Flagstads

The boys in Norway

2011-09-08T03:51:00.001-07:00

Ahh - Lake Dunmore

2011-08-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

These pictures are from the end of July. I am heading back there tonight to spend a week before heading to Norway. Got the last piece of metal on the roof last night so now it can rain and snow as much as it wants....

Roof is on - yeahh!!

2011-08-12T08:20:00.001-07:00

Roofing, a long story........

2011-08-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some updated pictures from the end of July and beginning of August. Just as we were ready to start putting the roof panels on, of course it started to rain......and ever since it's been raining on and off for the last three weeks. So it's been ind of slow going. With help from some very good friends we managed to get all the panels on before we went to Vermont for Todd's wedding. Since the roof was sitting there with now metal on it I decided to go back for a week to try to get it on before our trip to Norway....

DAY 1 Sunday July 24

DAY 2 July 25

DAY 3 July 26

Day 5-6-7 August 6 and 7

Prepping to get the roof panels on

2011-07-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

Today was day 13 since the timbers and panels arrived and only the second day of rain so we have been pretty lucky with the weather. Our friends Flash, Katharine and Sisu left a few days ago, their help and guidance has been incredible, we are forever thankful for their help with this project. We are prepping to get the roof panels on so we are safe from the weather. There is one more wall pane, the reminding tongue and groove and a few other details that need to be in place before we can set the big roof panels with the crane. The roof panels are 8 feet by 17 feet and there is 10 of them.....
We will do it either mid week or next weekend depending on the crane operators schedule. So far we everything has been going pretty smooth with no major injuries or accidents.

Frame is up walls are going up quick

2011-07-14T01:01:00.000-07:00

The last 10 days have been a whirlwind of getting things together for the house building project. I feel like a contractor. We are behind on picture updates of the frame raising. We do have a frame up and started to set some walls the last few days. These walls are called SIP panels (Structured Insulated panels) they are extremely energy efficient since there are hardly any wood in the walls only insulation.
Pretty soon we will be in our main house doing electrical work and plumbing to get it ready to be lived in - can't wait
Aksel had his first birthday July 10th and we celebrated with Norwegian birthday cake. Master builder Flash and Katharine was her with their daughter Sisu helping Aksel eat the cake

Timbers arrive

2011-07-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

Housebuilding.......there is light at the end of the tunnel!

2011-07-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry we have not posted pictures in a while. lots of exciting things have happened the last two months We have been very busy (as usual) getting ready for this summers housebuilding. Now that I am no longer working at UAA my new job is to finish building our house and we are making great progress. Last fall we covered the new basement with a tarp after finishing laying down a ceiling for the basement that included wiring for lights and fire alarms.
This winter and spring we started to finish the basements two bedrooms and the bathroom. The two bed rooms are done and we moved down there. This winter we also made plans for the main house that goes on top of this basement and fast forward we are raising the timber for the frame of the main house as I am typing this. we will update pictures daily of the progress, to catch up I will post some pictures of the last few days
Enjoy!

Playing inside and outside

2011-04-02T01:40:00.001-07:00

Visitors from Sitka, Alaska

2011-03-27T00:51:00.001-07:00

Natalie and Erik visited us from Sitka in South East Alaska. They have two wonderful boys Stratton and Sage - and they are twins. The kids had a lot of fun playing together, so did the grownups.

Sage

Stratton

Alive and kicking!

2011-03-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

More Christmas pictures

2011-01-02T23:03:00.001-08:00

Jul med Aksel and Vebjorn

2010-12-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T11:52:00.000-08:00

After 3 weeks of real winter, lots of snow and great skiing we had three days of rain and 40 degree temps. It got so icy on the roads that school was closed for 3 days straight. We pretty much stayed home and avoided ending up in the ditch. Skates would have been the best mode of transportation.....Today on Thanksgiving day it's cold and snowing again, 6 inches and counting.

Happy Thanksgiving from the four of us!

Get well Gramp!!!

2010-11-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

Get well soon Gramp, love from Aksel, Vebjorn, Trond and Lindsey

Aksel and Vebjorn - sjarm troll

2010-11-12T00:12:00.000-08:00

Halloween

2010-11-08T23:49:00.000-08:00

Halloween at Vebjorns school

Vebjorn and Hatcher

Lindsey made a green kitty cat costume for Vebjorn because he wanted to be a cat.

Waiting for candy from the sky....

Chickens are great!

