Happy 4th of July

We had to leave Slaattehaugen early this morning to make it to our next destination before lunch. We hadn’t initially planned to stop in Tønsberg, but once the word got out to some of the Slaatthaug cousins that we were in the area, Kory’s phone started ringing. We only had one day we could possibly change so Cousin Reidun won out because she was the first to call and her house was in the direction we were heading. Reidun was on the Slaatthaug Family Reunion committee in the year 2000 and they pulled off one heck of a reunion with over 200 cousins gathering in this neck of the woods to honor their grandparents and get to know one another. Before that time we only knew a few relatives on Kory’s dad side of the family, but now we know many.

Reidun loves to organize get-togethers so it was no surprise when we showed up today that she had invited other family members to come on over. (She also set out an American flag in honor of the 4th of July. There was no parade and we didn’t have a backyard BBQ, but we did have a lot of backyard fun.) One of Reidun’s twin daughters lives three hours away so she came for the weekend with her three sons (ages 12, 10 and 5). Reidun’s two sisters also came down from Oslo by train to meet us. Other cousins showed up for dinner but didn’t spend the night like the whole lot of us. It was one giant sleepover and couldn’t have been more cozy. Reidun is retired, as are her sisters, but it’s easy to see they are still little girls at heart. Reidun’s cherry tree was full of ripe cherries so she insisted we have a cherry seed spitting contest (see photo – if you double click on the photo it gets large enough to see all the funny faces). Kory won. One of Reidun’s sisters (who is in her late 70s) came to my defense when all the boys started attacking me with water balloons and other containers full of water. It was a hot enough day so I didn’t mind getting drenched, but when the hose got involved, things got out of control. The fight lasted for hours and included defense strategies, attack plans, guards to watch over the hose, and a neutral zone where I could go to dry off and catch my breath. When it was all over, I rang about a quarter cup of water out of my underwear. I was drenched, but we sure had fun. (I was thankful the women here didn’t do what most Norwegian women do – on hot days they take off their shirts and just wear their bra. A bra is considered a normal piece of clothing here – not an under garment so it’s quite common to see old ladies outside wearing shorts and a bra. I saw one very professional young woman I’d dealt with at the bank running up a mountain trail after work wearing a very sexy see-through bra. It didn’t seem right. The sight of so many shirtless women in the summertime does take a bit of getting used to.)

Later in the evening, the kids insisted all the adults join them in a game of Hide-n-Seek and I’ll be darned if these seventy something women didn’t run around giggling all the way, hiding as best they could. These women are not like the serious Norwegians I’ve grown accustomed to, nor do they sit around drinking coffee and watching the fun – they join in. I love that. Kaleb had a blast as well. I told him every day there will be new surprises on our road trip and he was delighted with the turn of events for today, as well as his chance to sleep in the loft above the garage with the two older boys.

Kory found out more juicy family history today as he sat in the shade talking with his cousins about their common ancestors. Apparently Kory’s grandfather that lived on the Slaattehaugen farm had an illegitimate daughter on a neighboring farm. That was the first we heard of that one. Now I have more work to do on the family tree. One of Reidun’s sisters said that family had a reputation as being gypsies because they had a dark complexion and dark eyes and their grandfather played the fiddle. As fun as it was to talk about today, it didn’t sound like a very stable family for Kory’s dad to grow up in, so that could explain a lot. We also found out from previous visits with Slaatthaug cousin’s that four of Kory’s dad’s sisters had been institutionalized with mental problems and had to have lobotomies. That one was a bit scary to hear. Depression and schizophrenia also run in his family. And he thought my family had problems….