Bygdøy
The weather has not been very impressive this autumn. A lot of grey days and rain, but there are some beautiful days in between and then it's so good to be on maternity leave so that I can make the most out of them. I spent a sunny day in wonderful Bygdøy with my friend Marte and our babies recently. We walked around Bygdøy and had a pit stop at a cozy cafe called Hjemme hos svigers.
Stovnertårnet
You don't always have to travel far to find exciting things to do. Now when we have small children we try to explore the more local areas where we live. Our family excursion last weekend was a trip to the urban district Stovner in Oslo to look at Stovnertårnet which is a new lookout tower. You walk along a wooden access ramp all the way to the top. It's not steep so children can walk on their own and you can easily bring a baby stroller or a wheelchair all the way to the top.
Liam found a deer that he could feed with dry leaves. :-)
Akerselva
I'm so lucky that one of my best friends is on maternity leave at the same time as me. :-) Now we have plenty of time to meet each other every week and do things with our babies. This week the weather report looked very promising and we decided to go for a walk along the Akerselva river in Oslo. We started in Nydalen and walked along the river to the Operahouse, where the river meets the Oslofjord. It took us almost two hours to reach the fjord. A lovely walk in the beautiful weather. The sky was all blue, not a single cloud was visible!
From the Operahouse we continued over the floating bridge to Sørenga, a new residential area in Oslo. There we went to a coffeehouse to have lunch and feed the babies.
Nydalen, the starting point for our walk.
We met a modelling dog along the way.
Old industrial houses along the way.
The beautiful Operahouse. One of Oslo's architectual pearls!
A hand-crafted coffee leaf.
Hvervenbukta
On the outskirts of Oslo you can find Hvervenbukta, a place well worth a visit. I went there last week with one of my friends and her baby daughter. I'm lucky that one of my friends is on maternity leave at the same time as me! Her daughter was born only four weeks before my little boy. Now we have lots of time to see each other, go for walks with our babies and discover new places. This time we walked around the bay Hvervenbukta and visited the cozy cafe; Anne på landet, where we had lunch.
My sleeping beauty.
Bjørneløypa
Last Sunday we made a family trip to Fredrikstad and went for a walk in the woods. In Fredrikstad there is a trail in the woods with lots of wooden sculptures of Scandinavian animals. It's called Bjørneløypa, the Bear Trail. The trail is about 1 km long and suitable for children. Liam walked almost the whole trail by himself. It looked like he enjoyed it and he was very interested in the animals. He hugged them, patted them and even sat on top of some of them. It seemed like he was having a good time in the woods. :-)
Drøbak
Yesterday we had a cozy family trip to the little town Drøbak located by the Oslofjord. The weather was perfect and we spent a couple of hours strolling around in the old parts of the town. They have very good seafood in Drøbak and I had a fish soup for lunch. A perfect day!
The Christmas House.
The Christmas House.
Dyna Fyr
Last week I was out with my colleagues on a summer dinner. This year the venue for our dinner was the lighthouse Dyna Fyr in the Oslofjord, just outside Bygdøy. We were picked up by boat at Aker Brygge and were transported to the lighthouse where a three course dinner was served.
Back in the old days the lighthouse-keeper was living at Dyna together with his family. They had a pretty limited space to move around on. :-)
It was too windy to be seated outdoor, but they do have a cozy outdoor terrace for sunny summer days.
Delicious fish soup.
The boat is ready to take us back to Aker Brygge after a nice dinner at Dyna.
Bye, bye Dyna Fyr. I hope I will be back sometime.
Astrup Fearnley Museum
I started my Easter holiday by spending a day in Oslo with my friend Linda. We went to the Astrup Fearnley Museum, which is a modern art museum located next to Aker Brygge. They had a really interesting exhibition at the moment with paintings and sculptures made by the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. I can admit that modern art is not what interest me the most, but this exhibition was really something for me. It reminded me a little of the brand Ed Hardy.
Alta
I surprised my darling with a winter holiday in Alta for Christmas. Finally it was time to go there. Liam stayed with his grandparents and we boarded a flight that took us to Alta in northern Norway. We spent the first night in the city centre and visited the Northern Lights Cathedral.
The following day we went out on a snowmobile safari on Finnmarksvidda. We were out driving for a couple of hours and enjoyed the scenery. In the evening we had a fantastic dinner at Sorrisniva Icehotel, where we also spent the night. Tucked inside a warm sleeping bag I slept very well in the cold room.
The Northern Lights Cathedral in the evening.
The Northern Lights Cathedral.
The interior of the Northern Lights Cathedral.
Snowmobile safari on Finnmarksvidda.
Sorrisniva icehotel.
The church.
One of the corridors leading to the ice rooms.
We spent the night in this icebed.
The entrance to the icebar.
Fillet of moose. Yummy!
The best chocolate mousse I have ever tasted!
Bye, bye winter wonderland.
