A Midsummer Night's Boll

Last night we celebrated midsummer with a great big bonfire, and it has been tradition for the children to dress up in costumes for this celebration. Bollan was very sad that she couldn't find a pretty costume in time, but the evening turned out to be fun anyway :) We even built a teeny tiny beacon out of gravel! We couldn't light a tiny fire on the beacon, so we put a pretty white pebble on top instead :)

For most of the evening, Bollan and Glyptodon were both nice and warm snuggled up in my bag, plus it kept most of the smoke (and smell!) away :)

Though the weather was great, it became a quite chilly after a while, so it was nice to move a little closer to the fire than the rest of the crowd to keep warm.

Sadly for Bollan there were no beer around yesterday, but she did manage to steal a few sips of my apple cider. She's a sneaky little Boll!

Apparently she sipped a little more of my cider than I'd suspected, she needed a little rest by the road on the walk back to the house after the party :p

Cheers! Hope everyone had a good time last night, whatever you were doing :)

Come rain or shine...

Bollan came along to visit my grandmother this weekend, and she'd been looking forward to roaming around in her very big garden. Unfortunately it started to rain on Friday afternoon, and it was either raining, windy or wet all weekend. It's not easy being a little Boll, she doesn't like to get her bum wet!

Glyptodon also came with us, but he took one look at the weather and stayed in! But Bollan was determined to come outside with us and do a little gardening, so she made us dig up an old rain hat from the bottom of some closet. It's way too big for her, of course, but at least it keeps her nice and dry :)

On Sunday afternoon, just before we left, the sun came out for a few minutes. The Great Boll was very quick to run outside, but the ground was still wet, so she had to jump from plant to plant like a little Tarzan hedgie :)

We are going back there today, and the sun is still shining, so Bollan is hoping for a lot more garden fun in the week to come :) Keep watching, there may be more cuteness coming up soon :D

Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah!

Today is (or was, it's rather late now) the national day of Norway, the day the Norwegians celebrate their Constitution. Years ago it was made into a day for children to celebrate and have fun marching and singing in school parades, stuffing themselves with hot dogs and ice cream, and play lots of games. Of course Bollan and her family didn't want to miss out on the fun!

Here they are marching away on our sofa, with some embroidered giraffes cheering them on in the background:

Tiny and The Mouse made themselves pretty with bows in the Norwegian colors,  and Iggy got to lead the parade with the flag, look how proud he is (not to mention his mother, I suspect she's very happy that he feels a little Norwegian as well):

Piggen formed the marching band part of the parade, and was so happy about his new saxophone, he got a little carried away and did a little jazz solo:

Of course Diego overslept and missed the whole parade, but he woke up from his slumber on top of the frigde in time to join the others for a little celebration :)

Then it was time to eat: hamburgers for dinner and ice cream with chocolate sauce & peanuts for dessert. Yum!

After all the food they were all very tired, so now they sit on their shelf and relax with Alien on DVD :)

Happy Birthday, Norway! :D

Easter surprise

This morning this huge egg was suddenly sitting on our couch.

Bollan quickly came to investigate, she'd never seen such a giant egg before!

She liked the chicks on the outside...

But she needed to find out what was inside the giant egg.

It was Piggen! What a sneaky guy, he was probably trying to get all the Easter candy for himself...

Thankfully he only wanted to surprise Bollan, and he invited the whole family to share in the fun :)

Saint Patrick's Day!

Such a glorious occasion (and perfect excuse) to drink lots and lots of beer :) Green beer! Bollan, Tiny and Glyptodon love the color, though the beer was a little flat...

Dressing in green :) Iggy and Piggen has new stuff to show off:

Glyptodon, Humpty Dumpty, The Mouse, Cousin and Tiny eating green cupcakes that Bollan helped to make :)

Happy Paddy's Day!

Sharing the love

Bollan's devoted husband Piggen decided to surprise his dearest today, since it's both Valentine's Day and Mother's Day here in Norway. So, with a little help with the preparations from me, the crocheting one, he gave The Boll a little present. He's such a romantic little guy :)

Happy Valentine and Mother's Day everyone!

Happy Valentine

Bollan and her family all wish that you have a great weekend and a lovely Valentine's Day on Sunday, together with your friends, family and loved ones :)

Happy Groundhog Day!

Yesterday the world (at least Canada and the US) celebrated Groundhog Day, which is the day the groundhogs (or marmots) come out of their holes and have a look around. If they can see their shadow, it means that it will be winter for six more weeks. If there is no shadow, spring is right around the corner.

In the old European tradition a bear or a badger was used for these predictions, but of course The Great Boll would rather there was a Hedgehog day celebration instead. Here are some photos of Bollan meeting some real hedgehogs in the wild, an event in itself worth celebrating :)

Happy Hedgehog Day! :)

Bollan's Christmas holiday 2009

It was quite the eventful holiday this Christmas, as the whole family got to go along. Usually she comes with us on holiday by herself, while the family stays behind to watch over the apartment. Here they are all getting ready to go:

First they were reunited with some old friends, one of which is a very distant relative of the Boll from China. You can guess who that is :)

Then it was time for some preparations. Of course Bollan wanted to help, so she had us make her an apron for the baking. She loved making cookies in all kinds of yummy shapes, like bats, frogs and hearts. She wanted to make hegdehog cookies, too, but I'm not so sure we'd have the heart to eat them!

Piggen, Bollan's husband, naturally had the role of family Santa and had to get his own hat. Tiny and Iggy played Santa's little helpers.

When Christmas Eve finally arrived, the family even got a present all for themselves! Bollan opened it very carefully (because some obsessive people - like me - collect wrapping paper), and revealed a picture frame with lots of hedgehog pictures :) Later the pictures will probably be replaced with some of Bollan and her family.

Early on New Year's Eve she went for a walk on a frozen lake. It was a little scary, but the ice was about 8 inches thick, so there was nothing to worry about. It was just very, very cold. Good thing she had her vest to keep her warm :)

Best wishes

Bollan and her family and friends hope that you have all had a happy Christmas, and wish that the new year will bring you many good things and hedgehogs :)