Norway day 17

This past week has been the "vacation" part of our vacation. We haven't really done any sight seeing, mostly just been hanging out. There has been a lot of reading, drawing, games, movies, cookies, and trips to the 7-11 for ice cream and treats. Actually, I haven't been doing the treats parts, just paying for them.

Remember my thirty seven goals? Well I am working on the no sugar for 37 days goal. I'm not sure why I chose to do this while on vacation. But it's probably a good thing, otherwise, my clothes might not fit anymore. Anyway, I've gone 18 days without dessert or candy. For me that's a mighty feat. Usually I can't make it a day. I guess I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it if I really wanted to. But usually, why would I want to miss out on so many delicious foods? Anyway, I'll have a week of my vacation left to indulge my sweet tooth after the 37 days are up. You can bet I'll be trying out Norway's sweets. As of today, I can only tell you that their fruit is pretty delicious. We eat a lot of it.

Hope everyone's summer is as relaxing as our's. Enjoy it!

Norway day 16

It rained most of the day today. So we spent it mostly indoors. It had finally stopped when Hester came home from work. So we walked to see her new apartment. Then picked up some pizza on the way home. Then we had a little party. I know...you all wish you were here. It was so exciting!
We had some staring contests.

Played some piggy back chicken.

Some great rounds of Twister...Hazel's new favorite game.

Then Hester started getting tired and it was time for bed. BTW it was about 10 pm when I took this picture. And it is still cloudy from the rainstorm. The sun still hasn't gone down. Still never going to get used to this.

Norway Day 15

For Family Home Evening we decided to have a barbeque at Frogner Park.
The Norwegians have this neat little idea for BBQing anywhere:

basically a disposable grill. Brickets in an aluminum pan with a little grill grid to go on top. They even have specially designated trash bins for the hot pans when you are done with them. Kind of handy when you want to eat warm food at the park. Much easier than bringing your own big grill or finding one available where you are at the park.

Norwegians eat their hotdogs in Lumpa bread. It's kind of like a potato tortilla. They usually also add potato salad to their dogs. (My kids aren't super fond of potato salad. So they skipped that part.) Pretty tasty.

Norway Day 14

If I could, I would either live in the country, with lots of room to roam, it's clean and quiet. Or I would love to live in a city. So while in Oslo, I feel like I am finally getting to try out this city living lifestyle.

I love being able to walk just about anywhere that I might need to go. It's only a few minutes. Longer distances are easily gotten to by bus or train. Bikes are good too.

Anyway, I love the little sidewalk cafes.

Daily I go to the grocery store for food for dinner. Have to go everyday for a couple reasons: 1) I can only carry so much while I am walking the 8 blocks home and 2) my kids eat A LOT. But I don't mind. It is fun. This way I just think about what I want to eat for dinner and then go to the store just for those things. Come home and fix it. I think that part of the reason this is working for us is that I really don't have much else to do by way of responsibilities. We're on vacation.

And it gets me out every day. Sometimes I find myself hermiting quite easily. If I'm not careful I stay indoors too much. But it is lovely here and we are enjoying our vacation.