Another New Addition

Meet Oreo. This is our little La-chon (lhasa apso/ bichon frieze mix). He is 8 weeks old and is very sweet. The kids have just fallen in love with him (well, really at first sight.) It has been a busy last few days. He joined our home on Thursday evening, so the past few days have been spent house training. He is doing pretty good, I must say. We are also kennel training him and working on "sit." He is playful and funny to watch. The other night he was being a ferocious beast trying to rip apart his little chew toy. We got a good laugh out of that. I look forward to him growing up with the kids. I think he will make a good playmate and friend for them.

New Member of the Family

After Scales died, we decided that we would put off a new Beta until we returned from Germany. Noleigh picked out our new fish and Hiram named him "Pirate." So this is the newest addition to our family. Welcome, Pirate! I think Noleigh did a good job. He's very beautiful, the coloring is blues and greens with reds and purples around the edges. We have had reds and pinks before so this is a nice change!

Norway, France, Home

YAY we're home. I have finally had a moment and am feeling well enough to finish posting pictures from the rest of our trip. We arrived home on Saturday, July 19. It was a very interesting experience, which I'll share later.

The last day we were in Norway it was pouring rain the night before and most of that day. During small break, my mom went outside to stand on the balcony and heard water running. So off we went on a hunt for the source of the noise (it was also a great excuse to get outside for a walk.) Just next to the little house we were staying was this beautiful waterfall. After checking out the waterfall we walked a little ways, just checking out the beauty around us. The following are pictures from our little excursion. We got home just in time, as we were closing the door, the heavens opened again and it poured the whole rest of the day!

Our last night, Hiram lost his other tooth. We had spaghetti for dinner, in case you couldn't tell. After we were going to have watermelon for dessert, which he didn't want to eat because his tooth was bothering him. I asked if he just wanted me to pull it. YES! he said, so out it came. He enjoyed his watermelon much more after that!

We flew back to Germany on July 10th and arrived in Frankfurt Hahn, Germany. We had a room reserved for the night in a German motel, which would sleep five people. I thought the room was so cute and funny I had to take a picture. . . the motel did not lie, it certainly slept five people! It was very much like a college dorm.

While at the hotel, Hiram but together a bed for his Bakugan (sp?). It made me laugh so much I had to take a picture. It is tucked into "bed", reading a book with its own lamp. The things kids come up with. . .

We arrived in France on Saturday afternoon after a long drive. On Sunday we went in search church, which was in and of itself a very interesting experience. We got up early so we could have time to find the building. The directions were very bad to begin with and sent us in the complete wrong way we were supposed to be going. We went through a toll booth, only for the directions to turn us around on the highway to go back through the same tollbooth. We finally start heading in the right direction and make our way to the street the church is supposed to be. The street changed from a four lane road to a two lane road without my notice, so we ended up driving on the wrong side of the road, thankfully it was not busy. What made it weird though was that the oncoming car was just going to go around us and pass us, instead of honking to let us know we were on the wrong side of the road. It made me wonder how many British visitors they might have? So we get on the right side of the road and found the street address the church was supposed to be in. It was a huge apartment complex in a very dominant Arab or Muslim neighborhood, so we knew we were not in the right place. As we were walking back towards the car, a flash of light caught my attention on the other side of the road, and I spotted an older couple walking with black badges on their clothing. YAY, we found missionaries. We waved them down and they walked us the couple blocks to where the church building was. We never would have found it. The only sign facing the main road was a very tiny one in a side window. The missionaries told us that the church felt it would not be safe for the members if the building had any larger markings that would bring attention to it. It made me grateful for our ability to worship at home, without any hostility toward our faith. We went for sacrament meeting, which I understood some words of. I had to laugh because I got "me", "Joseph Smith," "Jesus Christ," and most of the numbers, but that was about all. The closing song was sung, a very happy bright song, but when the closing prayer started, the music continued to play quietly. I thought that was a little strange, but I closed my eyes when the prayer started. The music continued so I peeked to see who was playing, no one was so I looked out the window and saw a circus truck with two lions pacing outside in a cage. I had to show the kids and my mom, so we were not very reverent as we were gawking at the most unexpected site! It certainly was fitting though after the rest of our experience!

The next few days we spent at Disneyland. We had a great time riding rides, watching parades and fireworks, and seeing shows. It was fun for the kids to see some of their favorite characters and to be in such a magical. We had a wonderful time!

