We had snow!

This weekend we went to the mountains to be together with Steinar's family. unfortunately we had heard that there were no snow. We then decided that it did not matter, because they had a swimming pool, so we were going to have a great time.

Rebekka met a Troll.

We left Marianne's home town with its beautiful fall weather, and drove into a slugged snow storm. In Norway the east (where we came from) has very stable weather and has few problems related to that. In the west how ever (where Steinar's family lives) they are currently having a storm. With the consequence: the mountains were closed. They did however find a way and about four hours later than planed they could arrive to the huts.

We woke up to snow (but someone had made a pattern, maybe the first two to get up?)

In hindsight I think we were all happy about the storm, because the next day we had a lot of snow to play in! We had a great time and the rain over the night took away a lot of the snow so the roads weren't to bad when we were traveling home either.

The snow was cold and interesting.

A snowman in front of our cabin.

In between the weekends we usually just hang out and try to relax and get a rhythm to our days. Rebekka is adorable as always. Marianne is tired and in some pain due to kicking and pelviolysis and Steinar is trying his best to take care of the whole family while organizing and doing other important stuff as well. This video is from today. This is usually how our meals go:)

Is it Tuesday already

We are back in the hometown of Marianne's parents. It is nice to not have that many plans left before the baby comes. Maybe Rebekka will have time to settle a bit, and maybe us grownups will be able to rest some and get some kind of routines in our lives before it all shuffles up again.

Dad and Rebekka is having a lot of fun.

This is the city where we met, and went to university.

We have been on the road a lot. This is a map of Norway, it shows all the places where we have slept since we came. Altogether we have been on the road at least 40 hours (Steinar has about 16 more hours than that) and that is not counting the long stops we have taken playing, eating and walking. So now we only have about 9 more hours (the coming weekend) and then Marianne and Rebekka will be staying here and relaxing.

Purple is where we have slept, green is where we have driven. The purple closest to Sweden is where we are.

Rebekka and Mom driving the car.

This last week Rebekka has had a big week, she has been playing with a cat, and a calf. She is so cute with the animals. And she also got to try to be Bambi on ice:)

Isn't he cute!

Ice is so much fun!

On the road again

After relaxing with Marianne's parents for almost two weeks we are back on the road. This time we are going north to the middle of Norway to see some student friends of us, and Marianne's aunt and uncle who lives on the island where Marianne's mother was born and raised (Mariannes holiday paradise from childhood).

Just picture this a nice summers day, paradise. 

Summer by the fjord.

We are still OK driving, so that is fine, but Marianne ruined Rebekka's sleep by blogging about it last week, so we are back to 2-3 awakenings at night now. A bit tiring and frustrating, but that's life.

Mum and Dad might get tired, but I am happy:)

Last week we forgot to take pictures of Rebekka, so this week we have taken a lot of pictures. We went for a walk and tried a swing, Rebekka is really enjoying the company of both her parents. She is also glad to have a belly to cuddle with. We try to tell her about her comming brother, but we don't know how much she understands.

I still love the swing.

Rebekka, her mum and the baby.

Rebekka is loving the puddles that comes after rain (Her daddy might love it to):

A good night sleep

As a lot of people know Rebekka has not been a good sleeper. Ever since she was born this has been an ongoing struggle for the parents. She has had a few nights where we have accepted it as a full night. So when we were thinking of coming back to Norway we planned a night without Rebekka to get a much needed good night sleep. As you also might know Marianne is pregnant with (hopefully) less than six weeks to go, so a good night sleep is not really realistic, but just knowing that you wont be woken by anyone outside yourself is helpful.

Rebekka at about six weeks (what we think our boy will be when we come to China)

So from Friday to Saturday the parents went to Oslo leaving Rebekka in the care of her grandparents. It went so easy, and Rebekka did not wake up that night, she woke at 6 but Marianne's mum said, "no it is still night" and Rebekka was at least quiet until 7 what a luxury. After we came back that luxury has continued. She has woken at 6 some mornings, but we have not had to get up at 11, 12, 3, 5 or any other very bad times during the night. So maybe Rebekka is very much like her older cousin Alva who was a bad sleeper until she was 1 1/2 years old and started to sleep the night trough. PTL! Now we can get ready for the next midnight-screamer:)

Rebekka and her grandmother enjoying each other.

