I wake up early on our last full day in Arendal, and Téa is awake early, too. We sit quietly in the kitchen, I’ve already boiled some water for tea on the stove, because there is no kettle (!!) and the espresso machine in the corner is way too loud for hot water. The others trickle in over the next few hours, and I make coffee as soon as the first ones get up. There’s a coffee thermos in the AirBnb, so when I brew five cups, I can keep it warm for the sleepy heads who get up last (here’s looking at you, Joe!).
Kristian is leaving us early this morning, he has a bus to catch to go back to the airport further south, and then a couple of flights before he is all the way home up north. Both Téa and Maylin are awake to say goodbye, and then Frida drives him into the bus. The goodbyes have already started, and I am not liking it.
To counteract any farewell blues, today is action packed! We start by heading out to Hove and Raet National Park:
Walking through this national park was like tasting a bit of my childhood. My sisters grew up here on the shores of the ocean, but I grew up holidaying on the mountain, by calm lakes. In common are the forest paths, and climbing over rocks and roots is just so much more interesting than walking on pavement. I may be a city girl, but even my feet know that!
After a couple of hours out in nature, it’s time to head home for a quick bite to eat, because we have places to be! The sports fields surrounding yesterday’s party hall have a sports day set up today, and we are heading over for the kids to play their hearts out, and to meet up with some of Kari-Helene’s childhood friends.
There are so many activities going on in all directions, there is soccer, handball, soccer skills, handball skills, jumping high, jumping far, frisbee golf, floor hockey, an obstacle course and so much more going on. Each kid gets a sheet of paper with all the different activities listed on front and back. For each thing they try, they collect the coach’s signature. If they have 6 signatures, they get a medal, if they have 10, they get a trophy! Alma is focused and has her 10 activities done before our girls even finish three.
There’s a race for the kids as well, and Alma participated last year. She’s here for revenge this year, and Téa wants to run too. Alma runs every week with her dad, Téa last ran in June last year… Good thing this isn’t the Olympics!
With all family sports events in Norway, there has to be treats. There’s a kiosk that sells treats, snacks and drinks, as well as a booth for popcorn and cotton candy. The girls get a waffle each, which we love and haven’t had since we got to Norway yet, while Alma has her eyes set on cotton candy.
After the sports event is over, we head on back to the AirBnb. It’s only about a 5 minute walk, but I’m driving with Lise to ensure the soup doesn’t spill in her car. She has brought all the leftover soup from Friday over to the house, to ensure we have enough dinner for all 13 of us again tonight.
The boys (Bård, Ste and Joe) man the grill and cook up the rest of the cheese hot dogs and burgers, while the soup is reheating and salad is prepped inside. Dinner is served, and the conversation is flowing. We are trying to finish up every scrap of food in the house, and Kathrine goes home with a bag full of leftovers. I will deliver the rest to her in the morning.
When everyone else has gone home, the house calms back down. The first batch of dishes are in the machine right now, we’ll run the second one in the morning. We’ve planned out all our breakfast needs, and emptied everything that we can do at this point. The girls and their aunties have a dance party, we teach the kids The Jenkka (apparently a Finnish dance, that all Norwegians know). Unfortunately I don’t have a video of our version to show you, which is a shame, because the giggles and wiggles of the six of us on the dance floor would have been so much better than this: https://youtu.be/GonCX8zD99A?si=ZLQm-ZCDsW1RGL6M !
When I was highly pregnant with Maylin, one night I was putting Téa to bed, when I heard a small voice saying “hello?” from the front door. I was expecting Joe home from a dinner with his cousin, instead he had driven to Toronto and back to pick up my sister, Ste and young Alma from the airport. Ever since that visit, when Alma was 2 and Téa was almost 4, these two cousins have enjoyed each other’s company. They try to video chat every once in a while, but nothing beats in person visits, of course. They have had a blast all weekend long, and Maylin’s been right there with them the whole time. The girls worked hard and made us a movie, and we had a movie viewing this evening as well.
Once we start getting ready for bed, Maylin lays down on our bed while others are brushing teeth. When I next look in on her, she is fully asleep, teeth not yet brushed, and I’m going to let her sleep. Téa and Alma get to bed right away, and we all have a bright and early start tomorrow, so we don’t stay up late either. I do not want this weekend to end, but all things do, unfortunately. It’s good we’ve already started daydreaming of the where and whens of our next sister reunion, all we have to do now is to make it happen!
For en fantastisk dag!
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