Proper Oslo Blog

Hello! I'm very lazy in getting these pictures together but better late than never. Needless to say we had a wonderful time in Oslo visiting Matt, Silje and little Maud. Its only 6 adult months since we last met but in baby time thats AGES! So much as has changed in Maud's world since then. The concept of language has obviously been milling around in Maud's head for a while and bits of Norwegian and English are now in regular use. We were treated to the very first English "bye bye" during our visit, which is normally delivered in Norwegian.

"Come on DAD get these pesky socks on so I can go and PLAY!"

"I'm so good at this box thing I can do it without even looking!"

"Right Grandma, let get every single toy out on this nice clean floor"

Books are a firm favourite with Maud

And playing with Grandma

Lots of lovely Norwegian meals were had too! Thank you Silje! Mmm lefsa!
(Sorry Maud, the jug was in the way for you in this one, but in every other attempt
at this shot all the adults were doing something silly!)

Park life

Maud looking very pleased with herself that she can now run up the steps to the slide on her own... but only with an adoring audience to appreciate it obviously.

"Mmmm sand!"

Maud loves sand, grit, gravel, stones and generally all building style materials of all types. Perhaps this will lead her towards a career in civil engineering or architecture? If it gets to that stage hopefully she will be able to go to work without licking the bricks. For the moment however it seems like Maud wants to eat every stone in the playground!

"Hey look round here there's loads of lovely stones to eat... oh I mean just touch"

"What? There's an urgent delivery to be made? OK OK I'll do it!"

Workforce

Maud operates a sideline Special delivery service out of the playground in her spare time. Just an exclusive baby courier service at the end of the phone. No parcels today but Maud donated her time and spacious van to take Silje to the shops to buy some lovely food for Maud to eat.

Oh no got pulled over by the cops.

"Yes officer?"

Oh phew only Dad with some light refreshments for the busy worker.

Fun in the sun

After a hard days driving there are loads of other cool things to do in the playground which amuse Maud no end.

The Springy Cow

The Big Slide with Daddy

"Come on someone get over here and PUSH!"

"Weeeeeeeeeee"

I think Maud could have happily stayed in this giant swing ALL day. So much fun!

Pushers on the street...

Sticking to the usual Maud routine, our afternoons were filled with walks and baby entertainment.

"Right you lot... where are you taking me now?"

Well... that day we went on the trip around the corner to Ensjø where Matt, Silje and Maud will be living from next year. After our tour around the building site we walked round the corner to...

Something very exciting for Maud to see for the first time.... Well OK she doesnt look that excited... but we enjoyed ourselves anyway...

...GOATS! These were part of a small farm with horses, donkeys and other similar farm attractions! The goats were very happy to see us and espectially when we fed them the dandelions that they couldn't reach through the fence.

This is a Maud's eye view! Not sure how scary that really was for her, but from here it looks kind of frightening! I didn't realise that goats had those spooky rectangular pupils. This apparently helps them see better in the dark and is the same for quite a few other animals like horses, sheep and octopus.

Wagons roll. Maud gets excited about being the pusher rather than the pushee.

Saturday in Oslo

Friday in Oslo

Clifton

Had an hour or two before my train on the Sunday morning to go out and have a coffee with Heidi, and we decided to head to the posh part of Bristol called Clifton. There are many stunning architectural features around these parts. Lots of sweeping terraced crescents with a view over the Avon gorge and the Clifton suspension bridge that spans it.

You cant get far enough away to get a good shot all in one so I made this stitched together shot.


And then cropped it to get rid of most of the annoying things like people and cars... but there is still a pesky lamp post right in the middle! Bring in Photoshop and off we go...


Bye bye lamp post and hello beautiful shot of the bridge with nothing to spoil it... don't look too closely you might see the joins. Probably not the best composition in the world but I can always do another version if anyone would like to add any creative input. What would we do without computers?

Heidi and Darren

It's been a long time since me and my friends all moved away from home, but at least my old school friend Heidi has something to show for it in bricks and mortar, and now, a baby on the way too! Caught the train up to to meet them on the Friday night and it was a lovely sunny weekend to enjoy their house and garden, and the delights of Bristol.



This is Boo (half of the "other half" that did Changing Rooms with Heidi and Darren), with her son Stanley who was very cute and slightly hyperactive.


Darren doing his catalogue shot pose, and Heidi just looking well happy but a bit pregnant.


Back to Heidi and Darren's house... haha... no... this is part of the Blaise Estate which we had a quick walk round on Saturday afternoon. I think this castle is the old family summer retreat from the main house. Beautiful views though and I'm sure it was quite a treat, back in the day.

Get the gardener in...

I know I know this blog has been neglected and I'M SORRY OK?! I did have a few pictures to show you but I have only just come around to sorting them out. One of my recent jobs when visiting Mum up in Manchester was to sort out the greenhouse.

Unfortunately I have missed the golden opportunity for telling the complete story as I failed to take a before picture. Anyone who has visited No.3 over the past few years may have seen that the greenhouse was a bit dishevelled and was in need of some TLC.

I do have a picture of all the stuff that was not thrown in the bin initially.


After much snail removing, insect killing, mould and cobweb removing and general tidy up, this is the state I suggested that it should stay in. Clean, neat and completely devoid of ... well... everything. This idea was kiboshed and I was instructed to put everything back that was there before... just neatly. We compromised to adapt the "Chuck 75% and keep 25%" rule, which has since been implemented as the standard household practice when clearing and tidying.

The end result, a much nicer (snail and leaf free) potting shed and parcel storage facility. Job done.

Easter in Wales

Hello all... well yes without Master Blogger Matthew for inspiration we have all been a little slow on the blogging front. But finally, after a lovely Easter weekend away I have some blog-worthy photos to show you all. I had a free day off from work on Thursday so flew up to Manchester early. Went to see The Producers musical on the Thursday night, starring the man of the moment Peter Kay who plays outrageously bad theatre director Roger De Bris. Was very funny and Peter Kay did not hijack the show too much, although there were inevitible and amusing diversions from the script. Most importantly, the boy from Bolton can sing his part too, and this was the most entertaining and well rounded outing of this show I have seen around the globe.
After that we packed our bags ready to head off on Friday morning for No. 6 in Wales. As you can see from the shots below the weather on Friday and Saturday was glorious. The ice cream was accommpanied by a gin and tonic but I didnt have enough hands to get that in the shot ;-)




Saturday we went to Newborough beach and walked down the lighthouse and back.