Liam's 1st Birthday
I have not been active on my blog for quite a while... Now I felt that it was about time to start to post things again. I will start with some highlights from the previous months.
In November we celebrated Liam's 1st birthday. I had prepared a baby Mickey Mouse party for him and invited some friends and family. He was in a very good mood the whole day and seemed to enjoy his birthday party.
Happy Halloween
I had decorated our house for Halloween already last week since we were having friends over for dinner on Friday. We served pumpkin soup, pulled turkey with side dishes, carrot cake and meringue ghosts.
Scary carrot cake.
Meringue ghosts.
Skeleton straws.
Jack o lantern.
Halloween themed dinner.
Pumpkins.
Lake Øyeren
We live close to one of the largest lakes here in Norway, lake Øyeren. We are also lucky to have a boat so that we can explore the lake. This summer we made two boat trips on the lake and we were also hiking in the area a couple of times. The lake is popular for migratory birds and attracts bird watchers.
Liam and daddy in the bird watchers' tower.
Gansvika is a popular destination for a day trip. You can find a little beach there and a restaurant with a cozy outdoor terrace.
Delicious fish soup.
The building where the restaurant in Gansvika is located was a sawmill in the old days.
Where the river Glomma enters lake Øyeren you can find Fetsund lenser, an old timber floating centre. Nowadays you can learn about the timber floating industry in the museum and you can walk on the water on floating piers.
Brownie Bear
Liam and I had visitors yesterday. Little Celine and her mother were here on a play date. I had baked a brownie bear for the occasion. Brownies are definitely among my favourite cakes.
Feathers
As some of you might know already we are looking for a new place to live at the moment. The place where we live is not big enough for our little family since we have only one bedroom. We want to give Liam his own room and mommy is really looking forward to decorate it for him. :-)
So far we have been viewing a couple of houses and we have also been bidding on three of them, without luck. There is always someone with more money than us that steals the house in front of our noses... :-( I hate the annoying feeling when you find something that you really want, with a lot of potential, and then you just can't get it. Frustration might be the word that describes it best, but you can't give up, you have to brush it off and try again. The only way to get a new house is to throw yourself into the competition again!
I'm so looking forward to decorate our new home! In the meantime I have to keep on dreaming while I'm reading my home decoration magazines.
Feathers and basket from Lene Bjerre, a Danish favourite. Candle holders from Iittala.
The Last Summer Days
Now you can start to feel that the autumn is around the corner, but we have had a couple of beautiful summer days lately. Liam and I try to make the most out of them and spend a lot of time outdoor. You have to enjoy the summer before it's over! :-) Luckily we have a family trip to Malta to look forward to in September. We felt that we wanted to extend the summer a little bit and booked a week on Malta.
Fresh prawns, mango salad, cold white wine, strawberries and champagne outside on the balcony. These things really give me summer feelings!
Summer Cake
I have baked a summer cake. It's a vanilla sponge cake, filled with sliced fresh strawberries, meringue butter cream and lime mousse. The cake is covered by marzipan and for decoration I made marzipan bees and some flowers. The fresh taste of the lime mousse is a perfect match with the strawberries. Yummie!
Villa Malla
Daddy is back at work again in the North Sea and we have had a fantastic time together during his weeks off. We made a family trip to Villa Malla, a restaurant with its' own white sand beach in Filtvet. The place is special and you get the feeling that you are in a much warmer country than Norway. The restaurant is serving a Mediterranean buffet. The food is tasty, but to be honest it's a bit overpriced. The location of the restaurant, on the other hand, is perfect. You can sit and enjoy a glass of wine while looking at the boats sailing on the Oslofjord.
Fuglevik
We have been out on a little family trip again. This time we were invited to our friends' family cabin in Fuglevik outside Moss. They have a very nice cabin with a wonderful location next to the Oslofjord. Our friends have twin boys born in the same year as Liam. They were born in January and Liam in November, so Liam is still a little bit too young to play with them, but it will be perfect in the future with two friends in the same age. :-) The kids enjoyed some time in their "swimming pools" and we were building with Lego. In the evening the grown ups had a nice barbeque dinner.
Aurland
We decided to have an overnight stop on the way home from the Nordfjord area. We chose to stop in Aurland, and it turned out to be a very wise decision. A scenic road took us up to the lookout point Stegastein, where we enjoyed a spectacular view over the Aurland fjord. In the evening we had dinner outdoor in the hotel restaurant. A very nice ending to our little vacation in Norway.
Stegastein
Måløy
Before leaving the Nordfjord area we spent some time around Måløy. We visited the Refvik beach (without going swimming!) and we checked out the famous rock Kannesteinen just outside Måløy. It is shaped by the ocean and looks like a tree. The last night in the area was spent in Kråkenes lighthouse. A different and exciting overnight place!
Kannesteinen.
Refvik beach.
Kråkenes lighthouse.
Sea view! ;-)
