Another week of fun!

As usual, time seems to fly by. Jen has been here for nearly 3 weeks and we continue to stay plenty busy. Here are some of the pics from our newest adventures. Happy 4th of July today!

Here is Jen with a view towards Stavanger harbour.
Lillian has been enjoying the sightseeing as much as Jen and I.

This last Tuesday through Sunday was the annual World Tour Beach Volleyball tournement in Stavanger. They close off the harbour area and set-up 6 sand volleyball courts. We watched the first part of a match between the US women and UK women during the first day's qualifying. Lillian loved the music and the clapping...she thought it was all for her. :)

We also visited Baby Samuel that same evening.
Here is Lexi in Stavanger harbour with her "popsicle treat".

Jen, Lillian and I hiked to the top of Dalsnuten. It offers a great panoramic view of the Stavanger, Sola, Sandnes area. Awesome! Here are Jen and Lillian ready to hike!

Jen at the top
Lillian and I at the top...the wind was cold.
Lillian and I enjoying our snack
Jen just loves the local wildlife :)
Beautiful forest and brook on the hike back down

Summer holidays are here! On Friday, July 1, we travelled to Feda to start our 5 weeks of summer holidays. We kicked off the weekend with our second annual party at the boathouse. As we did last year, we invited our local friends to join us for shrimp and some freshly caught and cooked crab. Here is Jen posing in the bar Friday night as we prepared for the big party on Saturday.

In honor of the 4th of July, Tim agreed to hang the flag for us :) Thanks Tim!
Jen is desperately trying to conquer her girly reaction (oh wait...she called it a phobia) to sea life. She held a crab...barely!
Lillian was fresh from a nap and wasn't so sure what to think.
Lexi helped cook the crab for the party
Lexi enjoyed the first swim of the season.
Jen watched...note the fleece, it was "slightly" cold
We just had to pose in front of the flag
Our guests are enjoying the shrimp and crab...Norwegian style (eaten on white bread with mayo or butter)
Jen made major improvements...she actually ate some crab and claimed to enjoy it!

Happy 4th of July! Thanks Grammy for the matching t-shirts (well, sort of matching :) ). Jen thinks we looked like the Griswolds parading around Flekkefjord today in our patriotic shirts. I was glad that mine "matched". :)

To celebrate the 4th, we took the sailboat to Flekkefjord to eat pizza. Fireworks are only shot-off here in Norway on New Year's Eve...you can only buy them in the days proceeding New Year's. So, no fireworks for us. Here is Lexi in the boat.

Lillian was having some lunch
Jen was getting her first sailing lesson from Tim (note: the matching shirts)
Jen, the sailer.
Lillian waving her flag...sort of.

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!

Cousin Jennifer is finally here!

Yippe, yea, hoorah...Cousin Jennifer is finally here! She didn't exactly get a large crowd at the airport like we got in Tulsa in April, but Lexi and I were there to welcome her to Norway. On the way into the airport, Lexi said that we should have made Jennifer a sign like Aunt Kristy and Cousin Mark had made for us. Hmmmpphh...yep, should have thought of that. Or, at a minimum, should have had some mini Norwegian flags to wave like some others had that day at the airport. Oh well.... she's here!

Forget about jet lag, we can't exactly let grass grow under our feet; so, we have been trying to tire Jen out with plenty of activities (mainly kid-related) and plenty of fresh air. The weather is still variable. Some days of gorgeous sunshine and some days of clouds. When the sun shines, it is hot, if not, well, you need a light jacket or fleece.

Jen has nearly been here one week and here are some of our favourite pics (spelling is for you Jonathan :) ).

It's true...second children get to do so much more, so much faster than the first. I don't think Lexi tasted ice cream until her first birthday party or well after her first birthday. Lillian had her first taste at the ripe old age of 7 months. She wanted more and got mad when we took it away.

We had a playdate with some friends last Thursday at one of our local beaches (Ølberg Strand). Jen was happy to get some fresh air after being couped up on the plane for so long. Here are Jen and Lillian on the swings.
I LOVE this picture. Lexi wanted to roll her jeans up like Jen (quite practical really because of the sand). Anyway, they climbed a sand dune to look out to the North Sea.
Lexi quickly had a wardrobe change...jeans were way too hot.
Here is Jen Saturday morning at Sola Dager (Sola Days). She is eating some fresh Norwegian strawberries from one of the local strawberry farms. Sola is the name of the town that we live closest to. Let the strawberry season begin!
Yes, I do pose for the occasional pic....
Here is Lexi taking a horse and carriage ride
Jen couldn't wait to strap on the Baby Bjørn. Lillian loved going through the grocery store with Jen.
Saturday afternoon, we went into Stavanger. Here are Jen and Tim with Old Stavanger (Gamle Stavanger) in the background.
Lillian got her second taste of ice cream
Even though Tim (and Lexi) could (would) eat ice cream 365 days a year - come rain or shine... I can't. But, I must admit...nothing beats a yummy ice cream on a gorgeous, sunshiny, warm day.
Lexi went down the slide zillions of times. (Please ignore the fashion statement...)

So, many of you have heard us talk about "Lørdags Godt". This is directly translated to Saturday treat and basically means that every Saturday, we get to have a treat. Lexi will pick out some chips or some candy from the store and she gets to eat it in the evening - usually with the Saturday movie night. This is very common in Norway amongst Norwegian familes. I think it is a great thing to do as it means Saturday is something special. It's not as if we don't ever have sweets and crisps during the week, but in general, it is something we reserve for Saturdays. (Ice cream is excluded - see above comments about Tim's passion for ice cream.)

Anyway...long story longer...Jen loves Dr. Pepper. Well, Dr. Pepper is not marketed here, but you can find it at some speciality grocery stores. So, Jen chose Dr. Pepper for her Saturday treat. We - in typical Allen fashion - had to take a picture. So, Jen tells Lexi "hold up your drink for the picture". Er, um...apparently, Lexi has yet to learn the meaning of some English phrases. So, she quite literally held up her drink. Duhhh!

On Sunday, we spent the afternoon at a local farm/picnic area (Soma Gård). It is super fun for kids as they can look at the animals, hop on zillions of trampolines, play in the sand boxes, ride tractors, play on swingsets, etc. Here are Jen and Lexi on a display tractor.

Here they are petting the lambs

Slides are fun

Yes, Lillian woke up and here she is in the swing

Lillian loves to walk...everywhere. The only problem? She still needs help :)

Lexi and Lillian in our wagon with refridgerator bag that contained our lunch for grilling.
Lexi got to ride a horse and loved it. (The green thing is like a shower cap since the helmets are used by all.)
Today, Jen, Lillian and I went on a 3 hour boat ride from Stavanger harbour to Lysefjord. Lysefjord is where Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) is located. Jen and I hiked to Preikestolen when she was here at Easter 2009, but today, the goal was to see it from below at water level. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit gray today and there was lots of low-lying fog/clouds in the fjord. So, we didn't actually see the top. Nonetheless, it was a great trip with lots of beautiful scenery. Here are Jen and Lillian at the beginning of the trip when the boat was leaving Stavanger harbour.
Lillian and I had been on top of the boat looking at the beautiful scenery. The wind was blowing and it was a bit cool for her...so, I bundled her up in her hat and suit.

Jen is sampling the fresh mountain water from this waterfall.

Jen is posing in front of the sightseeing boat that we went on.