Valencia Here We Come

So I just booked a hotel room here at the Sorollo Palace in Valencia for 7 nights in September. It's kind of on the outskirts of Valencia but it's close to Jeff's conference center and it has a shopping mall attached to it. So I figure that the days Jeff is "working" Ave and I will lounge around the pool, shop and eat. Not so bad. Then the days he has off we plan on going to the aquarium, it's the largest in Europe and the Zoo and hopefully the ocean! I'm super excited. It'll be nice to just get away. Jeff and I really haven't had a vacation in years so this will be a blast!! Once I'm back from my trip to the States it will be nice to have something to look forward to! Now I'm obsessing and spending too much time on the internet looking up Valencia. So I'm going to stop blogging about it now, make myself turn the computer off and go do something productive. Have a super weekend everyone.

One of Those Weeks

Not much has been going on at the Kline's. The weather hasn't been the greatest for the last week, rain then snow then more rain then a half hour of sun (just enough to get you excited that it'll clear up) then more rain and snow. So the extent of our getting out has been to walk to the store through the rain and snow. Not too exciting. Ave is also finally cutting the her two year molars, a little late. Just like when she was little it's keeping her from sleeping. We've been spending a couple hours every night getting her to go to sleep and then she wakes up a few times during the night and is up for good at around 6 am. So I'm tired and really hoping the damn molars will pop through and leave us alone because if they don't there might be a little girl sent to live with the wolves soon! Here are a few more insights I've observed over the last week.

Norwegians claim fish pudding is good and they like to eat it with gravy. One of these days I might get brave enough to try it.

Patience really is a virtue, waiting for stuff to go through on the house, like the home inspection has been torture.

Norwegians are for the most part totally ok with socialism and helping out their fellow people. They have a very "whatever" attitude?

It rains a lot in Trondheim, I mean A LOT!

Icelandic volcanoes suck and if they screw up my summer travel plans I will never forgive the nation of Iceland!

Skype is still the best thing ever! I got to skype with my Grandma this weekend, how cool is that!

I'm addicted to the TV series House. Jeff and I have been watching it on TV Shack and I'm really glad I never watched it in the States because it gives us something to do at night!

Speaking of TV Shack, I LOVE TV Shack. You can watch almost any TV show on it. So we get to keep up on all our American TV shows.

I am craving maple bars and ham omelet sandwiches from BK and white chocolate Latte's from Starbucks. I am so eating all of these things a few times when we're back in the States.

One of Those Weeks

Sunday at the Fjord

This weekend we got the child carrier that we ordered so we decided to take a walk down to the fjord. We think it was about two miles to get there but it was a pretty easy walk. On the way we passed a farm with cows and Ave thought that was pretty cool. We hung out by the water throwing rocks in and finding seashells for a couple of hours. On the way home we passed a chicken coop and Ave thought the chickens were pretty cool. It was a good day.


My camera died so I didn't get more pictures but I was lucky enough to get a few before the camera died.

Random pics

Here's a few more pics from my parent's visit.The waterfront downtown. Dad, Jeff and Ave are walking down on the left. There is a pizza place called Peppe's pizza on the right. It's a chain pizza joint.
Walking downtown.
Falling on my ass on the way back from the store. No I didn't get hurt but my bum got a little wet.
Trekking to the store on Sat. It was open for a few hours that day so we stocked up since it was closed Sun. and Mon.
Dying Easter eggs. I think Dad and Jeff were watching the Big Bang Theory, we got my Dad hooked on that show.
Cheezing for the camera.

I am Thankful for

Parents that love us enough to travel a day to come visit!

Said family bearing gifts of cheddar cheese, spaghetti O's, wine and Ego waffles in the suitcase!

Care packages, we are waiting for one from Grandma Lori and the anticipation is as fun as opening the box!

Having time to spend with the small one even if some days it is a trial.

Sun that melts the snow and reminds me that spring is around the corner.

Days that my husband gets off early and walks with me to the store carrying the rugrat on his shoulders the entire way.

Facebook, it's such a nice way to stay connected with family and friends.

Blogs, another great way to stay connected and see all my small relatives grow through pictures.

Skype, I think I would die without it!

The fact that I love seafood and am not much of a steak eater. Seafood is cheap here and beef is crazy expensive.

Tyholt Tower

On Friday we decided to head to lunch at Tyholt Tower. There is a restaurant called Egon at the top of the tower that rotates and gives a great view of Trondheim. Here we are trekking from the bus stop to the tower. Dad and Ave being silly.

Waiting for lunch. Egon is kind of like the Applebees of Trondheim, one of the few chain restaurants. This lunch cost about $130 for burgers, pizza ect. Eating out is not cheap here. The burger was really good though it had cheddar cheese on it, which is really hard to find here and expensive. So totally worth it. Plus the view is killer.

NTNU Science Museum

On Thursday we made our way downtown to see the Science Museum. It was one of the few things open. The Science Museum is geared for kids. It's very interactive and all of it's exhibits display a science concept like electricity, magnetics, optics etc. Avery had a blast and it was fun to watch her enjoy the exhibits. Walking to the museum. Avery preferred to ride.

Eating ice cream at the end and sitting on a chair of nails!
She thought this mirror was so funny.

Nidaros Cathedral

After the fish market and lunch at BK we walked down a block or so to check out Nidaros Cathedral. This place is amazing. Construction on the Cathedral began around 1070 and went on into the 1300s. Major restoration has been done on it in the last hundred years. Cameras are not allowed inside the church so I do not have pictures of that but it is amazing. The stained glass is very ornate and walking inside you got the feeling of what it must have been like to live in a castle. I will for sure visit Nidaros again. If you want to see pictures of the inside here is a link Nidaros that shows more detailed pictures.

Notice all of the figures carved in stone. The center circle is a huge stained glass window.

The Fish Market

My parents came to visit us for Easter and stayed for a week. We had a great time. Norway basically closes down over the Easter holiday. From the Thursday before until the Monday after grocery stores, shops, malls, the post office and many restaurants are shut down. The grocery stores open up for a few hours on Sat but that's about it. So it was a little challenging to come up with stuff to do but we managed. We ended up at the fish market on Wed and bought cod and mussels. Here are a few pics from that day.The fish market. Since it was the day before Easter the supply was a little low but what they did have was awesome.

An elephant statue inside Trondheim Torg, a shopping mall that is downtown. Ave thought it was pretty cool. We also ate lunch at Burger King this day and paid about $60 for burgers and fries. It is not cheap to eat out in Norway.

An old church that we think was built in the early 1700s.

The inside of the church. It was really ornate and very cool.
Outside the fish market.
Another picture outside the market.