.........gone with 2012 hello 2013

Jim here..............and it's the end if of 2012, it's 9 o'clock, both kids are tucked up in bed, dinner has been eaten, Alan Carr is on and it's a long wait till 2013! 2012 has been a really odd year and because we will be retrospectively publishing this it will come as a bit of surprise to some of our friends that it was back in February we committed to doing this, followed by a quick house hunting trip in march. In November we finally finished all the diy and decided to put the house up for sale assuming we wouldn't have much interest........which we didn't, except for the first weekend in December when we had 3 different viewings and one couple who came 3 times.....however no offers!
So our Norwegian map now looks like an invasion proposition from WWII with stickers for farms or houses we quite fancy, ski resorts, major airports, major tourist routes, prime attractions, surf spots........so I'm going to lay my cards on the table and list our search criteria;

1. Needs to be within 2 hours drive or travel of a major airport
2. Within at least 1 hour drive of a ski resort, better if less
3. Near an existing tourist conurbation or potential one
4. Within 20 mins of a school
5. Within 30 mins of a shop!
6. The house needs to have electricity and water
7. Needs some land ideally around 10 acres min
8. Needs to be reasonably habitable even if not to Norwegian standards
9. Ideally south of Trondheim ie not too far north!
10. Be affordable which is less than 80k!

Now I've listed these on the last day to of 2012 because both Kath and I are feeling positive and that 2013 will be the year we get things moving, the business plan is coming on and we've just put an offer in on a investment property to start the ball rolling so whilst we made the first steps in 2012 we hope in 2013 the journey will actually commence. Wish us luck and please feel free to mock us when our new property meets non of the criteria above............happy New year

Urgh!

Kids are ill. We are all miserable. They are both on antibiotics, plus the baby has been diagnosed with a possible intolerance to dairy.
Makes meal times fun, especially as his favourite food in yogurt!

Anyway, we are trying to plan a trip to Norway again, but until the baby's sleeping habits are better we've decided not to book anything.

We're trying to decide between Tromso to see the Northern lights, Lofoten & maybe go dog sledding or Oslo and go skiing. Decisions decisions.

Stage One . . . Complete

So the house is finally up for sale. It's taken a while, but it's all finished. Not had any viewings but that's probably a good thing as its a bit of a tip too!

We're now waiting for the rush of viewings! I think the house will take a while before it sells. But we'll keep our fingers crossed.

I've also got a job now. I'm working at the local community hospital in admin, and have just survived my first week!

House

The house is going up for sale. It's a big step for us as hopefully it earmarks the start of the actual move.

It's been tiring as trying to do DIY in the evenings and around the kids hasn't been easy, but Jim's done a cracking job!

It's been a while...

It's been a bit hectic in our house. We had a lovely holiday in Brittany. Mostly. The baby didn't sleep very well, so we didn't sleep very well. But it was lovely to get away.
Oh and he started crawling too!

And then the girl started school! She's done a couple of full weeks now, and seems to really enjoy it. She is extremely tired and getting a bit, well stroppy. She's started to call me dude. Dude? I ask you!

The boy has started using the peg leg crawling technique - it's hilarious! Think he's realised it's quicker!
Fun!

Post Olympics

Wow! I think lots of people around the world were expecting Britain to fail as hosts for the 2012 Olympics. Think we did alright.

The girl and me watched it most days, me for the cycling and rowing. She loved the cycling, rowing, diving, gymnastics, synchronised swimming, and equestrian, but was a bit confused about the judo.

Suffice to say we loved it and were very sad when it ended, but it does mean one thing. Our holiday is nearly here!!

It's the wrong sign

The House has been sold.

We really, really liked it. We'd been thinking about what we'd do to it when we bought it.

Haven't told Jim yet. Will be told that I should have gone last weekend.

Hopefully this just means that we've not yet found the house we're meant to have.

Hope it floods!

It's a sign

The house near Trondheim didn't sell at its weekend open day.

Surely a sign that's it's meant to be?

You're going to Trondheim. Trondheim? Yes. Trondheim.

Jim wants to send me to Trondheim. All by myself. To look at a house we've seen / fallen in love with.
To say I'm nervous is a bit of an under statement. I don't want to be responsible for messing it up, plus I don't want to go on my own! the viewing is on Sunday when he's running a half marathon.

We've looked into flights and hotels but although I really quite like the idea of being brave and buying a house all by myself, we've decided not to go now. If the house doesn't sell on Sunday (highly doubtful as although it needs lots of work doing its right on the shore) then we'll take it as a sign. Hopefully all the work needed will put people off!! Good thing we will need to buy the airstream caravan Jim's got his eye on!

Bathrooms

So we've been looking at a lot of houses on the Internet. And I mean a lot. I have noticed that most of these houses have absolutely shocking bathrooms. What's that about?!

Yurts

So as a birthday surprise, Jim arranged a few days away to stay in a yurt. Given that we want to run yurt holidays we figured it would be rather a good idea to stay in one!
The campsite has about 4 yurts and some tipis and has given us loads of ideas for our own venture.
However the booking process was quite tricky and again has given us lots of ideas on how to make our booking processes easier, especially for families travelling with young babies or children. Hopefully!

Olympic relay

So we're back home again and as usual there is loads of tidying and washing to do as everything smells of wood fires. However Jim had today off work so both kids went to nursery and we had the day off! We went canoeing at our local beach followed by lunch and managed to miss the Olympic torch relay through our village! Still the nursery took our daughter down to witness the event.
All said we all had a lovely long weekend but it's back to reality and food shopping tomorrow!

Saturday night at the movies? I don't think so!

