Oslo Marathon 2015 - We did it!

Before the race.

Waiting for our wave to start.

WE DID IT!

Completed our very first 10K marathon.

And guess what?  

We are doing it again next year!

Who is going to join us?

High on the Mountain Tops - Ringsaker

It was my New Year's resolution to do something I've never done before.  So back in March I signed my husband and I up for the Oslo Marathon - 10K for Grete. Now, it is only 25 days left!!  Will we be ready?! 
#jegermed

In preparation, we went hiking "high on the mountain tops" in our area around Ringsaker county.

Here we are after hiking almost 20K.... 

which was not planned because we decided to go a different way back, that was double the distance, instead of going the original route with bogs (myr) everywhere.  
We were exhausted and still wet from those blasted boggy areas!

Our children even joined us for some of our hikes.
We are hoping that they will join us for the Oslo Marathon next year. 
As for this year, they just want to be spectators. 

View from Eikstoppen, Helgøya

Matfarhaugen, Ringsakerfjellet

 

Going barefoot!

 This was taken at Moelv Runden and just before we got caught in the downpour.

Thought my mobil phone wouldn't work after that but after it stayed in front of a fan for a few days and a new battery, it works just as good as before.  

Sjusjørunden, Sjusjøvatnet

 We made some friends along the way!

 
"What does the cow say?"

 Look... it's snow up at Øyungsfjellet, Ringsakerfjellet.
Snowball fight, anyone?

 WE DID IT!
We completed all 10 hikes in this brochure!
YiPpY!  :-)
10 topper i Ringsaker


The jogging still continues...

Made it back in just a few minutes before the thunderstorm began.

Åkersætra

Hope everyone had a wonderful summer! ♥

. 

Isac Elliot @Oslo airport!

Isac Elliot was going to perform at the NRJ In the Park concert for Norway Cup, July 27th and guess who wanted to meet him at the Oslo airport?!  My two daughters! And I tagged along for the pure enjoyment of waking up at 4am to get there. Hmmm...

The day before, Camilla baked some chocolate chip cookies for Isac and we decorated a Pringles box to place them in. 

PS - I was not allowed to assist Camilla while she made the cookies because she wanted to do it ALL BY HERSELF.  hehe

Bright and early at the airport. 

Waiting...

JJ, the security guard, letting fans know how they must behave when Isac comes out.

ISAC!

HOORAY!  

We gave the cookies to his father, Fredi.
I wonder what he is thinking here? 
"I hope my son makes it out alive today."

Isac and Camilla ♥

Isac and Lena ♥

And there he goes...

A video clip of Isac leaving and his fans following.

GUESS WHO tweeted a picture of the cookies? ☺

Allsang på Grensen - Isac Elliot

My girls wanted to see Isac Elliot at the "Allsang på Grensen" concert in Halden, Norway. So right away we bought our tickets and got seats in Section C - 8th row, very close to the stage! 

The sign that Lena made and boquet of roses she bought for Isac.

Her sign was on TV!

And here is the one Camilla made. 

Some of the origami butterflies I folded to give to each of the main artists.... but the security guards did not let us.  :-(

 On our way up up up...

 View of Halden from the top @Fredriksten Festning

HOORAY FOR ISAC!!! 

Two happy girls, I must say!!! ☺
(click picture to enlarge)

Other pictures from Allsang.
(click picture to enlarge)

We were on TV!
Are you able to spot us? 😃

Program host, Katrine Moholdt, let me sing into her microphone at the end of 
"Reidar reiser snart"... and they kind of showed it here on TV. 
See where she is standing? That is when she gave me the mic.

Here she is leaving right after.

Waiting in the line to get Isac's autograph.... 

Snip, snapp, snute, så var Allsang-eventyret ute.

THE END

Hawaiian Luau Birthday Party

For Camilla's 10th birthday we threw an all girls Hawaiian Luau Birthday Party with her friends.  This was a fun birthday party and as usual.... I didn't get finished with all that I had planned but the party was still a success.  I love planning parties and that makes it alright.  RIGHT? ;-) And we stayed within the party budget which is even better. 

The invitations

At the party, each girl received:

-a floral lei, from eBay

-a flower to put behind her ear, from IKEA

-hula skirt made from a green garbage bag.  

I also made a palm tree out of cardboard boxes and green garbage bags.  

CLICK HERE FOR THE DIRECTIONS OF HOW TO MAKE A HULA SKIRT AND PALM TREE USING AN IRON TO *SEW* WITH

http://hagenabc123.blogspot.no/p/how-to-make-hula-skirt.html

As each guest arrived we greeted them with a lei, just like they do in Hawaii.

In the beginning I got a little worried because none of the girls wanted to wear a *garbage bag* and said *EEEEWWW*.  But after I started to hula they joined in and they thought it was a lot of fun. Two of the girls even performed a special hula dance for us. 

From the handle scraps that I cut off, here is the TI LEAF LEI that I made for my husband to wear.

I used the same concept as they show in this
Youtube video (click link). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymQ0H_Osn-A

Birthday cake in all it's different stages.
There were some older children
hanging around outside the school and they also got to have a piece of the cake. And they even helped with cleanup afterwards. 

Instead of using silk tissue paper I bought these napkins from IKEA, to make these flowers. These were the table decorations.
(much cheaper than silk tissue paper)

I made some posters with a fun fact about Hawaii on each one and hung them on the walls. 

Pictured are just a few of them. 

Example: "Hau`oli la Hanau" is Hawaiian for "Happy Birthday".

One of the girls said that she didn't come to a birthday party to read and that she only reads at school. 
So I said... well, technically you are at school... (because we had the party in the gymnasium @school)... so there! hahaha
Children say the funniest things and not even know it. ☺

Camilla says

MAHALO/THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

MAHALO/THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTS!!! ☺

And I say...

Thanks to all those who helped with decorations and cleanup. 

Because we didn't get the school's stereo system to work we weren't able to play the hula freeze dance game where every time Hawaiian music is played the girls stop what thay are doing and start to hula where they are standing.  They still got their hula time in. 

Can't believe that my baby is a whole decade old!  :-)

♥