Hot, Hot, Hot

I've spent the whole summer in places with beautiful weather. In Norway the temperatures never got above 72. In Utah, it was only in the upper 80's a couple times, in Idaho was about the same. Even Mesa Verde, Colorado was about 85. Now I'm back in Texas. Yesterday was 105 degrees; with a heat index it felt like 112.

To top it all off, my air conditioner broke, yesterday.

That's right.

Luckily, there is a member of my ward who owns his own heating and air conditioning company. He came by and fixed it right up for me. And by bed time, my house was back to liveable. Thank you Jeff.

I wish I could say that fall is just around the corner. But who am I kidding? We'll be having summer for another two full months, at least. Sometimes it's still in the 80's in December. If you are lucky enough to have 4 actual real seasons, I'm jealous. Boots, sweaters, and hats will have to wait a long while more for us. Enjoy the cooler days and nights for me, will you?

The end and the beginning

We had a fabulous summer filled with lots of family and new places. I am not ready to be done yet. I miss my family. I miss the beautiful/cooler weather that we had everywhere we went. I love Utah and wish we could move back. We've been in Texas for 13 years. I only planned on 2 or 3. Still hoping to get back some day. Anyway, I'll get around to getting caught up on the summer eventually. But for now, I'll just start where I'm at.

Summer vacation is over.

School started yesterday.

Can you believe it? Hazel started Kindergarten! She has a fabulous teacher and loved her first day.

Isaac started 6th grade in middle school. He had a good day, but couldn't figure out his locker. So Aspen will help him today before school. He is starting percussion today too.

Aspen is in 8th grade! She is just growing up way to fast too. She is taller than I am!

Toby started back to school here at home. I think we've finally figured out the best plan for me for homeschooling that will be successful. (I think that the hardest part of homeschooling is learning how to balance the school stuff with all the other responsibilities I have and other places I need to be.) He got up at 5:20 for early morning seminary. Yikes! But Toby loves seminary and we have a good group of boys in our neighborhood carpool (6 of them this year!) Nate says it's pretty entertaining to drive them to the church early in the morning. Apparently, half of them have read the Twilight series and are on "team Alice" 'cause she is hot! ( What can I say, they are 14 and 15 year old boys.)

So back to the routine of a new school year.

"Fe2O3 + Al2 + Heat = AWESOME!!!"

From the invitation Toby made for his "Pyro and Ice" birthday party.

17 liters of liquid nitrogen, some rust and powdered aluminum can make for quite a fun evening for a bunch of boys (and a couple of sisters).

Here is Toby dipping (yes, dipping) his hand into the liquid nitrogen.

We did a few demonstrations with the liquid nitrogen, such as putting balloons in, watching them shrink flat, and then taking them out and watching them reinflate. I'll post some videos when I get it edited.

This is a light bulb, without the bulb. It is just an exposed filament. If you stick it in the liquid nitrogen, it can light up without burning up the filament, because it is cold, and there is no oxygen. The filament also boils the nitrogen nicely when the light is on.

The "if you freeze a banana, you can use it like a hammer" demonstration failed miserably.

We did some more thermite, which is always spectacular. We put a board under the frying pan this time, which kept the molten iron from seeping into the lawn like last time. This spot of grass may never grow back.

Pan-o-molten-iron.

Word Girl

While we were playing Taboo, Aspen was trying to get us to say a word that means really really hot.

None of us knew it.

Except for Hazel.

It was SWELTERING.

Thanks PBS and Word Girl.

Almost the end

Just a little note:

I have gone without dessert for 36 days.

Tomorrow is the last day.

Truthfully, it hasn't been as hard as I thought. And I might try going without desserts during the week, and partaking of them less when I do eat them on the weekends.

I had hoped to lose a decent amount of weight while trying this. Of course I didn't. In fact, the scale didn't even budge until about 6 days ago. Perhaps my body was in denial. I've lost a couple pounds since. Maybe I just needed a jumpstart.

Anyway, the dessert strike is almost over.

Norway Day 35

We did a lot of sight seeing yesterday. And these pics aren't in order. But here they are anyway.

We got ice cream after a late lunch. Hazel also wanted a stuffed penguin for her souvenier. I figure that whatever helps my kids remember their trip makes a good souvenier. And Hazel will always remember that she got the penguin in Norway. So I guess it works. Even if it isn't my first choice.

Hester and Andreas have been such gracious hosts. It's pretty brave to accept 8 long term house guests when you've only been married for 3 months. We really appreciate their hospitality.

We walked along the pier and wharf in the Oslo fjord.

This is the Nobel institute.

This is City Hall. It took them a very long time to finish it. Stopped construction due to the war. So it has a few different architectural styles. I guess they kept changing their minds.

We found a souvenier store that had one whole floor dedicated to Christmas things! I love Christmas.

This is the Parlaiment Building.

There are these two lions in from of the Parlaiment Building. They were carved by two convicts. Apparently their work was so good, they were pardoned and freed after they completed their work.

At another store there was this cute toy. The story of the Princess and the Pea and play set. It included a bed, a quilt, a pea and 5 mattresses, along with a storybook. Cute idea.

Hazel entertained herself at the store.

We went out for a lunch of traditional Norwegian food. Vickie wanted reindeer meet, so we found a restaurant that served it and went. Other traditional foods are meatballs, fish cakes, salmon, potatoes, and gravy. Meatballs are especially tasty with lingonberry jam.

It was a fun day. We walked a lot.

This week we will be travelling outside of Oslo to Bergen, Flam, Voss, and a couple other destinations. Going by train, bus and boat. Lots to look forward to.

Picnic in the Park no. 2

We picnicked in the park again last night. Hotdogs with lomper (kind of like potatoe tortillas), fresh fruit and chips.

Open flame seems to be a magnet for boys of all ages.

It's just a nice way to spend the evening.