maybe they look brighter by the sea

Sep 16 - 22

On Monday Oslo and I reorganized some of the furniture in their room - we don’t keep their windows open anymore, and now that the temperatures are dropping a little we didn’t want their heater covered up. Then Oslo ended up taking a really long nap, but Jeremy was able to leave work early and pick up Berlin. They found a used English bookstore on their way home. That night we had fish. The boys were… unimpressed. Jeremy told Berlin if he ate all of the meat on the fish head, Jeremy would buy him whatever Lego set he wanted on their trip on Friday. Berlin tasted the teeny bit of fish already on his plate and decided he couldn’t do it. The boys were in bed pretty soon after dinner, and Jeremy and I watched The Impossible, another based-on-a-true-story movie about a tsunami that hit Thailand and a family that was vacationing there when it hit. It was really intense and really good, but messed with my sense of reality all day on Tuesday. 

 

  

On Tuesday, we skipped naps to go to the library. We also went to the grocery store and the boys got more sticky emojis - Berlin a unicorn and Oslo the poop emoji. So thrilled to have that one in our collection now. Skipping naps ended up being kind of bad for Oslo - he’s been acting a little bit sick, and by the end of the evening he had a fever and was just miserable. He went to bed at like 6:30 and slept for something like 13 hours. He was much better on Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday, not very many people were in Jeremy’s office, so he picked up Berlin again and they came home and Jeremy worked in our bedroom. It was especially good for Oslo to have a long nap and then go to bed early. It also ended up being really good for Berlin, who seemed to get whatever bug Oslo had and was just exhausted when he got home. He fell asleep waiting for dinner. He went to bed early and slept for a really long time (he woke up sometime in the middle of the night and we asked him if he was feeling any better, and he said, in the most chipper, cheerful tone I’ve ever heard, “I am! I’m feeling quite better!” before he hopped back into bed and slept another 7-8 hours).  We were supposed to have a Relief Society activity that night too, but the person who was going to do it (a cultural kitchen night and she’s from Guinea Bissau and was supposed to cook really great food) realized she’d gotten the date wrong and she had to work instead. Little bit of a bummer.

On Thursday, Berlin was just bursting with energy and so so so excited to be packing. We picked him up from kita (where he was riding around on a tricycle collecting random things he found on the ground to put in an ice tray) and got some travel snacks for him and Jeremy, then we raced home and helped him shower/pack/eat dinner/get into bed early because they were leaving so early the next morning. He was so excited that going to bed early didn’t work out super well because he couldn’t fall asleep. He has been so excited about their Daddy-Berlin trip and FINALLY the day came. 

On Friday morning, Jeremy got up before 5 and was trying to make sure he had everything ready before he woke Berlin up, but without any prompting, Berlin just walked in at like 5:15 and started jumping up and down. They headed to the airport and flew to Denmark, where they picked up a rental car and went to Legoland. Berlin was in heaven, racing from one thing to the next, he was tall enough to go on all the rides, and I don’t know how he didn’t just collapse from all of the excitement. Jeremy also said, “This might be the best day ever. Definitely top ten.”

Oslo and I just slowly did some errands before nap time. We picked up some sweats for Berlin and I found probably the best maternity outfit ever. We got some fabric at the Turkish market before we came home for naps, when I let Oslo sleep way too late, so we were up really late. We video chatted with Berlin and Jeremy at 9 or 10 when they were just getting back to their airbnb and we got to hear all about their exciting day. Then Oslo went to bed, and then I watched a movie before I remembered that it was my dad’s birthday. I called him at like 1AM thinking that since I wasn’t really tired yet and I probably wouldn’t be on the phone for THAT long it would be fine. So, naturally, we talked for about two hours. 

Fortunately Oslo let me sleep in on Saturday, but he was still pretty tired from staying up so late and took an early nap. Afterwards we went to explore a new park that was a giant disappointment, but Oslo had a fun time in the tiny sand box. He did manage to jump/fall off of the edge of the sandbox and get a bloody nose before we left to go to the grocery store. Jeremy and Berlin had a slow morning and then found a beach and a thrift store with swimsuits. They climbed a lighthouse and found some abandoned army bunkers, found some geocaches, and did some cold swimming. We video-chatted for scriptures before both little boys crashed.

This was my treat from the grocery store. I probably won't share.

 

On Sunday we went to church, and for the first time probably ever Oslo threw a tantrum right as the sacrament started, so loudly that we had to leave the chapel (about me putting his colored pencils and coloring books away for the sacrament, a thing that we have done since… forever). Hopefully that was a one-time event. He was perfectly well-behaved after that. We came home and had lunch and napped, and then when we got up we skyped with Elaine and made Ashlee’s granola recipe before we skyped with the boys. They went to church, went back to their airbnb where Berlin fell asleep, and then they got to enjoy the farm part of their airbnb with their hosts. Berlin rode a pony, a go-cart, and a tractor. He loved it, the tractor he said was the favorite. He told us that he fell off the pony once, cried a little bit, but hopped back on. When we were chatting with them Berlin’s eyes were pretty swollen- I thought he was just allergic to dogs and cats, but we’re wondering now if it may be all animals, and that the pony didn’t help. Berlin took a shower and Jeremy said the swelling was already going down by the time we were talking. They’re going to Legoland tomorrow, their last day of the Daddy-Berlin trip, but Berlin doesn’t know they’re going back. I’m pretty excited to hear his reaction.

[title from the valley by betty who]