adventure fidfam: May 2007

the most exciting game in aalesund

"ball on owen's head. owen find it!"

"yeeaaahh! i did it! i did it! i did it! owen did it."

yellow slicker out on the town

it's been raining all week. and this california girl has been getting a little cabin fever. everyday this week i've packed us up to go to the aalesund museum and as soon as we're ready to set out the rain it rains and rains. but today we were determined. we stepped out, and of course, it was pouring. so we stopped. had lunch. and as soon as there was a break we set out with the brown and pink polkadotted umbrella and the yellow rain slicker and we walked. over the bridge, across the street, through the kremmergarden and up up up the steps. and we made it! and owen was ever the trooper.
once inside the museum--which was our "exposition"-- owen of course wanted nothing to do with the museum and everything to do with going back down the steps. we did get to see lots of boats and we counted sails and people (some of the boats had little cast iron figures and wooden captains) and some had neither. looking for boats with people kept us busy for about 15 minutes before we absolutely had to go back outside.

but owen's sense of adventure led us up up up the rocks and to the canons where he peered down the fence and got a view of our "yellow house" and a ferry boat docking on the pier. in typical aalesund fashion the clouds flew by and gave us alternately sunny skies and sheets of rain in minutes. in the photos below you can see the clouds shift in just seconds:but we made it home, and our northwest kin should be proud--we even stomped in puddles and stopped on the bridge to sing "drip drop drip drop" while the rain rained rained rained.

this way!

note, by the way, that it was sometime past 10 in the evening in this video as we're walking home from dinner.

happy birthday norway

at 7 am we awoke to a canon shot and a marching band. it must be 17 mai in norway!

norwegians celebrate their constitution day with great gala by wishing everyone a happy birthday, putting on their fancy dress and parading in the streets. we considered putting owen in traditional costume--known as a bunad (children recieve them in may as part of their christening)--because he'd look smashing in a red vest

and silver buckled knickers. although the red white and blue would work quite well back in the states somehow i don't think the wool would fare as well at a 4th of july picnic.

we made do with a norwegian flag, a fancy cow bell and a festive honker. owen enjoyed watching the parade which featured groups of schoolchildren, jugglers and the end of "russ" (see 17 mai link above)

all of the parading and cow-bell ringing wore us out and so we joined the other norwegians

and ate cake:

video from Runde

Here's some video from Runde:

trip out to Runde -- the bird island

For Mothers Day we took a trip out to Runde, about two hours south west of Alesund. Beautiful day for a drive, ferry ride, and a two hour boat tour around the island.

Here's a picture of our boat and driver Johan. The ride was pretty amazing, and Owen enjoyed the ride. It was a rough ride at times, and Johan was pretty daring with his boat.

We saw mostly seagulls -- Kittiwakes, and a lot of Puffins, some Guillemots, and Shags. There were also plenty of Sea Eagles preying on all the rest of the birds. So many, many, many birds!

all boy

from the licorice brown dark fuzz that sprouted as an infant to the brilliant sun soaked auburn that emerged with the toddler--for 2 years and 17 days owen's hair grew. and of course, it's growing still. and yes, probably right now while he naps it's sprouting away. but it grew in his eyes, down the back of his neck and cradled his ears.

so it certainly wasn't because i wanted it and it thankfully wasn't because michael demanded it but it was because owen himself asked for it. simply: "owen need a haircut." and it was a refrain--since he had seen nana cut daddy's hair at nanapapa's house and watched while nana gave mommy bangs in mommy's kitchen he would randomly say: "owen get haircut?" and mommy of course would nervously laugh and say, "no--owen doesn't need a haircut." but lately the inquiry has become a statement of need--echoed each and everytime we walked by "pikassos" where mommy bought hair gel and where the cute norwegian girls (always decked out with silky scarves and glittery eyes--i'm sure this is what sealed the deal) say "hihi" and giggle when owen says tusen takk. gagggagoo (his perfect norwegian "thank you" and exaggerated vær så god for "you're welcome").

anyhow, it was getting quite long. and my brief attempt with styling products was less successful. and it did seem to get in the way of playing with greenpeople in the bluetruck on the ferryboat. and michael assures me that by the time we go back home he'll already need another haircut. and my worst fears that once cut all of the golden shimmer would fall off too does seem to be unfounded.

so, here is owen on the motorcylce (watching tom & jerry which is for some strange reason ubiquitous in norwegian public children's corners) while sonja starts in on the "soccer mullet" (auntie jenni came up with this one, btw):

now he's eating crazy car gummies and rather unfazed by the entire experience:

here is the motorcycle seat holding owen's hair:

and i have to say that he seemed quite liberated by it all. the only one that cried, of course, was mommy, and really this is only because he sat down like such a little man with all the other old men waiting their turn and ate raisins and said smart things and was so such a big big boy. anywhow, afterwards, he hopped off the little motorcycle and walked right out of the herrefrisør into the kremmergarden mall and found a car to drive:

so instead of being this amazing little person with the prettiest hair, he's this funny, independent catch-you-off-guard boy with the most beautiful eyes. just like his daddy.

car show

Stayed around Ålesund this weekend, trying to do some shopping - we ran into a car show with pleny of exotic cars like a Lincoln Continental and several VW Bugs.. Here are some of Owen's favorites:

An old school Jag (quite like the one Inspector Morse drives).

A bus/delivery vehicle, where Owen got to drive.

and.. yes, even a Rolls-Royce. Owen is pointing here because they were serving free waffles and cookies, so I guess it was time to leave the car show.