trip to norway...

Fri 27: - ...Flew out of Finland and over/near some nice looking islands, across the southern tip of Sweden and landed in Copenhagen, Denmark. This airport was super beautiful and new looking. Anna and me were really impressed with this airport because of the style, design. The shops were set up like a mall. We waited for a bus to take our tiny propeller plane up to Norway, Sandjaford using a wilderoe (SAS) plane. We landed a little bumpy, got our luggage and met KJ, Auden and Maret and Kjel. We packed our luggage into a van while some of the rest of us drove in a car. WE drove up over the hills/ mountains and through some fun tunnels. got to the church and down the road a little further to the house. Kristin was there to great us at the house. At the house we had a tour. Mom loved the outside garden especially the raspberry bushes. For dinner, there was a big meal of chicken and for desert we ahd raspberry vanilla cake. Auden showed Steve and I how to play guitar. We said goodnight and went to sleep after the chess game got done.; - *weather: alright during the day and chilly at night.

Sat 28: - Woke up, took showers, ate breakfast and all that jazz. We walked over to the church that was a short distance from the house. KJ's dad gave us a tour, showing us pictures of previous pasters and their weird neck collars, the sanctuary with its painings. (A picture of moses accepting the 10 commandments , jesus in gasemony *artist coun't paint the face of jesus untill he faced the sun* and the traditional image of Jesus on the cross in the middle) Then on the sides were boxes for people to sit at. In the back was a beautifully large pipe organ. We first walked through the sanctuary and then over to a side room that kept some old relics. Some of the relics were a really old bible, gold candle holders, baptism baby wrap. After that room we went upstairs to see the pipe organ and bell tower. In the bell tower I noticed a tiny bell with a string attached to it and I was told that the paster used it to signal the ringer to sound the tower bells. The family took outside for a little walk to the old ancient church that was completely remodeled with a nice stone layout. We all walked back home and had a little snack. All of us except Kristen (went to work) and mom (did laundry) went to the mall in Porsgrunn. Dad got currency in Norwegian Kroner(about 9 Kroner per 1 us dollar). AnnaMarie and I looked at clothing and the rest got some groceries with Audin also getting music and a gladiator poster (Steve looked for a sword but didn't find one). Later on in the afternoon we left to the Storocker lake cabin (Hullreamm). there were two vehicles we took to the cabin. When we drove to the dock, KJ's dad shuttled us to the island by motorboat. On the island we picked blueberries and waited for the foot to cook. For dinner (we ate dinner at 4pm) we had pork chops and hot dogs and potato salad and letuce/corn salad. KJ&Eddie (roomate of KJ's from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) that came to visit and scuba dive with KJ). Then us kids got into our swimsuits and went for a swim in the lake (large lake). Me and Anna stayed in the water for a long time, white the rest hopped into the motorboat to try water skiing. Steve tried many times and didnt get up. Then AnnaMarie got up right away (has had experience with skiing) and I tried 3 times failing miserably. I kept getting water up my nose and then I let go of the rope. We walked back up to the cabin, talked and ate crab (KJ & eddie caught 2 crabs in the sea when they dived in the afternoon). We got back home (The second group ran out of gas when they took the boat back to our vehicles but got back safely). Us kids played chess, watched TV and went to sleep.; - *weather: Beautiful day.

Sun 29: - Woke up, washed up and waffed down a little breakfast. For breakfast we had bread, eggs, tomatos, cucumbers, cheese, jam. While the showers were getting finnished, mom picked raspberries in Maret's garden. Us kids got swimming gear and headed to Bamble to the beach Rogmstramda near the ocean. It was a beautiful site with sand beaches and rocks to lay upon. There were many people at the beach when we got there at 11pm. There was a parking fee of 15 Kroner, Eddie's van parked and KJ left to get air for an underwater oxygen tank. Auden & Eddie went scubadiving. I walked around in the water, observed people, jellyfish and suntanned. Kristen showed up from work, suntanned with AnnaMarie and swam with Eddie (Eddie played a little rough, pulled Kristen underwater and she scratched his chest). Stephen sat down and read his "Faust" book. KJ came back and swam a little as well. We loaded up the gear (belts, tanks, etc) and drove back home around 3:30pm. (I got a light sunburn on my back and chest) We got back home, changed into our nice dress clothes and waited for the bishop to arrive. The bishop and his wife arrived and we sat down for a meal. for the meal we had lettuce, potatoes, gravey, beef and for dessert we had raspberries (the ones Maret and mom picked - AnnaMarie tried to pick them but they all got into her mouth) with icecream. then the family went to an outdoor church service at the old church which was moved indoors into the new church because it started to rain. Auden wasn't feeling good because of a jellyfish sting while he was underwater but helpped move the electrical equipment anyway. After the service the family went to the church felowship building for some cake that the local farmers wives baked. We walked back home and as kids played on kristen's moped. the family relaxed, watched TV( Never been kissed and Mickey blue eyes) and after much delay the pizza man arrived with the pizza. One was mushroom, sasage, corn and the other was ham and mushrooms. People went to bed a little earlier to be ready for the trip to Oslo the next day.; - *weather: Nice with a light cool breeze