I thought this guy had the funniest eyes. He made me laugh.

These pictures of Hiram made me laugh too. It was so funny seeing him try to hard to pull out the sword. It was so cool for him because he likes the movie, but also my mom showed him a movie called "The Last Legion" which is a legend about Excalibur, which he loved.

The fireworks were spectacular and were in honor of the French's Bastille Day. This is the day they celebrate the storming of the Bastille, a prison, during the French Revolution in 1789. It is similar to our 4th of July, except we celebrate the ideals written in the Declaration of Independence, and they celebrate the brutal murder of nobles. Just a little difference.

On Wednesday, the day after Bastille Day we ventured into Paris and visited some of the more famous points of interest:

The Arc De Triumph, erected in honor of Napoleon Bonaparte and his victory over the German States. The Nazis had great pleasure marching through it during WWII.

Well, this one speaks for itself!

Of course, the Eiffel Tower. This was such a beautiful piece of architecture. It was truly beautiful to see! I was surprised out how tall it really is.

The kids enjoying a treat under the Eiffel Tower. It was interesting because there were several beggars asking for money. I gave one young lady a couple Euros. After buying treats for the kids, she came to me and asked for more. She said, You have enough to buy treats, you need to give me more. I didn't give anymore the rest of the time there.

This was taken at a small park next to the tower. It was cool to see the turtle sun bathing, I just wish the bread and trash wasn't in the picture.

After the Eiffel Tower, we headed to see Notre Dame. What an amazing cathedral this is. The kids loved seeing it, as they are big fans of Disney's Hunchback. Hiram and Noleigh loved looking for gargoyles and finding other architectural features they recognized from the movie. It made me laugh that they were using that as their frame of reference. We'll work on changing their knowledge of it this year in history.

We walked along the Seine River to get to the cathedral. I have to say the little walkway we were in was not the most nice smelling place I've been in. It smelled a lot like urine and I encouraged the children to avoid touching the walls, which I'm sure had been used as target practice for centuries. Yuck.

This was just a beautiful part of Paris that caught my eye as we were headed back to the Subway.

After France we headed back to Ramstein to fly home. We arrived on Thursday afternoon, checked into the airport, then headed to find lodging for the night. I had emailed some of our information to reservations at the military lodge across from the airbase, but they said they could only make reservations 1 day in advance. We did not have access to the internet or a phone, so I didn't know if the reservationist had been kind enough to go ahead and make us a reservation or not. I took our chances and went to check in. They were all booked, so I asked about our reservation and the reservationist had sent in our request. I was so happy we got a room there. Not just a room, a two bedroom apartment, with a full kitchen, washer and dryer. I was so excited because if it took us a few days to get a flight, at least we would be comfortaable and have a place to stay. Mom and grams stayed the night with us there, and was going to spend the next night too, so they could help us get back and forth to the airport. The next day we went and was marked present at the airport, then went to have lunch and go shopping with mom. I went to the commissary to pick some food, in case we got on a plane, so we could have some snacks. We went back to the airport, and waited to see if there were any flights available. There were two: one to Baltimore and one to Dover. I didn't care which one, as both would work for us. They started Roll Call for Baltimore, which I knew we wouldn't get on because of the number of people waiting and the number of seats available. Then out of nowhere, this new flight to Dover appeared. After checking the list, I knew we would get on that flight, which we did. It was interesting because, it was not the same flight that was originally listed. Once we landed in Dover we heard that that flight had still not taken off, we got very lucky.

It was funny though because my dad was going to meet us in Dover when we got off the plane at midnight, but he went to the air terminal and they told him no flights were exptected until early Sat. morning. Dover had no record of the flight we were on, and were only expecting that other flight that did not leave. Very strange. So he went back to the hotel and went to bed. We got in at midnight, as planned, and waited for Dad, who wasn't there, nor was he answering his phone. I was worried about his whereabouts, but figured I needed to get some rest before I could deal logically with the situation. We took a taxi to a nearby hotel and crashed. At 5 in the morning Dad texts me to let me know he's safe and there in Dover. We meet up and get a good laugh over the situation. It was so weird that we got on this flight that no one had any record of!