So a normal saturday night for us consists of putting the kids to bed, watching whatever talent show is on tv and a curry. But not today. Today we put the boy to bed, eaten dinner with the girl and are now sat round the fire pit about to toast marshmallows.
Saturdays don't get much better than this.

Happy Birthday me!!

Today is my birthday. I have been truly spoilt by my family. And this afternoon after collecting my daughter we're going strawberry picking. Finally finished the day off with a walk around the coast path and a few drinks in the pub with friends.
Happy days.

Nice weather for ducks

May Bank Holiday and it's raining. Shouldn't really be surprised. It's 9.15 pm and I should be making lunches for nursey / work, but Jo Whiley is playing Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley and so I've stopped. The children have been in bed since 7, my mum is reading, Jim is working on our business plan, website and logo for Snowcamp and the ducks have just beem put to bed despite arguing that it's not that late!
For once all is peaceful.

Herman.

One of my dear friends gave me Herman. He's a sourdough cake. After 10 days of care and attention this is what he looks like baked!

Are we back in Bergen?

It's almost May, yet the weather reminds me of our trip to Bergen - cold, wet and windy!

Job interview

Despite our plans to move I need a job now that my maternity leave is coming to an end. So I'm waiting in my car for the relevant time to go in, and I am so nervous. I hate interviews. I try and pretend that its just a chat, but my brain kicks in and fight or flight follows and thats me full of nerves.

Wish me luck.

Bergen

It's a while since we went to Bergen but you have to love a city where pretty much everyone wears wellies.
We had a great little apartment which had a log burner (Jim managed to singe his eyebrows) and a lovely view.  It did also have a very keen traffic warden near by who ticketed us for parking too close to a road junction. Wouldn't have been so bad if the road in question wasn't a cul de sac, other cars weren't doing it and it was Jim's first ever ticket for anything in 20 yrs of driving - tee hee!!  Turns out, unsurprisingly, that Norway's traffic fines are expensive. £50 fine, plus banking fees to pay online total cost £85! Shan't be doing that again.

We did the tourist things - aquarium and the flobarnen, but the weather was so bad that we couldn't see anything from the top, still the girl enjoyed the ride up. I was a bit gutted as we went shopping on Sunday, but Norway is shut! Well shops are, and I found an all year round Christmas shop! Still Jim was happy.

Now, where exactly is the hotel?

We arrived in a very wet Bergen at 11 something in the evening.  Had to get to our hotel which was only 2 km away, but the airport buses stopped running 3 hours earlier, so taxi it was.

Okay so it cost an awful lot of money to drive those 5 minutes, but hell it was worth it. However, we got to our hotel, which was very nice, to discover that the cot we'd ordered for Ned wasn't there, and instead we had 4 single beds!
Jim got that sorted out whilst Maisie unpacked, making sure that her sleeping companions were settled just so, and deciding which breakfast cereal to have in the morning.

Motorway Mayhem

So we got stuck in traffic on the M3.  Massive accident, which closed 2 lanes of the M3, then within minutes another accident further up the motorway which closed the whole thing!

We sat there for an hour, the children - apart from a bit of moaning by Maisie - were brilliant. Then a chap next to us tells us that the police have said the motorway will reopen at 9pm. Our flight leaves at 8pm. It's now 4pm.

Thank god for the motorway police! By 4.30 they'd turned us around and we heading off cross country to get to Gatwick.  6pm we finally arrived at the carpark - never have I been so happy to see the airport.

All checked in, cleared security through the fab family lane at Gatwick - Travelling With Children - found some food, and then boarded the plane ready for the next bit of the adventure.

Preparation

My girl is ill.  She is trying to recuperate by watching Disney films.  So in between administering calpol and feeding my boy I'm trying to work on the business plan for our hopeful move to Norway.

I went to the pub last night  and did a bit of market research on our yurt / glamping idea.  Think the biggest issue won't the cold (yurts will be very well insulated), but bathroom facilities.  Need to think about where to situate them.  Have to say that the idea of walking to the bathroom through the snow and possible sub zero temperatures doesn't do it for me! Seen one company who have what looks like garden sheds in their yurts for the loo block - looks a bit strange - could we have a pod or a yurt-let?

Back to planning things I suppose - head is full of company names, websites, excitement at trip to Bergen, but also mummy worries about my girl.

I've been really busy

We've had a few difficult weeks, hence no posts, but we've not rested on our laurels.

We're off to Bergen in a couple of weeks to have a bit of a holiday, but also to look at houses!  Well that was the plan but the one that we both really love is no longer for sale.  

Still we've got a little apartment in Bergen for a few days, although we do arrive ridiculously late in the evening to we're staying in a hotel - always fun in one room with small children!

Jim has printed out lots of house details and has been in touch with some Norwegian estate agents, and shown his dad the details too.  He seems to think we're mad!

We've got so many ideas about what to do, but not the funds.  Apart from winning the lottery, I'm sure how we're going to achieve this dream.

I've found a house...it's in Norway

We've been on holiday to Norway skiing a few times, and it's a great place. Like most people we came back thinking how great it would be to live there, but we would never do it really.
My dad died a couple of years ago, and we got really itchy feet, so started looking to move. We spent ages looking for the perfect place to meet out requirements, but to no avail, then Jim, my husband, found a great house with 52 acres, a lake, a barn to convert - sounded amazing! He then told me
it's in Norway - we live in Devon.

We did move eventually, to a house in the countryside with half an acre, and a duck pond. The first winter there we even had enough snow to go sledging, but it's not quite the same.

So 2 years (and a baby) later, Jim found the same farm up for sale again, and the whole idea has kicked off again!

Will we be brave enough to do it; will we have enough money to do it; can we handle the hard work; will we stop being too sensible and follow our hearts to a farm in Norway?