Mon 30: - Woke up at 8am, ate breakfast, showered and packed up my suitcase with a day's worth of clothing along with everyone else. We got in the van and left for Oslo. On the way the family (all except kristen because she had to work at the hotel) stopped at "By the Way", a restaurant, to get a little snack. We either had yogurt or a waffel. We got to Oslo and first headed to a museum called kon-Tiki (reed boat) and Ra(wood/reed). The exhibit showed how reed boats sailed over the ocean and were made. Then we visited a viking museum which housed three viking ships and a few viking artifacts to look over. After the museums we drove to vigeland park. It was really huge with a display of statues in the center. these statues were a trubute to Life with a bridge in front with nude bronze statues of people with different moods and poses. Then you reached a uge water fountain. It was shapped in a huge bowl with water spraying up into the air with miniture trees with humans webbed into them. It started out with young statues and as you walked around the people got older. Past the fountain and up some stairs was this tall bizar tower/ web of people carved out of stone and arround the tower are more statues of people carved out of granate. We walked back to the vehicles in the parking lot. At the museums wewould have to buy parking stickers at a machine. We drove in two vehicles and along the way. On our way through downtown Oslo, our vehicle driven by KJ lost his dad's vehicle and after a good half hour we found each other. We found a restaurant that KJ's dad went to when he went to Oslo University called NorrnO/na (old Norway). We all had the special meal except for AnnaMarie whom had the soup. The special consisted of lamb (tosted like pot roast), potatoes and carrots. then we found Karljohan which was a road that went down the major shopping, political area, cafes and parks. We found one shop that I bought a 3 headed troll puter small statue for Josh, mom got a troll which a book he was hiding behind and AnnaMarie got a shot glass for a friend. Then we split up and met back at the lion in the park. After that we walked up the road to the king's palace. I took a picture of AnnaMarie in front of the king's guard. We got back to the van and headed to a cabin way on top of a hill. Up we climbed over a few switchbacks to a medium sized lodge. BleFjellstue was the name of the place and we split into 3 rooms. Us guys took one room and everyone came into our room to snack on bread, cheese and chocolate. We watched news and then left. Us guys stayed and watched Futurama and then got to bed.; - *weather: ok in oslo, litle windy but cold as the day went by. 19 deg. C

Tues 31: - Woke up and ate breakfast. Took a shower with my sunburn, packed and tok a picture ontop of the hill next to the lodge and drove on down the hill. A little ways down one of the vehicles went back up to lodge to pick up Audin's lugage. We got down the hill and stopped to eat at a cafe in RO/dberd where mom, AnnaMarie and I ate an omlette while Steve and dad had more of a burger. We then stopped at an old Stavkjirke (church) in Uvdal. We first entered the church which was beautifully painted on the inside. We learned a little history of how the church was built into sections. There were three pews with the last name Huseby on their sides as well. The church/museum had two other buildings to walk through. One had the old dresses for women in the Uvdal Valley and there were two suites for guys that were modeled off. The other building was filled with art and crafts. Mom bought a woven table cloth at the store. the group climbed into the vehicles and climbed up to Imingfjell (mountain) which is a flat area ontop of this hill that had a few small houses and some farms of sheep. Back down we drove to the town of Rjukan (industrial town). where we visited another museum at 4pm. this one presented us with a picture of WW2 and the production of the atomic bomb. We paid 10 Kroner for a busride up to the factory and across a bridge. In the factory we walked around and viewed the history of the war, production of "hard water" and A-Bomb. then we watched a movie about how the Germans took over the power factory, turned it into a "hard water" plant, how the Norwegians attacked it and how the British bombed the factory. The family walked down to the vehicle, got onto the road, got gass and picked up some food. annaMarie and I had plane baked potatoes and others had french fries with their main meals. Our next stop drove us back to the Stoocker's house. On the way Kristen called from home and asked Maret how to replace a dead oven fuse. The group got back, unpacked, relaxed and us kids watched Futurama and pacific view before we tucked in for the night.; - *weather: nice.

Wed, Aug 1 2001: - Wake up at 10am after sleeping in, ate breakfast and showered. Then Maret, KJ, AnnaMarie, mom and I took a little trip to Portsgrunn's porsilon factory that was next to the mall "downtown." The tour guide spoke Norwegian so Maret and KJ translated for us. We saw how they used 3 chemicals to mix in with water to make a soup like mixture. Next they would take out the water to make clay. After that we walked around some huge machines. Finally we got a tour of the artistic design process. Once our group got out of the tour, mom bought some dishware to bring back home. From the factory we moved over to the mall to get AnnaMarie some sick medicine. Then we entered a beding shop and bought some feather blankets for dad, mom and I with cases to go with them. The group got back to the Storockers. Again we had some nice relax time to relax and visit with one another. For dinner we were served potatoes and meatballs, with raspberries and ice cream for dessert. After the meal we relaxed a little more and then loaded into the vehicles for a little drive. The family drove up to the coast and toured some of the houses. Along the drive we got out to observe the ocean. The family got back and then KJ, Auden, Steve and I went on a little hike. The hike took us up into the forest and rocky hills. Once we got to the top, we all looked around the entire area. Auden had some tiny benoculars that we were able to look through to see the ocean. The sun went down and we took a different route back into the forest. We got back to the house and Maret had baked up some wafels for us to enjoy with rasberry jam. The Storockers showed the video tape they made when they were in the states 4 years ago when we visited Los Vegas and LA together. Us kids watched Futurama and then headed to bed.; - *weather: good.

