My Cuddle Pal Jorgen

Too busy for full blog, but check out our cliff-jumping videos on flickr!

How many PHD's?

Yesterday we stayed at the apartment till lunch time. Then we got out the canoe parts and put it together. It was put together a little bit wrong but we fixed that in a few minutes. We built the canoe while mommy was cooking pizza so ended eating the pizza after the canoe was built. Then we hauled the canoe up to the lake and canoed around the lake. We took a little detour to go around an island. But after we went around the island we went back to the middle of the lake when we got near the end of the lake there is a Tarzan rope that we sat and watched for a minute or two. Then we went on to the end of the lake and stopped there to eat and swim (but only me Jacob and Olaf swam). We had 2 years old (from daddy's and Olaf's big canoe adventure) beef and potato casserole. We also set up Olaf's hammock that he got in Australia.we could still see the CRAZY people jumping (the Tarzan place was higher than the place where we jumped). When we got back we noticed that lots of kids were playing down on the street and Olaf told us that in the summer time kids are allowed to stay up very late.

Canoe Pictures

 Perhaps I look quizzical about haw to build this canoe on the left so what I really don't know haw to build this thing dad and Olaf are the masters. well here on the right is where they figure out that they did something wrong and really hoe many PHD's does it take to build a canoe.

 we had to haul the canoe to the lake (and after we had to haul it back to the apartment) so here on the right is a picture of daddy and Olaf hauling the canoe on one of Olaf's high quality gravel roads. on the left you may see that something is wrong with the canoe well the trailer that held the canoe fell in a hole on another of Olaf's high quality gravel roads.

Here is another video by Jacob.

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 On the right is a picture of me with lake Noklevann behind me and on the left is a picture with the canoe.

here is Olaf with out beef and potato casserole 

here another of daddy's feet but this time they seem quite cozy in Olaf's australian hammock  

Here are some more amazing hammock pictures on the right is me reading on our kindle. on the left is a really cool picture of Jacob in the hammock with it dark behind except for light some light rays.

Lake Noklevann

This is a video at Lake Noklevann. We're building up Olaf's canoe and taking it here today. He's threatening to bring the tent, mosquito nets, and SCUBA gear, so I don't know what crazy adventure is to come. If we don't blog again by Tuesday...

We're Vikings Whaddaya Know the Terrors of the Seas!

The rock jumping was actually yesterday now we started yesterday with some swimming (and jumping) then we went to downtown and went to the viking museum which is on a peninsula called Bygdoy we spent about 3 hours there. then walked to the ferry terminal where there are 3 museums the Fram Museum, the Maritime Museum, and the Kon-tiki Museum. then we took the ferry back to the to the city hall where the nobel Peace Prize is given and to get to the metro station we went past the church where most of the roses are.then we came back home and had dinner with Olaf before he went Tango dancing.

Pictures of Vikings - Arrrgghhh!!!
Note: Please comment below on anything you find interesting! We'd love to hear from you and will respond!

My historical note: Vikings came from Scandinavia they are mostly farmers and are only part time pillagers. their helmets actually don't usually have the horns like in the movies they only have the horns at parties. the vikings pillaged to trade and capture slaves. the society had the nobility the free men and the slaves. the three ships at the museum were sailing ships that were used to bury the nobility one was used to sail for luxury, a second was a working vessel (of attacking), and the third was hard to tell because it was mostly deteriorated when they found it. the names were Oseland, Gokstad, and Tune in the same order as above. they were named after where they were found. when they found the ships they had been robbed. but they have part of the skeletons from the Oseland (two women) and the Gokstad (chief who was killed in battle) And the Tune (another chief). they still found lots of objects on the burial mounds even though they were robbed they were buried with food, sleds, animals, carriage, even peacock feathers, (and lots of other little odds and ends.

Daddy's Note: The ferry stop on Bygdoy is at the Fram Museum, where they have placed the Gjoa (upper left), the boat that Roald Amundsen used to sail the Northwest Passage for the first time beginning 1903. Walking through Oslo Centrum, everything looks "normal" in terms of everyday life until you get to the National Cathedral and the area blocked off around the bomb site. At the Cathedral, a large street is blocked off with flowers and tributes about the tragedy. It was raining when we got there, matching the overall mood. It's obvious that all of Norway is in shock. I can only wish the country well in its mourning and healing.

Bombs away!

First off, here's something stupid that we did this morning with Olaf and Daddy (video by Jacob)...

Yesterday daddy and Olaf went for a run which was supposed to take 20 minutes unless they found one of Olaf's "high quality gravel roads." They must have found one of those high quality gravel roads because they were gone for about 40 minutes and Daddy said the only thing missing was a loaded canoe compared to their last crazy trip together. After that we stayed at Olaf's apartment until after lunch then we started by going to the Holmenkollen ski jump.

Holmenkollen and Vigeland Pics!

Here is the ski jump people go at about 130 kmh - ski jumping is a huge sport in Scandanavia. Olaf said that about 100,000 people would watch it each time it was open. As you can see it was made with no support (except at the base) near the top.

This is what the skiers see before they get knocked out. There are no bathrooms at the top because they wouldn't need it.  Daddy would crack more than his snowboard helmet if he skied down there and who knows nobody has ever tried snowboarding down here.

Here are some more handstands at Vigeland Park. At the park there are 212 statues on the left there is the fountain on the base there is men holding up the bowl. On the right is an obelisk with people the bottom person must have died a few times and the pile must have also tipped a few times while posing.

The sculpture on th right is daddy's favourite with the two babies on one arm one on the other and one on he's foot. on the left is me and Olaf with the park behind us.

