First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for all three kids, and all three were starting at a new school. I think everyone had a good time, but despite my efforts to have them in bed early over the past week, they're all showing signs of extreme tiredness. (The yelling and hitting one another signs, unfortunately!) I don't think it helped that they were all up super early this morning.

DD2 had a great first day of preschool. She's had at least one older sibling at school there since she was born, so is completely comfortable with the environment and knows everyone. I think we were interrupting her play when we said goodbye! It was very exciting to have a lunchbox packed for school.

DD1 was very excited to finally be in first grade! Last night she admitted to being a bit nervous, but seemed relieved when I pointed out that it was everyone's first day there, including the teacher. Today was a half day, ending before lunch. By the time we picked her up she had friends that required hugging before she could leave. Always a good sign. (Oh, and they did math and talked about the rules, too...)

DS was the one we were concerned about. He has been home schooled since Thanksgiving of 2006 after a disastrous beginning to first grade. Not only has he not been in a classroom environment for almost two years, he has some extremely bad memories of his last new school. (To say that it was the wrong place for him is quite the understatement!) This morning seems to have gone well. He's quiet about things, but did mention that it was one of his best first days of school ever. He has a friend. They did some fun "getting to know one another" activities.

Coral finished at 11:25 am today, so we took the older two out for lunch before picking up DD2 at 1 pm. What did I do with the first morning I've ever had all my kids in school? I went out for coffee with DH. First things first.

Back to England (July 8 - July 9)

After flying in from Oslo, we caught the Gatwick Express into London. Blurry picture from a moving train of the Battersea power station, featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's "Animals."

The last few days of our trip were rather more structured than we're used to, as I had arranged tours with London Taxi Tours. (Check out our picture on their testimonials page!) This was a bit of a gamble with three young children, but worked out extremely well. With just the five of us in a taxi, the tours were tailored to our interests and easily adjusted for the children. I highly recommend the company!

On Wednesday we did a full-day tour to Bath and Stonehenge. I visited Stonehenge and the Romans Baths when my school choir toured in England 20 years ago. DH had never seen either. We were able to see parts of Bath that were inaccessible by motor-coach, too. It rained most of the day, but we didn't let that stop us.

Norway (July 3 - July 8)

On Thursday, July 3rd, we drove from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Edinburgh to catch a plane to Oslo. We had no time to stop for any length of time on the way up, but the road was good and we enjoyed the scenery. Although we were booked on a Norwegian flight our crew and aircraft were from Hola! Airlines. There was a lone representative from Norwegian who translated all the announcements (made in Spanish and English) into Norwegian.

We spent two nights at the farm, where my MIL visited her mother's parents as a child, and which now belongs to her brother. This was the first time I had met his partner; she is really sweet and a great cook.

We spent the 4th of July in Oslo proper, visiting the Natural History museum and spending time with DH's grandfather (Bestefar, "best father"). Unfortunately we missed his grandmother (Bestemor, "best mother") by just a couple of weeks, as she passed away while we were on our anniversary camping trip. We called my MIL on speaker phone for her birthday. It was quite funny hearing what the kids chose to tell Grandma about our trip.

On Saturday, July 5th, we drove from the farm to the mountain cabin ("hytte" in Norwegian). This is a required part of a visit to Norway for us. It was built in ~1912 by my MIL's paternal grandfather, with some additions built on later. (During our time at Stanford, DH came home from a trip to Norway somewhat startled because the cabin now had electricity.)

Last time we were in Norway, we took the kids to the "badeland" ("swimming land" or water park) at the airport Clarion hotel, just a few minutes drive from the farm. They were looking forward to going there again. Unfortunately, the Clarion badeland closed permanently just a few days before we arrived this year! We made it up to the kids by stopping at the Tropicana Badeland at Per's resort in Gol on our way to the cabin. Great fun, although I was surprised to see so many overweight Norwegians.

(DH and I have taken to referring to the Tropicana Badeland as "Per's well." There exists family legend that Per once interrupted my FIL bathing in the well at the cabin. The well was shared by several cabins, and was everyone's source of drinking water. Needless to say, Per was less than pleased to find some american there with his bar of soap! These days we have running water and a shower in the cabin, so no-one need resort to such extreme measures.)

