Summer holidays - Week 1

Week 1 of our summer holidays has come and gone. We had some beautiful sunshine and warm temps early in the week and torrential rain for the weekend. We went on the 4th of July sailboat trip, hiked up to a local look-out point in Feda (Orresteinen) and took a trip to the zoo to name a few of our excursions. Here are Tim and Lillian at the zoo... The zoo (Dyreparken) is located in Kristiansand (1-1/2 hours south) and is not just a zoo. It has animals, rides, playgrounds, a fair, etc. We went with our good friend Morten and his two boys, Sander and Dani. After arriving and looking at the giraffes and zebras, the boys insisted on riding the log ride. Here's Lillian and I waiting for Tim, Lexi, Morten and the boys to come down.

Here they are...they got a little wet. Jen and Lexi loved the petting zoo.

Lillian wanted to chase after the goats

Here we are...the Griswolds at Dyreparken in Kristiansand, Norway :) Here are Tim, Lexi and Jen on the Captain Sabeltann pirate ship.

Here are Jen, Lexi, Sander and Dani on the trolley in Kardemomme By (a popular children's play)

Jen and Lexi are attempting to climb the tower.

Lillian was a super trooper and had a great day.

Jen and Lexi built sandcastles at our local beach near the boathouse. The water is a bit chilly - to say the least. Lexi has been in several times, Jen and I have wet our toes.

Lillian and I playing while Jen and Lexi build sandcastles.

Tim, Lexi, Morten, Sander and Dani heading out to bring in whatever catch we have in the crab traps. A couple of sheep wandered down into town (near the school) from the mountainside. They were very friendly. Jen is loving all of our encounters with sheep :) Lexi, Sverre and Irmelin are playing at the beach. Lexi LOVES her Hello Kitty bathingsuit. Thank you Grammy and Pops!

The rest of us were watching from the grassy area.

We hiked up to a local look-out point on Wednesday (Orresteinen)

Lexi didn't want to pose in any pictures...Lillian is doing her usual "cheese".

I managed to get a pic of Lexi - had to bribe her with a gummy candy.

Our little hiker, Lillian, didn't make it home for naptime.

Lexi is headed out for a bicycle ride

Jen has yet to conquer her "fear of sealife" (as she calls it). She defo had a girlie reaction to holding a crawfish (krepps) It was raining when Tim, Morten and Lexi went out to haul in the crawfish from the 12 traps. Lexi has on her full raingear. Hmmm...not much of a catch. Tim tells me that catching crawfish is not easy and your traps have to be in the right spot. As mentioned, we had rain, rain and more rain starting Friday afternoon and going through Sunday morning. We went for a walk in the rain on Saturday. Here is Lexi. We had Tim's family (cousin Frode, wife Anne, kids Karine & Mette, Tom & Lajla and Anne's sister and kids) over for crab, shrimp and crawfish on Sunday evening. Afterwards, Karine and Mette wanted to go for a swim (around 8pm). Lexi insisted on going as well. Since it was a bit chilly (understatement...), she suited up...

We did some sightseeing today. Here is a pic of Jen and Lillian at Lista Lighthouse (Lista Fyr).

Lillian LOVES the camera. She is the complete opposite of her sister. She smiles anytime you point it her direction and say "cheese". Here are Jen and Lillian climbing up the stairs of the lighthouse.

Here we are on top of the lighthouse. Beautiful day and beautiful view.

Here we are walking around a local town that is fairly representative of southern Norway - Farsund.

Lexi wanted to pose for a picture - for a change.

Tim took us to a little harbour / point outside of Farsund. It was so pretty. Here is Jen. My camera died last Monday (4th of July). It had been a faithful, dutiful camera for 5 years. So, we bought the newer version of it. It has a cool "auto" panoramic function...plus many other functions that we haven't quite figured out yet :)