Ugly ducklings

And now the big announcement...

The swan couple has SEVEN chicks! And they are not really the ugly ducklings the old children's tale would have you believe. In fact, they are quite cute, as you can see in these photos. While they may not be the cute pale yellow of many duck chicks, they are a nice white or gray. They are also quite curious. The parents seemed to bring them by Sidney's school gathering at Vaulen beach yesterday to show them off. They swam up to the beach, came ashore a couple of times for photo ops, then swam away. We think they hatched some time this past weekend, based on when we have seen the swans on the island where the nest is. Additionally, Kimber reports that the swan nest in town no longer has eggs in it, meaning those have probably hatched now too.

As mentioned before, Sidney had a school outing at Vaulen Beach, which is within view of our apartment, yesterday. The kids all had great fun, but I would describe the scene as somewhere between controlled chaos and cat herding. It seems the only thing that can settle down a bunch of preschoolers is the offer of food. At one point, Sidney was having a snack with a few of her classmates. There were six nationalities of kids all sitting beside each other having a snack! This is one of the reasons we came here and also why we enrolled her at the British school. On a side note, Sidney is learning a few words with a British accent. One of her teachers is Ms. Janet, whom she calls "Ms. JOH-net", and today she said she wanted to get into the "cah" to go home. She also prefers "biscuits" for a snack.

A hearty welcome to the new blog followers and those just visiting regularly. Also, it was nice to meet those of you that attended the class at the Chamber in Stavanger today. I will be curious to see if your experiences are like ours.

Finally, another visitor is tying up at the pier next door this evening. She is the Boa Deep C, which is a sister ship to the Boa Sub C that was their previously. She came in slow. No idea what will be done or how long she will be here.