Bank Holiday Weekend

This past weekend was my last FULL weekend in Wales & lucky for me it was a Bank Holiday, so Dad had Monday off from work. I love long weekends! We went to the Margam country park on Saturday and ran around & had a picnic lunch. Although it was really windy at least it was not raining. Sunday we decided to go down to the sea. I ran around on the beach, played in the sand, & splashed around in the water. It doesn't get much better than the beach life!



Like father, like son!



Mum is always hugging and kissing me!

Rain

It hasn't stopped raining for the past few days so almost all my playing has been going on indoors. Even when the rain does stop the grass and ground is so wet it is like walking on a sponge. And we are supposed to be having a drought in Britain! However, I did see the weather in Minneapolis was going to be 95 degrees this weekend and I might rather have the cooler weather compared to that.

Norway Re-Visited

I thought I would do a complete Norway post because the other ones have been so short.

Norway has about 5 million people compared to Sweden which has about 8 million and Finland which has about 5 million. I am not sure how many people are in Denmark. Norway is part of the EU but still maintains its own currency (the kroner) which currently trades at about 6 kroner to 1 U.S. dollar.


In Norway (at least most of rural Norway) many homes still heat themselves with wood burning fireplaces. As you can see by the pictures there is plenty of wood supply. Often the houses have supplemental heat but the primary source is wood.


The area where we were in southern Norway was very beautiful. Waterfalls, lakes, and rivers, were everywhere. Pictures like that above were around every corner.


Norway, as well as Sweden, Denmark, and Finland (all the countries with crosses in their flags), have state sponsored churches. That means the government pays the salaries of the pastors for the state churches. The official religion of Norway is Lutheran. I am not sure of the denomination or doctrine so I don't know how it would compare to North American Lutheran churches such as Missouri Synod, Lutheran Brethren, etc.


Even though I wasn't on this trip (only Grandpa and Grandma were) it is a classic Norwegian house from 'the olden days'. Not many houses look like this anymore but these are still kept up in various locations.

Some other interesting facts about Norway is their tax system. The highest tax rate is 65%! Plus there is a 25% tax on everything you buy making retail goods various expensive. What dad found most interesting is that the Norwegian government mails you your tax forms every year and the forms are already completed! The government already knows your income, bank balances, interest, and most deductions. All you need to do is review in sign! There usually are additional deductions that are not included in the governments pre-completed tax form but for the most part everything is included. Fascinating!


Norway is very beautiful and I highly recommend visiting. There are lots of toys!


and lots of friendly people.

Postman Pat and Trucking

Meet my friend Postman Pat. In the U.K. they have a children's show on the BBC called Postman Pat. Each episode is 15 minutes with no commercials and Postman Pat usually has to save the day some way or another. My dad says "Pat certainly doesn't get much mail delivered" but it is still a fun show. So imagine my surprise when I went to the local garden shop and Postman Pat was there! I had to say high and snap a picture. Then I hung out in his truck for a while. It was pretty fun.

One of my favorite things is to ride on amusement rides. This is not a good thing for dad since he gets sick once anything starts spinning. The best part about it is that I don't even need to put money in the rides. I just like to sit there and pretend I am driving.


However, when Papa and Grandpa are here they always spring for a ride on the Merry-Go-Round in the Swansea city center. Here I am practicing my other favorite thing... driving!

Bye Bye

This morning I woke up bright and early so I could say good bye to Bamma & Bampa. They took the train into London and then got on an airplane to fly home. I miss them already. Mom says I'll see them in 10 days, but that sounds like a long time?!

Good thing I convinced them to stay in Swansea the last few days and not go tour London. We had lots of fun. Monday I toured them around Mummbles & we had lunch at a little place called Verdi's on the ocean. I had ice cream for lunch...Mmmmmmm!

Then Tueaday we went into Swansea city center and did a little shopping, well mum & Bamma shopped while Grandpa and I hung out & rode the merri go round, as you can see.

Norway Post Coming

Ugh. My parents are acting like they have never travelled before. Mom and dad have been too busy and tired to post about all the Norway experiences. Grandma and Grandpa are still here and have been taking care of me so mom should have lots of time. Apparently she has had a lot of friends she has had to email. Couldn't she just send a mass email and tell them to check out the blog? All she does is talk about me anyway. Sheesh.

