Belly Painting

2am in the land of the midnight sun

Being pregnant brings on new experiences. This time around it was belly painting! And it was so fun.

Like I said, we have met some great people here in Tromsø. Katrine is definitely one of the coolest and the one that I wish I could have gotten to know better. She has three adorable girls, her third is the same age as Rio, and a charming boyfriend who I voted "best dressed" at Rio's birthday. While she works in the hospital's pathology lab, she has a wildly creative spirit. Among other things, she loves capturing the mother-child relationship through the camera lense; she recently started to paint bellies and photograph them.

Inspired by mexican folk art, we designed this sun. She turned on some Billy Holiday and started painting freehand with theater make-up. We then did a photo shoot behind a white backdrop but I like the ones outside the best. In all my shyness, I was not easy to work with. But this was a special moment dedicated solely to baby number three whom I really haven't had much time to think about.

Thank you, Katrine! I will never forget this...or you!

Money well spent

Saturday we threw a going-away party for OURSELVES!!! It was simple- hot dogs, Ben's famous 7-layer dip and his famous almond tart (yes, i married well!). While we have many complaints about living so far north in Norway we met a lot of good people up here. We will miss them- and the mountains- the most!

Sunday was spent at the carnival. As at any carnival one spends a lot of money on ridiculous things like trying to break a plate with a ball just to win for your kids a couple of stupid ties that they don't even like!!! But to see the joy on their faces when they rode on that "boring" train for the third time was priceless!

Inform yourself

Watch the movie Zeitgeist for free online- thought-provoking and informative.

Pinse holiday

Phoenix and Papa across from the cafe.

Mama and Phoenix sharing a panini during the 1 hour that it actually stopped raining.

p.s. Rio was sleeping in the stroller when we took these pictures.

I love living in a Lutheran country with no separation of church and state, because it means we get a ton of days off!!! For example, Christmas eve, Christmas and then usually the whole week until New Year's Day. Easter means you have off Thursday THRU Monday, then Ascension Day (the day Jesus returned to heaven 40 days after being crucified) and now Pinse (the day man was given the holy spirit, 50 days after the crucifixion).

Many people in northern Norway refer to Pinse as "Pinseria" because it is usually when Old Man Winter throws one more snow at us. And he succeeded this year. YUP, it is June 1st and we've been hit with a terrible week of rain, wind and even some snowflakes. Supposedly the reindeer calves are being born this weekend and they need to be born on fresh snow. STILL, it has been raining daily for 7 days now! The boys are back in their snowsuits and frankly, we've been depressed! After months and months of winter we need, DESERVE a break! SEND SUN!