Now that Maddie is back to school and James and Lucy are spending a few hours a day at barnepark, it's time to give an update on our summer. We had Aunt Rissie here to visit for a good part of the summer. She ended up taking most of the pictures of our adventures, so if you want to see all that we did check out her tumblr:
www.rissiegrace.tumblr.com. July was a fun busy month that included a sister trip to London and an overnight cruise to Copenhagen with the kids. When we weren't spending time with Aunt Rissie, we squeezed in a few other summer adventures. Here's a few:
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| We found a wild raspberry patch near our house. Maddie loves raspberries and was a motivated picker. James does not love raspberries and was not a motivated picker. Lucy skipped the cup and put the berries straight into her mouth. Maddie and I went back by ourselves a few times. We got pretty good at dodging the stinging nettle and enjoyed fresh berries on our cereal the next day. |
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| A swing built for three. |
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| Building a barn at the "sandbox" |
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| Near our house, there are some trails through pasture land. Norway is a refreshingly non-litigious society, so the sign on the pasture gate says something that roughly translates to "behave yourselves and don't feed the animals." |
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| The local preschools close for the month of July. This meant dozens of enclosed, abandoned playgrounds just begging to be visited. On any day with good weather, I would pack a lunch and a book, latch the gate behind us and relax while the kids explored the park. |
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| We went to the beach a few times with some friends from school. They are from the UK and have similar expectations as the Norwegians regarding water temperature. I learned that "the water's nice" translates to "the water is frigid, but we're going in anyway because it only goes downhill from here." Maddie and James went native and got in, Lucy and I just went for the sunshine and the company. |
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| Maddie trying out a mountain lake. She's borrowing a suit from her friend because it was a pretty brisk day and I hadn't even considered packing one. James really wanted to get in, but his only option was to skinny dip and he was too shy. |
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| Near the lake, hunting for raspberries. |
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| Lucy doesn't nap anymore, but a long day at the lake will wear anyone out. |
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| Admiring the sand volcano. You can't tell from the picture, but there's smoke coming out the top. James is NOT in the picture because even after he had been assured that this volcano had no lava, he kept his distance. A guy can never be too careful, right? |