As you all can see this has been an exciting week, we have had a calm stable week, and forgotten to take pictures, so all these are old, but you can enjoy them anyhow.

Calming down in the east of Norway

This week (we start our blog week with Wednesday) we all started with traveling. Steinar two days by car, and Rebekka and Marianne took the plane over to the east. It was a trouble free trip, but so nice when we all could join together again knowing that now we were going to spend the next days together without so many "shoulds".

Rebekka and her mum with new glasses:)

Mariannes sister and her husband joined us here in the weekend and Rebekkas grandparents had a great time with the two kids, one a little more active than the other.

Mariannes parents and some grandchildren.

Today we have been to the health station, catching up on Rebekkas vaccines and doing some measuring. If you are thinking about us, you might remember Rebekkas sleeping witch is very varying and Mariannes hips and back are starting to feel the pregnancy. Steinar is probably feeling the pressure to take a load bigger than he would like, so we need help with the balance:)

Rebekka with a new hat and sweater. 

Rebekka is cute as always and is starting to say ball instead of baa. And she is a good helper with cleaning up toys and setting the table:) Her Chinese is fading, but that will probably return when we go back to China.

Still travelling

We left Førde to come to Mariannes brothers house at Karmøy. It is windy here. I know Yinchuan is windy to, but here the wind is beating on the wall (and Steinar has been taking a boat) so we feel it in a different way. The travel to the east of Norway will be interesting for Marianne and Rebekka, as we are flying. Steinar has to go to Førde to pick up the car that "broke" on the way to the west of Norway. The mechanics has really taken their time, and we still don't know if they even know what the problem is. At least in China it seems that they fix things fast.

Rebekka on the swing.

Rebekka loves to find places to sit.

Rebekka is really enjoying spending time with her cousins, and it seems like they enjoy her to. The weather in Norway is very different from Yinchuan, so we do dress Rebekka differently. It is harder for Marianne, who is still growing, the jackets don't really fit all the time, so she has to let fashion be fashion and just dress in what ever makes sense according to the weather.

It is colder, and definitely more wet.

Rebekka is borrowing her cousins Grandmother for a bedtime story.

We are still eating a lot, hopefully we will stop that soon. Yesterday we met some friends, had homemade lasagna, and chocolate mousse + extra chocolate... We were so stuffed when we went to bed, it was almost hard to fall asleep.

Baking with uncle.

And the video is of Rebekka and her dad playing one of Rebekkas favorite games.

Rebekka has fallen in love

With a swing. She loves being outside, well, that's not exactly news, but every time we are outside, she has to go on the swing. Saturday she stayed on for 45 min, the only reason she got off was that some cats came by and needed to be looked at. She has also found a substitute for her rocking horse.

This is some of our last days with Steinar's family. It has been great weather (thankfully) so we have been able to be outside most days. We do have clothes for Rebekka, but us parents don't have clothes for sideways rain. Yesterday we were inside almost the whole day, and that was a trial. Last week Rebekka's cousins were off school, so they were really good taking her outside to play.

Rebekka and her big playmate.

Making buns.

I am almost as fond of traditions as Gail, so we were thinking of starting a Jessie tree. So we had to bring out our creative sides and make a tree with leaves (For you who don't know what it is, it can be googled). I think it will turn out very nice.

Our Jessie tree.

Rebekka and Steinar in folk costumes, at the wedding.

Steinar's brother and his beautiful wife.

Most people, when they return to their home countries, miss a lot of the food. It has been really nice to drink tap-water and to eat Norwegian bread, chocolate, jam and so on. But we are missing the feeling of not being stuffed. We eat so much and we eat all the time, because in Norway we have at least 4 meals a day, and coffee with something good in between. So we might be fat when we return:)

May I please have some chocolate?

