Rory's first day of school

Rory started pre-school today at the British School.  She's in Playgroup and will go every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:10 to 12:10.

When we arrived at school there was a sign telling us which class Rory is in (Playgroup B) and where her classroom is located.  As we made our way down the hall to her classroom we found her name over a hook and hung her rain coat on the hook.  We sat down on the bench to put her indoor shoes on and then headed into the classroom.  Rory was a little disappointed that her friend Hannah is in Playgroup A, but as soon as her teacher showed her the play stroller she was happy.

Since she wasn't upset at all, I left the classroom after just a few minutes of watching her play.  I did wait in the lobby drinking coffee and talking with two other moms for quite awhile, just to make sure everything was going well before I left.

Rory squealed with excitement when I arrived to pick her up.  But her teacher reported that she'd had a great day - didn't cry at all and participated in all the day's activities.  She even had paint on her fingernails to prove it.  When I asked Rory if she liked school, she said, "yes, fun."  It didn't take her long to fall asleep once we got in the car.

Hoping that Thursday goes well too!

Anniversary

Our anniversary was earlier this month -- seven years!  The actual day fell on a Monday this year so we celebrated a little on Sunday.

Sunday morning we took Rory to the beach.  She wore her new long-sleeved rash guard shirt to keep warm in the North Sea.  There must have been a storm out at sea because there were seaweed and jelly fish on the shore and at the edge of the water.  Not the prettiest day for being at the beach, but Rory seemed to have a good time.

That night we went out for Indian food and took Rory with us.  She really enjoyed the Masala sauce, dipping everything in it, sometimes just her fingers.

The Queen Mary 2 came to town for our anniversary so we went down to the harbor to take a closer look.

Getting back to normal

Things are returning to normal around here after our visit to Georgia and having our first visitor to Stavanger.

Rory and I left for Cairo on Wednesday, July 1st.  We got to meet baby Brock for the first time!  It was wonderful seeing everyone, eating Mama's food, hanging out with Sanford, having Chick-fil-A for lunch, sipping Starbucks lattes, shopping at Target, getting my hair cut and enjoying Mr. Chick chicken strips.  Rory particularly enjoyed going outside all the time. 

We returned to Stavanger on Wednesday, July 22nd (we left Georgia on the 21st).  My cousin Hannah came with us!  Hannah was here for ten days and we stayed busy while she was here.  The first weekend Hannah and I flew to Oslo where we started the Norway in a Nutshell train tour on Saturday morning.  Unfortunately a power outage delayed our train by almost three hours and we missed our connection to all the really cool sites we were to see.  So we just took a train ride from Oslo to Bergen, interrupted by a long ride on a taxi-bus.  Very disappointing, but we did enjoy our evenings in Oslo and Bergen.  I tried whale steak in Oslo, it was okay, but the mushrooms, spinach and potatoes served with it were very good.  In Bergen we had sushi.  Other than enjoying our dinners out, we also had the opportunity to explore both cities a little bit.  Oslo seemed to be a real city and Bergen was similar to Stavanger, but bigger.  

Last Tuesday was the only really pretty day that we had while Hannah was here and we all hiked to Preikestolen, one of Norway's most famous sites.  I found it to be a challenging hike, but well worth the effort.  Stepler and Rory went along too, with Rory in the backpack.  Since it was too long of a hike for Rory to stay in the backpack the whole way and there was no way that we were were letting her out at the top, Rory and Stepler hung out at a swimming area and had a snack while Hannah and I went to the top.  (Stepler had been once before while Rory and I were in Georgia.)

While Hannah was here we also explored downtown Stavagner, Old Stavanger, visited the Oil Museum and put our toes in the North Sea.  We also ate a lot!  Hannah and I are clearly bad influences on each other.

She left very early Saturday morning and each day Rory has asked to go upstairs to wake her up.  Today she started saying no Hannah upstairs.  Stepler also left on Saturday for his field trip to the Arctic.  So after a lot of excitement and time with other people, it's just me and Rory until Thursday night.