"I want to go home and play on the computer"

Nearly two weeks ago Stavanger had its biggest snowfall for 40 years and it still lies deep everywhere with no sign of melting ... the temperature here is currently nine below zero. However, Norwegian cars all have winter tyres so there's no whining about a lack of gritters. Our neighbourhood roads are all covered with a thick layer of ice so we simply slip and slide down the hill in the car everyday. Sophie tried out cross-country skiing today on borrowed skis. She enjoyed it so we'll get her a pair of her own. She's looking a bit grumpy in the sledge photo. It was taken just after she fell off and banged her nose (... hence the title of this blog entry).

Bleedin' Gums Beasters

Drum and bike

Our house is detached.

Opening presents

View of living room floor at 8.30 am.

Wow! It's reversible!

Drums, princess dress and chocolate-besmeared face ... all before breakfast.

Overwhelmed fairy.

Entertaining

Making mince pies ... three batches have been consumed in this house (so far) during the Christmas break.

Playing "pass the parcel" with an international committee of biased arbitrators.

Snow

Yesterday the snow arrived in Stavanger and was heralded by much larking about.

Sophie and Rob enjoying a "Mr Grimsdale" moment.

Exhuming the car.

Our normal nightime walk over the "dark, dark" paths of Sørmarka (the hill close to our house) was bit more exciting on skis. If you enlarge this pic you can make out the eyes of the Beast somewhere out there in the dark.

Kathleen

Sophie really likes Kathleen from Hi-5 (Australian version). For the past few days she's insisted we call her Kathleen. When I was checking the photos on my camera I found that she'd been taking photos of of her on Youtube. Kathleen looks a bit surly to me.

Twenty clean pearlies!

Letter to Santa

A snow white dress and a pink bicycle with a red ladybird bell please.

Do you know Santa's mobile number?

We put our Christmas tree up today. Sophie is starting to ask challenging questions about Father Christmas. She's worried that he might get his lists mixed up and that she might end up with a train set. She's also concerned that I don't have his mobile telephone number to check.

Christmas Concert

A video of Sophie's school Christmas concert ....

Hi5

Sophie enjoying dancing to stuff on the computer. Her current favourite is the heavily-franchised phenomenon that is Hi5. I urge you not to investigate any further. Jo and Sophie had the swine flu vaccine on Friday and both have been feeling rotten all weekend. Next weekend we're off to Cambridge for her oldest chum Dan's 4th birthday party.

Norway is still, thankfully, a Christmas-free zone.

Crazy Engineers

What do you do in Stavanger on a Sunday afternoon if the weather is horrible? Go to the Oljemuseum of course! You can ...

... play in a scaled down oil platform,

... pull levers,

... make new friends,

... drill your first well,

... and play "Crazy Engineers" (my videogame of the month).

Hellestø

Dalsnuten

Really nothing happening here ... zilch. Took the day off work today and myself and Lottie had a walk to the top of Dalsnuten (our nearest big hill). You can see our house in the distance across the fjord in the picture. Weather is unseasonably mild. Sophie is well although has taken to waking very early (... what's that all about?). We've instigated a system whereby she can't disturb us until a lamp outside her room comes on with a timer switch at 7.30 am. Sophie is not a willing participant in this new system.

Guy Fawkes Night

The British School's annual bonfire party goes something like ... hot dog, sparklers, toffee apple, bonfire, fireworks. Sophie's feeling a bit grotty at the moment so we didn't stay until the end.

First School Photo

Class Photo

Haarr Haarrrr!

A couple of weeks ago we came across an old ship moored in Stavanger harbour. It attracted a large number of ship enthusiasts who you can see making detailed observations of rigging and cannons in the background on these pictures. My daughter humoured me whilst I ran around it doing pirate impressions.

Halloween Sleepover

Scary .. err, cheerleader ...
... and scary witch ...

... make scary pizza ...

... and fly home on scary broomstick.

(Not very) Scary Sophie

It was the Pre-School Halloween fancy dress party today. Needless to say most of the little girls went as ballerinas.

Deer in the garden

It's a risky business being a deer in Norway.

When was the last time you did this?

Hanging around ...

... with the swans in Stavanger harbour

... with one of Antony Gormley's mates

Being bouncy. (We will be inside the building on the right in the next pic).

Trying to maximise calorie intake (... we've just been swimming) whilst avoiding vitamins.

This is what we do on Saturday mornings ...

Today we were loonies

Stavanger swimming pool was closed today so we decided to go to the outdoor pool. The kid's pool there was emptied a couple of months ago but the main pool is still open and caters for the odd loony (... you've seen the types, swimming in the sea every January 1st). Needless to say it was bitterly cold but Sophie insisted on going so we bobbed about until our lips went purple. Here are a couple of pics from last weekend's trip to Aberdeen. The accommodation wasn't roomy but Sophie didn't seem to mind it in the wardrobe.

Just back from Aberdeen ...

... but we only purchased essential items

An occasional series

Horrible weather

I've been travelling a lot recently so it was good to be home this weekend. Horrible weather kept us indoors for most of the weekend with only brief forays out. It's also become quite chilly and we've got through a sack of wood this weekend alone. My Norwegian colleagues (... who don't light their fires until December) would frown. You can tell where the expats live in our neighbourhood by the smoke coming out of the chimney pots.

Leaves and cake mix

Helping to pick up leaves and being rewarded with a lick of the cake mix bowl.

Playing with Beasters

Pull tail ....

... tickle ribs ... ... and check if batteries need changing.