Il Coccodrillo Come Fa.

Charlie and I would like to share a little Italian with you. Katie got us hooked on this song, and in honor of her upcoming European travels, here it is...Il Coccodrillo Come Fa. (What's the voice of the crocodile? or How does the Crocodile go?)

Stay tuned for our new beginner Cheese series. We've started a "toddler unit" this week, and will be sharing soon. We also noticed some tasty looking grass-fed cow cheese from Ireland, and of course Italian goat cheeses, so if we play a little "Where in the world is TaTa?" I feel that may be a fun time to partake.

~Becky and Charlie

A New Year. Many Exciting Things.

*A reminder for you more technologically challenged, if while viewing this post you left-click on the first picture, it will give you a slideshow view of the pictures so that you can see them better. Then just push the over arrow.

**I do not know how to change picture orientation while on Blogger... I did not load any pictures sideways, but there is no easy way to change it once its on here. Blogger, if you're listening, please make your format more picture friendly, it drives me crazy! I would love to be able to edit pictures while on Blogger.

First off, let's catch up.

Trick -or treating with the Lion and the Gnome (I think Charlie thinks he was Santa Clause. He now puts a bubble beard on at bath time and says, "Ho, ho, ho". I let him see in the hand mirror, and he finds himself quite hilarious. I do not know what Clarence thought, however, he is adorable, and his costume perfectly matched his actual hair color.)

In Grandma's defense, she was set up... she was handed a crying baby, which made the other baby cry.

 

Then there was the visit to go and see Santa Clause. I always think it is a pleasure to also see Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause. Charlie was very prepared to tell Santa that he wanted a tractor for Christmas, walked up and sat in Santa's lap, and then got too shy. But he took it very seriously. Clarence on the other hand, took the opportunity to air a few grievances. (I wonder if Mrs. Clause looks the same in every picture? Man she's good.) Santa Clause did come to our house, and I reassured Charlie that I let him know about his tractor. Thanks to Ya Ya, we had a few cookies to put under the tree, which Charlie checked in the morning, and Santa Clause had eaten them all! There was even one kind Daddy didn't think Santa Clause would like, but it was still gone. Perhaps the reindeer ate it? Next year we should probably leave some homegrown organic carrots, I don't think reindeer should be eating cookies.

And finally, a few goings ons around the house. This is Charlie's way of helping Mommy out... scrubbing the bath tub (I use baby friendly cleaning products), putting pots and pans away (he also took off all of my loose pot lid handles- let's just say most of them were loose. Then Daddy had to get involved, because there's more pieces then you'd think!), decorating Christmas cookies, baking a pie in his new tart pan (baking tools from Ya Ya, kind of fitting), and getting ready to help Daddy organize his gardening supplies. Also, his first haircut picture with Joe the Barber (his first haircut certificate stated that he has now graduated from babyhood, it was a sad and proud day for his parents). 

I didn't even get any pictures when we went to the Viking/Bears game with Kali and Sean. Which I would argue was the best Viking game of the season, and an awesome first game experience for Charlie because of our good seats (my first regular season game, too- I did see a preseason game at Lambeau, which also happened to be Aaron Rodgers first starting game ever). Trav would probably say the best was the Viking/Packer game that enabled their playoff visit. I would say after last night, that win was a high that lasted a mere 6 days. 

Anyways, Merry Christmas!

  

 

 

And Happy and Exciting New Year!

2013 will find us welcoming a new Lingenberry (a firecracker baby, due on my Grandma Z's birthday). My cousin Emily is also having a little one in March, that I will be watching; so between gardening and many, many craft projects I have in my mind, we have a lot to get ready for (and we are so thankful!).

Liz is also going to have a spectacular garden this year (lasagna gardening anyone?), and I would imagine that Clare Bear will be very helpful (I hope he has a pair of bib overalls! And I'll have to check if I have that pair of boots from Helen that will probably fit him this year, or else Mum has them, or maybe you already have them?). She is also working on a living room remodel, and what else? Perhaps Lizzie will blog this year...

Katie will return as the European Traveler, with a couple of months spent in Ireland and Italia. She will be doing some WWOOFing (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), hopefully involving cheese, and I would imagine some regular old galivanting (which can be defined as roaming about in search of pleasure or amusement). She will be in Ireland for St. Patrick's day and Italy for which celebration? ________ (I can't remember, so she will have to fill us in).

And perhaps she will be working on a Dude Ranch in Wyoming this summer (I'm not sure what her pseudonym will be at that time?), and maybe taking Truman out with her for a week?. Truman said that Aunt Carol is familiar with several Dude Ranches out there, so perhaps Katie, you should check with her.

