The Volvo...

... so we picked up our new, used Volvo on Wednesday, and we love it (so far) although Steve is scared shit about the expensive maintenance of the car. We'll cross our fingers that no major items will need to be replaced for a few years...

For those who are interested, we got the 2000 model (all-wheel drive) Cross-Country V70 for $14,500 w/warranty. It has 60,ooo miles. Should be an ok deal since we did it through a dealer.



PS. I forgot to mention earlier that Anika said her first combination of words this weekend... She and Steve had a talk about "This is sky", "This is bil" (bil=car in Norwegian). She actually pointed at the sky and car and said the three words! Pappa was very proud :)

Matt and his little world

On Sunday, we stopped by Matt Wilburn in downtown D.C. - we haven't seen him in many many months! For me and Anika it has been a full year!



He took us to Eastern Market, a big food & flea market, which we haven't been to all this time we have lived in the D.C. area. Afterwards he took us up to the roof top of his apartment building to show us the view - what a great view of the D.C. harbor / river area!

We wish we could spend more time with Matt, but he is quite busy getting his Ph.D. at Cambridge, U.K. as well as continuing to work for NOAA here in D.C. It's always nice to hang out with him though, always good discussions about "war and peace and religion and politics and things..."

Walk with Anne Mette

This weekend we spent quality time with some friends we don't see too often!

On Saturday we had lunch, a nice walk in the forest, and then dinner with Anne Mette, Kine's friend from Bergen. She's been in D.C. all week attending a NeuroScience conference at the Washington Convention Center. Our friend Trine surprised us by inviting us in for dinner after the nice afternoon walk. We had a wonderful time with Trine, Larry and Julian before it was time to head home and drive Anne Mette back to D.C.

More important things II

Of course, our family's health and well-being is the most important thing of all, and we have to admit we have been worried about Earl's health in the last month. He has been suffering from some sort of undiagnosed swelling and the doctors can't figure out what is causing it, even after extensive hospital stays and testing. We hope you get better, and we are so sorry we will not be able to see you this Thanksgiving...

More important things

In case you find our posts kind of simple, generic, "overfladisk", boring, lacking in-debt comments -- in other words they don't say much about what is really going on within our family, what we think about things going on in the world, how our days are -- I can promise you those posts will eventually get in here... It's just that we've been so super-busy the last month that I haven't had time to think about anything else than Anika, car and house the few minutes I have had time to sit in front of the computer. Eventually I hope to get Steve to do some of the writing also, and he always have opinions and comments about our life, the world's well-being and other interesting issues.

Our new car is...

...not a Subaru but a Volvo Cross-Country V70! Of course it is used, but it is a nice 2001 model with 'only' 55,000 miles. Steve has been car-shopping for two full weeks now, and finally found a Volvo with relatively low mileage and with a price tag I approved of. Bummer we have to pay monthly payments for a couple of years (we were only a few months away from having paid off the Jeep), but that's life and at least we have a much nicer car than the Jeep!
Steve is actually glad I totalled the Jeep so he could buy a nicer car... don't tell him I told you that ;)

We get the check from Geico early next week and will pick up the Volvo on Wednesday. Pictures to follow.

First picture of...

...our soon-to-be new home! Sorry, no more pics available until we settle on Dec 1 and get the keys. This is a "paparazzi" picture we took while driving by the house yesterday afternoon. What you see is the carport, screened patio outside the kitchen, and the entrance door. All of the windows and nice parts of the yard is not visible on this picture. Can't wait to show you more pictures! ...after Dec 1.

Halloween 2005

I must say that Halloween 2004 was an easier affair. Anika was only 6 months at that time and didn't quite understand why we grownups were having so much fun with her (and ate all of her candy). This year, well, let's put it this way - Anika has "Terrible Two" tendencies and for a long time refused to let me put the cute bee costume on, then when I got it on her she constantly tried to tear it off, and there was definitely no way I would get her to wear the [tendrils] on her head.
However, things changed to the better when she was distracted by all the nice people we met at each house we rang the doorbell + all the candy they gave away! Yum! Anika had a couple of tastings - however, this year like last year the grownups ate the rest... hehe. I wonder how many more years we can get away with it...

Christopher was in his cool football player outfit and had a lot of fun running around with Anika at the end of our round to the neighbors.

Ansel's b-day party

We arrived late for Ansel's party on October 29 and didn't take any pictures of the happy birthday boy, but we did take some of cutie-pie Anika while sliding... She loves hanging out at playgrounds and climb stairs and do the slides all by herself (even the tunnel ones). She needs some U.S. or Norwegian uncles to play with her soon!!

While packing away...

...some of our stuff for storage before our first open house, Anika discovered my Mexican sombrero! She had so much fun with it. We also found some toys we had put away until she gets older, like the wodden plates with numbers.

Want to buy our condo/townhouse?

Since we bought a house, we want to sell our current place.

Do you know someone who would be interested? Check out the link:
http://homes.longandfoster.com/Buy_Home/Search/Property_Details.aspx?coId=2&mlsNum=MC5438323

Yippi... we bought a new house!

We finally found a house we loved and the seller accepted our offer! It happened on the same day as I totalled our car... big things are bundled together I guess.

The house is a 50-year old contemporary single family house in Falls Church, inside the beltway. 4 bedrooms, carport, workshop, 2 baths and a divine yard, on a cul-de-sac in a forrested neighborhood. Sorry, no pictures available yet!

We sign the contract on December 1 - just in time for Christmas and a huge Christmas gift to our small family!

RIP Pluto

...so I finally got to experience how it feels to wreck a car. Not that I have been longing for it, but you are always curious how it is, right? Fortunately I could crawl out of the totalled car after hydroplanning on the way home from work one Tuesday afternoon with heavy rain (October 25 to be precise). My only "injury" was a scratch on my pinkie finger from some glass. Of course, my back and neck were a little sore the next few days.

The car started sliding on an exit ramp off the highway, and the car hit the curb sideways, then tipped over and landed on the roof. No other people were in the car, and no other cars were hit. The police called me Stuntwoman after I crawled out of the wreck when someone managed to open a door from the outside (I wasn't able to from the inside, and was hammering nervously on the windows to get out).

We visited the towing lot the day after to pickup a few items from the car (car seat, CDs, maps, etc.). The car didn't look as bad when it was back on its four wheels, but the car sure was a scary sight when I left it alone upside down in the road, while I was quietly taken into an ambulance to get a checkup at the local hospital.

The insurance company have deemed it a total loss, and we will get the check to buy a new car next week. I think Steve has convinced me to get a Subaru this time.

We're gonna miss the yellow Jeep, which we have had for almost five years. Thank god I wasn't badly injured...