Our celebration of the Norwegian Independence Day, Syttende Mai (May 17th) started on the 16th with a special PreSchool parade. Maarit loved marching in her traditional Norwegian costume, the bunade, this year. She was beautiful.
She lead the parade start carrying the Gratulerer Med Dagen banner. We were so proud!
After the parade, Maarit and Gus played in her classroom with some of her friends. She is always so glad to have Gus visiting her classroom and she loves to show him off to her friends. While other children were eating a snack, I was able to capture a few special moments between Maarit and Gus.
After snack time the parents had organized games and events outdoors. It was cold windy day so Maarit was dressed up for the weather. She had fun getting her face painted, doing obstacle courses and parachutes.
My favorite event was the sack races. I love the tongue out and pure joy of her bouncing face.
After the morning events, we headed home. Maarit and Gus and I all took naps in the grass. It was a wonderful afternoon.
Later, Maarit played fireman on the pole in our basement while Gus practiced his soccer skills.
The next morning was officially Syttende Mai. We woke up to a mostly rain free sky and the weather promised not to be as cold and rainy as last year. Maarit and Gus and I decided to brave the weather and we walked downtown to meet Daddy for the school parade through town.
It is difficult to capture the spirit of Syttende Mai in pictures. Everywhere you look the people are dressed in the national costume, some of the most beautiful embroidered dresses and vests you have ever seen. There is no end to Norwegian flags and celebratory calls of "Gratulerer med dagen!" The people line the streets and drink champagne toasts to the day. There are 4 different parades in the main city during the day, one for the schools, one for the graduating seniors (the Russ), one for the various organizations and one for the people.
Here Justin's high school students are waiting for the ISS section of the parade to start.
Mommy and Gus waiting to walk in the parade.
Gus in his warm bear suit was quite popular along the parade route. There were many exclamations over the "søt baby" (sweet baby) in the bjørn suit.
After the parade we walked home along the lake and just beat the rain, which of course did come.
We had Syttende Mai dinner with Aaron & Annemieke and her parents who were visiting from Holland.
The day after Syttende Mai was sunny and hot. Maarit was determined to go swimming even though the water was freezing cold. She had a lot of fun splashing and jumping off rocks.
We were very Norwegian yesterday, cooking pølser (hotdogs) on our engangsgrill (one use grill) outside and having a picnic by the water. Because it is a long holiday weekend, the town is now very quiet so we had the beach spot all to ourselves.
Later we played in our garden and soaked up the sun. Maarit and Gus both got incredibly worn out from the many events of the past several days and fell asleep together on the couch.
Gratulerer med dagen Norge!
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