Day 1

I lost track of when today started and yesterday ended since it is all a blur of sleepless travel. On the flight to Amsterdam we didn't get any sleep at all, which has made it difficult to stay up all day. The rest of our trip went well, though customs in Amsterdam was overwhelmingly long and will not be fun to go through by myself in a couple weeks. Once we got to Norway, we went to Ida's house after stopping by a little store. We stand out so bad and I have no idea what is going on half of the time because everyone is speaking Norwegian. We got to see Ida's work which is super cool! We then walked around the mall some before Ida's mom and sister got home. Once everyone was home we took a walk by the river behind their house. The river is breath taking! There is a huge waterfall and next to it is stair step rocks for the salmon to jump up the river to lay their eggs. We didn't swim today but we felt the water and its freezing! There are sheep that graze by the river in fields which I love! I didn't get to eat much of dinner because I was feeling so sick but they made Norwegian Shepard's pie which was amazing! Now time to get some rest because I have been up for nearly 30 hours. 

Day 2

Today was amazing! We started by sleeping in since we had been up for over 36 hours. Once we got up and around we ate eggs and bacon for breakfast and Ida and I made a cake for her friend that's birthday was today. After breakfast we all got ready to head to th beach and got there at about 12. The beach is mainly grass, then like 10 feet of sand, then at the water line it turns to pebbles. The water was so cold it burns! (56 degrees!!) I did get all the way in though! Then, we buried Andrew in the sand and made him look like a mermaid. Lots of people stared at us for our English because this is not a spot tourists ever come to. The little kids on the beach change into their suits there so there was some naked kids running around for a bit! There was also a weird man that had been listening in to tour conversation that ended with him sitting on one of our towels talking to my mom about the difference in butt dimples between different cultures due to genes. After the beach Ida and I went to pick up her mom from work and I got to go to the grocery store with them. Some of their friends and their kids were there so it was funny to here them practice English and I tried a little Norwegian. After we got home we went to the river which is even colder than the ocean! The snow melts off the fjords in the north and then flows down here so the water is super cold! There was a cute little dock like 20 feet out that we swam to and then could jump in from. After the river we hung out at their house for the rest of the night. Pea soup and pancakes was for dinner and they were really good! We gave them their gifts and they loved them! 

Day 3 

This morning when we woke up, we took Lauren to spend the morning at Julie's school. She had a fun time. The kids have to take their shoes off before entering all the classrooms until they are in 11th grade! For lunch they all walked around eating their packed pieces of bread! After we got Lauren back we went into the city so we could exchange our dollars for kroners. The bank was cool to see and we met about her strange guy. That guy was in a fight the day before and another guy almost bit his ear off! Only the crazy Norwegians will randomly talk to the Americans. As we were walking back to the car we stopped for ice cream and saw a huge sail boat. We also learned that it costs 5 kroner to pee at any public building! Then we headed south of the city to the coast line to look at the worlds second largest kannon. It was so huge! The museum was set in a World War II German bunker and the kannon was used by them. Their was a beautiful view of the coastlines and some cute little houses! After that we had to head home to pick Ida's mom up from work. We learned how to play a Norwegian yard game called Kubb. It involves throwing pieces of wood at other pieces of wood. You try to knock down the other teams "peasants" before they get yours and then the first team to knock down the king wins! Then I went to Ida's tabatta class. It was a decent work out but their was annoying gnats that bite that made it really annoying. We had tacos for dinner tonight and they were super good. Then we taught their family the game of life and they now really like it. I didn't have many kids though so I was sad! 

Day 4 

Today was a very busy day! When we got up we packed our lunches and went to the zoo. The zoo was massive! The animal enclosures are much bigger than the ones in America so it's harder to find the animals. Half of the zoo was based around a Norwegian story book too which was neat to see and we had fun trying to guess the names. We had our sandwiches for lunch (as we do everyday) and we had a little fruit. The apples and grapes are much sweeter here! After lunch we watched some animal feedings and walked around the rest of the zoo. Lauren broke her iPad screen as we were about to leave so after we left the zoo around 5 we went by the mall to see if we could get it fixed. It costs way to much and takes several weeks so we just bought a cheap screen protector for it. After we looked around for a few minutes we went home because everyone was tired. For dinner we had rice porridge and fresh shrimp that got off the boat at 2 pm today. It was amazing!! Their shrimp sandwiches are the best way to eat shrimp I have ever had. After dinner we had a relaxed night since everyone is so tired and we are leaving early in the morning. 

Day 5 

Today was such a long day! We left home at 7:30ish to start the 4 hour drive! It took a while but the views on the way were amazing! The fjords here are nothing short of perfection. We got to ride a small ferry today that took 15 minutes across one of the fjords. The hike today was 5 kilometers each way, which was straight up, then straight down. The trails were very crowded because it's such a popular place. Since it was mostly tourists you could hear a Tom of different languages all the way up, which I found super cool! I learned a little Norwegian while we walked too. The pronunciations are so difficult and I butcher the words every time. The top of the rock, called "preachers pulpit" (preikestolen) overlooked a large fjord. On the rocks in the distance you could see and hear waterfalls and small lakes. I could've stayed up there all day. We also drank the water straight from the streams because it is clean enough to do so! After we finished hiking everyone was very tired so we headed straight home. We stoped for ice cream along the way and I had a pear pop sickle with a chocolate coating. They eat ice cream several days a week here in the summer which has been awesome! I also tried several gummy Norwegian candies today. My favorite is the sour pears! Once we got home we had a really calm night. We had Norwegian beef stroganoff for dinner which was really good. The dinners are so late here which throws me off. They generally don't eat until almost 10 pm every day!