Mum and Dad will be farming and loving on Grandbabies. And gardening and canning. And making cheese and selling Melaluca, in case anyone wants to try it out (http://www.melaleuca.com/). Is that the right website?

Okay, so that sort of catches us up. I think we need to blog this year because we won't be seeing each other as much (especially Katie, and what an easy way to update us a little when you have internet access, even just to tell us you made it somewhere!). I will commit to blogging at least once per week, maybe that could be a goal. We all know how fun it is to check the blog and find that someone has added to it. And remember, "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy," (Red Green). (Even if we're not all that interesting, at least we have the same kind of humor :)

XOXO to all! ~Becky

Zia Katerina ... and Charlie with his Pops.

Our little European Traveler has returned. She looks great- really just the same, only now she has pierced ears and cut her own hair. And it was so lovely of her to come meet Charlie right away and cook us some Italian Cuisine (even though she's still recovering from jet lag). She's had loads of adventures, traveling everywhere from Sicily to Norway, Spain, Portugal, to all over Italy and into the Alps. And now she wants to go back in 2011.

Also,
Charlie and his Daddy...

~Becky

Happy Birthday Pops!

From us!

Love,

your girls



*Was going through pics tonight and came across this one; thought it was pretty cute. I remember when it was taken. Liz is such a ham! And big sister- she's got her arm around both of us. Sometimes I wish KT was still a little baby (such control I had, now she does whatever she wants); wonder what my Mummy feels like... guess I'll find out soon enough!

~Becky

P.S. Wonder if KT's whooping it up with the Italian mob in Sicily yet?

Notes from Norway II...

Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 11:28 AM
Subject: Yes news!


> Hey Mumma,
> I have quite a story. First slept in too late to catch the first bus to
> Ron, but I figured I was there, I had to go for at least a couple of
> hours. I found the bus alright and left at about 1 in the afternoon. The
> trip was beautiful, as Norway is, and I stopped at the gas station to ask
> the dude working if he'd heard of any of the last names. Luckily there
> were some Lagruds in the area. It turns out that Tollef's youngest sister,
> Anne Wiste, married Syver Lagrud and they stayed in Ron. Eventually they
> came down and we met, I met Anne's daughter and grandchildren and
> greatgrandchildren. They are super duper nice and showed me the spot where
> Tollef grew up (the house is moved into the mountains). They do a little
> bit of farming (15 cows) and bring them up to the mountains every summer.
> They deposited me safely at the gas station to wait for the bus when I did
> something very stupid ... I missed the bus. I was partially my fault,
> partially that of the guy who worked at the gas station, partially no
> one's. See, to get back to Oslo I was going to take the bus at 8:50. Since
> it was Sunday evening the buses didn't run as late as normal and I had to
> first take a bus north before taking another one back south to Oslo.
> Normally one just takes a bus south. So, the dude at the gas station told
> me to stand on the wrong side of the road. I felt like it was wrong
> because I was thinking about it while standing there but I thought I
> should listen to a local since they would probably know better than
> me...wrong choice. I ended up calling our newly found cousins, only
> because I thought I could pay them gas money, they could drive my to a
> nearby town to take the train or a bus that I had found which would get me
> back to Oslo in time (remember I had a plane to catch at 10 AM the next
> day) but apparently they didn't believe me, tried to take me to a
> different city for a different train which wouldn't have given me enough
> time to catch a bus to the airport and so ended up driving me more than 3
> hours back to Oslo. How crazy is that? So, we need to do something
> extremely nice for them and they gave me an e-mail address and phone
> numbers and they have an ancestry book of the relatives in Norway (like we
> have for the states) and photos and are really really nice and interested
> in ancestry and that sort of thing. I'll send the e-mail address soon.
> Love you all! Katie


Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 6:01 PM
Subject: Re: WOW


> Hey!
> I am headed to Sardegna tomorrow so after I settle in i will send their
> e-mail to you guys and put up some pictures. After all of the traveling
> and preparing I am super tired. It is also cold and rainy here in Perugia
> where I am staying only 2 days. I go to Rome to bring some clothes to Alex
> before she heads home and then I will take the ferry to Sardegna, a train
> to a city in the south where I will meet one of the farmers and then I'll
> be picking strawberries, or so I think. Well, it is 1 AM and I still have
> to pack my clothes so i'd better do that. it has been so humid and cool
> that the clothes are drying super slowly and i don't know if dryers exist
> in Italy (they do, just no one has one).
>
> Love much, Katie

Notes from Norway...