Thurs 2: - Woke up at 8am to get ready for a trip to the waterpark in BO/ showered, ate breakfast, waited for Auden to get done and ready and hopped into the van for a hour and a half trip to this park. All of us kids were able to go to the water amusement park except for Kristen whom had to work at the hotel cleaning hotel rooms. We got to the park called "sommerland" at 11am and we had to pay for parking which was 25 Kroner to park and 200 Kroner/person to get into the park. We all headed to the changing room, got into our swimsuites and then got lockers for 65 Kroner each (we got 45 Kroner back when we turned the keys back). The first ride we walked to was the worst one which was a steep drop "free fall" that curved at the end and stopped you with a stretch of water. I chickened out on this ride once I saw how steap a drop it was at the top, so I walked back down. Everyone else went down. The second ride was a fun one that I went onto. You would enter the inside of a top where you would spin and spin again untill you fell into a pool of water. The third ride was a pool of water in the shape of a donut that you could float around and connected to this was a forth ride which lay upon this board to surf on while water was being sprayed under you while you made your moves. If you wipped out, then you would be pushed to the side and into the donut shapped pool. One other interesting part with the donut pool is hat everyonce in awhile, they would stop people and would send a wave around the pool. After this ride we picked up some burgers with fries and soft drinks. At this time Audin, AnnaMarie and I were very cold from the cool weather and cool wet water on the rides. One other ride AnnaMarie and I went on before we ate was a boat ride. We climbed up high and then went down and back up and down once again into a long pitch black tube that sent us twisting on the way back down to the end. After 2pm I tried out the surf ride while AnnaMarie changed back into her clothes. Once Anna got done, I changed into my clothes and then we walked around the park. While we walked around, Auden also walked around and Steve & KJ rode in a few more rides. We regrouped and walked on down to the van and left the park at about 6pm. On the way our group stopped at a grocery store to pick up a fw snacks. I picked up some Norwegian beer, Steve picked up some mentos and AnnaMarie got some mango-banann yogurt. Back at the Storockers we relaxed and ate shrimp on bread. We visited a little more and watched Futurama before we all got to bed.; - *weather: cool.

Fri 3: - Woke up, ate breakfast at 9am. Then I packed up my suitcase and took a shower. the family said goodbye to Kjetl and Kristine. We packed up the van and car and drove to the airport in Sondjaford, Norway. We boarded our luggage and then waited for our flight. While I waited for the flight, I picked up some chocolate for my friends back home, some "M's" for myself and 4 Fanta's for AnnaMarie with the 200 Kroner I got at the mall on the second day in Norway. ("Fanta" is simmilar tasting to "solo" another Norwegian orange carbonated soda). Our family said goodbyes to Maret, KJ and Auden. then stopped by the "tax free" clams office to pick up a refund. We boarded another small 2 propeller plane as it was raining using Wideroe airlines (SAS branch) and headed for Copenhagen, Denmark. On the plane I sat next to a finance banker that talked to me throughout the flight about politics, some current affairs, his knowledge of SAS being the only non private airlines (gov. owned) and his history. The flight was very bumpy in parts due to the clouds we flew through. We landed nicely in Copenhagen at 4pm, walked around the airport and waited for the gate number to find our Chicago flight. Our family found the gate, walked through cusoms and boarded our next flight at 6pm on a very nice, big SAS jet plane with 7 rows (2left, 3 middle, 2 right). We tok off nicely for Chicago and on the flight we started out with a main meal of either beef (I took it - little spicy) and rice or salmon. then we watched Shrek and Crocodile Dundee in LA on the movie screen. We then watched an episode of Frasier on the screen. After that they served one last meal before we landed. The food consisted of potato salad and some bla tasting cold salmon. The plane landed in Chicago at 1:05am Norwegian time and it waited 25 min on the waiting strip for a gate to open up due to us being early at arriving at the airport. Then we went through the passport line, baggage claim, customs line and then unloaded our bags on united airlines line. After all that excitement we hopped on the train from terminal 5 to terminal 1 but the moniters told us to go back to get to terminal 2. We found the gate we needed to board at and waited untill 3am to board Norwegian time (or 8pm Fargo time) to Fargo, ND.; - *weather: Sondjaford,Norway-light sprinkle and Fargo-super hot.