Coopertown Elementary Field Hockey

My oldest daughter is finally able to play team sports in school and she decided to play field hockey this fall. 

I am happy to say that all the kids still have all their teeth, which is a miracle after seeing them play.  I hope I do not speak to soon, since tomorrrow is the student/ parents game.  This is from one of their games this season. 

Kaya

Kaya is my daughters best friend and a cheerleader for the local football team. 

She is a great girl and probably spent too much time with my daughter, she wanted to be done with the session after I had taken a few shoots. 

So here is a few of the shots I was able to get before she ran  away with my daughter:

Coopertown Fall Picnic

 So I have been neglecting my blog for too long, so now I have to try to catch up whit what is going on. 

When we moved here to the Coopertown neighborhood, we did not realize how lucky we were. We have a one of the "old Fashion" neighborhood where everybody knows everybody and always willing to help each other out. 

If my daughter bumps her knee, she will come home with a band aid: the older kids take care of the younger ones and the kids do not leave anybody out. 

We have several events throughout the year and in the fall we have the fall picnic up at school. We have a great band for entertainment and games for the kids. We all bring some appetizers and get pizza from the local pizzeria, and have a great time.

So here to the photos from the Fall Picnic:

Same band as always, and just as enterftaining as last year

Hot dogs hoggies and pizza, could life be better?

With all the extras

A few of the neighborhood girls

Father & son moment

mom, can I have some more?

A little drink before going back to jumping in the bounce house

One of the newest boys in town

Kids were having a blast

Cant for get the mommy and me time

Dancing is not only for the young

But for the adults as well

Hell

Hell Station

Stiklestad, Verdal

During the 8th century, Norway was controlled by several local strong kings having control over their regions. At the end of the century, King Harald Fairhair (ON Haraldr Hárfagri) managed, in no little part due to the military superiority gained by his alliance with Sigurd Ladejarl of Nidaros, to subjugate these mini–kingdoms, and created the first unified Norwegian state.

This alliance folded after Harald's death, together with the infant state. The jarls of Lade and various descendants of Harald Fairhair would spend the next century interlocked in feuds over power. As well as power politics, religion also played a part in these conflicts, as two of the descendents of Harald Fairhair, Håkon the Good and Olav Tryggvason attempted to convert the then heathen Norwegians to Christianity.

In the year 1000, Svein (ON Sveinn) and Erik (ON Eiríkr) of Lade took control over Norway, being supported by the Danish king Svein.

In the year 1015, Olav Haraldsson, representing the descendants of Harald Fairhair, returned from one of his Viking trips and was immediately elected as King of Norway. In June 1016 he won the battle at Nesjar against the Lades.

The major reason behind Olav Haraldsson's success in becoming King of Norway was the fact that Denmark was busy trying to conquer England. In the year 1028 however, the Danish King Canute the Great made an alliance with the Lades, and Olav had to go into exile in Garðaríki (Russia). In the year of 1029 the last Lade, Håkon Jarl, drowned, and Olav decided to return to Norway with his army to regain his throne and the Kingdom of Norway.

According to saga sources, he traveled with his 3,600 man army through Sweden and crossed the mountains into the valley of Verdal (ON Veradalr), 80 km north of the city of Trondheim. Olav and his men arrived at Stiklestad a farm in the lower part of the valley. This was where the Battle of Stiklestad took place, as described by Snorre (Snorri Sturluson) in his famous book Heimskringla 200 years later.

At Stiklestad, Olav met an army led by Hårek from Tjøtta (ON Hárekr ór Þjóttu), Tore Hund (ON Þórir Hundr) from Bjarkøy and Kalf Arnason (ON Kálfr Árnason), a man who previously served Olav. The peasant army consisted of more than 7,000 men according to Snorre.

The battle took place on July 29, 1030 and at the end of the day, Olav's army had lost. During the battle, Olav received three severe wounds and died leaning against a large stone. His body was carried away and buried in secrecy in Trondheim.

100 years later, Nidaros Cathedral was built in Trondheim, and Olav's coffin was moved to this church. In the 16th Century, during the Protestant Reformation period, Olav's coffin was moved and his remains were reburied somewhere in Nidaros Cathedral — exactly where is still today an unsolved mystery.

The playground

Mom was still best

Nidarosdommen, Trondhjem

Work on erecting the first stone church at St. Olav's burial site commenced around 1070, and it is assumed that the Cathedral was finished in all its splendour some time around 1300. It was then held to be the most beautiful church in the entire country, which we of course claim it still is! Admittedly, the Cathedral has undergone a great deal of restoration work after centuries of decay, but now, after more than 130 years of restoration and rebuilding, we can really appreciate the impression the church must have made on medieval pilgrims.


King Olav Haraldsson was buried by Nidelven, the river Nid, after he was killed in the battle of Stiklestad in 1030. Tradition has it that the high Altar of the Cathedral now stands on the exact spot of this burial site. One year and five days after he died the King was declared a saint, and pilgrims began to flock to Nidaros and the King's grave.


When restoration of the West Front started about 100 years ago only a handful of the original sculptures had survived. Most of today's sculptures have therefore been modelled and cut during the 1900s.