2010-10-20T00:21:00.001-07:00

To follow up on the chickens we got in May, they are now grown up and laying eggs. Seven out of eight are laying so we might have one rooster. So far he has been pretty quiet in the morning so we are not sure. The eggs are delicious. Happy chickens = good tasting eggs. We let them out on our two grass roofs and they were pretty happy grazing along until a hawk and some eagles came along. Burre helps fend off predators but we are not sure if it's to be nice to the chickens or because he wants them to him self. We still have eight chickens so no worries!

Charming kids

2010-10-01T00:26:00.000-07:00

Vebjorn, Lindsey, Aksel and Springer

Aksel with the suit Britt knitted for Vebjorn

Vebjorn helping with bread baking

Aksel in his 12century under armor...

Vebjorn is a charming young boy and a goofy boofy guy!

Aksel

My three favorite people

Aksel with home knitted socks from Germany (the Hiemer family)

Vebjorn and Aksel are best friends

Very proud big brother

Life is better at the lake

2010-08-26T10:48:00.001-07:00

Aksel's first taste of Lake Dunmore

Trond and his boys

2010-08-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

a little kiss for Aksel

Swimming!

Aksel is a little devil

Trond and Vebjorn at the old boathouse foundation

Family and Friends

2010-08-24T12:08:00.001-07:00

Great grandpa Smith, Aksel and Trond

Say, Luke, Vebjorn, Linds, Aksel, Freya and Trond

Cousin Bob and Uncle Thwing providing entertainment

Steinar and Britt with their new grandson

Family time at the Fish Hatchery

2010-08-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

(isn't that where everyone spends family time?)

This picture reminds me of Uncle Thwing...

Aksel getting bigger

Kennebunkport

2010-08-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

Vebjorn discovers that the ocean is salty!

What's a vacation without a triathalon?

2010-08-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

Bike - Swim - Run
A.K.A. Carr Lane (my dad) Simon (my other dad) and Trond

Taming a wild marshmallow

2010-07-26T00:22:00.000-07:00

the obligatory first bath pictures

2010-07-26T00:12:00.000-07:00

hanging out on the sheepskin

2010-07-26T00:09:00.000-07:00

slightly crosseyed

our little goal post

These are my looks...

2010-07-26T00:07:00.000-07:00

Serious

Not so serious

watching movies on rainy days

2010-07-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

Welcome Aksel Alden Flagstad!

2010-07-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

Here's our new little guy!
Born July 10, 2010, 9 pounds 3 ounces, very healthy :)

With Grandma Cindy.

Our first big outing to the top of Mt. Alyeska (we took the tram).

The sling is the thing.

Lucky to live in Alaska.

Homecomming

2010-07-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

Vebjorn is officially a big brother.

The nuclear family.

Vebjorn, Grandma Cindy and Aksel.

Proud Papa.

Mama Jen, Vebjorn and Aksel.

Happy.

Before and after

2010-07-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

building...

2010-07-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

Dinner on the roof

My first Alaskan baby.

Helping.

Random pictures from the last few weeks

2010-06-26T00:27:00.000-07:00

The cabin and the connector - grass growing in the front of the cabin

The shed with the chicken coop at the back "Free Range"

Nice belly

Lindsey is ready but the baby is not....

Vebjorn tried soccer with his friend Hatcher, two is too young.

This is what the basement of the main house looks like right now. We are building a foundation for the 3000Lb masonry stove that will go up on the main floor. In addition to that we are installing a Jotul stove in the basement on the opposite side from where this picture is taken. We'll update with more pictures soon.

Big Fish

2010-06-26T00:22:00.000-07:00

I went dipnetting with Per to Chitna and caught this king salmon. We didn't weigh or measure it, but it was roughly the size of Vebjorn.

This fish makes me look good!

What our friends do for fun

2010-06-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month our friend, Harlow Robinson, attempted to summit all 12 peaks over 5,000 feet in the Chugach, the range that backs Anchorage. He managed to do so in 22 hours and 42 minutes; one of the fastest times recorded. Harlow's latest exploit was to run from rim-to-rim-to-rim across the Grand Canyon. As you can see, he is an all around boring guy. Trond and Patrick Conway went out to meet him for the last stretch in the Chugach.

Burre contemplating the next peak

Trond, Harlow and Patrick at the finish

Harlow the Conqueror

Moonrise

Harlow and Patrick crossing a summer snowfield under a midnight sun

Chickens

2010-06-12T00:07:00.000-07:00

We did get some chickens early in May. First we adopted two chickens. Eli Robinsons 2nd grade class had gotten a hold of some eggs and were taking care of the eggs and watched the chickens hatch and raised the little chicks until it was time to give them away for adoption. A week later we bought 6 more chickens for $23 to keep them company. We spent some fun time converting half of our shed into a chicken coop and built an outdoor area - so now we have free range all organic chickens. We don;t know yet how many of them are ladies but the goal is to be self supplied with eggs in the future :-)

Mai 17 - Norwegian Constitution Day

2010-05-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

Vebjorn on the move

This is Vetle's old suite - it will fit next year as well

Handsome young man

Ice cream is a big part of the day

Sleeping in the drawer - one tired little boy

2010-05-08T00:18:00.000-07:00

One day we were wondering where Vebjorn was..........he just got tired of playing and took a nap - enjoy!

