GAUSTADTOPPEN 2 - the hike

Early morning we woke up and prepared for the hike of the day. We prepared food, put on sunscreen and tried to find the right clothes for the days weather. It turned out to be 24 degrees and bright sunshine all day long.
We drove a few miles before we started to walk. It was quite a heavy way to the top, but all of us made it without any problems. Even little Ida, 8 years old walked all the way to the top without even complaining one single time. She is tough! It took us almost 2,5 hours to get there, and all the way we went up the montainside.
It was a beautiful day where we experienced the nature of Norway on its best.


This is the starting poing of our hike. Steen, Ole and my dad.



Children and sheep!


My beautiful sister Siri.



My entertaining brother Jon. He is soon going on a mission to Ogden. I will miss him a lot!



Smile!!!


Walking through the snow. It was very comfortable to walk in snow when the sun was shining!



Walking and walking.


My tough sister Ida!



Ole is having fun!


A little brake and some chocolate and nuts before the final part of the way to the top.

Kjekkasen min

He is the best!

I guess it's my turn to have my say at our blog. Unni does most of the writing here, and very rarely do I take the chance to write what I feel like.

Unni calls me kjekkasen. Now since i'm danish, I thought she was calling me gearkassen, ( the transmission in a car). So in response I chose to call her motor (engine).

Some people might say that's not a compliment or a nice thing to say, but when you give it some thought, engine and tranmission are build for eachother. They work together, and only together.

That's how Unni and I are. We really fit together, and why it took us soo long to get married, I don't know.. When i think of the good times we're having, and how much we agree on things, it hard to understand why it took us soo long to get married..

By the way. Unni is the best, - i'm only second best.. Sigghh

GAUSTADTOPPEN 1 - the cabin

Living in Denmark I often miss the Norwegian nature, and of course I miss the mountaines. And I really wanted Steen to experience some the beauty of Norway. So we had planned for a mountaintrip. We were going to climb "Gaustadtoppen". It`s said that you can see almost 1/6 of Norway from there on a good day... But you cant count on the weather in Norway, so we didnt have to many expectations, except having a good hike in the Norwegian nature.

We were a big group going, my father, steen and I, Tone and Kim, my cousin Mads, and 5 of my brothers and sisters: Jon, Ole, Fredrik, Siri and Ida. The drive up to the cabin was terrible, the roads were not straight at all, and my father was driving pretty fast with the little red bus. So that wasnt a good experience. I was happy when we finally arrived the cabin, who actually looked more like a palace. It was so nice!

SUMMER HOLIDAY IN NORWAY

A few of weeks ago, Steen and I started our 2 week vacation. The first week we spent in Norway with my family, the other week we stayed at home and fixed thing in the house and in the yard.

Now I am going to tell a little bit about our trip to Norway. It was so good to get off work for a while and get the oppurtunity to go a way from our normal life for a little while. And it was so good to see all of my family again, and spend some time with them!

Playing volleybal at Hove.

Barbecue in my parents yard. I think we ate hamburgers.

My "little" brother Morten.

My mum had prepared so much delicious food for us. This is my favourit Norwegian summer food. Steen thought is was kind of weird to serve a meal like this, but this is a Norwegian speciality. It is often served at summer parties. It takes a lot of time to peel the scrimps, so its pretty social too!

Privacy settings

I havn`t written any blogs in a very long time. I have been busy with the new job, and a lot of other things. And I think I didn't really like the thought of sharing my life with all the world. It's good to share pictures, thoughts and ideas with family and close friends. But I didn't like the though that "everyone" could read it..... Thats why I am not a big fan of facebook anymore. Facebook is good for some reasons - but it's to "open" for sharing more privat stuff. Today I finally found out I could make my blog open, only for invited friends - that made me want to start blogging again. Not every day, but once in a while!
Today has been a good day. I was supposed to work this evening, but they called me and said they didn't need me. I won't loose any money, I have some hours to use. (We don't get paid for overtime work and weekend work, they let us get days off instead) I don't know if I like it or not. I could definitely use some more money. But to have an extra evening at home is very nice to once in a while!
I am sitting outside, its not even cold. The sun is on its way down, but its not dark yet. Its very peaceful and quiet. I am enjoying the moment :-)

NORWAY

Last time I visited my family at home was April 2009. Thats close to one year ago. Since that I have met my parents and my siblings several times, in Sweeden, in Denmark and other places in Norway. But I havnt been home in the town and the house where I grew up... So I really felt it was on time, when I went home the last week of February. Steen was going to work, so I went alone.
I went by the ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand. Thats the easiest way to go to Arendal from Denmark. It was a looong trip. I started early morning, and arrived Arendal at 5.15 pm. I met my brother Jon in town, and we went to get something to eat together. They have a Subway in Arendal, so of course we went there!
It was good to be at home, to see and spend time wth ALL my brothers and sisters. I appriciated that. Even Espen and Tone was home for a short period of time. It was branch conference, and my brother Jon was going to become an elder. So we were all there because of that.
I love to spend time with my brothers and sisters, and this was no exception. But things has changed a lot the last years. Many of my brothers are teenagers, and they are playing computer games most of the time. And they are working a lot - at Rema 1000 and McDonalds. So I didnt spend as much time with them as I used to... But I got to see them all, and that was good :-)
I got to se my grandmother too, and spend some time with her. She is cute, and I loved spending some time with her.
I thought we had a lot of snow in Denmark, but I was wrong.... These pictures are taken from the main door in my parents house:

Date :-)

After we had painted the walls, Steen asked me if I wanted to go out and eat dinner at a resteurant called Bones. Of course I wanted to do that!!!!
Bones makes amerikan steaks, spear-ribs, chicken, and they have a big salad-bar (I love that). They also have an ice-cream bar for those who likes desserts!
Since it was saturday evening, and since it was a long time since last time we went to a restaurant together, we decided to dress up a little bit, and make it kind of a date. That was fun! I`ll post a few pictures from when we made ourselves ready for the date....