This time it was the 7-year-old who lost a tooth. The tooth fairy must have spent the summer in Norway too because she left him a 20-NOK coin. In related news, all three kids had checkups with the dentist. No cavities!
My second-grader and two Kindergartners started back to school today. They have new teachers and lots of new classmates this year, so I hope they get to know everyone and adjust well. Luckily, they still have lots of familiar faces in school. Hope they have a great day and a great year!
Twin trivia: They really should rename this town Twin City. (There might be more twins than forests here.) I heard there are five sets of twins in Kindergarten this year (not all in one classroom, though). One of the teachers the girls had last year has 3-year-old twins. Their new teacher this year has grown twins. My son has a twin in his class this year (both twins were in his scout group last year).
My last hike was with my husband over the mountains (yes, more than one) into town to my sister-in-law’s home.
It was Charming Marie’s last hike in the Norwegian mountains. I’ve had lots of fun with her this summer!
We took a break at this lake. It was so quiet and pretty there.
We saw sheep everywhere.
See that bump in the background? That’s the top of Jendemfjellet.
See that yellow spot there? That’s a boy. We watched his progress over the top of one mountain and down another until he met up with us. He was RUNNING. The whole time. Makes me want to have a heart attack just thinking about it.
Skihytta — this is a ski cabin that’s open in the winter.
Getting close to town. These are ski paths with lights (for the winter). Folks use them for all kinds of things during the summer … hiking, biking, walking, running, etc.
Just about there! I think I can smell dinner from here.
I thought I’d slow things down, but when we were done, it hadn’t taken any longer than “normal” — about three hours. Yay, me!
Every time I see this sign, I sing, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.” Every. Single. Time. For almost 20 years now. I sang it out loud with the kids in the car. So, who knows. Maybe I’ve infected them too.
Ever been to a troll church? Come on.
I’ve been a couple of times before, and it was all my idea to take the kids.
“It’s not as steep as Jendemfjellet,” I said.
That’s true. And it’s about half as high as Jendemfjellet. However. The hiking was much harder than I remember, with lots of water, non-existent paths and steep, slimy rocks. It took us twice as long as the suggested time to hike up and back. But, hey, we made it.
Ready to go!
First stop for a look at the view.
There’s Jendemfjellet.
Rough climbing.
See the path? Neither do I.
Still have a ways to go, but this was a good place to rest.
Welcome to the Troll Church.
See the ladder in the back there? That’s how you get down from the mountain into the cave. Below the ladder is a steep cliff where the waterfall continues to flow. Whatever you do, hold on and don’t slip!
On our way back down.
And … what hike in the Norwegian mountains would be complete without Charming Marie?
We took a boat trip to visit a cousin and her family. I thought Marie would enjoy coming along.
Looks like the late sunlit nights finally caught up with someone. She fell asleep within 10 minutes.
We had a great visit with delicious food and good conversation, a sweet little baby and a charming dog. I had been hearing all day, “Canwegofishing? Canwegofishing? Canwegofishing?” from a certain 7-year-old boy, who was dying to go fishing with his bestefar on his bestefar’s boat. So, on the way back home, we went fishing.
We tried a few spots, and I started to wonder if we’d catch even one fish.
Then, bam! They started coming in one after the other.
You should have seen how big the 7-year-old’s eyes got.
We joked that the seagulls sang, “Fish heads!” as they swarmed the boat.
Fresh fish is a real treat for the little fisherman!
Here’s Marie on the ferry. She went along with us to stay at a cabin for a couple of days.
There was grilling.
And trampolining.
And rainbowing.
And boating.
And more boating.
And fishing.
And inspecting the fish before throwing it back.
And hiking.
There was lots of fun.
We spent the day in Bud to celebrate my mother-in-law’s birthday. We visited the cemetery and hiked along a new (to me) path near the water. On our way back into town, we passed by her childhood home — which was sold after her mother died a couple of years ago. The new owners saw us, opened their doors wide and invited us all in to see the remodeling they had done to the house. It was quite a treat. We had dinner at the restaurant Bryggen i Bud, visited the war memorial and stopped to see the vacation rental where Oldefar’s boat house once stood. It was a great day.
