Aksel is 2!!!

Aksel is 2 years old! I can hardly believe time has flown by so quickly. He is such a sweet, stubborn, charming little boy. We had a fairly low key day starting with pancakes and ice cream for breakfast and then a bit of a family dinner (plus some friends) in the evening. A wonderful day for such a wonderful boy.

Aksel and Elias helping me bake the cake :-)

Playing with new toys - a train set!

Pancakes and ice cream - yummmm!

The cake!! Why do I torture myself so??!

Part 2

July started beautifully - with me being in Seattle without the husband and kids! A nice break away. And right when I came back, Håkon had arranged a surprise night away for the family (have to take advantage of every long weekend there is in the land of NO HOLIDAYS!). So we drove half an hour east to Dina Town, which is an old play park with cartoon dinosaurs everywhere and free games. I always wanted to go when I was little, so it was kind of funny to be there! Elias had a great time. Then we stayed overnight at a B&B and then headed to a Harrison Hot Springs in the morning. The weather wasn't that great, but we still had fun! The rest of July was sunny and hot, so we have spent a lot of time by the water.

Dino Town!

Aksel is his happiest if he has a stick to bang or a rock to throw

Digging in the sand with Gramma at White Rock

Summer Part 1

I'm realizing as I look through our pictures that we have a lot, so in order to make my job easier and to not bore you silly, I think I'll divide it up a bit! So here's an idea of what we have gotten up to in May and June!

In May we went to visit my brother, Leroy, in Kamloops, about 2.5 hour drive from here. It was lovely to see my brother, but the trip was pretty much a disaster besides that! Aksel was super sick with an ear infection, or something, and had a high fever and barely slept the 2 nights we were there. It was also quite cold, which it normally isn't at that time of year, which made it a bit difficult to spend too much time outdoors, especially for Aksel as he was sick. We went up to a lake to walk around a bit, and it was actually snowing!! Couldn't believe it. Then the 2nd night Håkon got a stomach bug and was up all night ... so when Aksel wasn't up, Håkon was jumping up beside me to rush off.. Thanks Leroy, for putting up with us!

Then in June, Håkon's cousin, Åse Berit, came to visit us from Norway on her way to the States to visit people where she was on exchange with earlier. We had such a nice time with her, and the boys LOVED her - she didn't get much peace, I'm afraid! So we toured around Abbotsford and the Vancouver area. We went to White Rock one day, and we have since gone there quite a lot. The tide pools there are wonderful for kids - shallow bits of water with all sort of fish and crab in them to find and are warm and shallow so the grown-ups can relax too!

The cold walk around the lake with Leroy

The boys helping me plant the garden

Very messy after some time in the dirt pile and water!

White Rock

Elias very proud of writing his name - look closely!

17. mai

This year we didn't make it to the 17.mai party with all the other norwegians as we were at a wedding, but we still celebrated in our own little way - with a BBQ and ice cream outside. So fun to hear Elias say "Åååå så deilig!!!" when he saw the ice cream and strawberries!

Aksel is finally starting to talk a bit, and even has some norwegian words mixed in. "fly (airplane)" and "ut (outside)" are definitely favourites. And he is starting to settle down a bit since he can communicate a bit better. Elias is FULL of questions and talk - which is both really sweet and really annoying :-) He is doing another soccer course which is lots of fun.

We are doing lots of work in our backyard this last while, and hopefully will be planting the rest of our vegetables in a few days! Good to have some experience from last year to draw on!

17. mai ice cream and strawberries

popcorn and barnetv!

sniffles, birthday and other things

Elias is 4 years old! Ok, 4 years and a month :-) He had a great birthday - a super hero birthday! I made capes for all the kids and then we made masks as a craft during the party. Lots of fun! He is such a wonderful boy, truly caring and curious about everything! He got his first bike as a birthday present, which he is loving. Now if only he would understand the concept of brakes! Right now his favorite thing is to play lion with pappa before going to bed and then reading a book by the light of the nightlight. He also just finished swimming lessons. I was so proud of him, he was the only one who would go completely under the water and he learned how to float on his front and back. So he passed his first level of swimming only after 6 lessons!! Do we have a swimmer on our hands?!

One of the reasons why it's been so long since the last blog is that we were sick pretty much from December until the end of February. Bad colds, ear infections, stomach flu, and the list goes on. So it's been quite exhausting. We've now had a month of being healthy, but now it looks like things are going downhill again. Aksel has his 3rd ear infection of the year, Elias has a cold, and Håkon and I are feeling not so great. Hopefully it won't last another 3 months!

Aksel is doing well, he continues to charm all of us. It's a good thing too, it balances out his screaming when he doesn't get his way! He is definitely pushing his boundaries and figuring out how things work. He is obsessed with cars and dogs at the moment. And of course doing everything Elias does!

Norwegian Olympic sweaters knit by Håkon's mother

Elias's birthday breakfast of pancakes with ice cream!

Super hero party!

Decorating easter eggs.