Mom comes to visit Part 2: Exploring Randaberg

After we got back from Bergen we spent the rest of my mom's time exploring the Stavanger/Rogaland region. We took one day to wander around sentrum and went to a couple of museums. 

The Stavanger domkirke (dome church) is one of those buildings that I got so used to seeing and walking by that I never took the time to take a picture of it until my mom came. Here it is.

We also walked around the port area and through Old Stavanger. (I love this area, but didn't take new pictures. Click here if you want to see some pictures from our visit when we first moved to Stavanger)

Another day we took a fjord cruise through Lysefjord. This was something I had wanted to do since moving to Norway. Down this fjord are where the famous hikes Preikestolen and Kjerag are. I could have taken pictures constantly because of how gorgeous the scenery is!

Now for the fun story of traveling with small children :). I should have thought through the timing of the tour better. We rode down the fjord for about an hour without much happening other than gazing at the gorgeous fjord and going outside occasionally to take pictures. But just as I decided to get lunch out and take all the kids' warm clothes off we were suddenly pulling up to an amazing waterfall. Not only that, but they announced we could each take a cup and drink straight from the waterfall. My mom and I scrambled to get the kids dressed again and we ran outside at the tail end of them passing out water. I seriously chugged my ice cold waterfall water so we could get pictures before they drove away, ha ha! 

We were able to get someone to take our pictures really fast and then the boat moved on.

Plus this amazing photo bomb. It totally looks like she is smiling for our picture.

Then...we got back inside and I thought the action was over so Lily starts eating again and I decide to nurse Oliver. Oh wait, then they announced they were stopping off to see a seal they spotted! Well, I missed that one. My mom rushed out to take Lily to see it. People were so kind on the boat, offering to show me the pictures they took and empathizing with the timing of nursing babies. Even with the hilarious scrambling to see the main attractions it was still a great cruise and we were SO happy we did it.

We rented a car for the weekend because most of what you want to see in Norway is not reachable with public transportation. It was breathtaking. What we saw made us so grateful we rented a car, and incredibly sad that we hadn't been able to experience the outdoors as much the whole year we were there. But we tried to make up for it. The first day we took a long ride. My neighbor kindly mapped out a great route from the mountains to the ocean.

I wanted to take pictures the whole time I was driving. Here are some of the quick ones I took from the window while driving.

We made it to hike to the Månafossen waterfall. 

Rock steps at the beginning of the trail.

The hike was a little trickier than expected. We had to hold on to chains and pull ourselves up the rock for a lot of the hike.

But we made it to the huge waterfall!

Then we stopped at the Byrkjedal candle factory and had lunch and bought some souvenirs.

Just a few miles from the candle factory is one of the biggest rockslides, Glopedalsura.

Across the street was probably my favorite stop of the whole day trip. You can tell from all the pictures I have. The wind was powerful and biting cold, but I just wanted to stand there all day.

On our way to the beach in Brusand we got stopped by some cows.

There were some scattered houses, but mostly just rocky mountains. We also saw sheep EVERYWHERE when we drove around. (Explains why they wear so much wool in Norway.)

In Brusand there is an area called Hitler's Teeth. During World War 2 the Germans built these to prevent allied troops from entering Norway. They were never needed.

Walk to the beach.

After Oliver's blessing on Sunday we went to Utstein Abbey. It is a medieval monastery built around 1100AD. The church is still used today. The outer wall was amazing to look closely at. It was a rough rock painted white, and then around the edges they left the rock exposed making it look like a rock border.

The lake outside the abbey.

We stopped at a nearby lighthouse.

It wasn't the picturesque lighthouse like I expected to see, but it had a beautiful view of the ocean. We also stopped at a big site of German World War 2 bunkers nearby.

On my mom's last day in town we hiked Dalsnuten which we were told had a great view of Stavanger and Sandnes.

We weren't expecting the mud. It was thick and we got dirty :).

There is an amazing panoramic view of the city from up there.

And turning around the other way you see a great view of mountains.

