8 Year Old

Happy Mother's day! In Norway Mother's Day is on a totally different date, and we tend to keep it down. Mother and Father's Days are always great for socks and panties refill!

8 year old in da house, with cupcakes (mix) even this mother can make! Arctic Dad on the other hand...made coco cake and cheese cake with cherry jelly lid. Very succesful, and 13 girls were happy. The 8 year old herself was pleased with the kick bike, that now even can be used outside (hurrah!).

Speaking of outside, we hung out by the shore in the weekend, still a bit cold - hat's not off yet. But soon, soon.

Please have a look at One Day In History: a reward winning photo project by a female Norwegian photographer with portraits of survival youth from the Utoya tragedy. The portraits are powerful, yet silent in a graceful way that honor these strong teenagers.

Wishing you a good week:)

The Big Social Ski Day

We just had a social day out at work. We call it "ski day", which is something many employers in the public sector do in Norway once a year.

This is our day.





Only four of us went on this trip. Kaare, Hilde, Sofie and myself. First we hit base camp, loading off hot dogs, crisps, olives, beer, chocolate and the cake roll Hilde had made.

We made sure not to starve in the wilderness.

Note: Not wilderness. 15 minutes drive from home.

 

We cross country skied for an hour, uphills.

These are some of our views on the way up and down again.

 


It was a perfect day.

.

No we had to make a fire.

Yours truly finding wood  (and slightly posing while at it)

This is something women have done for centuries. We know wood.

 

Hot dogs on fire.

I tell you Sofie is a devil fire maker. She knows the drill (even though she grew up far north in Norway with no trees).

 

She had brought reindeer skins to sit on.

 

And then there was coffee.

I wish all of you could have been there with me. I hope some of these photos will do.

Wishing you a nice May week:)

Looking Forward to May

Almost May already! Two months to holiday in Belgium (yay!), a 8 year old birthday coming up, Midnight sun will be here in two weeks time, The National Consitution Day, lots of Public holidays (double yay!), asphalt on the streets to run on.

My soon 8 year old is looking forward to taking out the bicycle as she will "only have to wear a thin hat and gloves. Not mittens" 

What's not to look forward too?

Melting feuilleton part II: The veranda is snow free after a family effort. We now need to get those sun deck chairs out - check back next Sunday! The garden on the other hand - the kids just decided to make a café up on the snow (10 points for noticing what's broken in this picture. Ikea is the key word).

Did you know Arctic Dad is doing a MOOC? (he just likes to have other studies going on besides full time job, three kids, MBA studies and chairman of a rock festival..) Have you tried it? It's very up and coming, isn't it. I would love to do a design history course.

Have a good week!

Watching Snow Melt

In this quiet corner of the world we watch snow melt. The feeling is probably similar to watching oil paint dry.

It takes a while.

But look - you can see there has been some progress in the garden...

Me and the big girls searched for spring in Denmark last week. We found one snow free country and lots of vintage treasures, much headed for the shop. Pretty table cloths, great vintage fabric.

But this gorgeous Soholm lamp stays, together with four Bjorn Wiinblad calendar plates. The plates show a couple from they meet in January until they have a baby in December. It's a celebration of love, and I got one for each family member and our months. But I'm still missing May for my eldest daughter.

It's light to ten pm now. I just love, love the time we're about to enter. Light all day, light all night. My body and mind is on top these months ahead of us. It's almost like I can catch all the light with my hands.

Have a good week, friends.

Eat. Shovel. Shovel

Record from 1997: 2,50 meters (I studied in Leeds that year and was concentrating on cheap beer and the Spice Girls, so I lived in oblivion of what was going on of serious matters at home.)

So far in 2013: 1.50 meters and there ain't no stoppin' .

We eat. We shovel. We shovel more.

We had to shovel the roof in order to safe the roof, and the snow must go somewhere. So the entrance is so packed we can barely pass. It feels like we're on a cabin trip every day, which is kind of cozy (and positive thinking helps..)

I wonder if the 1997 record breaks this year? People are talking about it.
The snow hides danger too. There are avalanches, and people have died.

But these are the days in the Arctic.
Have a good week!

Happy Easter!

We're enjoying a few days off school and work. We don't decorate much for Easter, but yellow tulips just make me so happy!

Spending time outdoors in the snow, still fallin' like there's no tomorrow. I guess it will stop sometime in June.

The girls wanted to sleep in a tent in the garden. Not working for snow reasons (plus I don't think I dare to let them unattended, even though I slept in a tent in the garden all the time as a child, and I bet you did too!)

So we camped inside in the livingroom. It's so cozy, the tent will be up until school starts!

Wishing you a nice Easter break too:)

Coming From America

You can't return from America without gifts, and FYI: traveling from Texas to the Arctic takes 24 hours by plane.

The big girls got a Monster High doll each, also known as Happiness in Plastic, or You Can't Have Too Many (the parents disagree). Anna got a Miffy figure, which we wonder may be too childish, as she's growing a worrying interest in the before mentioned dolls.

I got an enamel vintage rare Catrineholm plate from a second hand shop in Austin. How fun is that! Arctic Dad bought himself a pair of trainers, which is more than half price in the US.

And candy. Lots of American candy! So exotic for us.

We even broke the Only-candy-on-Saturday rule, which is the only rule we have, except not allowing the 1,5 year old eat youghurt in the sofa (but that happens too).


Have a good week, everyone - Easter soon!