Weekend trip to Homer

2010-05-03T00:38:00.000-07:00

Lindsey had a conference in Homer so Vebjorn and I came along for a fun weekend at the end of the road. We did some beach combing and brid watching. Homer is known for excellent shore bird watching among other birds we saw Canada snow geese. We also ate some ice cream and did some crust skiing up where we were staying - 4miles from the beach
This is were we stayed in Homer.

The boys in the hot tub - we even took a snow bath!!

View of the bay across from Homer

An old Russian orthodox church in the small town of Nilichick

This is one of the volcano's in the ring of fire - Mt.Iliamna

Crust skiing on Portage Lake

2010-04-19T22:23:00.000-07:00

Vebjorn and Pappa

Vebjorn and Mamma

Vebjorn and Burre

Springer

Vebjorn and Pappa

Marianne, Jen and Lindsey

Ian with Springer, Cory with Hatcher and Trond with vebjorn

David (Ian) and Goliat (Portage Glacier)

Easter in Potter Valley

2010-04-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

Lindsey and Heidi heading up the Valley

Fun in the sandbox

Our friend Eli with his cast

Vebjorn egg hunting

Yeah, this is an egg!!!

Housebuilding - minus 20 - basement frame going up

2009-11-18T00:13:00.000-08:00

3 Epic November nights - minus 20 Celsius - one crazy German and one Crazy Norwegian = getting the basement frame up!
It's cold

Trond B and Toby

Toby with a smile

Our little work shop....

Very exciting after months of cutting and notching out mortises and tenons

Beams coming up

Hey - that's not housebuilding.....

Almost there

We used ironwood as a spline between two beams - oak pegs will hold them together

Halloween

2009-11-05T23:37:00.000-08:00

Vebjorns first real Halloween - he was a dinosaur and papa was...you guess!
We went to the Zoo and then to Hatcher, Cory and Linda for soup and play time

Family Trip to the East Coast

2009-10-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

We just came back from a nice trip to the East Coast. We visited lots of family and friends and had a good time at Alli and Russel's wedding. Vebjorn got to hang out with gram and gramp and super gramp Smith and great grand father Quackenbush.

Waiting for the T in Boston around midnight

Where is it?

We're going on the blueline to Fenway Park

We stayed in a Hostel in Boston - milk and cookies before bed

Robbie, Fletcher and Vebjorn

GRAND CANYON!

2009-08-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

A lifelong dream of rafting the Grand Canyon came true in June. Friends who had been waiting 15 years for their permit were nice enough to invite us along. We dropped everything (including a half-built house in Alaska and our young son in Vermont) to go.

16 days, 16 people, 5 oar boats, 4 kayaks, and 2 duckies...

Yes, there was also a bit of beer.

Redwall Canyon

2009-08-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Canyoneers

2009-08-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

I was not expecting that there would be this many side canyons or the time to explore them.

One of the nicest things about this trip was having time to spend with Trond. We did miss Vebjorn (really) but this was not the place for a 2-year-old.

The group strewn about.

Trond

Some climbing skills (or long limbs) required.

The lovely spots we slept...

2009-08-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

Waking up.

Sleeping down.
I wish I had a picture of the stars. It was a treat for us midnight sun Alaskans to see a dark sky bursting with stars.

2009-08-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

Trond and Flash documenting a moment.

Katharine and Flash on the Tonto Trail. Some of the group got dropped at the confluence of the Little and Big Colorado Rivers and ran 9 miles downstream to a prearranged pickup spot. The trail follows an ancient foot path along a shoulder of the canyon.

Trailblazing Barney

Flash bringing up the rear (= letting Barney find the pitfalls?)

2009-08-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

Another day on the river.

Katharine and I at the Nankoweep granaries. I can't recall when these were built - maybe 1,300 years ago - somewhere between modern history and stromatoites (see below). They were old!

Trond overlooking a classic view of the Colorado on our way up to Nankoweep.

Daring leaps...

2009-08-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Flash stepping out.

Thunder River

2009-08-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

Thunder River shoots straight out of a limestone cliff wall. We left camp in the early morning so we could finish this 7 mile hike before it got too hot.

