Sleep just isn’t going to happen much for me in the next few days, I can tell that. I was up at six this morning working on my next article for the LaConner paper. I really need it quiet when I write, and that was about the only time the cabin was quiet. The boys even complained they couldn’t sleep because they heard snoring throughout the night. The swore they felt the floorboards vibrating and it woke Andre up. He was sure there was a car outside. They weren’t exaggerating. Kory’s snoring is legendary. Thankfully, because of that, they all slept in until nearly ten this morning so I had lots of quiet time.
Judi and Stuart are suffering from jet lag something terrible. They both got up in the middle of the night and just stared out the window for hours. It doesn’t get dark now at all so it was easy to enjoy the beauty around us in the wee hours of the morning. They were dragging all afternoon though and I wouldn’t let them take a nap or they’d be doomed for a week. They were both rather rummy so it was good they didn’t have much to do today but watch a bunch of boys compete in some challenges.
We played the “Minute to Win-It” challenges right after breakfast. The boys loved every bit of it and it went much faster than I anticipated because we were missing two boys. They were all sad some of their friends weren’t there, but it couldn’t be helped.
Norwegians have been well conditioned to be kind and tolerant and they always play games so everyone wins. I kept mixing up their teams for that very reason, so the more skilled kids wouldn’t always have the advantage. But Kaleb is still a bad loser and it came out a few times during the competitions. Once when Kaleb pitched a hissy-fit, I asked Henrik why he was even friends with Kaleb and he said he think’s he’s okay to talk to and hang around with. I asked him what other kids at school thought of him and he said some kids think he’s a little strange but some kids like him. I’m thankful the Norwegians do teach tolerance, or Kaleb might not have any friends at all. Judi was watching everything too and she’s had some experience with “unique” children in a past line of work. She said Kaleb’s behavior is very typical of “high intellect” children. Small comfort.
It was pretty cold today up in the mountains so our time outdoors was brief. Most of the things were indoor activity anyway so it worked out well. The boys had to get home by five so Kory left at four to drive them back to the ferry. He gave them money for the fare and they got on by themselves. Andre’s mom picked them up on the other side so we could save the ferry ride as Kory had to come back and get us. We lingered however and had a BBQ salmon dinner at the cabin after it was all nice and quiet again. Judi kept Kaleb entertained with one thing or another as he was like a caged animal without friends to talk to.
The sun finally came back out as we were cleaning up and ready to leave. We caught a ferry at nine. The sun was hanging so low on the horizon and the lighting was so pretty, I decided to drive around a little to show them a few places before we went home. We went by our old neighborhood so they could see “The Sinking Houses” where we used to live. I also drove by Tobias’ house to show them how close he lived to us. Bjorn saw us drive by and called me on my cell phone to ask why we didn’t stop in and visit. Tobias is getting confirmed tomorrow so I knew they would be crazy busy but he wanted to show off his new man cave, so I turned around and headed back there. They were all more than gracious to show us the table they set for dinner tomorrow and Bjorn’s new pride and joy “hagestue” out in the yard. Too sweet.
I then drove by a few more view points for Stu and Judi to see the mountains and water and farm lands with the light of the setting sun on them and that woke them up out of their jet lagged grogginess more than anything. But by the time we got home and unloaded everything, they were ready for bed. As we all were. It was fun while it lasted, though.
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