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!)

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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:

If there’s one thing that we’ve struggled with in Norway, it’s that shops are closed on Sundays. For us, this means every Saturday, we have to think about what we are going to have for all of our Sunday meals, and what we will pack for Maddie and Ada’s lunch, which usually entails going to the grocery store late on a Saturday night after the girls are asleep. It’s also meant that we have to plan our travel to come back on Saturday, as the one time we came back on a Sunday to an empty pantry, we struggled with finding something to eat.

Really, I’ve come to think the perfect country is Norway, with reasonable shopping hours.

But then today, I saw this on the grocery store under our apartment. First cool thing to note is that every store posts their hours in big letters on their sign. The new part is that Søn 9-21, which I’m certain was put up this morning.

It turns out that it is legal for stores to be open on Sundays, so long as they are less than 100 square meters in size—our local Narvesen (something like a 7-11) is open for a few hours on Sunday.

Now here’s the amazing part—our full service grocery store beneath our apartment is way bigger than 100 square meters (though nothing like an American grocery store), but all this spring, they’ve been doing a massive renovation—removing the post office, replacing most of the cashiers with automatic checkouts, and I’ve been wondering why they’ve been housing stuff in a closet off to the side of the store. It turns out—that’s no closet, it’s the Sunday store—complete with it’s on freezer case, vegetable stand, pant machine(recycling station) and candy bins.

This is what the store normally looks like during the week:

But on Sunday, the store now closes off the main store with garage doors,

And leads you to a small, three-aisle store that has an even smaller selection than the already small selection of the main store, just for Sundays.

And there you have it—the first grocery store open in our town on weekends! I can’t imagine the logistical hassle of running a store just for Sundays within a store—moving fruit back and milk back to the regular store on Monday mornings so that it doesn’t go bad. But I’m glad that I got to experience Sunday shopping in Norway, if only for one day. If we don’t happen to make it back, it’s a pretty good assumption that the availability of Grandosia frozen pizza, one of the most popular foods in Norway, in our basement was just too tempting to leave. Truly, I’m embarrassed to admit just how much this commercial for frozen pizza is hitting me in the feels right now.

Wow, and just like that, January, February, and March (and April—post coming soon) have flown by, and winter is becoming a distant memory. The big mountains of snow have turned into small piles gravel, and we are noticing flowers just starting to bloom everywhere along our walk to school. I want to write more about how wonderful the Norwegian winter was, but for now, I just need to share some photos showing we didn’t freeze to death.

Ada’s birthday happened in mid January, and she is thrilled to be FOUR!
She celebrated at school with cake, a visit from her big sister, and watching Peppa Pig with her classmates.

Here’s a video of part of the celebration at school

and at home:

Here Diana and I are headed out for our first cross country skiing experience in the field across from the girls’ school.

One T-Bane stop away from us is an enormous ice skating rink that is free on weekends. We managed to pick up some cheap used ice skates at a Loppemarked back in the fall, so it was fun to them to use a few times—carrying 4 helmets and 4 pairs of skates in a big Ikea shopping bag with Ada on my shoulders, however, was not so fun.

There are “penguins” at the rink for the girls (and me) to learn to skate.

Sledding everywhere—this was in a park in central Oslo. Ada is riding on a “bum-board” which many children bring with them to school everyday.

Maddie lost her two front teeth on the same day!

Going out for a family ski in the park across the street from the school. The girls took lessons at their school, and I was amazed at how quickly they improved and learned to love skiing.

We also went to Disney on Ice as a belated celebration for Ada’s birthday, which the girls really loved (even though all the Disney Song’s were in Norwegian).

We all had a great time having dinner with new friends from Denmark in February. Here is Ada swimming at her friend Nikoline’s swimming pool:

We went to an Outdoor Winter Festival at Sognsvann organized by the Norwegian Trekking Association.

Below is a pic of us roasting pinnebrød, a sweet doughy Norwegian camping bread, on a stick over a fire. Recipe (in Norwegian) below.

I was thrilled to have two former advisees stop by in February for a visit—unfortunately I completely forgot to get a picture with Holley, but here’s one of Yousaf with Ada on his shoulders.

After we got back from Greece, we made a trip to the top of the Opera House before we saw Sour Angelica (for $12 a seat!), a truly depressing Opera about a nun who was forced into the convent by her family after having an illegitimate child and who ultimately commits suicide. Before the show, we went up on top of the opera house, and as you can see, most of the snow has melted.

