Dear Friends & Family,
I left you at boarding the Holland America, Rotterdam. So, in our tribe of 11, none of us had ever cruised!!! We had no idea what to expect but, we were all sold! I don’t think I would enjoy a much larger ship but this one was…. just right! We had an inside room, and it was lovely and fairly roomy. They had thought of everything. Closet space, room under the bed to put your empty suitcase, the bathroom had counter space and places to put your toiletries. We had a mini fridge which was included in our package. We had two stewards that attended to us. We could call them 24/7 if we needed something. The food was INCREDIBLE!!!! Just the regular food, not the other fancy restaurants. We could have a sit down, white tablecloth service for breakfast lunch and dinner if you wanted. They also had a block-long buffet for breakfast and lunch. Pretty much every cuisine. They bake all of their baked goods on board-fresh! Croissants, bagels, bread, naan, pita…you get the picture. Some of you may know that Steve and I might be considered “food snobs” because we refuse to eat at Cracker Barrel-Whatever! But we don’t waste our time on bad food when there is so much good food out there in our beautiful world! They had congee, waffles, croissants, meats, cheeses, veggies, fruit, freshly squeezed juices, an omelet bar, breakfast tacos, OK, OK, you get the picture. The service was impeccable and the food superb. It was nice out the day we boarded the ship so most of us were hanging out at the pool.
The first stop was Oslo. We boarded at 12:30 on Saturday and were at sea the next day also. We arrived in Oslo on Monday and met up with our relatives, Tove, Catharina, Hans and Elias! Tove had lived with us for a while in Bismarck until she and her friend, Gunvor, found an apt. They lived and worked as nurses in Bismarck for a couple of years to strengthen their English. They spent a lot of time with our family and then Tove and her husband, Per would come and visit often in America and my parents visited Norway several times. Tove cut the cake at Steve and I’s wedding. She wore her Bunad. She lives in Trondheim but her daughter, Catharina, lives in Oslo and so she flew down to Oslo to meet up with us. We met in a coffee shop and then we shopped for Norwegian sweaters at Dale of Norway. Then we took a train to Catharina’s flat…it took us almost an hour to figure out how to buy tickets and get on the train. We finally got there and Catharina had all the fixin’s for a beautiful lunch. She told us the word in Norwegian which means a group of people that all pitch in on a project. She said we were going to pitch in to make our lunch. It was SO MUCH FUN! Well, Travis, in his excitement, cut his finger chopping but after that, it was a blast! We made reindeer stroganoff with a sauce of cream, butter and gjetost. We topped it with crushed currants with a little sugar and we put it on top of smashed potatoes. It was AMAZING!!! We also had a nice salad to go along with it. We all had room to set around the table-all 15 of us! It was REALLY SPECIAL and the highlight of our trip. I inherited 5 silver spoons from my grandfather that were engraved with a “M” for Melhus, which was my mother’s maiden name. I had them made into bracelets that saved the engraving. I gave one to Tove, Catharina, her sister Theresa, who was not able to come. Myself and my sister. I had Familie engraved on them, which is family in Norwegian. It was so special to be able to give them a family treasure. It was VERY HARD to leave as we know this will probably be the last time we are with Tove. She is 84 and has some health issues. We made it back to the ship on time and we all had dinner together in the dining room. Some of the food that we could order was escargot, filet mignon with green peppercorn sauce, lobster, crab, shrimp etc. This was just the normal dining room!
Day 2 was in Kristiansand. Our exchange student, Caroline, met us there and drove Steve, Paulette, Sara and I to a lighthouse that was at the southernmost tip of Norway. It was windy and within two minutes, we had sunshine, rain, snow, and sleet! It was so impressive that they have had a lighthouse in operation for over 400 years. In the 1600’s they kept a fire going on top of this rock. They had about 6 men who kept the fire going at all times. Considering how wet & snowy it can get, it was very impressive. It was so beautiful and the drive there was idealic. Caroline had made a reservation for lunch at a beautiful hotel. We had a lovely lunch, we laughed and cried and cried because we were laughing so hard! We had the most wonderful time with Caroline and are SO APPRECIATIVE that she took the time to meet with us. Unfortunately, she only had room for so many and didn’t have a car seat, so Dacotah, Seeley & Travis, Ryan, Jack, Kent and Lisa had to find their own entertainment. We found this little bar to gather at and the bartender was AMAZING! We would meet up there and kinda take over the bar. It was so fun that Kent & Jack were having a bromance! They would play card games and Jack was always looking for Kent. He went to their room and knocked and Lisa thought it was Kent. She opened the door and Jack says, “Is Kent here?” She said no, I think he is on the 11th floor. Jack takes off and runs to the 11th floor, can’t find Kent and pretty soon he is back knocking on Lisa’s door. Kent would be sitting by the pool and Jack would pop up behind him and say, Hey Kent, wanna play some cards? He also tried to beat the elevator several times. We would get on the 2nd floor and go to the 8th. Jack would run up the stairs and try to beat us to the eighth floor, the elevator door would open and we would see Jack laying on the floor gasping for air, but, he beat the elevator!!! We had family from 1 yr old to 74! It was truly a special and magical time.
Day three….to be continued….
Kiss, Kiss
Stephanie
Haines Happenings 
Love all the pictures! And that smiles!
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