I thought people would appreciate reading these. KT has been keeping us updated on her most recent travels, and it sounds like she has an exciting summer planned. Not to mention the weekend trips to Pompeii, Venice, Portugal and who all knows where else !?! that she has already been. I think she has been too busy to blog- and who can blame her?

So without further ado...


May 3rd, 2010 - 2:55 a.m. (MN time?)

I was in Italy this morning, but now I'm in......... NORWAY!!!!


Hello My Dear Family,

I am in Norway! As much as I have seen it is beautiful, but I`m still in the

airport so... I`ll be telling you more along the way. Right now I`m trying

to find a bus from the airport to Oslo and then I`ll get my train ticket

for a night train to Bergen. Write to you once I get there.

Love much, Katie



May 3rd, 2010 - 3:21 p.m. (MN time?)

Oslo, waiting, tired...‏


Hey there,

I'm surprisingly getting internet here at the train station where I am

waiting, and waiting, and waiting... for my night train to Bergen. Today

would have been super nice had it not been for my backpack and the fact

that I barely slept the night before. But, I made the best of it-I am in

Norway after all. I must say that us Norwegians in Spring Grove have

retained a certain Norwegian look about them: it may be how we walk, our

eyes, the shape of our face...I'm not quite sure but it is a little

disconcerting to be able to see a little bit of Spring Grove in a lot of

the people here. The landscape that I saw was gorgeous, kind-of like our

part of MN but better. I saw some fields getting prepared for planting and

they definitely need someone to pick rocks before they do anything else.

Well, I think I'll be heading to the train pretty quick. I hope the

bathrooms aren't too disgusting and that I can actually manage to sleep on the

way. I won't last another day of walking around if I don't. I was lucky

enough to accidentally run into a friend of Alessandro's on the train to Rome

and he let me stay at his house for a good hour or so and then another

friend came and picked me up and brought me to the airport. Too bad it was

1 in the morning and my check-in wasn't until 4:30 at the earliest. Myself

and about 20 other people can attest to the fact that sleeping on airport

floors is less than restful. But all went well and I pretty much passed out

in my seat on the airport, waking long enough to see some of the Alps (I

think, I was pretty out of it though) and then hear that we were crossing

Denmark.



May 4, 2010 - 4:22 a.m. (MN time?)

Bergen‏


Hey y'all,

As I write I am drinking a strange Ginger Beer that is actually quite good,

potent in the sense that my throat burns from ginger now, but I think it

will refresh me considerably. I've been wandering my way around Bergen

since 7 AM (it is 11 AM right now) and although I am enjoying the sights

(think of Decorah on steroids and you get Bergen) it would be a lot better

without the backpack and with a shower. I'm planning on finding my hostel

around 3, doing the shower and nap, then heading back out until I find 3

burly, red headed, blue eyed men to drink mead with. I don't think they'll

be too difficult to find as blond and red haired men are everywhere here.

As for blue eyes - I wouldn't be surprised if mine turn blue by the end of

this trip. Thankfully everyone speaks English here, otherwise I would be

screwed, absolutely. I can understand what's written to some extent (only

because the words are spelled similar enough, sometimes) but spoken, no

way. Also the money is way strange. There are holes in some of the coins,

bills of 100 and 200 krone are normal, and I don't think that there is a

coin for under 1 krone, no cents, no .99 bullshit, just straight up 299

krone or 34 krone. 1 US dollar equals about 6 Norwegian krone. My train

trip, however, was exquisite. It was chilly in Oslo, but not too much, when

I boarded the train at 11 PM. I fell asleep almost instantly, as with the

plane ride, but it was a crappy sleep and I'd wake up quite often. After

one of the longer intervals I woke up to see that it was snowing! And not

just a light dusting, real snow. As the first light of then morning crept

over the hills (this around 3:30 in the morning since we are so far North)

I could see where we actually were. I don't think it was a fjord properly,

but there was a stunningly gorgeous but brutal looking gorge on one side

and a sheer rock face on the other side of the train. The landscape

continued this way for the good part of an hour, or at least that of which

I saw in between the long tunnels. There were some houses scattered among

the streams and blue-green rivers that cut between the rocks and across

small, snow covered valleys. I saw a ski track that had been used by what

looked like many people - it was in a part that I couldn't imagine any

other form of transportation possible. I fell asleep for a good bit and

then woke again to a bigger valley with red barns and dark blue or green

houses. i tried to take pictures when the train wasn't going so fast, but

it does nothing to express the brutal beauty of Norway. Well, I've got to

figure out how to work the train system and get an electrical adapter

before I pass out.

Love much, Katie



I know we are all waiting to hear more, so keep it coming little one!

~Becky