In May, John and I were happy to host lots of family and friends at our apartment in Norway. Soon after we returned from Italy, John’s mother came for a week. We all loved having her visit with us and were so appreciative she made the journey, especially since it was her first time out of the US!
The girls enjoyed showing her their school, and having her tag along to ballet class, piano, and swim lessons. She even came just in time to see Ada’s ballet recital! Ada, who hates getting her picture taken and being at the center of attention, at first refused to dance in the recital but then changed her mind and said she would dance a little which is what she did! (Ada is in the middle and hardly dancing at the beginning:)
And below is a picture of Ada with her friends looking at the tulip her friend gave her after the performance:
John also enjoyed taking his mother to explore Oslo while Maddie and Ada were at school. She especially enjoyed seeing the folk museum and taking a tour of the Oslo Fjord.
A few days after John’s mother left, a friend of mine from college, Ana, came to visit and we enjoyed exploring Oslo together and catching up. We visited the Munch museum, Vigeland and Eckerberg sculpture parks, and went island hopping together. Below are selfies of us island hopping using public transit in the Oslo Fjord:
and a few pictures from Eckerberg Park (the center photo is of “Fideicommissum”, self-portrait of the artist Ann-Sofi Siden, squatting and peeing in the woods, which was mentioned in the NYT):
We also had to deal with an unfortunate event. A week before Ana had arrived, we were notified by Ada’s preschool that one of her classmates had pinworms which is evidently quite common in Norway. Sure enough a few days into Ana’s visit, we realized Ada had them as well. Ana, who grew up in Ecuador amongst lots of parasitic worms, helped me decontaminate the house which wasn’t easy with a small European washer and no dryer. We all took our pinworm medication which is sold over the counter and was recommended by the school nurse. Thank goodness for good friends!
A day after Ana left, we had our final guests of the year, our family from Denmark came which was great fun for us and the girls. We all went to Vigeland Park, then to a medieval festival in Oslo where Ada and I fought with swords and where we saw men and women fight with swords in full armor!
The next day the girls had to go to a birthday party, so the rest of us went on a hike up Kolsas which was just beautiful. Below are a few pics of us from the weekend
Although we didn’t host them, we were also so happy to have the chance to visit with my friend Molly’s parents over dinner in mid-June before they headed out on a tour of Norway and Finland.
A Year in Norway 