Back Home from “Back Home”
Monday, 14 September 2009 -- 9:30 pmToday was our first full day back in Oslo. It’s a relief to be home after our crazy trip, and the cats are certainly glad to see us. Even Maia, the reclusive cat, seemed a little more social than usual.
Being away for two weeks isn’t usually so exhausting, but this time it was essentially three trips that happened to end up back-to-back. First was the weekend in Koster, Sweden. Then we had a 5-day class for work in Stavanger. And the following weekend we needed to be back in Franklin for Gabe‘s baptism. Since our flights to/from the US passed through Chicago and we needed to take a few days off of work for the travel time, we extended our stay in Chicago for a few days to have a chance to see baby Caroline.
It was good to visit with Erin & Mike again, since we haven’t seen them since their trip to Oslo last year. And Gabe is adorable! He’s so calm and good-tempered (just like his mom) that I started to forget what babies can really be like! (Unfortunately we were reminded of the other extreme by the child that screamed at full volume through our entire overnight trans-Atlantic flight!)
In Chicago we got the chance to have dinner with Shane and Sara and Evie. Evie has grown so much since the last time we saw her, but she’s just as cute! She just talks a lot more now!
Edit: I was too busy catching up to take any photos with Shane & Co. (Lucas took a few, but I haven’t gotten his memory cards yet), but at one point during dinner, my cell phone started taking pocket-photos (it has an annoying feature that you can activate the camera without opening the phone) and I accidentally hit the button again as I took it out of my pocket. So this is the only photo I took of Shane:
At the very end of our trip, Katie & Tim had us over to meet Caroline. Despite being sick, she was in good spirits, and she managed a smile for Lucas every time he caught her eye:
It was great to see everyone, but after such a hectic tour (and lugging home all the shopping we did in Indiana) it’s a relief to be at home. Now I’m trying to relax and not think about the fact that we have to start moving this weekend!
September 14th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
I have to admit, I held my breath a little bit at “I started to forget what babies can really be like! (Unfortunately we were reminded of the other extreme by the child that…”
I’m glad it didn’t end with “burst into sobs the second Lucas and I sat next to her in the car.”
The funny part was how quickly she went from crying at the sight of you to rubbing Lucas’ arm in a very familiar manner in the restaurant!
September 14th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Haha! I thought about including that episode, but I didn’t know if it would be as funny reading it, and I didn’t want to make Evie sound bad! She was so much fun the rest of the time.