Nate and Tanja: Mimi's Visit

Mimi came to visit for a week and a half in July. My mom had already been in Norway for a couple months by then, and my dad couldn't go because he is not a Norwegian citizen. There were/are lots of restrictions because of coronavirus. Actually I was supposed to go to Norway with the kids too this summer and our flights were cancelled. Since the kids are not Norwegian citizens, they wouldn't have been allowed in anyway. We made some fun with Mimi in Maryland instead. Nate was at work most of the time Mimi visited.

Derek trying to cut Mimi's toe nails:

The kids enjoyed playing soccer with Mimi. They took turns playing alone with Mimi. Each kid's turn consisted of scoring 3 goals against Mimi, the goalie, and then it was the next kid's turn. They did several rounds.

For several weeks, Derek had a pirate uniform. As soon as he woke up in the morning, he would put on his pirate hat and pirate cape. It was even good enough for soccer.

One day we walked to a stream under a bridge in Rockburn Park. The kids brought their nets so they could catch tadpoles. They were quite successful in their endeavors! Everyone caught a bunch and released them afterwards.

Some pretty trees along the walk home:

Mimi was too worried about Derek falling out of the tree to enjoy the nice mini climb:

Lydia and Derek got creative with Magformers:

We went to the beach at Sandy Point State Park one day. Karina and Lydia took turns burying each other in the sand.

All three of the kids spent a lot of time in the water.

Unfortunately, both Karina and Lydia were stung by a jellyfish while swimming. That made the beach very not fun all of a sudden, so we headed home.

The mangoes at my parents' house were just starting to ripen when Mimi flew up. He brought as many as he could in his suitcases. He couldn't put them in one suitcase because of the 50 pound weight limit, so he spread them over 2 suitcases. We were ecstatic for our delicious treats. Their mangoes are nothing like the mangoes you get in stores. You can't even begin to compare them. Lydia was the biggest mango monster of them all. Her belly never seemed to have enough mango in it:-) Everyone loved them though. We froze 6 gallon-sized Ziploc bags of cut up mango, to save for smoothies, and those were big hits in the weeks after Mimi went home.

We got a new couch! I had been wanting a new couch in the family room for ages. We now have something that all 5 of us fit on, and because of the curve, the people on the ends can actually look at each other and talk. Nate got tall backs and recliners, and I got the leather and nailheads I wanted.

We watched a movie with Mimi on the couch, so that was 6 people on it, though 3 of them were little:-)

The kids enjoyed playing in the little pool. Karina has outgrown it, but Derek and Lydia had a blast.

Another day, we went on a hike in Patapsco State Park to Cascade Falls. The kids did a great job hiking.

Karina and Lydia pretended to be Tarzan by swinging on a vine hanging from a big tree.

While Nate and the kids were in Idaho, I demoed our master shower. Lydia and Karina helped me paint RedGard membrane on the backerboard walls to make everything waterproof under the tile.

Here are Karina and Derek removing some tile spacers. We have good helpers!

A few days in a row, we had water balloon fights. Actually, Mimi was the target, since Lydia and Derek (and I) didn't want anyone to throw water balloons at them. So Mimi got hit over and over and over again. The expression of Mimi's face is hilarious on some of these photos.