All was dry red except for this bit of lush green.

Flash in Deer Creek.

Katharine at the bottom of Deer Creek.

Rock People

2009-08-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

Waiting out a rainstorm over lunch.

A stromatolite!!!!
The oldest fossilized life form known on earth!

Why walk when you can climb?
Katharine may just have a fear of level ground.

Good thing she married this guy.

Havasu Creek

2009-08-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

Does it get any more beautiful than this?
I was totally taken with Havasu Creek. We hiked an hour upstream an swam out. Todd and Nick could have spent days here doing the same.

Katharine running through the sun.

Through the looking glass.

If I didn't have such a distaste for those generic look-at-us-on-our-sunny-vacation Christmas cards this is what you'd all be getting in December :)

Boats tied up at the mouth of the creek. There was a torrential rain just before we headed into the canyon that threatened to produce a flash flood. Luckily, the water stayed aquamarine and slow.

Fashioniastas

2009-08-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Sam - this was actually one of the better looking hats in our group.

Trond - this was hands down the worst looking hat in our group.

My good hell it's hot!

2009-08-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

Matcat hotel camp - one of my favorites.

Cooling off in three springs creek.

It hit 116 F the last few days of the trip - too hot to do anything except drink with your feet in the water.

Last Lazy Days on the River

2009-08-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

It's just too hot to row sometimes...

One of the last camps.

Downstream to the sun.

Our great group (minus Trond who was taking the picture and Critter who had not yet arrived). From left to right, top then bottom: Micheal, Elaine, Flash, Katharine, John, Kate, Barney, John, Stina, me, Kate, Zach, Vince, Pi and Sam.

At work on the Iditarod Trail

2009-08-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

Looking for weeds along the Iditarod Trail (see March 2009 post). I didn't fully believe that invasive plants were in fact a problem along the trail until this trip. I was surprised how infested some of these remote sites were... a little depressing but good to catch before the populations become uncontrollable.

Fun to sign next to former Iditarod winners Aaron Burmeister and Mitch Seavey at the new Little Mountain Cabin (last land before the Norton Sound crossing).

Two heads are better than one.

2009-08-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

We stopped at many cabins to check for weeds.

One of the nice BLM cabins.

This was maybe my favorite cabin. It was in the middle of nowhere and had not been entered for years; the sort of place where you expect to find either a sleeping bear or dead body...
I did find other treasures; an old steamer-style trunk, hand washing tub and this beautiful bottle. I half wish I had taken the bottle, but I left it for you to enjoy instead.

Our helicopter pilot, Robert at yet another abandoned homestead. The best thing about this picture is that his t-shirt reads "Future Millionaire".

2009-08-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

A very dead and very bloated walrus. These are a treasure if you find one with the head (and ivory tusks) still attached.

The Nome coast. I was really taken with this area of the peninnsula.

2009-08-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

A classic village home on the Kuskokwim River in McGrath, Alaska

The unfortunately empty vault in the abandoned gold mining town of Iditarod (former population was 10,000!)

Since much of Alaska is on fire right now we got to borrow from the firecrew's bike pool in Galena.

At work in Aniachak National Park

2009-08-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

In July, I spent two weeks mapping vegetation in Aniakchak National Park and Preserve. This trip rivaled our float down the Grand Canyon - and it was work! Aniakchak is a moderately active volcano and holds the honor of being the least visited park in our national system, largely because it is so hard to get to. We were lucky enough to be escorted around by a little red helicopter.
A typical day in the field: wake up, gear up, walk out to helicopter, fly to plot, record plants for many an hour, fly home to cabin, identify collected plants, eat, sleep, repeat.
See the following photos for why I love my job.

2009-08-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

What I learned about helicopter pilots; they are all from Burns, Oregon, they all smoke, and they all like to impersonate ungulates.

2009-08-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

Sue getting the packraft ready for our trip across the lower Aniachak River. We managed to cram ourselves, two large packs, one shovel and the gun into this boat made for one. All was going well until mama and baby bear decided to cross the river in front of us. We did not stay dry but we didn't get eaten either.

2009-08-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

If I was a helicopter I would be a Robinson R44

2009-08-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

When I am not inventorying plants I measure outhouses

2009-08-18T07:53:00.000-07:00

Cassandra (our summer intern from Iowa) integrating herself to life in the bush

2009-08-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

Small lake inside the Caldera

2009-08-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

The cabin my field partner (Sue) and I stayed for the first week of the project - the helicopter picked us up each morning on the beach.

Vebjorn almost two years old!!!

2009-08-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

Back to building almost done with the foundation...