Ada and Maddie manage to turn their environment into a playground. Here’s ada sliding down one of the interior walls of the Operahuset

Here’s Ada, Maddie, and her friend Barrett sliding down the big snow pile at their school on March 1. The school does not put salt on the playground but instead spreads gravel to prevent kids from slipping.

For most of the winter, the playground looked like this (as you can see there usually wasn’t enough gravel to make much of a difference):

March did bring a couple more big snowfalls—with snow that was just perfect for making giant rolls of snow. (It was too cold in January and February for sticky snow.)

The winter was also filled with birthday parties. Here is a pic of Ada and her friends at her best friend Kiana’s birthday party. These girls hail from Malaysia, Japan, Iran, Denmark, Ecuador, Norway, and the US.

On Wednesdays this winter, Maddie and Ada took downhill skiing lessons at the Oslo Vinterpark. I think Ada is just the cutest in her snowsuit and ski skole vest.

And here they are just a couple of weeks later

As Diana mentioned in this post, we went down Korkatrekkeren in mid-March, a 10-minute sled ride in Oslo. Here is a video of Diana at the start of the ride.

Here is a pic of Ada and Maddie on story book character day. Maddie decided to dress up as Roald Dahl’s Matilda and Ada decided to be a princess.

Below is a pic of Maddie’s class on that day. There was a school wide contest and Maddie’s class won. They got popcorn and were shown a movie “Fantastic Mr. Fox” to celebrate.

In mid-March, Diana helped organize a cross-country ski day for Ada’s preschool. 34 preschoolers, lots of parents and teachers cross country skiied across a frozen lake and grilled hot dogs before returning back to school. It was the last day the class went skiing because soon after there was not enough snow to ski.

Ada got a medal at the end of the trip which she was proud of. According to this article, Norwegian’s do a better job that the US at making all sports as fun as possible for kids regardless of ability for most of their childhood which is why they do so well at the Winter Olympics.

Around the same time, Maddie went on a field trip to the Freia Chocolate Factory with her class. During the winter, her class learned about the history and science of chocolate. They read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and learned about bar charts (by doing a chocolate taste test). The unit concluded with a much anticipated trip to the Chocolate Factory. Below is a pic of Maddie with the chocolate she made.

On Friday, March 21, we participated in “School Strike for Climate” in Oslo in front of the Norwegian Parliament.

The strike was inspired by Greta Thunberg in nearby Sweden. There were 20,000 demonstrators in Oslo and 40,000 in all of Norway!

With the International Women’s Club of Oslo, we toured Stortinget, Norway’s Parliament. Our tour guide commented how impressed she was with all the children striking for climate the Friday before we toured Parliament. Touring Parliament also made us feel like Norwegian’s democracy is healthier than our own (they had enough votes to make substantial changes their constitution as recently as 2014!)

Ada is now taking dance classes with her friends from a ballerina from DNBS, the Norwegian Ballet School and Academy.

First sign of spring (on March 30).

We got a free visit to the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History one Sunday in late March and were especially impressed with the interior of this stave church.

We also visited Bogstad Farm, got a tour of their Manor House (which we didn’t understand because it was in Norwegian), learned how to card and spin wool, and saw lots of farm animals.

At the end of March, both Maddie and Ada got free annual check ups at the dentist in Norway. During Ada’s check up, we were reminded to avoid eating too much sugar (though eating candy only on weekends – a Norwegian tradition, was definitely ok). Also, this is Ada’s “official photo pose”—if you’re lucky enough to get her to decide to allowe herself be photographed. Most of the time, she just turns her back and hides from the camera.

We’ve already shared a bunch of the photos from December in the Christmas in Norway post, but here are some highlights that didn’t make that post.

One Saturday afternoon, we went to see the Oslo Philharmonic Christmas special, where they created a sountrack for the animated film “the Snowman.” It was a wonderful performance, in a gorgeous hall.

We got our first major snowfall one school day in December, and Maddie and Ada had a wonderful time walking to school that day.

Unlike previous places I’ve lived, the snow is now a permanent fixture, and so nearly every walk to school involves Maddie and Ada climbing the large snow mountain in the grocery store parking lot along our walk.

Maddie and Ada’s school created a similar huge snow mountain, which is a favorite place to play for kids in the morning.

