B.C.(Before Children) I often made my own high energy muesli bars to bring along on trips in the backcountry. Nowadays, these bars also serve as a great energy booster for tired parents (I think you know what days I am talking about).

A plank and an elastic band is all you need to make this great boat toy! While waiting for Spring and the ice to break up from the lakes and rivers, Tiarnan and mum decided to make a boat toy.

As you might have already guessed, it was a crosscountry skiier and not a bigfoot bird who made the footprints in our previous blog.

At Easter the number of inhabitants in Sirdal increases from less than 2000 to over 20 000 due to all the cabin tourists. But there are also lots of other "locals" living here that tend to be busiest during the night time.

Hi...Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tiarnan (aka the Tiarnanator) the star of these blogs thst my parents write.

Another Swedish invention that has been popular in Norway for more than 100 yrs is the “Spark” or kick sled if you like.

Some of you may have heard the old saying “Norwegians are born with skis on their feet”. The medals we are winning in this season world championships in biathlon and cross-country suggests that this is not just an idiom!

With temperatures down to -27C there is not much for our Little Trekkers to be doing outside. The other night, we thought we`d take advantage of the cold, and created some colourful ice sculptures to brighten up outside.

Being the darkest and coldest period of the year, the hours for playing outside seem kind of limited. But being a Little Trekker keen on spending time outdoors, there are ways of easing the “house phobia”.

Hi, I`m Sara. I was born in the Stavanger Hospital on Jan 7th. Here you see me in the Spotty Otter Drift Down Chillibug, ready for the drive to the chilly mountains of Sirdal.

Our preparations for Christmas started early this year. With mum being due to have a baby early in the New Year, dad had to take off for Christmas tree hunting on his own this time round.

Finally, after what felt like a never ending monsoon, we have received some lush dry powder snow that brightens up the landscape and set everyone in the right moods for Christmas. The days are sunny and cold, perfect for playing snow scientists!

I expect most people here are familiar with the 'barefoot' concept that has gained a lot of traction in recent years. For those not familiar with the concept I will try to cover the main cornerstones here.

On a wet and miserable Saturday morning I noticed that the birds in the garden seemed to lift every leaf on the ground in their hunt for a bite. I felt sorry for them and came to think of how my grandmother always used to make homemade bird food all winter through.

Everything you need from a travel checklist for a long haul flight.

Being a first time mother, I was nervous about taking our baby on a long haul trip to New Zealand. To be honest I regretted the whole thing as soon as the tickets were bought! Looking back, I’m more than happy doing it again, all it takes is good planning and a positive attitude!

If there were any lingering doubts about whether summer was over or not they were certainly put to rest this week. With several hard frosts, snow falling in the valley and settling on the tops and the trees every shade of yellow summer days are definitely behind us once again.

September in Sirdal is the month of the sheep. For almost 200 years farmers at the coast have sent their sheep to Sirdal for a summer camp.

The days are shortening, the sun’s just not so hot and the trees are a dark tired shade of green with flecks of yellow. This can only mean one thing autumn is on the way and it’s time to hit the forest for some fossicking.

As far as I can tell nearly all kids love water, be it a knocked over cup of juice, a puddle, the sea, whatever – if it’s wet they are straight in there. Being late in the summer the rivers and lakes are now a great temperature for swimming, cold at first but nice and refreshing once you get going.

Our favourite place for a weekend get-away is, without doubt, Lysebotn (Lyse "bottom") village at the head of the Lysefjord. Recently we went there to see the world’s top cross country ski athletes compete on roller skis in the “Lysebotn up” competition.

One good thing about a wet and overcast summer would be the fact that it’s great for fishing! After seeing several friends posting pictures of delicious looking trout on Facebook, thinking they are having some sort of competition on who catches the largest fish, we decided to take on the challenge!

Tiarnan & Dad are super proud of Anita for many reasons but today we were especially proud thinking about the walking guide book she wrote and published recently. The summer before last Anita covered 100km's walking and re-walking tracks and peaks, taking notes, getting photos and collecting GPS information. A lot of which was done with Tiarnan in her tummy.

Even though Sirdal hasn’t got a wide range of fancy tea shops to visit on a wet Saturday like today, it does not mean we can’t enjoy a wide range of delicious fresh herb teas anytime. All we need to do is go for a little wild herb hunt in the woods at the back of our house!

Thanks to the very generous parental leave we receive in Norway dad has every Thurs and Friday off, during summer, to hang out with Tiarnan. So with the sun beating down at 0600 on Thursday morning Tiarnan and I were stoked. With so many options open for the day we agreed upon a plan over breakfast.

Being less than 50 metres climb from the summit of the “Troll Mountain”, the call to turn back was difficult to make, but what happened later, made it the best decision of the day!

Tiarnan is fortunate to have a great play ground that starts right out his back door. There is plenty of forest, a cross country ski & biathlon training area, lots of bluffs, hills, a hydro power station, dams, lakes, tarns and mountains, all of which are little visited. Most of our family’s outings take place out back which means no time in the car- yippee!

Greetings from Norway, for the British readers out there you can take heart in the fact that you beat someone in the Eurovision, us! While artists were strutting their stuff in Azerbaijan, we were enjoying the heat wave at Sirdal`s gorgeous gorge!

Recently we did our first long haul travel with our Little Trekker Tiarnan (7 months). We escaped the cold Norwegian winter and traded it in with sun and summer in the New Zealand Southern Alps. The long travel was an adventure in itself, especially with a little one.