How Oliver spent most of our explorations :)

We were so grateful my mom came to visit us! We loved that she could meet Oliver and we loved being able to explore a little more of Norway. Thanks for visiting mom!

Mom comes to visit Part 1: Bergen

Our first and only visitor! We were so excited to have my mom come to visit! It had been 9 months since we had seen any family in person and no one had met Oliver yet. Time goes by fast, but when you think back to the fact that Lily was hardly saying words when we left and now she has complete conversations, you realize how much time has actually passed. A lady in our ward was kind enough to drive Lily and I to pick her up so we didn't have to make the long bus trip.

Unfortunately, my mom's big suitcase got lost en route. (Her carry-on had all our clothes and food we requested, ha ha) We were leaving for Bergen early the next morning so we were nervous she might be without it for the weekend, but luckily they flew her stuff to Bergen and she got it the following night after she arrived.

Playing at one of Lily's favorite parks the night she arrived.

We had wanted to visit Bergen while living here and thought that when my mom was here would be the perfect time to go. We decided to go the weekend of May 17th which is their Constitution Day, or the day they signed their constitution as an independent kingdom.

On the bus headed to Bergen. It took about 6 hours to get there, but it seemed shorter because there are 2 ferry rides on the way so it gives you a chance to get out and walk around which breaks up the ride. It's been nice traveling around in Norway because everything seems familiar now. In Amsterdam we had to get used to a new language and systems, but now that we know Norway, we understand the language (mostly), know the stores, understand the bus system, etc. So transportation around the city was pretty simple once we got there.

One of Barrett's coworkers offered to let us stay in her dad's apartment while we were there. Norwegians are so nice that way! Hotels are expensive here so they are very willing to offer accommodations if they have a place. It's always nice to have a kitchen and separate rooms when traveling with kids.

This was the great view from the apartment down to the water.

The first night we were there we went up Fløyen, the mountain that overlooks the city. This is the tram up...it's so steep!

They have a  big park up top (also very Norwegian to have great family places everywhere you sightsee) with some really cool trolls. 

Lily was skeptical, ha ha.

The next day we had a full itinerary. We started out at the aquarium. 

We saw a penguin show and a sea lion show outside.

Then we walked around an oceanside park that was right by the aquarium. We saw a pool there that had a diving board into the ocean! We were so disappointed it was cold and the pool wasn't open. That would have been so cool! Someday...

And then we saw the famous Bryggen. A town of wooden buildings along the harbor, that was built as a hub for trading. It was built around 1070! There have been many fires and rebuilds in this area. 

The architecture inside reminded me of a Dr. Suess book.

I don't get enough pictures of Barrett alone. Love him!

We walked around the fun shops in the area.

We went back to the apartment and made dinner and had a nice evening in.

The next day was 17.Mai! And it rained and rained. Probably the worst day of rain while my mom was here and the one day everything is closed because it's a holiday. We were prepared and still got really wet, ha ha. 

Drinking hot chocolate because that's what you do when you're cold and wet :)

There are always parades on the 17th of May. They're very different from the parades in America. 90% of the parade is people walking with drums and there's no floats or big balloons or animals. They have a parade for all younger children enrolled in school and then a parade for anyone who has a group or a cause to support. Then they usually spend the rest of the day with family.

Most people wave Norwegian flags, wear red, white, and blue ribbons, and have whistles. They also sell big balloons for the children.

One of the neatest parts of Constitution Day is seeing everyone dressed in their "bunad", or national costumes. The bunads are region specific so everyone looks a little bit different. And if they're not in a bunad then they are dressed up in formal attire. We loved being a part of the celebration and seeing more of Norwegian culture come out! 

(Small side note: Barrett and I loved the idea of a national costume and found that most countries have them. So we decided to look up America's national costume. We figured there probably wasn't one or we would have heard about it, but we were laughing so hard with the search results. If you ever need a good laugh see what "American" national costumes you can find.)

A hotel was the one place we could find open to get out of the rain for a little bit.

After the parade the weather cleared up just in time for us to walk around their lake and take some pictures. It was perfect timing before we had to leave to go home!

Look at cute Black Bear Oliver! 

Ha det Bergen!