Uncle Bubs and Auntie Shanna Visit Norway

Our last 10 days in Norway began with a visit from Uncle Bubs and Auntie Shanna who arrived in the afternoon on the 14th.  Maarit was so thrilled to show them her favorite places in our area, we took them out for a long walk right away. Of course the first stop was to visit the sheep and feed them left over waffles from breakfast.  The momma sheep have all been shorn, so only the babies are curly these days. 

Since we are leaving Norway soon, we thought we better get a photo with a real troll.  This one lives  by someone's house just on the top of the hill.

On Saturday we walked into town to show Uncle and Auntie some of the sites in town.  Maarit especially loved hanging out with her Auntie during this trip.  They walked the 6 mile round trip to and from town together and I don't think Maarit stopped talking once.

I always like to see the Rogaland old fashioned cruise boat parked in the harbor. They had music and lots of fun happening on the boat that day.

There was a ferris wheel set up in town so Maarit and I had a ride, this is the view of Stavanger from the top.

I seem never to capture how awesome the cathedral in town is, but this picture I am happy with.

We took a trip to the Frafjord hytte so Uncle and Auntie could try fishing in the fjord.  Aaron and Annemieke were able to join us for the trip. Just as Uncle Kurt predicted, within the first 5 minutes of throwing a line in the water Uncle Bubs caught a fish....5 or 6 total.

The first day they tried taking our row boat out on the fjord, but the wind was so high that the adventure ended with them banking the boat on the other side of the fishing pier and leaving it there until the winds died down.  Maarit made the decision not to go out in the boat again the rest of the trip.

 Gus and I wisely stayed on shore.  It was a super windy day!

No trip to Stavanger would be complete without a visit to the candle factory.  We had one last Laksfisk dinner at the creamery and then made candles.
Gus liked driving the tractors.

After dinner Maarit got a 'soft is' as big as her head!  She insisted she would finish it, but I am glad she didn't, I think she would have been ill.

Candle making is "kun for barna" at this spot (only for children)...all these silly big kids figured they could dip candles too since they had a 'barn' with them. I am not sure that is really how it works, but they had fun.

And since we're so close we had to go see the boulder field where the glacier deposited half the mountain into the Dirdal valley. It is a great spot for pictures!

I took so many pictures of Auntie and Uncle with their camera, I hardly got any on ours. This is one of the few at Glodoppskura.

In nearly every picture I take of Aaron and Anneimeke this is what Gus is doing. He loves snuggles with these two!

On Monday we hiked Månofossen. It is a fairly steep hike with support chains over most of the trail. Maarit hiked really well and the falls were beautiful.

Maarit shared an apple with Gus and he was giving her funny faces after.  I adore this picture of the two of them.

We decided to hike on to the Mån farm in the valley above the falls.  This spot has been a farmstead since the Bronze Age, although there were not any archeological artifacts there, it was still beautiful to see.

 When we reached the farm, the local sheep had taken over all the hyttes.

We discovered a lamb was stuck in the foundations of some old buildings.  The foundations were deep enough that he could not get out.  Maarit was thrilled with our lamb rescue.  

Our little friend after his rescue.

We enjoyed a lovely picnic along the Mån river and soaked up the sunny day.

I love this picture because this just says 'Norway' to me...before we came to live here I would not have thought of sheep as quintessential Norway, but after spending nearly 2 years in Rogaland county this picture is perfect.

Our hiking food (Kvikk Lunsj!) featured a hike from the Stavanger area.  I was pretty excited since I have never seen a hike from anywhere near our area on a Kvikk Lunsj.  Oh...how I will miss these tastey treats!

Hiking back from Mån farm through the magical woods.

Coming down the falls trail was a bit tough.  Maarit did an awesome job hiking, but you can tell by her face in this picture that the uphill 4 mile hike was pretty tiring.

Afterwards we all had a head dip in the river....even Gus!

Back at our hytte our neighbors had caught a small shark in the fjord.  They brought it over for Maarit to see. It was pretty amazing since we had just been talking about whether there were any sharks in the fjord. Question answered!

Aaron and Gus sharing a snuggle, Gus loves to grab his beard.

On Tuesday Bubs, Shanna and I hiked Preikestolen.  During this off season Nepali sherpas were hired to 'fix' the trail.  I was amazed how different the hike was!  They took a boulder strewn and difficult trail and made stone staircases over every challenging section.   We read that the trail needed to be fixed because the popular hike resulted in a lot of people tackling it who were physically unable to make the climb and needed to be rescued while on the trail.

 However, when we reached Pulpit's Rock a rescue helicopter did arrive to evacuate someone.

The view from the top. I think this was Kris and Shanna's favorite part of the trip.  It is amazing up there!

On Wednesday we visited the beach at the North Sea.

Although the water was freezing, Maarit had a blast playing in the waves and sand.

These pictures fully capture what it means to be a child in Norway: absolute freedom! Naked, playing, eating hot dogs wrapped in lefse!  And look how happy she is!

Gus loved the sand and dune grass.

We visited Ølberg fishing village to see the bunkers from WWII and the fishing boats.

World War II bunker. These are found all along the coastline in our area. The tunnel networks to and from the bunkers, the gun mounts and the concrete are awe-inspiring and terrifying.

We were so glad to have Uncle and Auntie visit us here in Norway. It was a chance to show them where we have lived for the past nearly 2 years and also gave us a chance to say goodbye to some of our favorite places.
In 3 days we head back to Minnesota and to new beginnings and new adventures.  Justin will be returning to Mesabi East in Aurora to teach college Chemistry and Media/Technology and I will be teaching EBD at the Kids Peace Mesabi Academy- a residential correctional facility for youth in Buhl, MN.   When we return to Minnesota we will be busy finding a home and exploring school options for Maarit.  It will be a busy and exciting summer.