Let the Parties Begin

I woke Kaleb up at 11 this morning.  He’d slept for 12 hours straight, so hopefully he’s now adjusted to the time.  It was a bit better for both Kory and I also.  I don’t remember being this affected by the time difference before.  The groggy brain is getting to me as I can’t think straight enough to do any projects.

I was at the mall this morning before it started getting crazy full of people, so I got my grocery shopping for the weekend out of the way.  I decided to not delay in inviting folks over, so I was pleased that Cousin Bjørn and family came to have dinner with us tonight.  Kory went jogging this morning so he could eat a bit of fish for dinner, as I promised him if he exercises regularly to get his heart rate up, it would be OK to have fish once or twice a week.  You’d think he’d be exercising everyday for that offer, but he doesn’t.

Kaleb spent the afternoon over at Daniel’s house so I was glad for that – even if they just spent it on their computers – at least he’s out there.  I spent the afternoon prepping dinner and Kory spent it running around looking for some parts that will allow our portable gas grill to work, using the larger propane tank we have from our old bar-b-quer.  Things aren’t so easy to find here, and when we do find them, they cost way more than they should.  He still doesn’t have all the parts he needs, but he’s getting closer.

Kory and I took a little walk down the street to an “exotic foods” import store to see if we could find black beans.  None of the grocery stores here have them, so we were pleased they were available there.  Only in Norway would black beans be considered exotic. One the way back, Kory stuck his head inside a McDonalds just to see if it was busy.  Boy, was it ever.  Even at three in the afternoon the place was packed out and the line was nearly out the door.  A Big Mac, fries and a coke sells for $16.50.  I saw an older woman eating her hamburger with the top bun off, which cracked me up because Norwegians only eat open faced sandwiches… they never use the top piece of bread, so she was applying that same practice to her American hamburger.  Too funny.

Cousin Rune and Sol came by today to welcome us back, and they are free next Friday for dinner so we’ll have a chance to catch up with them at that time.  I hope we have enough time this year to visit all our friends – we sure didn’t last year.  I was glad we had a relaxed evening with Bjørn and Inger though, even if the twins were a bit bored with our place.  Kaleb did his best to keep them entertained, but there’s only so much one can do with 9 year olds.  At least dinner was a hit- they’d never eaten food from a bag before.  I made fish and veggies inside a parchment pouch so it was a unique experience to open up the bag right on their plate and eat from it.   Boy was it ever tasty – local fresh fish baked with organic potatoes, carrots and turnips all topped with fresh dill, tarragon and lime.  Kory’s was the only one not dotted with butter, but the Norwegian butter here made it all taste so yummy.  It was an easy dinner to make, so I’ll have to make it again soon.

I’m putting the word out we need to rent out our condo for the next two years, so now I’m analyzing all the things I have in it that I need to get rid of, store or take back to America.  It will be a sad day to have to undecorated all that I’ve so lovingly decorated over the past few years.  Sniff sniff.  I love our little Norwegian home (check out our view, above!).  Life is simpler here and way more social.  Hard to believe we get to live “the good life” no matter where we go.