Party TIME!

Norwegians love to party!  Well, don't we all?  They love Summer! And again, don't we all?  And when it's Summer and Party-time, how can you resist?

We went to two parties on the last day we were in Bergen.  Both were birthday celebrations.

Party #1:

C is holding the birthday baby, and M is holding Juju.

Party Facts:

• Noon to 3 PM
• Grilling outside (Steaks, chicken, some Croatian meat patties, shrimp, burgers, hot dogs, I'm sure I forgot something)
• Raining
• 55º F
• Baby's First Birthday
• CAKE!  with Lady Bugs.  

• TONS of food
• Conservative alcohol use
• 4 happy babies!
• 1 not so happy toddler

Between parties we returned to finish the final clean out:  Bare shelves, which were totally laden last week!

Party #2  (Sorry, no pictures...)

Party Facts:

• 6 PM until we left at 5 AM
• Outside party tent attached to garage
• 40+ people
• Lots of alcohol
• Extra clothing available and lap blankets for all
• Windy, rainy, and 40º F (but, hey, it was light outside!)
• Nacho Soup and Nacho chips
• Lots to drink (including my favorite, Pims and lemonade!!!!)
• Multiple cakes
• Loud music, loud voices, speeches, and cold
• Truly the Viking experience: Drink and cold weather!

I slept through some of it, until the alarm went off at 4:30 AM.  The maxi-taxi arrived at 5 AM and we took two of the revelers with us who had NOT slept.  They cracked jokes in the back of our 10 seater bus.  They pretended to be our children and we were going away on holiday.  They made us laugh, even at 5 AM when they wanted to stop for ice cream!

There we were at the airport, and suddenly on the plane, and 4 hours later we were in line for a rental car in Spain.  The "year-off" for C and H had officially begun.  How about that packing with mother-in-law in tow?

See Hal.

See Hal study Spanish.

See Hal eat a chocolate donut.

See Hal write with the world's tiniest pen!

(Click on the pic to see the world's tiniest pen.)