Norway

In October Christian's grandfather passed away and we made the trip to Norway for his funeral.  It was a long flight but both kids did amazingly well. Lilly was just excited to have her own personal mini tv and pretty much watched it the entire time except for a little nap in between.  Finn was about 7 months old and we were able to get seats with a wall attached bassinet that he BARELY fit into. So we got him to take some decent naps in there on the flight over. We also brought his carseat so he could sit and we didn't have to hold him the entire flight. Jet lag was the worst part of the trip over. Jet lag and kids together is no joke. There was lots of waking up in the middle of the night but we survived. The funeral was the day after we arrived in Norway and it was a nice ceremony (even though I didn't understand most of it) and we spent the rest of our time there with Christian's family and going around Stavanger.

Here is Finn all bundled up in his stroller as we walked around downtown Stavanger.

And Lilly all bundled up. The cold wasn't too bad, the wind was definitely the worst part.

Downtown Stavanger.

A Norwegian state church/cathedral in downtown right next to Christian's high school and across a little road from the fjord.

This is the high school that Christian and his mom both went to.

The pond next to the high school.

Lilly feeding dirty pigeons with old hot dog buns.

Downtown at the fjord. Standing right across from the high school.

Lilly found lots of little sculptures downtown to ride on :)

One day we drove up to Christian's grandfather's farm. It was about an 1.5 hour drive from Stavanger. These next pictures are from the drive up. Here is a little mountain lake.

More fjords on the drive.

This is the ocean I believe.

Finally at the farm. Here is Lilly playing with her second cousin. They couldn't understand each other but still loved playing with each other and chasing each other around.

Going for a walk at the farm.

The river at the farm. This is where Christian would bathe when he visited the farm as a kid because there was no bathroom there. Only an outhouse!

The little red building is part of the farm, looking up from the river.

The main farmhouse.

Here we stopped at a historic landmark not too far from the farm.

Another landmark. Some old houses built under an overhanging cliff to protect them.

They were a little small, perfect for Lilly and Markus.

Here is the cliff and you can see the tiny houses below if you look closely.

We also visited "De Tre Sverd" which is 3 giant swords stuck into the rocks on a fjord in Madla.

They mark this fjord as the spot where the vikings won the battle that united Norway as one country a long, long time ago.

This was Christian's elementary school in Madla, Hafrsfjord Skole.

The fjord across from the school.

This is a picture taken from the backyard of Christian's old house.

Lilly looking out on the fjord. It was crazy windy that day, hence the crazy hair.

Christian's old house.

And finally Christian's middle school, Revheim Skole.

Downtown again, here is Lilly with the trolls. She was too scared to stand between them. She didn't even want to stand close to them!

And another picture of downtown at the fjord.

And that's it for pictures. The kids did really well again on the flight back. We were glad to be home (especially after the jet lag wore off).