On weekends, we love to head to some of the nearby school playgrounds, and now that there is lots of snow, Staabek school has a wonderful sledding hill.

Here are Ada and one of her best friends, Kiana riding on a two-person sled that even has brakes.

And the two of them eating big blocks on snow on the walk home.

Maddie and her friend, Nika.

In mid-December, we went back to the folk museum to see their Christmas market, and got to see lots of traditional Norwegian crafts and traditions. Maddie and Ada loved this organ grinder.

The horse drawn carriage rides were also neat to see.

And Ada liked the big ornaments on the tree.

John took a two-day workshop on using web programming in Javascript to create art. The workshop brought together 10 people from around Oslo with a wide range of programming background and professions, and we created these posters that were printed on A2 paper using a Riso printing process similar to screen printing. Two days after the workshop, we got to see all of our work on display at an art gallery appropriately named Low Standards. My poster is the apostrophe on the bottom row, 2nd from the left.

In a second poster, prints from different artists were merged to create new works of art.

Here is a video of Ada’s preschool class singing “I’m a little snowflake.”

We went back to Bærums Verk, and it looks very different in December than from how it looked back in September.

Here’s Maddie in front of a statue of Ingegjerd Løvenskiold Stuart, the Mistress of the Robes, the highest-ranking member of the royal court, who was committed to restoring the industrial village of Bærums Verk.

At Bærums Verk, we got to see a short performance by the 3 sisters, singing a traditional Norwegian Christmas Carol, På låven sitter nissen, a song about naughty elves on the porch eating porridge that has become quite an earworm in our house.

Finally, we wrapped up the trip to Bærums Verk with a horse and buggy ride.

Maddie has also become a rather voracious reader in the past months. She’s finished both of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory books, and is now reading Harry Potter with John. Every now and then, she even reads to her little sister.

Here’s one more sledding video, this time, from Frogner Park in Oslo. Maddie and Ada love these “Bumboard” sleds, which are super popular in Norway.

Our walks home from school often involve just as much snow play as our walks to school. Here’s Maddie climbing snow mountain just after school lets out with her friends Eleanor and Barrett.

Here’s Maddie and Ada making a snowman after piano practice one Thursday. 

Here’s a photo of our Christmas tree and decorations. Thanks to our friend Paulina for loaning us a tree and many of the ornaments.

Here are our Letters to Santa (one on left is Ada’s written by Maddie and one on right is Maddie’s second draft in which she added a few more things.) Both were sent to Santa in Drobak, Norway via the postal service.

A few last random tidbits, We found Thai restaurant in Oslo with the same name as the one we frequent in Delaware. Alas, since eating out is a super special treat in Oslo, we didn’t check this place out.

Here’s a candid photo of Ada waiting for her sister’s piano lesson.

Finally, here we are with our Nisse-billett, the free Flytoget train tickets we got to the airport for wearing Santa hats on our journey to Copenhagen. Just one more way to get in the Christmas spirit.

Things are getting busier, and I’m falling behind on my monthly photo posts, so I’m going to combine two months into one here.

Hanging out at a small pond in Jar, near our house.

In early October, Maddie got a copy of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When she first got it, she wanted to read it walking to school. She’s now finished both this book, and the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

Maddie is also enjoying taking piano lessons after school on Thursday’s. Her teacher likes it when the parent is in the room during the lesson so we can better help her practice during the week. So, often Ada gets to hang out too sometimes playing and sometimes eating a snack at her sister’s feet.

Ada keeps getting better and better on her scooter, and it’s now the best way to make sure we get to school on time.

Date day—Diana and I got to see a member of the Physics Nobel Committee describe the 2018 Physics Nobel Prize.

This is the view from the back of the physics building, looking to the west—our apartment is way off in the distance.

Maddie’s class put on a small play sharing the story of Rama and Sita.

Here’s more of Ada on the scooter. This time, it was 51°F outside, and Ada insisted on wearing short sleeves.

For my birthday, we celebrated with chocolate cake from our local bakery and took a trip to see the National Norwegian Ballet perform Manon. Thanks to the generous underwriting of the Norwegian government, our tickets were around $15 each, and Maddie and Ada managed to stay focused for the entire 3 hour ballet.

Afterward, they decided to run around a bit on the Opera House, which is an amazing space right on the water.

Maddie and Ada’s school celebrated Halloween with Trunk or Treat on October 21st (because their fall week long break fell right over Halloween)—parents decorated their cars and gave out candy and awards for the best costumes.