The children especially enjoy the upstairs bedroom at the cabin. As you can see from the picture, the doorway is only slightly taller than three year-old DD2. The stairway is kid-sized, too; it's more like a ladder for adults. There are lots of interesting toys stored up there!

We had a relaxing time at the cabin despite some cold, rainy weather. Kite flying, hiking, fishing (no fish, as the river was too high), and plenty of games of Yahtzee. DH's uncle cooked us a wonderful meal of trout he caught while up at the cabin the weekend before. It was lucky that he had frozen some, or we wouldn't have had any fish! On Sunday we had roast ham; Bestemor had planned this meal for us before she died, and was very insistent that we have it.

On our return to Oslo we wandered through Frognerparken and Vigelandparken, visited Bestefar, and had a nice dinner at Holmenkollen. (Bestefar was once a ski-jumper, testing out the jump before competitions.)

On Tuesday evening we flew to London Gatwick. Norway is wonderfully child-friendly. The kids had a great time at the concourse playground while we were waiting for our flight.

To England and Around Newcastle (June 27 - July 3)

On Friday, June 27th we drove from Reno to San Francisco. We saw a small patch of blue sky as we crossed Donner Pass, but otherwise it was smoky the entire way. Pretty amazing.

Our flight to London was as good as can reasonably be expected. DD2 slept most of the way, but DS and DD1 slept for only 3 hours. They are quite enamored with on demand in-flight entertainment...

We spent one night in London, and then caught a train north to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. From there we visited Alnwick Castle (used for the outside of Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter movies) and Hadrian's Wall.

Newcastle has a nice Discovery Museum, which is very kid-friendly, and a great mix of hands-on science and local history. DD2 especially enjoyed "washing" her hands at the giant tap in the water and sanitation display.


I had tried to keep our plans simple, since traveling with three young children can be somewhat unpredictable, but we also managed to squeeze in a visit to Durham Cathedral. This building is amazing in it's own right, but was also used in HP. Our tour guide at Alnwick was quite amused by the computer editing done in the movies; "they put Durham Cathedral's towers there, the Quidditch pitch there, and over there was Scotland." Apparently one of the narrow cobblestone streets in Durham was used for Diagon Alley, but we didn't have enough information to get the exact location.

DH enjoyed the local brew.

On Thursday we drove to Edinburgh to catch a plane to Oslo.

June? What June?

I get the impression that many people have a quiet, relaxing summer break. In our family, on the other hand, it seems that we take a deep breath at the beginning of June and run flat out until school starts again in the fall.

DD1 finished Kindergarten at the beginning of the month. On May 30th the school held a "Kindergarten Celebration," where the classes sang songs, played their recorders and generally celebrated the end of Kindergarten. Poor DD1 missed it; she came down with a tummy bug earlier that day. I didn't bother mentioning to her that we wouldn't be going, but at 6:15pm, when the children were supposed to be dropped off at their classrooms, she stumbled downstairs very sad. "I worked SO hard on my songs, and now I don't even get to go..." We took her out to breakfast (at the Truckee Squeeze In) on Sunday for a family celebration.

Both girls had their spring ballet recitals on the Saturday of Father's Day weekend. The school is big enough that there are two performances, one at 2pm and the other at 7pm, and of course we had a daughter in each show. This was DD2's first time on stage, and she truly rose to the challenge. I imagine the Pioneer Center could be quite intimidating for a 3 year old. DD1 was a star, leading most of her class' dance.

DH and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on the 21st. As has become tradition, we went camping. We met up with my brother and his family at Oh Ridge campground at June Lake, CA. They live in San Diego and were camping in Yosemite prior to meeting us. It was a zoo with the 7 kids and 2 dogs running around, but we all had a good time.

Last week was pretty gross in Reno. Smoke from the Northern CA fires funneled through Donner Pass, and we spent most of the week under a level 2 smog alert. That means we were supposed to stay inside with air conditioning as much as possible and avoid physical exertion outside. DD1 didn't get to play outside at summer camp, and poor DS' swim camp turned into an indoor day camp. I was bummed not getting to go on my nice walks outside.