Nationalism

Being in China have made us realize that we are quite nationalistic. Coming back to Norway we can see why. The first week has been filled with beautiful weather, a lovely fall with all the colors that follow. A wedding and then a trip to the west of Norway to see mountains raising from the fjords, waterfalls, snow and rain. Yes we did get some rain in Yinchuan in the end, but nothing like this:) We do like to have some rain. The only downside is that Rebekka has no clothes for weather like this, so it gets a little expensive.

Snow, mountains, sun and fog. 

Rebekka has now met all but one cousin. She loves playing with them and they like playing with her too, so that is nice for us grownups. Rebekka did very well on our drive yesterday it took about 8 hours in the car and 12 in total. We needed some good brakes to just walk and enjoy the snow on the mountains. We are so surprised over how well Rebekka is doing with all the new people and places. She is also over her jet-lag (we think) and slept until 7.30 today, with only one wakening at about 6'ish.

Rebekka playing with stones.

People living in the middle of nowhere. 

The wedding was also beautiful, in Norway weddings lasts about 12 hours from the ceremony starts until the guests and couple live. Steinar said some words on behalf of the family and he did very well. dinner lasted about 3 1/2 hours so that was not to long either. We had a great time. (Maybe pictures might come later).

A Norwegian fjord.

Time is however more stressful in Norway so far. We have been traveling a lot and met so many people, so settling here for a while will be nice.

Snow is interesting.

Traveling Home

It has been an interesting week. We left Yinchuan last Sunday and went to Beijing to get visas to go to Mongolia. That was easy. In August Steinar tried to get visas and stood in line for hours without getting one. This time it was no problem, and when we landed in Ulaanbataar we realized that Norwegians usually can apply for visas at the airport, no problem!

Welcomed by a Mongolian celebrity.

In Beijing we enjoyed a good cup of coffee, a last goodbye to Deborah and her mom and texts from two coming parents who were counting contractions and therefore could not meet us for lunch, very understandable.

Mongolian scenery.

Wednesday the trip went from lovely 20oC in Beijing to very cold 0oC and snow in Ulaanbataar. Marianne did not have clothes for that, but Rebekka did, so that was fine. And we spent most of our time indoors (in non-heated buildings at first) so we managed in a way. We all have runny noses now, but besides from that we are fine. We did get to see some nature and sights so that was fantastic.

Rebekka and a Mongolian girl playing outside.

Yesterday was a long day. We started from Mongolia at 4 in the morning to catch our plane that left 7.30-ish, and after an hour stop in Moscow (where we had time to go from one plane to the next) we landed in Norway 12.05 (it took about 9.30 hours in the air). And Rebekka did marvelously well, thank you for remembering us up in the air! She only had one cry because we had to sit still in our seats, landing in Moscow.

Ulaanbataar, a city about the same size as Yinchuan. 

This morning Rebekka got up at 3 in the morning (Norwegian time, which is 9 China time). So at 7 we went for a walk, and I got to see a beautiful fall sunrise. Now I am enjoying my cup of coffee and Rebekka is sleeping outside on the porch. We miss China, but it is nice to be able to drink tap-water.

The house of Marianne's parents, if you follow the fence with your eyes, you can see the red stroller where Rebekka is sleeping. 

The view from the kitchen window.

Siste innlegg på norsk, på en stund

Jeg har tenkt å gjøre bloggen engelsk mens vi er i Norge. Akkurat nå er vi i Beijing, vi måtte skaffe oss visum for å komme oss inn i Mongolia, så da ble det noen dager her. I morgen tiiiiiiidlig reiser vi til Mongolia og skal være der i noen dager før vi setter snuten mot Norge. Vi er spente og litt nervøse, men det går sikkert fint.
Det ble en superkort blogg i dag, men det viktigste er vel å si at vi har det bra:)