It's in the bag

Snowy Sirdal

The birthday celebrations were followed up with a weekend in a cabin in snowy Sirdal with Jane, Mike and Dan. Our guests managed to join in the fun despite colds and lack of sleep. One night we even stayed up until 10.15 pm. Lottie finds skiing amusing and likes to try to nibble the ends of my skis when I'm hurtling down the hill. Sophie liked the swimming best. Here she is getting ready.

Running around

The cast has gone and Sophie is now on her feet and getting stronger day-by-day. The doctor tells us that it will take time but the tongue should go back into the mouth soon.

Birthday Girl

Sophie turned three last Friday. Princess Saskia, Power Ranger Dan and later Ember joined in the fun. Jo made a dentist birthday card and cake. On the pic where I'm bringing in the cake she has just noticed the dentists. This coy look is reserved only for people she has a crush on ... so far dentists and Peter Pan.

Hello Knees

This morning we flew out to Bergen to get Sophie's cast removed. The X-rays looked good and the cast was simply cut off with scissors. Within a couple of hours Sophie was taking her first tentative steps and she progressed to running around her playroom by evening. She had a thorough scrub in the bath, said a cheery "hello knees" while being dressed and had a story before bedtime.

The Doctor did advise us to wait two weeks before letting her ski.

Better then 50 kg of rock

Lots of snow here of late. Today we went skiing. It was a chilly nine below zero but we managed to have some fun. Sophie enjoyed being pulled along in the pulk most of all. It took me back a bit to my time in Greenland but she's much cuter pulk cargo than 50kg of rock. Dan, Jane and Mike are visiting next weekend but we've a busy week before then. We're off to Bergen tomorrow to get the cast off (fingers crossed that everything is in order). I'm off to Rome for a couple of days after that. I've always wanted to go there but it's the last place I want to be this week.

Vaulen Beach ...

... is the nearest beach, a 20 minute walk from our house. It's in a beautiful location and is apparently very popular on summer evenings after work (water slides, BBQs etc). One view is a tad urban (check out the experimental oil platform leg .. complete with viewing gallery). We went there today where I got the photo of Sophie tasting the salty air and definitely not being disrespectful to dad. This weekend we bought cross-country skis. Sophie will be pulled behind in a pulk ... at least that's the theory. Expect to see some snow-related shinanigans soon. One week to cast-off day.