Dinner at the Nystads

I'm making the annoying "raspberry" sounds in the background. BUT LISTEN TO PHOENIX'S LAUGH!!! Isn't it great?!.

PHOENIX SAYS MAMA! A real achievement! 

This is the sign for "cry". Phoenix is dragging his finger down  his cheek like a tear. 

Look at those cheeks. (More annoying "raspberry" sounds!)

Happy Sundays

Hanging out downtown

It was a huge feat climbing to the top of the slide!

The boys sitting down for dinner and drinking from martini glasses!

Taking the bus in to town

It is about 9pm and like most Sundays, I AM SO HAPPY (and not only because the kids are asleep)! We usually spend our Sunday evenings at Phoenix's friend's house. He's 5 year old and also has Down syndrome. It takes us about 5 minutes to walk to his house. It is such a blessing to have him and his single mom in our lives. She is from Ethiopia so it is extra special to have the whole ex-pat thing in common too. She cooks delicious meals for us, whether it is Ethopian injera or Norwegian elk. Then she makes ginger coffee and serves it with Norwegian chocolate. Other days we hang out downtown or got to an indoor playland. Each time after being with them, my heart if full of warmth and joy. 

I love that Phoenix has a friend. And he is such a good example to Phoenix. He is polite, full of compliments and very sweet and careful with little Rio. I love that our whole family enjoys Phoenix's friend. Its so wonderful that Ben enjoys being there too, with the kids and two women discussing the latest DS research. 

I'm so thankful to have this family in our lives.  They are a source of inspiration and encouragement to us. 

Fantastic fall

The view from Tromsø's highest point

Trying to get the kids to pose for a picture!

Trying to get them both to smile is another thing!

Phoenix on the way down

The mornings are full of pink light...I love the contrast of the snow and fall foliage. 

I've had this post in my head for 2 weeks now, when "fantastic fall" was actually appropriate. As of now, it has been raining hard for 3 days and it has been cold and rainy. We're very used to living by the Norwegian modo "no bad weather, only bad clothing" but in this weather it is hard to enjoy being outside. But back to 2 weeks ago...

It was a perfect autumn day. The sun was warm on our backs as we hiked to the highest point on Tromsø island Varden (means stack of rocks). We took the kids in the stroller most of the way and then left it on the trail so that Phoenix could hike the last part on his own. It was steep and took maybe 30 -40 minutes but he did it all on his own! It was awesome! And the fall foliage was at its best- lots of yellows, reds and brown!!! Gorgeous! I will autumn lasted longer!

That night we saw another fascinating wonder of September, the northern lights. I had butterflies in my stomach, feeling so blessed to be allowed to live and experience life in the arctic circle. 

Visit

Norwegian Trekking Association

The Northern Lights in Tromsø

Døgnvill Music Festival, Tromsø

50 cent and G-Unit came out in Marine outfits

The venue was so small and were really close to the stage

Ben and I were looking forward to Døgnvill Music Festival ("døgnvill" means when you get your days and nights mixed up) ever since we heard that 50 cent was playing. We could not believe that he would come all the way to the arctic circle to play in 38F weather for this "city" of only 60,000 for a bunch a Norwegians who have no clue what words like "ghetto, projects" mean. We had to be there to see this!

The line up included people like Samantha Foxx, Limahl ("The Never Ending Story") Duolva Duottar (Sami people- the indigenous people of northern Norway, they still heard reindeer- rapping) and a couple really good Norwegian bands. Kaizers was by far the best performance of the night. 

We only got to go the festival on Friday. But Saturday's line up included the Sex Pistols and Travis. 

One really cool part of the festival was that so many families were there! I mean newborns from 2 months (they had them in their baby bjørns or sleeping on the outskirts of the lawn in their big buggies) to teenagers hanging out with their parents.  It was really a cool atmosphere on the top of the island surrounded by mountains. 

These were my favorite Norwegian artists...and the hilarious Sami rappers:

Ida Maria "Oh My God"

Kaizers Orchestra "Enden av November"

Here is a video from FIDDY's official website about the show here in Norway. There's some good footage of Tromsø. It is hilarious to see them at our local Burger King and complaining about how expensive everything is here!

Phoenix's first 5k

Go Phoenix!

Aw, he looks so small!

Looking forward to many more medals!

