Go’ morgen Norway!

 Next we flew to Norway, for three weeks at Strandfjorden, Jakob’s family’s summer home on the southern coast. We hadn’t been there for four years, and we all arrived with great enthusiasm and pretty high expectations. Luckily, Norway lived up to them. The girls had a marvellous time speaking Norwegian and spending time with family, the house was full of old toys, books and games, we got fine weather and it was just a treat all round. 

We had a bit of a family reunion - between Jakob’s parents, sisters and their families, we were up to 13 people at one point, plus Norwegian cousins and aunts popping in regularly. It was a lively, festive vibe; the girls were constantly entertained, we adults played Codenames and Ticket to Ride in the evenings, there were many parties with bløtekake, waffles and cakes, and the poor crabs living in the seaweed beneath the boathouse were caught again and again, spending hours being fed blåskjell in buckets of seawater. Jakob celebrated his 40th birthday, with many cakes and presents, although he feels much the same.

There were outings most days: boat trips up the canal or out to islands in the North Sea, many walks to and from Grimstad (about 17km round trip), and excursions to pick blueberries and raspberries, which were perfectly ripe during our stay - we must have picked more than 3,000 berries total, and Zadie regularly  dwandered off from the house to fill up on cherries and currants at her leisure. 

We gave the girls a lighter workload so they’d have more time to enjoy Strandfjorden, and everyone was generally in a good mood. Aurora and Sophia learned to cross-stitch from their grandmother, we ate masses of bread with homemade jam, the younger girls succeeded at bathing in the chilly water every day, rain or shine. They don’t get to see family that often, so having aunts and cousins and grandparents around sort of gave them a buzz. It was nice to see. 

We took one trip up to Hovden, a mountain town, where Jakob’s aunt had graciously offered up her apartment: there we spent a couple of days hiking and frantically planning our UK trip. On the way back our bus was consumed in flames and nearly exploded, but otherwise it was a drama-free visit. Jakob’s back took a sharp turn for the worse right at the end of our stay, maybe because he tried biking, but luckily he was well enough to travel and it’s since recovered smoothly.

We were all sad to leave Norway: the girls were all trying to strike deals that we’d all come back again next summer. For now, though, it’s on to Scotland, the UK and Ireland.