For Lisa - Ikea!!!

Took a bus trip to Ikea on Thursday morning.  Mission - extra blankets.  Mission successful.

I'm still learning the bus culture in Trondheim.  I learned that one does not drop one's coins in the coin slots at the front of the bus to pay for one's bus ticket.  One places one's coins on the tray in front of the coin slots, and the driver drops them in.  Not that I was politely reprimanded or anything.  :)

Forest Day

The older kids' school observed Forest Day on Tuesday.  The entire school, from preschool on up through tenth grade, got on busses in the morning and spent the day in the forest.  I spent the day with Grace's preschool group.  They went to a different part of the forest than the older kids.  Sam and Katie had a great time with their classes in the forest.

Waiting for the bus.  The preschoolers were a bit late coming out of the school, and the buses took off without us.  So we waited on the lawn for about a half an hour.

While we waited, the kids played a game.  The kid in the middle was the dog, and had to figure out who took his bone when he was "sleeping." 

Grace as the dog

The bus arrives!  Grace had a great perch on the upper level.  The ride up into the hills was as good as a roller coaster. 

Heading into the forest.  Grace has the Elmo backpack.

Having a snack before heading out for a hike

On the trail 

On the hike, the kids needed to look for things in forest that were on their bingo card.  They had to spot blueberries, mushrooms, pine cones, leaves, ants, a bird, etc.

An entertaining tree in the woods

Some mushrooms are spotted (but the mushrooms weren't spotted).

My hiker turned into a rider 

Headed back to base camp for some sausages 

Each of the kids needed to bring a piece of firewood to contribute. 

I asked her for a smile, and this is what I got.

Waiting for the bus to pick us up at the end of the day.  The kids were entertained by one of the teachers juggling.

Tug-of-war.  Tigers vs. Monkeys.  The Tigers won, even though the teachers helped the Monkeys.

At the end of the day 

On the bus ride home

A day through the lens of Katie

Katie has an admirer at school.  Each day he gives her a note with his artistic specialty - an apple tree with flowers growing underneath.  This is but a sampling of the notes.  There are probably ten more just like them on Katie's desk.  This boy is nothing if not consistent.  Katie writes him notes every day too, but she says she varies the content.  Sometimes hearts, sometimes rainbows, sometimes flowers, sometimes apple trees.  In true childhood love, this relationship started by Katie telling me there was a boy at school who always chases her on the playground and hits her.  Ah, first grade. 

Someone raided my closet 

Sam has started in piano club at school.   Dave and I will finally be able to add piano accompaniment to our clarinet/guitar duo.

Last Saturday we enjoyed a barbeque at the home of the chair of mathematics department.  He lives in the eastern part of Trondheim, right on the fjord. And to get there we took the bus.

Waiting at the Bakkegata stop

Sam is still glued to his Calvin and Hobbes book.  We checked at the school library, and this is the only English language Calvin and Hobbes book they have.  They have about ten in Norsk.  More incentive for Sam to improve on his Norwegian.

Our fearless leader

The city buses in Trondheim are all outfitted like coach buses.  No bench seats. 

The girls watch the scenery go by

For Isaac, this completed his transportation trifecta - boat, tram, and train - all within two weeks.  As a bonus, he went on the tram again this week with his preschool class.

Walking up the road to Sverre's farmhouse

The view from the yard.  On the hill in the distance, you can see large, round hay bales wrapped in white plastic.  When I told Dad that I saw them in Trondheim (he uses the same method on his farm), he informed me that the idea for preserving hay in plastic came from Scandinavia.  

Grace and Isaac spotted the farm cat and spent much of their time tracking it.  The cat's go-to get-a-way spot was under this stabbur, which is a storehouse for food.  It is constructed to be rodent-free, so it sits up on blocks above the ground, and there is a big gap between the front steps and the door of the building.

This beech tree in Sverre and Megan's yard is distinguished in some way (that I can't remember).  It is the oldest or biggest in Norway or west of the mountains or something like that.  Regardless of its accolades, it was a beautiful tree.  Though we didn't really need its shade.  It was a brisk day.

Katie spotted an apple tree and got permission to pick an apple.

"Hello, my pretty.  Would you like a bite of this apple?"

The barbeque was set up in the front yard.  It was delightful - Martha Stewart would have been impressed. 

Aha - the cat!

Let the hunt continue

Success.  After much dogged shadowing, Grace and Isaac were able to cajole the kitty to sit still for a few quick cuddles. 

And then he headed back under the stabbur.

Grace was in an exploring mood.  To keep her in one place, I plied her with pretzels.

The table.  My favorite part was the perfectly bread-shaped rock used as a weight to hold down the tablecloth.

The whole crew.  We each got our own wool lap blanket to keep ourselves cozy.  The highlight for the kids was that they got to drink juice with dinner.  Isaac kept saying, "Apple juice in the evening!"

The highlight for me - cloudberries (multer)!  It took two days of berry-picking for Megan to get this many.  Cloudberries grow up in the mountains, low to the ground, in wet areas.  We learned that Norwegians never reveal precisely where they pick cloudberries - kind of like Minnesotans and their favorite fishing holes.

The cloudberries were served with a huge bowl of whipped cream.  All the kids tried the berries, but they mostly went for the whipped cream.  More berries for me!

Cloudberries taste to me kind of like a cross between a raspberry and an apple - the tartness of a raspberry and the light freshness of an apple.  They have a texture like raspberries.  They were delicious.  I certainly hope I'll be able to have them again while we are here.  At the fruit stall in the city center, they sell them for about $40 for a liter for fruit.  Yikes!  I'll need to find my own secret stash in the mountain.

Sverre brought out a guitar for Dave to test.  Dave gave it his seal of approval and inaugurated it with a few Johnny Cash and John Denver songs.

Then Sverre brought out this find.  It's a wind-up, mechanical record player.  It was amazing how loud it could play.

Grace and Sverre cut a rug to some Ella Fitzgerald.

Happy dancers

A hug for the door lion

Sam, Isaac, and I took a short walk to the edge of the fjord.  It was just a few hundred feet from Sverre's house, across this bridge over the railroad.  

The sun was just on the verge of setting.

Back across the tracks

Grace and Ann pick some red currants together.

Inside the stabbur.  Megan uses it to store Norwegian antiques that she sells.

Grace on her way out of the stabbur. 

Sam and Katie were quick to introduce themselves to the neighbor kids, once they spied the trampoline in their yard.

On the bus ride back home.  It was dark by the time we left, and we caught the bus thanks to a quick sprint by Dave.

Once we got back to our bus stop, we still had a 20 minute walk to get home - Sam and Katie were awesome travellers.  Not a whine to be heard.  It was a wonderful Saturday.