends from Flekkefjord (Morten, Ann Britt, Sander and Dani) joined us. Although it may not look like it, the three of them get along great. It is mainly Lexi trying to keep up with the boys.

We never seem to take family pics these days; so, why not do it whilst in our swimsuits??? What was I thinking???

Lots of fun!

View over Kvinesdal - from Utsikten

Hanging out at the boathouse

Playing with Sander and Dani outside the boathouse

Dolls and Princess Shoes

This video is from Monday night January 25th...I just downloaded it from the camera and thought it was a fun one to share (albeit, long...).