Maddie turned 8 this year, and we decided to have a small celebration at home.

We celebrated Maddie’s Birthday with some friends from Iran, and they sang Happy Birthday in Persian to Maddie.

Ada turns herself into a present.

First snow in Norway—just as we are leaving for London for fall break.

As we were waiting for our flight, Maddie and Ada found a moment for some silly science experiments with static electricity.

In early November, we went to a Kulturhus in Oslo for a day learning about different cultures. One of the activities was building new worlds and making bridges between them. Maddie and Ada chose to make homes out of cardboard. Maddie’s house is the one in the back (and not pink).

Another walk near our house around Dællivannet (vann means water in Norwegian and is a way to name a lake). That’s Kolsas in the background.

In mid November, we set up a Skype call between Maddie and her class back in Delaware. She had a great time talking to them.

Ada celebrated a friend’s birthday at Leo’s Lekeland, a play space for kids that is loaded with all sorts of climbing and play structures for kids, and plenty of seating for parents to sit and chat.

Here’s a video of Maddie trying to master a rope swing on a playground near our home. This is one of her final attempts after working on it for twenty minutes.

Norway doesn’t really believe in salting or shoveling sidewalks, so it’s not uncommon for walkways to be quite slippery. Not to worry, the local sporting goods store sells shoes with ice spikes, along with detachable spikes you can add to any shoes, and keeps a block of ice in the store for you to test out the traction of your shoes.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted—I need to write an update of everything that has been happening at the University—things are getting pretty busy. But in the meantime, here’s a bunch of stuff that happened in the last month.

Ada got a scooter, which she’s riding everywhere.

More silly antics on the bus.

In early September, we went to a festival in Oslo celebrating food from all over Norway. One of the coolest things was this stockfish, a dried fish that you have to hit with a hammer in order to loosen up edible bits. We all bought Norwegian food for dinner but our favorite was the fiske soup- a creamy fish soup with chive oil on top.

We’ve gotten some use out of our rain gear, but it hasn’t been a necessity until we went to Bergen for a long weekend (post forthcoming). Here’s a photo of the girls walking to school in the rain.

Diana and I went on a date to tour the Norwegian Opera house, which was amazing. I’m excited to go back there to see a ballet performance this Saturday.

This was the stage for the ballet production of Hamlet. Each step of the stage could articulate in or out, while the huge door in the center moved around in a circle. It was some incredible stagecraft.

Here’s a photo of Ada and her friend Kiana whose parents are from Iran waiting for the start of school.

I’ve always loved the sunsets in Delaware, but I’ve discovered that beautiful sunsets happen in Norway, too.

One Friday night we went to the Oslo Teknisk Museum for culture night. The kids got to enjoy liquid nitrogen ice cream and make paper rockets. I definitely want to go back to this museum.

Here’s the launch of Ada’s rocket.

Here’s a cute picture of Ada and Maddie walking through Sæteren Gård after the OIS family hike.

Maddie and Ada also made a fun reading nook in our apartment by pushing out the bed from the wall.

One weekend in September, we took a short trip to Bæerums Verk, a historic town west of us for a small festival.

Jumping into hay

Listening to some Norwegian folk singers.

On the fall equinox, we went down to central Oslo for a festival where we listened to a couple of bands perform, and walked along the Akerselva river, which was lit with luminaries, and featured a number of art and music performances along the walk.

Ada loved listening to the marching bands before the walk got started.

Here’s some art we saw along the way.

On weekends, it’s pretty common for organizations (mostly schools) to hold Loppemarked—a giant flea market, featuring all all sorts of things for sale, along with Norwegian waffles and polse (hot dogs), all of which you can pay for using your smartphone.
We landed an amazing deal at this market—$100 for cross country skis and boots for the family.

Later that day we went to Folk Museum. Here’s Maddie with Princess, a toy she found at the Loppemarked, that we tragically lost at a bus stop a few hours later.

After school on Tuesdays, Maddie has been taking cooking class with a French chef. Here’s one of her creations.

Diana and I also went on a date to Fornebu, a peninsula into the Oslofjord that was once the main airport, but as you can see, has now been redeveloped into a beautiful park.

Another weekend adventure took us to the botanical gardens. Here are pictures of Maddie and Ada “posing.” Maddie is wearing a very thick Norwegian sweater we bought at a thrift store.

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