yepp, that's what we would need: a kindergarten cop. or something along those lines. some authority respected and thus obeyed by collin and vicky, who would manage to get them out of there at the end of the day, home with mama. because mama alone is pretty much lost when it comes to that. while everybody seems oh so worried about these youngsters coping with the new surroundings, mama leaving, them not crying, not missing mama (and a little bit also me?) too much and not cry more and again, our two youngest have made merry with the kindergarten so much that trying to get them out of there and away from their new toys and friends at night turns into a drama, nearly.
well, great! now what kind of image does that portray of their home, hmm? :) *sigh* i think, THIS is what people meant when they said "problems" and "difficulties", hmm? :)

meanwhile, benG doesn't want to fall too far behind when it comes to wrapping us around his finger: late and deep at night, beyond sandman's own REM phase, he decides that this dinner's bottle was nice, sure, but nowhere near sufficient in terms of amount. so, there is the call for the waitress, which at his age reminds anyone within this tremendous hearing distance of a jet airliner taking off. as could be expected, mama gets soft and carries the semi-starved poor kid downstairs to the living room. where _AS_ expectedly the bottle takes a faaaaaaar back seat to the motion picture currently up on the big screen. well, "dead poets' society" is so much more interesting after all, even daddy's head, which is in the line of sight while feeding, gets pushed out of the way. as difficult as it is for our oldest with the motoric skills and all that, it is always enough for things like this... well, _THIS_ habit we have to drop again, pronto! next time any late night feeding will take place in bed, or at least in the kids' room. rascals, the lot of them! having a firm grip on us! rosy outlook on puberty... :)

wow, not only does time fly, not it seems to even be on steroids... we just barely got used to all the kids' noise at home, all the things that drop, break and disappear, all the being grounded that we are as parents when the brood is on the loose - and up sneaks kindergarten time! at least for two third of the dragon.
so, we have been to kindergarten. nice there, it is. roomy. and quite personal. one kindergarten teacher each take care of vicky and collin - their new girl friends, bettina and daniela: familiarization period. the kids are to get used to the other kids and the new surroundings. and mama must sit on a chair and not moove! for a whole hour! :)
logically, the dragon doesn't really need that much of a familiarization period. the way triplets are brought up, there simply is no time to spoil them too much into needing mama around all the time. they are doing fine. and first impression says rather that we are going to have to get them out of there forcefully at night, that much they like it.
*sigh* it looks as though it will be harder on _US_ to let go than the other way around...

and with this newest chapter in the life of the dragon, we slowly have to consider closing this book here that has borne us through the last 3 years, bring it to an end. not right soon, but the thought belongs out in the open, so you, dear readers, can get used to that. if and when the dragon now starts slowly drifting into the public, we need to start slowly considering protection of their data and privacy... but, i little time is left, maybe we will see chapter 300. :)

every traveller can be a story teller! our journey's stories you have read now. and once all the sand is washed away, here are the nuggets remaining:

i, too, want an outdoor hot tub AND an outdoor shower!

the dragon has new nicknames, we just cannot make up our minds between "sprat" and "ice bear" (you english folk say polar bear, but that can not be used in funny ways, i.e. "vanilla ice bear"... bummer!)...

yes, you CAN pick up a tan on a norway vacation, it is the dress code that matters. and balls, of course! :)

and:

it is equally hard to BE in denmark, as it is NOT to be in norway: for norway, i'd give my last shirt, in denmark i don't want to hang dead over a fence.

*yawn* what, half past five already? uuuuuuaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! ok, let's get up! unfortunately the sunny weather had far greater trouble getting up, so the ferryboat ride along the beautiful lyse fjord is pretty foggy and cold. and pretty windy it is, too. the boat runs nearly 30 miles an hour, according to the navigator in my pocket, so about 28 knots! but the dragon would not be the dragon nor mine, if they wouldn't want to go on deck regardless. so, jacket on, the good old PLO scarf wrapped around head and neck and dodging behind the ramp is good as it goes - beautiful! i don't exactly know HOW, but norway just looks beautiful even in rain and fog; just different colors, but never ugly! what a country!
then we have to kill over 8 long hours, beat them dead, one at a time. at the end of the fjord is a little - well - settlement, and there is literally nothing to do. at least if you're not a BASE jumper. and theiir season is long since past. this far up north there is merely oone month of summer, says the nice lady in the pub, which luckily is already open and provides us with coffee.
we pack the dragon into the various transportation devices and wander around a little, sit down a little, eat a little and marvel at nature a lot.
at some point in time the dragon left on the boat with gramma and grampa, the weather is showing norway from in its prettiest colors! and we get going, to kjerag. amazing, how 12 years alter your memory! the hike is the absolute killer! even _I_ myself have no clue how i did it in my motorcycle armor last time, way back when... tempus fugit, as the old romans said, time flies. and despite the merciless and cruel way i try to keep the pace up for the group, we still only end up getting a few minutes, literally, to take the coveted photos, turn around and get going again, at perforce pace. 09:39 i open the car door, in the dark! 2 slopes we made it down in this condition, with a light strapped to our foreheads. with the dragon absolutely impossible! probably only with camping the night out up there, somewhere... and even that would be challenging. but OK, if they want to, they are going to have to go by themselves one day. i will be sitting at the dock, swing my legs, dipping them into the water, have a drink and look forward to their pictures. :) and until then, my knees should be fine again, too... *yowl*