Hilsen Fra Norge

Translated for all you who don't speak Norwegian it is "Greetings from Norway". I picked up a little Norwegian while I was there becasue the kids only spoke Norwegian or Dutch. They don't start to learn English until grade school. We had a wonderful time there, what a beautiful country. I played lots with my new friends Sverre & Ingaborg, they were very nice and shared their toys with me too. The food was really yummy, one night they served us peel & eat shrimp, then you put the shrimp on bread, with a mayo type dressing & a squeeze of lemon juice on top. Mom, Grandma & Grandpa saide it was really yummy, too bad Dad and I couldn't join in, he has an allergy and being his son I just might have the same allergy too. Norway has lots of beautiful lakes, trees and mountains. Who knows maybe our next move will be a cabin in the mountains of Norway?!? Although mom keeps saying something about gong to Minnesota in 12 days, so maybe not!

New Trick

My latest trick is ... Blowing my nose! Well at least I think I am blowing my nose & it is a really good excuse to pull more TP off the roll. He he

The Republic of Ireland

This weekend started with another Janet Reno like child extraction as I was wisked away at 5:00 AM Saturday morning to catch a flight to Dublin, Ireland. Grandma, Grandpa, mom, dad, and I, landed in Dublin at about 9:00 AM.


Gianna and Jonathan (Gianna and Derek went to high school together) drove down from Northern Ireland to visit and take us around Dublin where they used to live. We all went to the Guinness Storehouse which is a big entertainment area where they show the history of the Guinness brewery. It was pretty fun and I was a trooper. Above is a picture of me on the top floor restaurant where you can see all around Dublin.

After that we went to the hotel which was about 30 minutes south of Dublin. We were staying at the luxurious Marriott resort in Wicklow county which is located at the famous golf courses called Druids Glen and Druids Heath. These courses have hosted the Irish Open golf tournement on numerous locations.


On Sunday we went to the Woodstock clubhouse at Druids Glen. There is a mini 'history of Ireland' museum in the basement of the clubhouse that I toured for about an hour. This property was kept up by the Irish people even during the darkest days of Ireland's history.


After the clubhouse tour we headed for the sea. Unfortunately the weather was really bad and the girls ran back to the car because they were too cold. But not before this picture of mom and dad. Ewww! Get a room!


The peak of the trip was probably our trip to Glendalough, which means 'Glen of two lakes'. At the site was a magnificent monastery that was built in the 7th century by St. Kevin. That is older than any castle we have seen even in Wales! Unfortunately the monastery was sacked repeatedly by the Vikings but they kept rebuilding. The area was beautiful and after touring the site I took the family to eat at a local restaurant. Interestingly almost all of the service staff (everywhere including the Marriott) were from Poland. Ireland has seen an influx of Poles since the European Union expansion and Poles often work many of the hospitality jobs.

Ireland was a beautiful country and you can see why they call it the Emerald Isle. Because of the moisture it is so green everywhere you look. We all wish we had more time to spend there and hopefully someday we can return!

For those of you who don't know the Republic of Ireland is it's own country where Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. Just something I didn't know before I came to Britain.

Toilet Paper In Ireland

Well, I can now officially mark down the Republic of Ireland as one more country where I trashed the hotel room bathroom by unrolling all the toilet paper. As in my other ventures the hotel was luxurious. Only the best for me!

Surprise For ME!

I was very excited yesterday when Bamma & Bampa came back from Prauge. Not only was I excited to see them & their suitcases, but they brought me some really cool presents from the Czech Republic. A t-shirt, candy, chocolate & a RABBIT!!!!!!!!!



This is the coolest toy EVER!

Electrical Storm

Apparently electrical storms are not common in Britain but tonight we had a storm that would rival the storms on the prairies and the plains. There wasn't much rain but incredible amounts of lightning and thunder. In fact there was so much lightning that all the lights went out in my neighborhood! I was already in bed (and so was mom) but dad was still up. Dad got on the computer (which was on battery power) when there was a knock at the door. One of neighbors from down the straight came to see if we were ok. Dad thinks she came over because she was scared. She said this had never happened in all her years of living in Swansea. When dad told her this happens all the time in America (even in major cities) she was a lot more calm. About an hour later the power came back on so calm returned.


This is a picture of me doing what I do best. Riiiip! I only operate at one speed nowadays; full speed ahead. The other day dad hooked some dental floss up to my little red pickup truck so I could pull my truck up and down the sidewalk. I can't wait to get home and rip around the backyard.

Tomorrow mom and dad return from Prague, Czech Republic, and then we are going to Dublin, Ireland, for the weekend. I can't wait.

