I was up before the sun this morning (well, it seemed like it never did come up), making waffles for Kaleb to take up to the mountains for his few days of skiing with friends. I’m so excited for him to have such a ‘typisk norsk’ experience. I hope they make lots of memories!
Kory and I drove him and his friend Andre across the fjord and up into the mountains. (See photos of the view from the car.) The ferry rides always provide a nice coffee break, so Kory didn’t leave the house without a thermos of coffee with him. There are some things about this Norwegian life that really agree with him.
I never did talk with Henrik’s mom, Torhild, directly, about this whole weekend thing – we’ve just sent messages on our phone and email so I wasn’t totally clued in to all the details. I didn’t realize, until we got up to the ski center where she said to meet her, that her cabin is not accessible by car. When we arrived, Toban, Henrik and Torhild arrived by cross country skis. I wondered why Andre was wearing ski pants and ski boots when we picked him up. I’m a little slow. (See photo)
Kaleb put his ski pants on over his jeans, got on his ski shoes and hooked up his skis. Had I known they had over a kilometer to get to the cabin, I would have packed his stuff in a backpack. Oops. We divided up his stuff into smaller bags so each kid could take something, as it was all uphill to get to the cabin. Yikes. Fortunately, Torhild brought a big backpack so the waffles I made fit in there.
Kory and I watched the boys for a long time, making their way up the hillside. (Look closely at the above photo – there are three boys on the left, heading uphill. Toban is ahead of them and Torhild is lagging behind, carrying much stuff.) Toban looked like an Olympic skier, so comfortable and fast, jetting way ahead of the other kids. I was glad Kaleb wasn’t the last one up the hill. Both Kory and I were smiles from ear to ear, just thinking about this opportunity he has to be with his friends for a few days and experience the Norwegian cabin life – especially during the Easter break. How fun. I sent along a camera and told him to be sure and take some pictures. I don’t was to miss out on anything! I took my new camera with me because I knew the drive over there is spectacular, but I found my photos to be a bit lacking since the camera isn’t nearly as easy to manipulate as my trusty little quick shot Cannon. Dear me. The landscape here doesn’t really require a fancy camera, it’s just so gorgeous, no matter what.
Weather wise, it was the kind of dark and dreary day that never cleared up and we needed all the lights in the house turned on, just to see. When we got back home, I put on some sweats and a sweatshirt just to feel cozy and glad to be indoors. I laid down on the couch to take a little nap right after twelve o’clock and woke up at five! I couldn’t believe I slept for nearly five hours! I was sure the clock was broken when I woke up. Kory sat and drew a picture of tulips the whole time, so he was quiet as a mouse. I guess I needed some sleep.
Odd and Turid invited us over tonight for dinner. It was so good to be back there, hanging out with them in their living room – like old times. Turid seems mortified we have so many guests coming to us in America for such long periods of time, but it’s no longer than we used to stay with them when we came here. She said, “That’s different.” I don’t think it is. We still have a long way to go to pay them back for all their hospitality. Their bedroom that Kory helped remodel a few years ago still isn’t complete – it needs trim around the windows, doors, floor and ceiling, so Kory said he’d be happy to finish up the job for them as another payback. We may not live long enough to repay all the things they’ve done for us during the years Turid took care of our condo, did our taxes for us, and paid our bills– plus hosted us every year for at least three weeks at a time when we came to Norway, but we’ll try.
We had a good dinner and very long visit with them, we didn’t get home til nearly 2am. The funniest part of the evening was that after dinner Odd told me about a website where it’s possible to find old photos taken in Aalesund from 1904-1912. They are all categorized by name and free for uploading – over 40,000 of them. He logged on to the website via his i-phone to show me. I then got out my laptop to check on some of Kory’s relatives; Turid got on her laptop to see about her relatives and Kory got out his i-pad to see for himself. We were all sitting around the dining room table using electronic devices for at least an hour (see photo). It was like when Kaleb and his buddies, just sit for hours, glued to their screens. I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on Kaleb.
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