Spaghetti Fest!

Maggie and Frøy made spaghetti at Frøys house last week. Happy, happy girls. Yummy, yummy spaghetti.

Solstice Walk Success?

Our solstice walk this year yeilded quite different results from our past experiences - namely a large chunk of ice and a cat.

This shining December day we had sun for almost two hours! Our happy little procession left home as soon as the yellow orb peeked over the horizon line and slid down the walk to the little forest near our apartment. Normally, we walk around Tennant Lake on solstice, picking up cat tails, ferns, interesting mushrooms, and pebbles with which to honor mother earth.

Pickin's were slim this year, but we all teetered home with something. Maggie found an amazing and surprising tiny blue flower. Peter found an enormous chunk of ice. Anna found a cat.

The path was absolutely treacherous and the grass was frozen too. So, Mike and I carried our bruised tooshies home along with a handful of fragile baby ferns and an interesting red leaf. Ahhhhh, Norway.

Our Sweet Princesse

Little Nan has been quite the performing pincess for the past few months. Whenever visitors join us, Anna gets herself ready for quite a while, augmenting her sparkling outfits with whatever makeup of mine she can find. Its crazy how well she can put on brown eye shadow - better than Momma, that's for sure!

Daddy turned 40 on Saturday. We had mango cake and smoothies to celebrate. We were going to go bowling, but it cost $10 a game, per person, and Mike couldn't make himself spend so much on something none of us are sure we like to do. On the up side, my dad and I bought Mike an itouch and Maggie made him a card that read, "Happy Birthday Old Man" Totally classic.

AND GUESS WHAT? Mike has come to they gym for thee days in a row! Amazing!

That would be City CENTER...sorry.

Holidays in City Ceter

Downtown Trondheim really dresses up for hte holiday season. The holidays here last from Christmas Eve to the second week on January. New Years was a fantastically huge occasion. Mike wrote about it, so check out his pictures of popcorn around the city.

There are two features of the holiday season that stand out to me as beautiful pieces of Norwegian culture during this time of year. First, there are candles everywhere. This image of the big statue of St Olaf is right at the center of town. Candles cover the downtown walkways. They welcome one into every store and every home. Its charming and cozy.

The other thing is the Norwegians desire to make everywhere a haven for outdoor activities. Take this picture of the mall right down town. The Commune set up temporary bumper boundaries and created an ice skating rink right in the middle of town. Anyone can skate, any time. Many schools around do the same thing - filling up an indent in the ground with water and creating their own skating rink. It's really cool.