Update 12 - Partee Season

Dan’s 30th Birthday & Christmas

Yay! 'Santa Christina' is delivering our Funcom Christmas presents!Ooo what is it Dan? It turned out to be a 256mb USB drive.The fog rolling in one morning before work...Here it comes!You could just make out the sun rising through the trees around 10am.HAPPY 30TH DAN!! Here he is enjoying his birthday breakfast before work.And here's Dan's 'Yay it's my birthday!' photoWe went for drinks to celebrate after work at the 'Den Gamle Major' (pub) in Majorstuen Tibi gave Dan this kewl snowman for his birthday.I won't tell you how much this night cost but we did manage to get drunk!It was awesum that Svein and Yvonne were in Oslo at the time! (and of course, you Chad!)Ida and Markus...Yo!Tibi, Dan and Chad :)Christer joined in the fun ;)Chad was having a bit of trouble using a strawAh, now he's got the hang of itAll together now...Was it something they drank or the dark eerie night?After a tackle by Ida, Markus had to be goingGoodbye!!These chicks pretended not to know us cos we were obviously way too kewl ;)What's this under the rug?Aahhhhh!!!!!!!!!We walked home through the park (you know the big park with the sculptures...you must know it by now!)There was a nice eerie mist aboutAnd it was a lot of fun checking this place out at nightGold! Always believe in your soul...We made it home that night and even made it into work the next day...a little hungover. But Dan had really enjoyed his birthday :)Wandering around Oslo...The most excellent hill for sledging about 50m from our apartment!On Christmas Eve we did the Norwegian thing and made Christmas dinner! Complete with a portugese wine that we opened with our bottle opener present.The snowman hung out with the Christmas treeWe had a roast turkey for dinner. We almost bought a roast reindeer but the turkey was half the price (so you can stop crying kids)Oooh Christmas dinner...Norway style!I had to tell Dan how it tasted because he had a bad cold :) It tasted like a roast I said.Mmm roastAfter dinner we opened our presents...like they do over here!by the fire...so cosy for our 1st white ChristmasOoo i got earrings! Thanks honey :)The next day we made a Christmas brunch, complete with champagne :)Cheers! And Merry Christmas!Christmas lunch...

Us and ski’s

Christmas skiing :)We decided to try our skis out in the snow next to our apartmentDan only fell over for the first 30 mins ;)It was fun to watchThen it was my turn!Getting a bit adventurous...

Svein, Yvonne & a Norwegian Dinner

The day after Christmas Svein and Yvonne invited us to their parents place for a Norwegian Christmas leftovers dinner :)This is a cute little village near Svein's parents place. It was closed when we went there but still very cute :)Ooh look what we found!A sled ride!Uh oh...my turnIt wasn't so bad :)We walked around the village for a little whileYay! We're cold...let's go to Svein's placeHere we are at the doorstep of Svein's parents houseWe were so happy to be trying Pinochet. It's like a norwegian salty stew thing. Really nice!We were really lucky to experience a norwegian christmas dinner with Svein's family. Their place was so cute.I piled up my plate...a little too much :)Svein's mum (Mor) and nana (Mormor)Here's my dessert with handpicked norwegian berries!I crunched on an almond in my dessert and apparently that means I win this Jule Marsipan...yay!The food was good...a little too goodAnd now for the biscuits!And wine!Svein walked us to the bus stop and we stopped by his brother's house on the way to say a quick helloIt's a bit hard to see but that's a ski slope in the distance...how kewl is that?It was so much fun to see Svein and Yvonne here in Norway. They'll be heading back to Sydney soon from Scotland. Seeya back in Australia guys!The next day we caught up with another friend from Sydney...Wiro! And his brother who lives in Trondheim (middle of Norway).We had a coffee in town and then went shopping for fireworksWe quickly found a fireworks shop for 'adventure in the sky!'Lots of packs to choose from. This was the first time I'd bought fireworks!I'll take that oneYay a party pack of fireworks!Dan and AndrewDan and a big dogDan and his fireworks :)The ceremonial burning of the Christmas tree


Skiing and New Year’s Eve

And another day out in the snowMy new skisThe area near our place is perfect to practice onDan loves skiingSure we get strange looks from people in the neighbourhood but what do we care...we're Australian!Dan had to squat on this hill so he wouldn't fall overLike great adventurers we ventured out into our neighbourhoodNot caring how perilous the terrian could beNext time we'll head out to the forest tracks like the pros ;)Walking past some of the gorgeous houses on our way to the cinema in MajorstuenI love the lighting at this time of day! (about 3.30pm)Fireworks at the supermarket?!On New Year's Eve the fireworks started early. We could hear them all afternoon and into the night. It was great to watch them from our balcony.Warming up for our night aheadIt was a good start. So far we had alcohol and fireworks :)Then we added Marcus and his Austrian cookies to the mixCan you spot our buzzer?Around 11pm we decided to try out a small batch of fireworks. We also tried to blow up a mock snowman.Hearing and seeing all the fireworks around ya really puts you in the New Years mood :)YoWhaz up?We told Markus not to eat so many fireworksDan got creative and tried taping some small ones togetherTa Da! And now for the plastic!Chad rocked up for some mayhemIt didn't take him long to get into the partee mood!We discovered that feeling drunk inside doesn't mean you feel drunk out in the coldIt was probably our downfallIda thought I was hilarious darlingAt midnight it really did sound like what I'd imagine a bomb zone wouldWe ran around outside lighting the rest of our fireworksSo many rockets were going off around us!Here's one nowKaboom! (great sound effects huh)These are someone's really expensive rockets...which we get to enjoy :)Ida got a firestick from someone and we used it to light the rest of our fireworks.Don't do this at home kids!Of course we knew what we were doing...Being so drunk n all ;)Happy New Year!Now back to the alcoholFor he's a jolly good fellowThat nobody can deny!Well maybe Ida canIt even started snowing :)The happy coupleOur 'Snowman'Dan lit the fireworks with his burning handHappy New Year's honey! We're in Oslo?!I think this was our final rocketAnd our final moments of soberness ;)Back at the apartment for more drinksMarkus and I encouraged the party atmosphereWe did what we couldThere it worked!I kinda remember doing this...What's Dan doing with the camera anyhow?Strike a poseMarkus had a quick nap with the plastic blanketThen it was off to the snow covered hill!Another quick napHe is a creature of the nightThe plastic brings out another side of MarkusAfter midnight we walked to the park to meet up with Wiro and his brother...we stopped for a quick swing rideWe all got split up but somehow regrouped at the park with Wiro and Andrew...and a couple of guys we'd just metRelaxing in the snowIda's in her plastic capeOk let's go! We've got a party to crash!This is Knut's place. We work with him but hadn't met him before until this night when we lent these guys our plastic to slide down the hill.This is Enno...he loved singstarMarkus and Enno battling it outAnd this is the final photo of the night. Alcohol + fireworks + a snow covered hill + a sheet of plastic to slide down the hill = NYE madness!Last weekend we relaxed after changing our lounge room aroundWe now have a section for staring out the windowAnd a cosy lounge section :)