Dancing...

Friends

Every Tuesday night during the summer, there is a free concert at a local amphitheatre. Nothing too fancy, but a great place to bring dinner, a picnic blanket and sit and listen to some tunes.

And the kids run around and dance. It's great fun.

The attached video shows Daniel dancing with some "big girls" who he has hooked up with for several weeks now, and also shows that Rachel can cut the rug with the best of them.

Until next time.

Summertime - and the living is easy...

Friends

The last couple of weeks have been a lot of fun around here. The weather has been fabulous, and that means lots of time spent in the backyard and on the cul-de-sac. We've biked over to the local beach a couple of times, and as you know - both Daniel and Rachel are complete water-hounds.

Last year's splashing pool is too small for two kids, so we inflated a larger one and filled it with water. The first day it was out, Daniel jumps/dives off the deck and into it. Not to be outdone (ever!), Rachel immediately does the same and stands up with the biggest grin you've ever seen.

Other water sports include getting sprayed with the garden hose as well as our first trip to Pirate's Cove (a municipal pool/fun center) of the season.

Rachel has grown a couple more teeth since last time, which she hasn't enjoyed much. She's also discovered two-syllable words, and can now say "melon". The poor girl never gets a word in edge-wise if her brother is around, though.

Daniel hit a bit of a milestone today in that for the first time, he was genuinely helpful when there was a job to be done (cleaning the garage). He's certainly been "helping" for a long time, but today he sprayed, scrubbed and vacuumed and was a real help.

He is a whiz on that tricycle -> earlier in the week, he rode it all the way to the grocery store and back (about a mile), and he would have zoomed around inside the store if Anida hadn't put her foot down on that.

And then, there's the fact that he added "Stupid" and "Poopy" to his vocabulary. If he'd been in daycare, this happy day probably would have come much earlier, but as it is, he got it from an older kid. We may have squashed the use of "stupid" as it relates to other kids at least - time will tell. Poopy - well, he's just looking for a reaction.

The neighborhood we live in is overrun by rabbits. You can see them everywhere when you go for a walk. Recently, the baby rabbits have been out. Rachel adores them, and points them out when riding in the stroller. Unfortunately, the cats seem to have also discovered baby rabbits, and have brought a few into the house. The first one we found when it was too late, the second one we escorted out of the house again.

Anida spent Father's day visiting Ms. Monica in San Francisco and had a grand time there. That left Eric alone with the kids. With the responsible adult out of the house, a party was called. So we had a bunch of fathers and kids running around. A good time was had by all.

I'll do a separate quick posting of some video from the local concert series - Daniel is quite the player....




When Eric was little, he had a red stool with this ditty painted on it:

This little stool is mine
I use it all the time

To reach the things I couldn't

And lots of things I shouldn't.

That about sums up how Rachel has embraced the new stool/steps. She can push it around the kitchen and with her long arms, she can reach *everything* on the counter. If she wants grapes - well - she'll go get grapes.

And that's about it for now. Until next time.

Love, A.D.R.E.

Norway and Sweden 2008

Friends

We've been away on vacation, and recognize that we sort of left on a sad note, so first things first - Daniel is doing fine and has fully recovered from that seizure. Anyhoo - we went to Norway and Sweden for 2 weeks in a slightly scaled-back trip from last year, when Iceland was on the agenda too.

The travel parts mostly went incredibly well. By the time we took off from Newark to Oslo, both kids were sleeping and stayed that way through most of the long leg. On the way home, Rachel found something to upset her and so she became "the screaming kid that gets glared at"for an hour or so, but overall the kids are seasoned travelers and did great.

The agenda was mellow, with several days down at Stugan with great weather and good times with the cousins, aunt Sara and Uncle Michael and of course Farmor and Grandpa. The boys had a good time playing together and Jacob was a good sport with the younger ones.

Back again in Oslo we got to see Jacob play soccer, and spent several afternoons at Sara and Michael's place. Great aunt Marjan (oh, she'll love knowing she's a "great aunt") was in town by chance and finally got a chance to meet the kids. All in all a "slow" but very rewarding vacation.



Rachel has gained a lot of skills and confidence in the last couple of weeks. She started singing/humming and has 2 distinct songs -> "Twinkle, Twinkle little star (trad.) and "We Will Rock You" (Queen) - it's hilarious to hear a 16-month old rock out.

Rachel really warmed up to everyone after a couple of days of being mama-centric, and had a great time playing on the beach and eating new foods. Her favorite activity is eating and she's good at it. Farmor cut her off after she ate 8 waffle-squares which didn't seem fair at all.

Other than that, her hair is getting thicker, and she has this massively scandinavian look going on with piercing blue eyes and a beautiful smile that get compliments wherever we go. She's very much into books these days, and will demand to be read to by making the book sign or bringing over her favorite picture book. She's also started to feed her stuffed animals which is a milestone of sorts.



Daniel got to ride on Leo's bicycle and thought that was fun, and by jumping on the trampoline with the other boys he learned how to jump with both feet at the same time (previously it sort of looked like he was jumping hurdles).

Daniel now understands the concept of a joke and has started telling his own. He tries them out carefully "How about.... SOGGY?" and giggles a little, but if he gets laughs in return, he escalates both the joke and the laughter. He thinks jokes are the best fun. He also makes up songs by substituting in his own words to known melodies. Some of these are better than others...

And of course, he also picked up some Norwegian phrases: "Hva heter du?" (what's your name?) was a popular one.

So that's what we've been up to lately. The touring schedule for 2008 is our lightest yet - we were originally going to take a trip somewhere in the USA in August, but that's off. We did, however, get a family tent and some other camping equipment, so we might do some camping.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Love, A.D.R.E.