Happy Halloween

Rory had three Halloween celebrations this year -- Tippy Toes playgroup, school, and trunk-or-treating on Halloween Day.  She was a bunny this year, with a tutu, because all bunnies have tutus, right?  It was a costume that she saw a picture of months ago and that's what she's wanted to the since then.  Thanks, Lollie!

bobbing for apples @ Tippy Toes

just after arriving @ school on Friday

Rory's class after celebrating Halloween

Rory and Ms Penny

before trunk-or-treating

practicing saying "trick-or-treat" with Dad

Rory and some of her friends

camped out eating her candy

sorting her loot

happy to be clean

very serious about getting her make-up off

London

We were in London October 10th - 17th.  Stepler had a course for work and Rory was on fall break so Rory and I went along.  It was ever so nice to spend our days exploring London while Stepler was learning.

We arrived on a Sunday afternoon, just about lunch time.  We took a train to Paddington Station and stopped for sandwiches at the M&S Simply Food there.  A wonderful, wonderful store with delicious Marks & Spencers food -- sandwiches, sushi, desserts, anything prepared that you can imagine and some things you probably can't because they're very British.  I love it.  And if I lived in London would likely eat their food entirely too often.  

After lunch we checked into our hotel, rested in the lobby a bit because our room wasn't ready, and  tried unsuccessfully to get Rory to take a nap in our room.  Once we decided the nap wasn't happening, we walked to the zoo and Rory promptly fell asleep in her stroller.  By the time we arrived it was only one and half hours from closing and there were no twilight prices.  We'd passed a nice looking playground on the way to the zoo so we went back there instead and Rory enjoyed playing for awhile.  As supper time approached we walked in the direction of an Indian restaurant we'd heard of.  We found it and the Gap.  After browsing at the Gap we had some great Indian food and then walked back to our hotel.  

While Stepler was in class Rory and I stayed busy -- the Science Museum, the Princess Diana Memorial Playground, the Zoo, a children's play, and the V&A Museum.  With a lot of walking, some tube riding, a bit of shopping, and good lunches thrown in too.  Rory loved the water area at the Science Museum.  Her shirt was soaked.  The Princess Di playground is one of the nicest I've been to.  The zoo is alright.  The play was at the Apollo Theater in Wimbeldon and was based on the children's book Lost and Found.  We sped through a very small part of the V&A and probably spent more time in their gift shop.  

In the evenings we had the chance to all do things together -- we went to the London Eye, Hamley's toy store, and the Natural History Museum.  On Thursday nights the shops are open late and I went shopping on my own, though I only bought some nail polish.  On Saturday we went to the Tower of London and tried to go to the Tate Modern, but by the time we walked there only had time for one exhibit that we weren't even sure was an exhibit and the gift shop.  Rory and Stepler went back to the hotel while I visited the largest Paperchase store I've ever seen.  Three stories of paper and pens.  We filled our last night with a little shopping and more Indian food.

On Sunday morning there wasn't much time for anything other than getting to the airport, picking up a few magazines and coffee, duty-free window shopping, and a quick lunch of sandwiches.  We had a great time in London, but it was good to be back home too (where Rory has her own room).

enjoying the swing on our first day

Rory got wet @ the Science Museum

@ the Princess Di Memorial Playground

a blurry picture of Parliament and Big Ben from the London Eye

pretending to be a monkey @ the zoo

playing @ the zoo

this is where Harry Potter first talked to snakes!

my best skeleton photo from the Natural History museum, a massive armadillo

our guide @ the Tower of London

a tower 

a cool old bus

  

Late last week

Last week we had our first snow, Rory said some funny things while we cooked together, we went to the pumpkin patch, and we carved the pumpkins we'd bought.

On Thursday it snowed.  It was beautiful as it fell and covered the ground with a light dusting of white, but I'm not ready for it.  Rory was though -- she thought it was great fun to play out in it on our balcony.  Her favorite thing was putting some snow in a cup, bringing it inside, waiting for it to melt, and then drinking the water.

Also on Thursday Rory and I cooked supper together.  We made macaroni and cheese with spinach and mushrooms.  When it was almost finished she had a little taste of it and said Mama, you make some lovely things for supper.  I thought it was just about the sweetest thing she could have said at that moment.  Then later she called it macaroni and cheese with spinach and mushrooms and onion and garlic, because we had indeed put onion and garlic in there.  Rory got one last taste of the mac and cheese and then she said, with great conviction, my daddy will like this.  He did.  And Rory and I had fun cooking together.

On Saturday we visited the pumpkin patch.  A local farmer has planted several rows of pumpkins in his field and all the ex-pats enjoy going out to the farm for pumpkins just before Halloween.  Saturday morning was pretty cold and damp so we didn't spend too long there, but did pick out three pumpkins to take home.  This year many of the pumpkins remained green because we've had colder than usual weather.

We didn't have time to carve our pumpkins until Sunday morning and Rory was very eager to get to make jack-o-lanterns.  Stepler and I woke up earlier than Rory and started watching our recording of the Georgia game right away because we knew Rory wouldn't last for the whole game.  Thank goodness we did because about 40 minutes after waking up, Rory started asking if we could carve pumpkins and didn't stop until she we got started on the pumpkins.  As soon as the game ended we got started on the pumpkins.  We decided that Rory's was too small to carve so she and Stepler worked on the biggest one and I worked on the medium sized one.

fiskekarbonader

It seems Rory is developing a taste for Norwegian food. Tuesday we were at the grocery store and she saw fiskekarbonader in the refrigerator case and said that we should buy one on those fish burger things. She'd had her first one a few weeks earlier. When my parents were here we went to the fish market to get fish for supper and the boy behind the counter asked if we wanted any of the special fish patties they had today. So we got one, mostly just for Mama and Daddy to try. When we got back home with our fish patty, Rory ate nearly all of it, giving Mama a little, but leaving none for Daddy.

On Tuesday Rory ate the entire fish patty for lunch. After eating about 3/4 of it she declared she wanted another. By the time she finished it she said she did not want another. She ate most of one for lunch today.

The fiskekarbonader are something that I do not really care for, I certainly wouldn't pick them out for my lunch.

Preikestolen two ways

Daddy is the only one who saw Preikestolen two ways, but I do have pictures.  Tuesday afternoon Daddy, Mama, Rory, and I took the Lysefjord tour boat to see Preikestolen from the water.  On Wednesday Daddy and Stepler hiked to Preikestolen.  


Photos from the boat tour

heading out of Stavanger

vacation cabins

Rory & Poppa taking in the scenery

Preikestolen

Preikestolen

Preikestolen

Lollie & Rory on the boat

a waterfall 

 

drinking water collected from the waterfall

the view of the fjord as the boat turned around

Photos from the hike

from the top of Preikestolen

that's a pretty big ship that's been in the harbor here

Daddy on Preikestolen

another view of Daddy on Preikestolen

a helicopter

on a clear day you can see Stavanger

Rory's third birthday

Rory had a wonderful third birthday last week!  She celebrated with cupcakes at school on Wednesday, her actual birthday on Thursday, more presents arriving from the States on Friday, and a birthday party on Sunday.  The highlight of it all has been that Lollie and Poppa are here to share it with her (they arrived on Wednesday afternoon).

very serious about decorating the cupcakes

finished!

eating cupcakes with classmates

look, it's a jump rope

Rory's new binoculars

a new book

what's in there?

this card sings

hey, it's Mickey

Rory's first picture with her new camera

Sid!

hey, Sid!

playing at the Children's Museum on her birthday

blew them all out

happy to be 3

more presents, for me?

castle cake

eating lunch at the party

opening presents