You know your parenting is going places when...

...the children sit on the time-out step singing "The sun will come out, TOMORROW...", pitch perfect.

The grand finale

We ended the day at the Slears and Cecilie, thoroughly adopting the Norwegian-ness of the day refused to get into play clothes. Who can blame her?

Now Annika to has gotten hooked on that fire truck [sharp eyed readers may recognise it from Lars' 1st birthday party!], bless our deprived children...

I guess this one should be entitled "honing his skills" or something, who's ever heard of a three year old taking the girls out for a ride - well, strictly speaking it is Grace's car, making it possibly even more impressive!

One sweet pumpkin...

The pictures we got...

In the end we got them all on the sofa together, and not crying, but to have them all look the same way at the same time - not so much!

Oh well, said the amateur photographer and snapped away

It might not have been meant to be any other way...

...who knows?

Showing off, Nilsen style

After the party we headed to Mommy's store, which made the one of us still living on mother's milk alone quite ecstatic...

...but getting a picture of them all together proved more than a little challenging... [this is Lars' standard response to Annika's noise]

...and at this point all I could think of was "lets go potty"...

...which seemed to do the trick!

Syttende Mai DC style

Hey look, its MiniTorbjorn and MiniKirsten!

Lars figured out that he could make the ladies (and parents) laugh by striking this pose when asked if we could have a picture.

Cecilie picked wild flowers (I believe these are Veronicas).

The celebration took place in a park between the Potomac river and the C&O Canal, this is the canal, considerably more pastoral than the Potomac that has been running running high due to the wettest May in DC in 55 years.
(Random observation: I like how Cecilie is tapping her shoe here...)

Syttende Mai in Washington DC

We were having breakfast in our pajamas as this little pearl came from Lars on the morning of May 17:
Is it time to go to that 'wegian national thingamabobber?
As you can imagine, we almost fell of our chairs laughing, when Cecilie chimed in:
Oooh, that's awkward...
...and the scene was set for a very busy day!

Once upon a time there was a Norwegian seamen's church in Baltimore that arranged syttende mai celebrations. But the days of Norway ruling the seas are long gone (at least in terms of actual seamen riding the waves), so we packed up and got in the car to hang with the Ambassador & Co in Washington

I would guess there was about 300 - 400 people there with a parade and everything (the brass band sat seated, and we marched around the field...)

Some sweet Norwegians...

A lot of attention was showered on this gaggle of Nilsens as they got introduced to the Norwegian social scene

Everyday Nilsens

Yes, it is like crack, impossible to put one of those away...

Cheeky girls, making use of the baby dolls' stroller

Bed time ritual...

...with a twist

Mother's day

Cecilie invited Mommy to a mother's day celebration at her school, where the students offered up lunch they had prepared themselves...

Cecilie and Ellie posing on the front steps of the school. It's unbelievable that they will graduate this week...

There should be no doubt about the genetic origin of those legs...

Larcilieisms keep us hopping

The kids spent the afternoon hanging from tree branches a la Von Trapp Children, singing 'Let's Go To the Movies' from Annie. And then the gems were coming thick and fast at bed time...

C:I like Belgian people. They're suuuuuper nice. And they talk funny.
(since we were playing with Belgians, the above isn't entirely random...)


D: What was your top favorite part of playing today?
C: Playing in Ellie's room
D: What did you play?
C: Orphans, but we had our own house...
D: Oh good, what did the orphans do?
C: Go to bed
D: OK...?
C: Yeah, we were reading stories...
(If only I'd known it was so simple...)


C: Did I like "Whisper a prayer" or "Kum ba ya" better when I was a baby?
Mom: I think "Kum ba ya"
C: Oh yes

C: Can you sing "Kum ba ya" for us? It reminds me of cheerios, the hearts of cheerios!
(note for the averagely well informed: contrary to all children pretty much everywhere, Cecilie has NEVER liked cheerios, much less hearts of cheerios...)


C: I am afraid of Australian brush fires...
D: Why?
C: Well they could burn our house down...
D: I think it would be extremely unlikely we would have an Australian brushfire here in Balti...
L : I am afraid of dogs
D: Why?
L: They lick me, all over...

What the men get up to...

So, with two hours to kill in Baltimore, we ended up at The Horse - believed to be the oldest saloon in America. It was also the bar in which Edgar Allan Poe was last seen drinking before his death. Nothing but terribly dressed middle aged folk inside, so we moved quickly on to...

The house Meg Ryan lived in in "Sleepless in Seattle", Baltimore is called Charm City for a reason, it would seem, as few things are more more charming than Meg Ryan...

And then, of course, a road trip - to York PA and the Harley factory there - we got to "walk the line"...

...and pose for embarrassing pictures -sweet

Tree house

This picture was taken Friday night, before happy hour (see a couple of posts back) - the group picture was taken from it...

The biggest point of pride about this tree house is that it is largely cut by Sawzall - I look quite mean, thanks for noticing!

Siding going up (or was that down)...

Quality inspection...

These pictures are from the weekend before last, when, with help from Thomas (he took all these pictures, that why he's absent...), I finished most of the siding, since then I have completed the work, by putting up a home made ladder and finishing up the siding. Putting a roof on is scheduled for the fall and I might do some detail work over the summer, but at this point the house is "play ready" and we're good to go - as long as the kids are not afraid of heights, and the rain stops...

Princess Annika

A little known fact (but ever so true) is that there is royal blood running through Nilsen veins... If you dig deep enough you will find a guy on the Vinkenes side of the family aptly named Gyllenloeve (Goldenlion - for those in the know (including yourself at this point), this name signifies that he was a "not fully recognized" son of the crown... (like "Fitz" in Fitzpatrick and Fitzgerald)). There was of course a scandal of sorts as the poor bastard (literally) was put in charge of the royal mint in Copenhagen and couldn't quite keep his hands off the coinage - so he was sent in exile, up north above the arctic circle...

This little one is scarcely able to steal anything but your heart, but she does THAT in style in her styrofoam tiara, prepared by Cecilie...

Ever so adorable, for sure...