how easy life would be without the concept of commencing (after an old friend of mine): the king of hikes to the kjerag rock is marked red in the maps, but _FAR_ more difficult is making it to the trailhead, actually. for nearly a week it goes just like in the infamous movie with bill murray: we stand at the dock waiting for the ferryboat, and then it rains. or the wind blows the hair off our heads. or the boat is already full. of combinations. and as soon as we decided to let the ferryboat leave without us, the wind dies down, sun comes out, and there is the nicest sunset one could dream of! and tomorrow is our last day, packing day, even! but we re-scheduled, changed the plan. we will pack today, and tomorrow is the very very very very very last chance for the kjerag, the actual reason to pick this particular fjord for this year's vacation destination... our nice neighbors have helped us to _RESERVE_ (new idea, yeah!) a spot on tomorrow's boat. the down side: it leaves at 06:15! so about 3 hours before the wake-up call. wow! i don't think this has rreally sunk in, yet. so i better tell you after, how it went. morning hour is golden. hopefully the dragon likes precious metals. or at least groundhogs. :)

today is dragon day. nothing else goes after yesterday, and even this only very slowly, on flat ground and driven by anything else than our own muscles, preferably sitting down. wow, what a leg job yesterday. but the view and the photos made up for it all... the dragon has a real good time today: collin is in discoverer mode and (hold on to your hat!) benG is sitting! nearly by himself! sun shining, what more can we ask for? :) and the end of the day sees us in the hot tub again. outdoors, under starry skies. R&R can be soooooooooo beautiful!

actually, today's plan was to hike the king of trails to the kjerag bolten, but somehow everything came different. the weather was a sunny dream, but unfortunately that was an open secret, so all the others knew it, too, and thus the ferryboat was packed. BEFORE we got on board, that is. alternatives were: either take the car and drive around, 2 hours, or pick an alternative hike. and with the norwegian gas prices, the pulpit rock it was. the hike is shorter and rumored to be easier, slightly. the ideal warm-up... so, intrepidly we all got in the cars and there. vicky, having won the race for body weight, was named self-runner and paired with gramma, while benG was to travel with mama in the kangaroo bag and collin had booked the gold elite member first class premier donkey back. off we went. the trail did start relatively steep, but at least there was gravel, so halfway easy walking. for about a hundred yards. after that there was just rocks, roots and galore of them. only with a steeper grade. donkey, kangaroo and gramma were fit as a three legged gym, as was the gold elite member, however, the kangaroo bag was too shaky and the food & beverage service sucked and WIY (walk it yourself) sucks, anyways! so the pace started to suffer, radio collin, my own personal cheerleader quit playing AND leading the cheer, drinking and eating breaks became more frequent and finally we came to a halt alltogether. and then there was this nice norwegian couple we asked how the trail continues, and they said, honestly, it would be best to turn back now. too dangerous with the kids, and probably not doable in a day, plus the last 300 meters would be really narrow and right along the cliff. boom! the moral was eroded, and the family counsil decided to head back: we just didn't want to make tomorrow's headlines and continue with a 3 minus x headed dragon. so we just called it a teaser for the dragon - after all, they will live for another 90 years, easily. should be time galore. and we will go by ourselves tomorrow... :)

as it always is in life: if you don't catch any, the bait is to blame. or the fish. or the seals. water, weather, season, time of day, luck... or combinations... everything, EXCEPT the angler! of course!

therefor quickly to the nearest bait & tackle store and - very important! - the talisman into the pocket... and voilá, mackerel in the fridge got company!

i just knew it! and because he was the talis-man (well, LITTLE man) and so the mackerel doesn't look too tiny, collin has to be in the picture, too... :) but two fish is still pretty weak and not good enough to show off. so, i am off to the bait & tackle again... see ya...

was it just the beginner's luck of the first 30 minutes, or did i - the most unskilled fisherman - the dumbest mackerel in the entire fjord? looks like a whole lot of eel are going to have to swim from the caribbean to our home creeks and rivers until i can sufficiently feed the dragon with my fishing pole... and meanwhile, the mackerel will become the tastiest one - to me, dumb or not. she sure is pretty, all this deeply teal color, with black tiger stripes... i've never before seen one fresh, only know mackerels from the can or smoked and brown. let us see if the others are as pretty, whenever it will be that i catch the next one. i will stay on it... :)
meanwhile we even have a boat, even one with a motor! fish won't stand a chance, now, ha! :) and when i caught the next, i will give you a picture, too, of the protagonist: the fish!

seals! a whole army of seals! unbelievable! in the middle of the fjord. swimming inwards. just faaaaaaar too fast for the camera... first we thought dolphins, as they swim alike, in this wavy manner, over and under the water line. how beautiful! somehow i have to re-think that idea of paddling the fjord with the inflatable rubber boat... the guestbook of the cabin has people claiming even whales in the fjord (all this year, as this is the first season of the house!) but i guess, we'll be fine, wildlife is as scared of us as we are of them... if not more. i hope... :)
however, what a land, what a vacation! simply unbelievable!