Visa Renewal

Each year Avery and I have to renew our Norwegian Visas so that we can legally stay in this country for another year. Since Jeff has a work permit valid until 2013 he doesn't have to go through the process. In January right after we returned from our Christmas holiday in the States we had to trek down to the police station at the ass crack of dawn to turn in the renewal paperwork, since some days there are literally hundreds of immigrants waiting in line. The last time we went to the police station to get our original Visas you may remember it was a little bit of a nightmare. This time, however, we went prepared and the process went much smoother. We have been waiting patiently for the last seven months to find out if our Visa's were approved and yesterday we finally got the letters in the mail stating we had been approved and that we needed to go back to the police station to turn our passports in so that we could get the official stamp. So today Jeff drove Ave and I, we both had to show up in person, to the police station to stand in line and turn in our passports while he drove around the block. Luckily the line was short, possible due to summer holiday, so we only had to wait about a half hour. Next week we have to go back to pick the passports up. For whatever reason Avery's Visa has been approved until 2013 or the same time frame as Jeff's. Mine, however, is only approved until January of 2012 so lucky me, I get to go through the whole process again in six months. Being an immigrant can be exhausting at times. I am really praying that Anders, being born in this country, will not have to deal with loads of paperwork each year. He will not be a citizen but we think he will automatically be a permanent resident.

Giving Mom a Break

Jeff and Ave have been going on hikes and taking walks on the weekend. The main reason is to get Avery outside since I have been having a hard time walking very far being so pregnant. The other reason is to give me a break to relax and take naps during the weekends. The last walk they went on was on a trail not far from our house. This is a path that Jeff sometimes rides home from work. Don't forget to click on the pictures if you would like to see them larger. The view, we live on a hill.
The flowers are beautiful.

Kites

We went out last week to fly kites at a park in our neighborhood. Avery received a kite in the mail from her Aunt Diane and had been dying to try it out. So we walked about half a block with both her and Jeff's kites and then climbed up a hill to a great location for kite flying. It was a little too windy to make for good kite flying weather but we did manage to get them up in the air a few times. Avery's was lighter so her's got up a little easier than Jeff's. This was the first time she had flown a kite and she was pretty excited about it. She kept telling her Dad that her kite was better than his because it flew better. Holding onto the kite.
The view from this spot was great.
Avery's kite is in the air, Jeff's is on the ground.
Trying to get it started.
We first tried the lower portion of the park but there were too many trees and not enough wind to get the kites up high enough.
Walking to the park.