It was the best of times...

It's been a busy month, and a lot has happened here! I got some cool letters and paintings in the mail from some good friends - thank you!! I got in several visits to Sarah and Halvor's and enjoyed every minute of it, especially squishing Quentin. He is such a cutie and I love how he's starting to talk and interact. Sarah and I took a day and went to IKEA in Oslo and had the best time shopping for all the fun stuff we needed/wanted! Ok, we didn't get EVERYTHING we wanted. That's why we have to go back! I found some fun stuff to spruce up the office and cool stuff for my kitchen in my apartment! I also got a VACUUM for my apartment to replace the little 3 ft long brush/broom I've been using until now. It's a cute little red vacuum and I love it! I know that sounds silly, but I haven't used a vacuum in a year and a half, so it's awfully nice to be able to get in the corners and under things properly. Last week we had a goodbye party/evening in Davidos for all the girls. It was a special evening even though it was sad to say goodbye to good friends that you've known and worked together with for the past year. On Thursday we had our last Alag's feast before the summer and it was also a really special evening. "Good food, good meat..." I didn't get any pictures taken that evening as we did the food and that kind of kept me busy. It's sad to see everyone leaving, but also exciting to meet the new ones and make new friends! We will be getting 6 new girls (and losing 6) in the kitchen this summer and the one's I've met so far are very cool! We took a kitchen girl's trip to Tonsberg on Friday evening as our last hang-out together. We had planned to rent a couple of boats and go to an island and grill and spend the evening out, but it was raining all day and it looked sketchy, so we decided to do something a bit closer to shelter. We ended up down on the pier and just enjoyed the evening out in each other's company. We found an ice cream shop and patronized it, perused some shops, ran races across the bridge and back and ended up in a pizza shop on the pier overlooking the water. It was a really fun evening and a nice way to get to know some of the new girls. This weekend is the last free weekend before the summer schedule starts, meaning we have food out all day from 7:00 - 23:00 everyday. That always presents a challenge and I'm always super happy to get back to regular mealtime schedules. Today, we are grilling hamburgers down by the beach for dinner. It's a beautiful day today and it will probably be awhile before we get the chance again. I'm getting ready to head down there to start getting everything ready. Have an awesome day at the beach all you cool Delaware people! I'd love to join you!! Can't wait to see you next week, Maria, Marty and Keri!!