After the novelties of Georgia, Armenia, Latvia and Estonia, it felt like a sort of homecoming to arrive in good old Norway. We started out on a stressful note: our Agoda booking flaked out on us at the last minute, and buying last-minute rooms in Oslo is never a pleasant (or cheap) experience.
But soon we were relaxing by the waterfront with Tamar's brother David and his family, the 2-year olds playing happily. We joyfully reunited with Go' Morgen yogurt, binged on Firklover chocolate, and bought cardamom pastries in bulk. Then we bid farewell to Tamar's side of the family and drove/bussed down to Strandfjorden to join Jakob's side.
Life at Strandfjorden is as changeless as ever; it was different without Jakob's mom there, but we had fun with his sister, aunt and cousins. Norwegian Codenames was a hoot, we learned a new dice game ("Tretti") whose level of fun was directly proportional to the quality of trash-talking, and a card game ("Amerikaner'n") which was a big hit, and played some hilarious games of Kubb. The girls bathed in the frigid sea every single day, just 'cause. Sophia, Tova, Zadie and Tamar ran a 5km race in Lillesand - the older girls came 4th and 5th out of 34 women, and Zadie got the biggest cheers as she cradled her heavily bandaged hand the whole way. We picked oodles of raspberries, made waffles, and walked to Grimstad where we borrowed library books, a bicycle, a basketball and a soccer ball.
David and his family rejoined us, and we had a blast hiking, cooking and playing on the little beach. We visited our friend Nadia and her kids in Arendal, which was like a window into modern-day academic/family life in Norway...so different to our little hamlet that's largely frozen in time! Jakob's birthday brought an incredible homemade cake with fresh forest berries, and many socks. Tamar took the girls on a road trip to Lysefjorden, including an epic hike up to Preikestolen and a beach day at Sola, one of the prettiest spots in southwestern Norway.
All too soon, it was time to go again - but we left feeling more relaxed, suntanned and re-attached to our Norse roots.
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| Happy Birthday Jakob! |
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| The girls did their first 5k race - yay Sophia, Tova and Zadie! |
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| One of many card sessions |
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| Preikestolen girls hike |
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| This picture is even better with the line up of picture takers |
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| Sola beach on a foggy morning |
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| Bjoroya |
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| Mari's carryon luggage was a little over the weight limit |
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| Toddler on a plane |
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