So that is our European trip, in a nut shell. I am thankful for the experience, but I am truly grateful to be back in the US. I am thankful for all of our selections, the low cost of our living, the free public bathrooms, the good drinking water, being back in my home ward, and being in a nation with a lot less smokers. I couldn't believe the number of people that smoked.

Moen and Oslo

Norway is a spectacular place, filled with some of the most amazing rock formations, lakes, wildflowers, and trees. It is called the land of the midnight sun, the following pictures were taken at about 11:30 at night on July 3rd. It is amazing how our bodies are in tune with the sun. Since arriving here, we have been up extremely late, as we are used to going to bed after the sun sets. Some nights, the sky never went completely dark. I have yet to see a starry sky here in Norway. It has made me pause and think about the Vikings and how they must not have been able to use the stars for navigation during the summer months. It is interesting that they could raid and plunder at all hours of the day and have the sun be their guide!

Just like in the States, we were able to celebrate our July 4th swimming at a lake. We went to a little campsite called Moen to go swimming. The water was COOOOLLLLLLDDDDD. We really did not venture in past our knees. It was a beautiful warm day though and our surroundings were magnificent. As you can see in one of the pictures, we had a visitor hanging over the lake, relaxing as well.

I thought that this was too funny! Can you see our visitor in the clouds? It looks like he is laying on his back relaxing. His elbows are bent and his feet are poking out above the tress on the left.

This is a picture of another farm Dan can buy for us after he retires. It was too idyllic with the swans swimming across the lake. This was still while we were swimming at Moen. This was the warmest day we've had here. The clouds have since come in along with the cool weather. I am grateful though that we could go swimming.

*** SOAP BOX ALERT***

It was interesting celebrating a 4th of July outside of the States, well because no one else was celebrating it. As everyone else back home, it was a day to think about our wonderful and beautiful country. I miss being home, where there is so much. The grocery stores here are small and some things are extremely expensive- for example cheddar cheese costs 100 krone, or $25.00. I'm not talking a huge pack of cheese, just a tiny 4 oz package of it. Here a lot of Norwegians only work from 3-4 days a week and many live off of the government and also pay about 50% of their income to taxes, and more if you consider all the other taxes: sales taxes and property taxes, gas taxes, energy taxes, etc. As a result, they depend heavily on other countries for their goods (except some of the farmed products here) and have little desire to work hard. They are also very reliant on the government for many of their services. In thinking about our nation, who once was so industrious and self-reliant, being here has made me sad for the direction our country is headed and has been headed for the last several years. I often wonder when did we become a people that looked to the government to solve our problems rather than to ourselves. Our leaders are corrupt and morally bankrupt, yet we still look to them as the problem solvers. Now I'm off my soap box.

While here, we had a visit from the Norwegian Tooth Fairy. Instead of a dollar being placed under the pillow, we had 6 krone, which is the equivalent. Hiram was just watching a movie and it popped right out. His other front tooth will be out very quickly as well.

Yesterday, the 7th, we headed to Oslo to see the Viking Ship Museum and the Kon-Tiki Museum. We had a great time. The Viking Museum was amazing because everything in it was from the 800s. So much of it has lasted and is in such good condition, which is incredible. I think of some of the things in our home and wonder if they will survive 1200 years.

These ships were amazing. The Vikings used a style of building called Clinker-building, which made the ships planks kind or ribbed and overlapping. It was truly an art. Also the carvings were intricate and truly beautiful.

Leather shoes found in an excavation site from the 800s.

I thought this carving was interesting. I have no idea what it was, but the eyes are very intriguing, are they not?

After the Vikings, we went on to modern-day vessels, well to the Kon-Tiki Museum. This was interesting because back in the 40s a Norwegian man set out to prove that the Ancient peoples could have sailed on trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic voyages on the old reed vessels. He made several rafts and boats and was successful on his voyages, proving that the Ancients could have sailed to new lands in these vessels. On one of the Pacific Islands, the chief of the village told him his ancestors came from a far away land, so this sparked his interest in proving that it was possible.

This is the RA-II, made of reeds. 8 men sailed on this vessel from Africa to South America.

I just thought this was a cool Tiki statue.

This raft was the one that took the men from I think Peru to Polynesia. It took them 101 days to complete the voyage and proved that people could have reached the Polynesian islands using sea-faring vessels.

This was just a cool exhibit that showed the marine life the men on the raft saw.

This is just one of the many bays around Oslo, and was just outside the Kon-Tiki Museum.