Slow Day Cannes Flashback

For all you Bottineau fans and alumni out there check out me in this circa 1980's t-shirt promoting the junior college. I guess my mom used to wear this when she was little. I don't know how she ever fit in it. Actually, she might still be able to fit in it...


Here is a picture of me after I took my baby growth hormone. I am almost as big as daddy! Just kidding, it's just the camera angle, but someday I will be taller than dadddy!

I might be catching a cold so I better get to bed. See you later!

All Alone

I am a bit sad now because I am all alone. Well mum is still here with me. Granma & Grandpa went to Prauge yesterday & this afternoon we dropped Lala & Kirby off at the train station. We had such a fun time with them, I did lots of entertaining which got many laughs. I am going to miss all the kisses from lala & the dancing lessons from Kirby.

Paparrazzi / Drive By Media

I managed to flash these photos of our unsuspecting guests when they arrived from the train this past week. I had to purchase these photos from a free lance photographer and have been published with permission.

Cue The Chevy Chase Vacation Music

This weekend I rented a Volkswagon van to cruise across the country. Saturday morning I got everyone up bright and early and we jumped in the van. We drove through Bristol and Bath and stopped at Stonehenge. Since I had already been to Stonehenge I went out to the burial mounds with mom and dad. The rocks were sort of boring so we headed down the road.


This is Salisbury Cathedral. It is the largest cathedral in Britain, reportedly bigger than West Minister Abbey. The tower is huge. Unfortunately we couldn't get into the bag areas of the church because there was a Saturday service going on. How dare they use a historic landmark for it's original purpose!

Even better than the cathedral is what was kept inside the cathedral walls. Inside is one of the few remaining original copies of the Magna Carta! This one is in the best shape out of any of the original forty or so. The reason it is in such good shape is because this Magna Carta was lost in a library after it was misfiled. Because of this misfiling it avoided the nicotine stained fingers of library folk avoiding handling damage and coffee stains. Just kidding, I added the nicotine part, and the coffee part but it did avoid the damage sustained by all other known copies. Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed of the Magna Carta so I we couldn't document the viewing.

After eating at a fun little restaurant in Salisbury we piled back in the car for the ride back. Because it took so long to drive back I stayed up until 9 PM! That is a record for me. Mom and dad said I was a trooper the entire time. I am getting big so obviously.

Worm's Head Part II

This Sunday we took another trip to the Worm's Head on the Gower in Wales. You can see the 'worm's head' in the background of this picture of Grandma, Mom, and Pam (aka LaLa).

The weather was fantastic and some people even got light sunburns. Not me though, mom made me where my winter clothes practically.

After walking around the area we stopped at a little restaurant for some ice cream. This is when the land shark struck!

Land Shark

Knock! Knock!
Who's there?
Land Shark.
Land shark who?


Land Shark eat your ice cream! Grrrr!

Even More Visitors

Today Uncle Kirby and Aunt Pam (LaLa) arrived from Colorado via London where they have been the last few days. You can see Kirby's arm in the air in the back of this photo. Thirty-one takes and this was the best shot. Just kidding, we hadn't done very many pictures today and I was already getting ready for bed. I promise more pictures will come.

At first I was a little shy around Pam and Kirby because I hadn't seen them for a really long time. But, Pam and Kirby gave me some pompoms from a recent NHL hockey playoff game where the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Dallas Stars. These are awesome. I can't wait to go to a real NHL game.

Grandma and Grandpa also flew back from Scotland today so we have a big weekend planned. You'll have to check back for updates on what we are doing!

I'm A Bear In The Morning...

...without my Starbucks.

Down to the Ocean

This past Monday I took Grandma and Grandpa down to the ocean. The weather was really sunny but the wind was cool especially along the ocean.


We brought down some food and had a little picnic. As you can see dad and Grandpa and me took some of the food and hung out along with wave wall. It was really warm along the rocks and out of the wind.

After we stayed at the ocean for a while I took Grandma and Grandpa downtown Swansea. Because it was May Day some of the shops were closed. Some were open (including Starbucks) so we spend some time downtown. It was a fun time.

Starting Young

Mom and dad say I shouldn't get addicted to coffee at such a young age but I am a bear in the morning without my Starbucks. Here is a picture of me doing a shot of expresso. One of my favorite things is to dunk my spoon in dad's coffee in the morning just to get a little taste. I used to dunk cookies but dad used to get mad because most of the cookie ended up at the bottom of his coffee cup.

J'aime la Ice Cream Cone

Today mom gave me my first ever ice cream cone (with actual ice cream in it) because I was such a good boy. As you can see the weather was great, perfect for ice cream eating.