A Game of Balance

It has been a long time since I have posted a blog. There has been a lot that has been going on and a lot of things that needed to be sorted out in my life. And my body and mind really needed some rest.

I left a really horrible job last August - the kind of job where the boss runs the place like it's his or her own little empire, breaking laws and threatening employees left, right and center. And to make matters worse, most of those who were hired were either young, or had no working experience (ie - new mothers who had spent many years at home), or a combination of both. I was able to find a better job and move on towards the end of the summer. But I had spent two years at this former job, and needed to both get used to a new job (with new expectations), shake off the bad experiences that I had been experiencing before, and renew my relationships with both my husband and my children, which had been strained the last year or so due to stress.

I needed to take care of my mind and body. I had decided that while I would start exercising, I wouldn't actually change my diet too much. I do eat a lot of fruits, veggies and healthy food. The problem however was that I was also greatly addicted to chocolate and coffee (and chips on occasion). However coming from a low point, I decided to continue to indulge myself in these treats on a *reasonable level* until Christmas. This I have done.

Now Christmas is over, and to be really honest, I'm really tired of the coffee and chocolate. I also am a lot stronger than I was back in September, when I started my new job. As the days go by, I am exercising more and eating less junk. I am having less desire for the things that got me through the days before. It happens that I make myself my first cup of coffee in the evening, and then throw half of it out because it just doesn't taste as good as it did a couple of months ago.

I'm exercising, usually, 3 days in a row with one day's rest. When I started exercising in September (which was only maybe twice a week), I found it incredibly hard to burn more than 150 calories in 30 minutes - and I was on the lowest level of my elipse machine. The last few weeks I've been burning 300 - 350 calories in just under 30 minutes. It's amazing. And this evening I hit a new record: after a day's rest, I have worked out for 35 minutes, and have burnt 410 calories.

It's not often I stun myself.

Hiking as a Family in Norway

On the west coast of Norway hiking trails, mountains and forests lie in great abundance. Every city and neighborhood is built right against them, making nature very available to every single person. On the island of Askøy where we live, our neighborhood is right at the base of a mountain Kolbeinsvarden. My husband and I often take individual hikes up there in the evenings and weekends. But this Sunday was the first time we took the entire family, which consists of our son and daughter who are six and four years old.



The above picture is the very beginning of the trail that leads through a feild, then uphill through a forest before finally coming beyond the tree line and onto the mountain top. This entrance to the wilderness is actually only 15 minutes from our house and my husband and I never drive here. But considering we wanted to make this a pleasureable experience for the entire family (ourselves included) we drove to the starting line. Here you can see the trail winding it's way into the forest.

And here we have started to make our ascent upwards through the trees. At this moment the trail is pretty even, without too many obstacles. However, this type of terrain makes up only about 20 - 30% of the actual trail. Usually there are large boulders to climb over/around, large tree roots that one has to navigate through, and steep rock inclines to pull yourself up and over.

Looking from the trail into the forest. One of the greatest things about the wilderness of Norway is that it isn't very wild at all. There are a few bears, but they are all located on the very east side of Norway, bordering with Sweden. There are some poisonous snakes called Hoggorms, but these are quite small and timid. Although you know they are about during the summer, a person can go several years between each time one is seen. If there's any danger involved, it's usually because one is busy looking at the beautiful nature surrounding them and not where they are planting their feet.

Close to the tree line, the terrain consists of smooth rock surfaces. These are much easier to climb up than to climb down! My little trooper of a girl is making her way upwards with her Pappa.

Breaking through the trees, we come to a small pond. My children are convinced they're are frogs in this pond as there are lots of lily pads. I for one have never seen a frog here, but I would not be surprised to discover that this is true. Today however we were surrounded by lots of and lots of beautiful dragonflies, most of them red or blue in color. This was a bit of a surprise to us as the leaves are starting to turn color and the breezes that blow have a hint of winter in them already. By next weekend, the dragonflies could be gone as well.

There is a bit of true mountain climbing on this trail as well - in front of us here is a rock crevace that we need to climb through. Today the kids thought this was the best part of the hike as this area is probably where all the pirates and theives hide when they're being chased by the law.

Most of the flat areas of the trail are quite boggy. Mud pools need to be walked around, and for those that cannot be walked around, wooden plank bridges have been placed for people to walk over. Here you can see them stretching out into the distance, right up to the point where the woman in white is hiking ahead of us.

And here is the top of Kolbeinsvarden. Although it is difficult to see in this photo, there were 15 people already at the top when I took this photo. At the top there is a book that one can write their name in each time they make it to the top. It was a very good day to have my kids write their names in this book for the first time. When the book is complete, it is added to the other books that have also had their stay at the top of the mountain in the library of the community. I would estimate that on an average week day 30+ people write their name in that book and on the weekend a number of pages can be filled up with names. It was actually a bit difficult for me to take pictures without taking pictures of other people who probably didn't want to have their figures posted on the internet.

And at the top of the mountain we look out in all directions. The above picture is us looking into Bergen.

Here is us looking in the direction of our house and where we parked the car. We have hiked just over 4 km, or just under 2 miles. Our house is located about halfway between where we are standing and the bridge in the distance.

And here we are looking west, out into the great blue Atlantic.

North west, also eventually out into the North Atlantic ocean.

Finally north looking towards Sognafjorden.

The entire trip took us just under two hours, and you can bet we are very proud of our little ones!