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.