All about Jen

Instead of my normal posts that are pretty much all about Lexi or Lillian or both, this blog entry is dedicated to Jen :) Jen has been here nearly two weeks and we have done so many fun things together that I am starting to loose count. I do think Jen is getting her lifetime quota of baby and kid time & activities. She is learning so much about all of the baby routines, baby gear and baby food that are part of our daily life in addition to the Princess' (aka Drama Queen) antics. So, she will most likely head home in August ready to buckle down and finish her thesis :)
Here are some pics taken since the last blog entry. This first one is Jen, Lillian and I at the Three Swords Monument at Hafrsfjord. (Lexi is at barnehage. She has had the occasional day off since Jen arrived, but we are trying to stick to her daily barnehage routine for the month of June. She will then get 5 weeks of summer holidays starting July 1st; so, we are letting her play with her friends in June :) )
Jen treated us to her speciality - chicken fried steak and gravy (a la Granny Bitting) - Tim was in heaven.

The finished meal even included sweet tea :)

Jen, Lillian and I hiked to a local waterfall (Månefossen) on Wednesday last week. It is only a 30 minute hike to the waterfall, but the ascent is very, very steep. You use chain ropes to pull yourself up the rocks in several places. Here is Jen and Lillian at the start.
Here we are at the waterfall. This isn't the best shot of the waterfall, but I figured I better post people-pictures :)

Lillian loved being outdoors in nature.

We hiked onwards from the waterfall to the Mån farm a bit further in the valley. This is a picture of Lillian and I on the way back - Månefossen is in the distant background.

Jen after the trip. It was about a 2 to 2-1/2 hour roundtrip to the waterfall and Mån farm with a stop for lunch.

Here is Jen with a wooden troll at the nearby candle factory (Byrkjedalstunet)

Finally! Baby Samuel has arrived. He was born in the early monring hours (2:08am) on Wednesday (June 22). He weighed 4080 grams (9lbs) and was 51 cm long (20.1"). Linn and Samuel are doing great - they came home from the hospital last Friday.

On Thursday, Jen, Lillian and I visited Utstein Klosters (a local monastary). Here is Jen in the courtyard.

Lillian and I on the stairs.

Utstein Klosters

Sheep crossing the road. (Duh!)

Lexi with her body imprint/image at the science museum in Sandnes (Vitenskapsfabrikken). P.S. it looks kind-of spooky....

Lillian and Jen at the science museum.

We spent the weekend in Feda and are very glad we did. They continued to have gray/rainy weather in Stavanger and we had gorgeous sunshine. The temps are still in the high 50s / low 60s, but this isn't so uncommon for June. We have confindence that we will see a typical Norwegian summer in July when we are in Feda, Arendal and Denmark. (Typical would be 60s and 70s and lots and lots of pretty blue skies and sunshine.) Here is a pic of Jen and Lexi paddling. Er, um...I think Jen paddled and had to paddle extra hard to compensate for the backward / counter-paddling that Lexi did with her little oar.

See the kayak with Jen and Lexi on the right with Feda river and the boathouses all around.

Today, Tim, Lexi and Jen went fishing. The primary goal: catch enough fish to bait the crab traps a couple of times. Tim's goal: get Jen to touch a fish and remove a hook from its mouth. Jen's goal: avoid fish blood splatter and touch a fish. Er, um...I don't think she accomplished it this outing, but Tim has assured her that there will be many more chances. :)

P.S. Tim was so entertained by Jen and her reaction to the fish that he didn't take a single pic of Lexi!