Ok, it was a point .5k , not a 5k, but it doesn't matter. We are so proud of him! He had had a fever the night before and was a little under the weather and hadn't napped, but he persevered and completed the race!

It was called the Hamna Race. Our little part of the island, which is a bit isolated from the rest, is called  Hamna. It is inhabitated mainly by families. There are 4 decent-sized daycares, one huge one and numerous home daycares all within 5 minutes of each other- and still there are waiting lists! So there were plenty of kids competing and lots of family-oriented events all day- from free breakfast to music and grilling down by the shore. It was a really fun day spent with our family and neighbors. 

Nystad family reunion

The Nystads + Ben's dad's mom

Tante Eva

We had to eat some traditional rice porridge with butter, cinnamon and sugar

That's a huge pot of rice porridge! Left overs are perfect for rice cream pudding. 

Bestemor Nystad and her boys

Ben's sister Eva Theresa came to visit last week. She lives in New York state, outside Rochester. The family, Ben, his sister and their parents, hadn't been in the same room together since 2001! We didn't do anything special...just a lot of hanging out. 

Feeding the birds

Rio trying to keep up with his big bro!

Mama duck and her duckling

Phoenix smiling for the camera!

I love Rio's face here

I'm trying to do the Norwegian thing and bake my own bread. Norwegians love their bread. They have opened-faced sandwiches for breakfast and lunch. In our house we top our bread with caviar and hard-boiled eggs, liverpate, white cheese and veggies or chocolate-hazelnut spread! Yes, chocolate for breakfast! Ben adds mayo too. YUCK! Anyway, forget the low-carb diet here! It would be impossible for a Norwegian to give up their bread.

So I'm trying to be a good Norwegian wife and mom and bake it myselft, but I am FAILING! I've given at least 3 loafs to the birds. But feeding the seagulls and ducks makes for a fun Sunday evening activity!

Celebrating one year in Norway

Syltefjord, a 30-minute drive from Båtsfjord

Loads of hand-picked blueberries!

"Celebrating" the darkest day of the year with "Arctic Darkness" beer

Tromsø island, where we live

Me, my parents and Rio on the Norwegian coast

We arrived in Norway 1 August 2007. Now that a  year has gone by it is time to start reflecting...and time to start a blog! 

Our journey started in Gjøvik, a couple hours north of Oslo, visiting Ben's grandma on his dad's side. This was Phoenix's first time meeting a great-grandma. Our first meal was kjøttkaker ("meat cakes"), ertestuing (peas) and potatoes with lingonberries on the side...so Norwegian. We loved it, Phoenix too!

Then we flew up north to Ben's hometown Båtsfjord and waited anxiously for Ben to find a job in the graphic design field. He had just graduated from the Illinois Institute of Art- Schaumburg in June. 

In the meantime, we enjoyed a decent summer and spent the days picking berries- blueberries, cloudberries, lingonberries and blackcurrent berries. Ben perfected the delicious suksesterte (a chocolate almond cake with a butter filling). I ate lots of Finnish chocolate (thank you Viola for sending me 1 kilo of Fazer Keltainen) and went on long walks while awaiting Rio's birth.

Ben got the news that he got the job while I was still in the hospital after Rio's birth. The job was in northern Norway, not Oslo like he'd hoped. But from day one he has loved working at Lundblad Media AS in Tromsø. 

We moved to Tromsø at the beginning of the 3 months of nearly complete darkness. It was a very hard transition for me- a newborn, a toddler, new location, Ben's new job, no network. But we came out of that dark period (literally and metaphorically) and once the sun returned we enjoyed our new friends and new experiences with the kids- sledding, hot chocolate and waffles in the snow. 

My parents came to visit over Easter. We did a lot of sightseeing despite my dad's bad knees and took the Hurtigruten (coastal streamer) north to Skjervøy and south to the Lofoten Islands. The best part was them spending time with their grandkids (geez I feel guilty taking them so far away) and meeting Ben's parents for the first time.

Summer came and went (lots of cool, rainy days unfortunately) and now both Phoenix and Rio are in daycare and I start my new job on Thursday working as a special ed aide in the daycare. 

YIKES! Did we really survive this year? Are we going to stay here or move back to the US????? We're not sure. But we do know one thing, no matter where we live we will always be a little homesick.