On the left is a picture of daddy trying on Olaf's Monoslippers and on the right we are all having dinner together on Olaf's new furniture. We brought the heat from Greece because it is the hottest day of the year and Olaf forced daddy to put sunscreen on him because he made up an excuse that he was going to be holding his big expensive camera all the time.

Daddy's Note: (Please send in comments directly from the blog here to anything you see on the site. Zachary works really hard to keep it updated, and we would love to hear from all of you about anything you see!)

Daddy's Note: In Scandinavia, cross country skiing, ski jumping, and biathlon are like hockey in Canada in terms of popularity. At Holmenkollen, there is also a ski museum, outlining the history of ski jumping and the development of skis through the ages. Part of it is a hall of fame for Norwegian skiers, with this whole display shown here of personal skis from famous skiers. Being the open society that Norway is, none of the skis are kept locked away under glass. There were also displays of different types of skis, and the boys were amazed at how the snow jumping skis are over 3 m tall. Another exhibit showed the history of Norwegian royalty and skiing.

The plaque and skis belong to Bjorn Daehle, who won more Olympic winter medals than any other athlete in history during the 1990s. 

First day in Oslo

Yesterday was my 11th birthday! We had our flight at 5:15 in the morning when we got to Norway Olaf picked us up and we went to the apartment. first we went to the grocery store then we came back we had breakfast and had a nap. after the nap (which for Jacob was 4 hours) we built some furniture with Olaf (Jacob slept through that part) which was two chairs one sofa and one table. they were all very hard to build because the screws didn't always line up. after the furniture we went to the lake and walked along the lake a little bit. when we got back we ordered birthday pizza and then we played canasta.

Our Flickr Norway Album!

on the right is the furniture that we built and on the left is me daddy and Olaf on the sofa.

at the lake here there is a place that if you are a member you can borrow kayaks, paddle boards, (as in the picture) and also row boats this place is well used because in the hour or so we were at the dock about 2 dozen boats left the dock.

on the right is one of Daddy's feet pictures and on the left is a little toad. as you can see it is a very small toad.

The Coolest Man in Crete!

The guy on the left here must be the coolest dude in all of Crete if not Greece itself. Check it out, he's on a delivery motorcycle whizzing through urban Iraklios, not wearing a helmet, talking on his cell phone with one hand and smoking a cigarette with the other - a triple crown of stupidity! As you may guess, there's lots of motorcycles and almost no helmets around here. Some other dopey observations include guys carrying helmets on their arms as elbow pads while riding, and the dumbest of all was a guy flying down the highway with his helmet on but NOT buckled, and therefore using his left hand to hold his helmet on as he went!
Last set of pictures from Crete!

Our last dinner in Iraklios was at a fish tavern downtown that was terrific. Had awesome kalamari and seafood risotto with octopus in it. So much good food for cheap, and then when we thought we were going to explode, they brought out dessert of watermelon, loukamales with ice cream, candied fruit, and raki! So we had an early celebration of Zachary's 11th birthday, walked around the old fort and pier, then crashed at the airport for 5h before our flight to Oslo. See you all there!

Unpuffed puffer fish (porcupine fish)

Today we started by going to the aquarium, NOT with the speargun! there were a lot of unusual animals including silver cheeked toad fish(like a puffer fish without spikes). there were also octopus(Jacob thought the fake octopus on the front of the building looked like tentacles with a peanut on top), jelly fish, lobsters and lots more.  when we were walking home we went along the water and it was very wavy so even though we were on a wall we were being hit by the surf.when we got home we went to the pool and packed our stuff because we are leaving tomorrow at 5:15 in the morning. So we hung out with Andreas and stayed up all night. Then Andreas took will take us to the airport between 12:00 and 1:00.

a shame faced crab

sting ray

on the left there is a sand shark and on the left is a sand bar shark

a logger headed turtle

Puffer fish 

us with Andreas' spear gun

our daily gyros

 yesterday at 4:00 we left the apartment with Andreas and went to a beach there we played rackets and then we played canasta with Andreas(daddy didn't play). Jacob and I were on a team and Andreas and mommy were on a team. one turn Jacob took two cars instead of one the extra card he picked up was a Joker(a wild card).

in these pictures we are waiting for our gyros. it was funny because the waiter didn't even speak Greek! after the gyros we had a crepe with chocolate and biscuits this was also funny because he forgot the biscuits.

Giro di Gyros!

After 2+ weeks in Greece, we've become culinary connoisseurs when it comes to pita gyros shops and quality. We're tried burger pitas, chicken gyros, pork gyros, with yogurt (Cretan) or tzatziki (mainland style), chicken and pork souvlaki pitas, from small villages (where the pitas are small!) and from Iraklios (massive pitas). We'll need to come back around Easter for the kalimari pitas though! At only 3EUR maximum for one, it's an easy and good all-in-one meal!

More Pictures from Crete!

Four days from flying to Norway and the unspeakable tragedy of Oslo happens. I don't think anybody can make sense of such madness. While I'm incredibly looking forward to seeing my great pal Olaf again, our mood is definitely more sombre at seeing such a beautiful city and country in mourning.

Yesterday, Andreas took us back to the beach where you had to swim to get to, with the promise that he'd spearfish us our supper. You can see how well that turned out! Fortunately, his favourite childhood pita stand was on our way home. The best pita gyros features big fat fries rather than the thin McDonalds type fries. I'm partial to either yogurt or tzatziki. Once upon a time in his youth, Andreas got into a bet with his friend and ate FIVE of these pita gyros from the shop!

We might as well get our fill of pita gyros, nutrition and health be darned, because the ones in Trikala won't be as good according to Andreas.