Here’s a menagerie of highlights and activities from April, May and June that didn’t make it into our other posts:
In early April, the water returned to the fountain outside our local shopping center, which made for the perfect wading pool.
On May 1st, we took the ferry from Oslo to Hovedøya, a beautiful island in the middle of the Oslo fjord where the kids played on the beach and tried to swim in the freezing cold water.
We participated in the national beach cleanup day in Sandvika, and Maddie and Ada were awesome at spotting some crazy trash in the water, including one old tire caked in mud.
In late May, the flowers were really in bloom.
Random market day in Bekkestua where the kids got their face painted for free
and rode on some robot animals
Doing an experiment with gummie bears (courtesy of Ana Gabela):
One of the great things about this year was spending one day each week on a “date day”, and for our 2nd to last date day, we chose to walk the Akerhus river, through the center of Oslo.
It’s a beautiful 8km walk, that includes some spectacular rapids.
For our last date day, we toured the Oscarshall, the royal summer palace—That’s Oslo in the background.
Maddie’s spring concert school
Maddie’s piano recital
In June, John’s boss had us over for a traditional Norwegian waffle brunch, and the girls loved playing on their trampoline, which you’ll find in just about every Norwegian backyard. 
The next day, we explored the Oslo waterfront one last time, taking a short boat ride from one side to the other, which gave Ada the chance to make many faces. Also notice the blanket in June—temperatures were in the low 50s.
Joh and Ada on the boat:
A few days before the end of school, we got to see the local professional soccer team, the Stabæk football club, play at the stadium right behind the girls’ school. Unfortunately, Stabæk lost, but we had a good time cheering them on.
A mother in Ada’s preschool who is from Finland but had been living in Singapore offered a thump boxing class for school parents. Diana was able to attend the thump boxing class once a week throughout the year and had a great time getting to know other moms and learning how to box (though she was sore after almost every class!)
Diana also ran up the steps of the famous Oslo Holmenkollen ski jump with a few other moms from the school on a spring day (and was again very sore afterward!)
Ada was so glad that it was warm enough to ride her scooter again:
A Year in Norway 