Lacrosse Norwegian National Championships

During the last week of June, the Norwegian national lacrosse championships were held in Oslo. Joe has been down and out due to his hand injury all spring. However, Tim and Rich braved teh 9 hour drive and participated in several games over two days, playing teams from other larger Norwegian cities. (Bergen, Kristiansund, Oslo, etc) Tim and Rich stayed at a hostel near the playing field and were able to take advantage of the long days of summer to see a lot of the sights nearby. These are some of those pictures. I am still awaiting the pictures of them actually PLAYING...
They came in last place, but felt that they represented Stavanger very well considering they had both the youngest player out there (Tim) and the oldest (our goalie, Patrick, who is 60). The other teams were mainly made up of university-aged men. The Stavanger Storm weren't victorious, but they did make a good showing!

Mid Summer's Day

Here is Lily catching a ride with Arne Joa (our landlord). She was afraid she was going to get cow poop on her feet (she was wearing crocs and probably had good right to worry)





Lily sits on Randi Joa's lap (she is our neighbor). Lily really likes Randi and Tørres, her husband. Both of them only speak Norwegian to Lily. She seems to understand them for the most part...
On the 23rd of June, we were invited to the midsummer's bonfire of the Joa clan. Our landlord is a Joa and his brothers are our only neighbors. We went down to the Joa farm and brought some bratwurst to grill along with our neighbors, their relatives and the neighbors in the area. There were bonfires burning along the fjords all around Norway that night. The area was in a cow pasture and so we got to share our picnic site with several young cows which seems to be fascinated by the whole thing. It was a great time...and most likely our last midsummer's celebration in Norway. We will probably be gone by this time next year.

A picnic in a cow field

In Norway, you can just go for a drive and find a place to hike...even if it is through a pasture with a bunch of cows. We had planned to go to the botanical gardens but couldn't grill there...so we drove a bit further and found this lake with a dam on it. There were some Polish people fishing (it's strange that almost always the people we see fishing anywhere around here are all Polish) and we decided to heat up our disposible grill and take a hike around the area. We had a lot of fun. We were there well past 10 p.m. - and all of the pictures are in full sunlight. This was just a few days prior to midsummer's, so the days were at their longest. We had a blast and the hamburgers were extra good out in the fresh air!

Sailing the Hafrsfjord

Joe had a busy summer. He had a few days off of school before he started the sailing course for the NATO kids put on by the British Royal Navy. Both Joe and Tim took the course last summer, but only Joe was interested this year. Joe was there five days, all day, and had a great time. The kids are from all over...with kids speaking English, the Queen's English, German, Dutch....it was nice seeing the passion for sailing transcending all of the languages and nationalities. Joe did particularly well and was passed from a Level 1 to a Level 3 this year. Not bad! He seems to be a natural and really enjoys it.

Lily and Joe

Lily absolutely loves to be with her big brothers. She has a special bond with her oldest brother, Joe. He is 10 years older than her and is more like a favorite uncle that lives with her. These are some pictures and video of them playing together on the Joa's trampoline.

The Lion's Club of Sola

I am waaaaaaaay behind in posting...but I have been gone for over 5 weeks. So please be patient while I sift through the thousands (literally) of pictures I have taken this summer. :o)
In June there was a Saturday that the Lion's Club had several booths set up in the Sola sentrum. (both my mother-in-law and father-in-law have been active in the Lion's Club in hometown in NH) Our next door neighbor is very active in the Lion's club and so we had to stop at his booth and buy balls to throw at plates. Joe and Rich had a lot of fun doing this. What is it with men and absolutely shattering things? This was a big fundraiser for them...they had sausages for sale, sand soccer and volleyball. There were quite a few people there, so I think they did well.