Well, we made it home safe yesterday after a long two days of travelling. Alana was a trooper, so good and patient, and made the trip a lot easier than it might have been. We left Aalesund on Wednesday at 10:40, and had to spend 5 hours in Oslo waiting for our flight to London. Unfortunately, the airport in Oslo is too far away from the city, so we had to just be at the airport the whole time. Things went smoothly in London this time around (on the way to Norway we had a terrible time in London and they lost the car seat and stroller, and only recovered the stroller). We arrived in New York (JFK Airport), and because there are no late flights to Dallas, we had to stay overnight. We took a cab from the airport to the hotel, but the cab driver acted as if he had no clue where the hotel was. We were staying at the Best Western JFK, not some no name motel, and you would think that a cab driver working at JFK would know where the local hotels around the airport are. We finally did make it to the hotel, and after w got settled in, we were able to get a few hours of sleep before having to go back to the airport to catch our flight to Dallas. Once again, Lanie was so good, sleeping for most of the flight home. When we arrived at the sirport, Lanie’s Daddy and Grandpa Jack were waiting for us. She was a little apprehensive at first, after being gone for 6 weeks, but after 5 minutes she was back happily in her Daddy’s arms. They lost our stroller again, even though I gate checked it at JFK, so we will wait and see if it gets returned, and they badly damaged our new hard side Samsonite suitcase. This trip has not been the best experience with the airlines I have to say. We did get a new carseat, a nice Recaro, over which David and I will surely be fighting to see which one of us gets to use it, and now it looks like we may get a new stroller as well.
As for our last week in Aalesund, Lanie and I kept very busy, visiting a lot of people and doing some lat minute things I had wanted us to do. On Friday, we drove out to Sjoholt, where Lanie’s great-grandmother is buried. I know she would have loved Lanie. While we were out there we also stopped by the cabin that had belonged to my grandmother. It needs some work, but it is still a very nice cabin. Hopefully by the next time we are there, my cousins will have it all fixed up so we can spend some time there. On Sunday, Lanie and I spent most of the day with Anna and Jessika. We went to the beach at Tunesa, which Lanie loved. She really is a water baby. On the Tuesday before we left, we walked up the 418 stairs to Fjellstua, atop Mount Aksla. Lanie went up in style in a backpack carrier carried by me, then Anne (my cousin), then Ulf (Anne’s boyfriend). That evening, Onkel Steinar, Anne and Ulf came over to have dinner with us. It was so nice to get to spend time with everyone there and I will be looking forward to our next trip, hopefully in 2 years.
I, of course, have more pictures to post, and will be getting to that sometime in the next few days. So check back soon for updates!
-Kellie