Quiet weekends

We spent the long weekend down in Mammoth Lakes, CA with my ILs. It seemed more like Christmas than Memorial Day due to freezing temperatures and falling snow. Tioga Pass had opened for the summer last Wednesday, but was closed again by the time we reached Lee Vining on Friday afternoon.

We hit the Reno Squeeze In on our way out of town. Good breakfast!

On Saturday we took the kids to see the Mule Days parade in Bishop, and then for a swim at Keough's Hot Springs.

The weather was rather unpleasant in Mammoth on Sunday, so we went hiking at Panum Crater and went to the Mono Lake visitor center. DS and DD1 enjoyed the Junior Ranger workbooks. We stopped for lunch at the Mobil station Whoa Nellie Deli. (Our favorites are the mango margaritas and lobster taquitos!) It was eerily quiet with the pass closed; usually the place is packed to the gills with people waiting to order, but this time we walked straight to the front of the line. No visitors from Yosemite makes quite a difference.

Last weekend we went camping at Eagle Lake, just north of Susanville, CA. This was our first trip there, although we've driven past the eastern shore on our way home from Oregon. It's not a long drive, and the setting is gorgeous. We especially appreciated how cool it was; Reno and Susanville were experiencing scorching temperatures.

We stayed in the Merrill campground. This was the first time we've visited a NF CG with hookups. The loops closest to the road have full electric/water/sewer, the next loops electric/water, and the lakefront loops no hookups. It was well maintained, clean, and beautiful. We opted for a site somewhat back from the shore in an attempt to avoid mosquitos, but every site has a lake view. The mosquitos found us anyway!

Hike Your Own Hike

Have you noticed how some people are either threatened or critical when others choose to do something differently from how they do it? It apparently matters not what the topic is; just look at any online forum for examples.

My mind keeps going back to a conversation I had in our local Starbucks last Friday. I was paying for our drinks, and the gal at the register asked if we had any plans for the weekend. I replied that we were going camping. Innocent, meaningless, but friendly chatter. The dude making the coffee asked what my "definition" of camping is. This probably should have been a sign. I explained that we are pretty varied campers, we like backpacking, but that we were taking our tent trailer out that weekend.

snort "If it has wheels, it's not camping. It has to be at least a tent." Perhaps a tad aggressive if he's wanting me to come back and spend more money at the Evil Empire, but whatever. I'm feeling good, and we're on our way out of town. The gal at the register asks if we're making s'mores "because you have to have s'mores!" I pass this test (for this trip, at least). Phew. But no, according to the dude, the essential item is dutch oven peach cobbler. I fail again.

This is a prime example of the pitfalls of thinking that our own way is the only way to do something. DH and I enjoy DO cooking. He has plenty of experience eating it from his packer days, and while I didn't grow up with it, I'm always willing to try something new. So some of the time we cook in dutch ovens while camping. We have only ever done this when camping with our PUP. That kind of trip, according to the coffee dude, isn't "camping," because although we're cooking in our DO, our shelter has wheels. The trips that might meet his definition based on shelter certainly wouldn't based on cooking method. I am dumbfounded that a backpacking trip using our Whisperlite couldn't be considered camping using his standard. Some, of course, might not consider our stove choice that of a "real" backpacker (and I freely admit I'm a wannabe!).

Luckily, my life doesn't grind to a halt due to lack of approval from the coffee dude. Mind your own business, do your own thing; hike your own hike.

We returned from our trip to Australia last July to find that 2700 acres of open space behind our house had burnt in a wildfire while we were away. The Hawken Fire was determined to be the result of a grinder being used on a construction site without water available on site. Our mountain view has been somewhat less scenic since then. I often walk in the hills behind our house in the evening, and have been thrilled recently to see the wildflowers blooming in the ashes.

According to an announcement this afternoon on the emergency alert system, we are expecting temperatures 20 degrees higher than normal this weekend. The kids are getting in the spirit of the warm weather!

We are heading out camping tomorrow. If I'm allowed to call it that...