2009-07-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to pour the basement slab - just started to install the radiant tubing before the concrete covers it all.....
Raphael working hard - jack of all trades including a very fast nordic skier

Vebjorn home in AK

2009-07-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

Here is an update from the Flagstads. First of all we'll try to post more frequently now that we are back in AK. Vebjorn spent 5 wonderful weeks in Vermont with his Cindy and Carr Lane while Lindsey and I spent 16 days rafting down the Colorado River through the GRAND CANYON. Vebjorn started daycare last week, he is going three days a week and likes it a lot. His friends Springer and Hatcher goes to the same day care. Trond is working on the house getting ready for pouring a slab in the basement. Lindsey is out in the Aleutians of Alaska doing her summer research they are based out of a small town called Port Heiden. Pictures to be posted from all these adventures.
It's great to be back in AK

Finally home after 5 weeks with gram and gramp

Backfilling

2009-06-12T19:10:00.000-07:00

The most important part of the house is the foundation and equally important is the drainage and the water protection around the foundation so we made sure we did a good job at that

Foundation, bracing and the "big pour"

2009-06-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

Once again our "house" got turned into construction central. We poured the foundation for the main house on June 29th Yeah!!!! It took a tremendous amount of bracing to make sure the walls would hold the pressure from the concrete. I think we used more than 100 2x4 and a bunch of other planks and plywood.
Done with the dirty work on to the wood work and the fun part of house building....

2009-06-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hiking up Bird Ridge

Eli on a "big" backpack

Ready to go to Vermont

Camping and Hiking

2009-06-07T23:11:00.000-07:00

Vebjorn and Lindsey are in Vermont now visiting Gram and Gramp! I am just catching up on some pictures I wanted to post....
Next I'll post some pictures of the foundation, the bracing, the pour and the backfilling - very exciting stuff...

Trond

four flights later...

2009-06-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

Lunch time

2009-06-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hiking Burnt Mountain with Mamma and Grammy

2009-06-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

Vebjorn visits Lake Dunmore for the first time

2009-06-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Not so sure...

Hmmm, this big puddle has BOATS in it...

I think I'll stay and fix the dock for Gramp.

Gratulerer med dagen!

2009-05-21T00:11:00.000-07:00

Boys at the park
May 17 is Norwegian constitution day. Happy Syttende Mai! There is a little celebration on the Park Strip in downtown Anchorage each year where we all march in a parade, say nice things about Norway and eat ice cream!
My two little guys making quick work of their fancy outfits :)

Flags and footballs - what else is there?

helping pappa change the tires over for summer

2009-05-21T00:10:00.000-07:00

The not so little back bear who has been hanging around the house lately...

2009-05-21T00:09:00.001-07:00

Shower-ready

2009-05-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

I finally finished tiling the shower - the plants are just as happy as I am
we even have doors!

The boys go to Norway

2009-05-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Papa and I after a LONG travel day

Hamar, finally

little cars and big bikes

2009-05-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

2009-05-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

Taking some time off from soccer to check out the garden.

Why are these people making me wear a burka?

hey! where did all these pigs come from?

2009-05-12T20:16:00.000-07:00

when the weather was nice we....

2009-05-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

rode horses

Strolled by the lake

ate ice cream

blew bubbles

Elise and Vetle came to visit me in Hamar

2009-05-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

Headding home to Alaska

2009-05-12T20:06:00.000-07:00

Celebrating Easter with Mandy, Heidi and Helen

2009-04-18T00:50:00.000-07:00

Helping Pappa coach at US Nationals in Fairbanks

2009-04-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

Hanging out with Springer-Ringer-Rama

2009-04-18T00:27:00.000-07:00

These photos came from Jen and Ian - Thanks!
Men in hats

Tough guys

Driving the asiles - I tried this with the boys earlier in the week - it didn't work as well as it appears to be in this photo

My little bundle of joy

Easter Party!

2009-04-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

Vebjorn and Rowan skiing

Redoubt Erupts

2009-03-27T22:49:00.000-07:00

Mount Redoubt (100 miles southwest of Anchorage) has been erupting for the last week causing frequent airport closures and dusting the lower state with ash. We have been out of harms way in upstate (Fairbanks) but are looking forward to some interesting days when we head south.

Nome and the nothingness beyond

2009-03-26T23:19:00.000-07:00

Nome and the Bering Sea - Nomeites really can see Russia from their houses :)

Gold dredge left over from the rush

Iditarod musher - almost there little doggies!

Oosik Classic

2009-03-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend in beautiful Talkeetna "racing" the Oosik Classic
Mount McKinley is in the background

Burre is ready for the Oosik

My son the motorhead