Happy Holidays

Hello all,

I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season!

Our first Christmas with Anja brought some revelations that I'm sure all parents have experienced. While many of you know that having children will change everything, I think it takes awhile for the reality of that idea to really set in. Christmas Eve has always been our family night as we like to make a nice dinner and open our gifts afterwards. This year, I spent a bit of time preparing a nice fancy meal and just as we sat down to dinner, Anja decided she needed us. We thus spent the rest of dinner trading off rocking her so our food wouldn't be get too cold. Christmas dinner will never be the same!

At the same time, Anja has been sleeping longer and becoming more and more expressive. She seems to be more smiley every day! More importantly, she actually slept for 7 hours straight last night!! Shana and I both woke up amazed and grateful.

While it has also been a busy holiday, it has been great to see family. Shana's parents are in town along with our nephew Memmo. Memmo, short for Guillermo, is seven years old. We've spent a lot of time watching movies and playing with Legos. It has also been a bit of an educational experience for Memmo. He finally asked Shana what she was doing when she would take Anja in a separate room to nurse. I helped explain what breastfeeding was and how it was like "custom made" food for Anja. Memmo replied, "But my Mom fed me formula--why doesn't Anja get that?" I told him that while formula was good, it wasn't quite as good was breast milk. He then replied, "I think I would've preferred it that way." (It was at this point Shana and I decided we had to start writing down all these statements as he's got some great one-liners!) Kids are so innocent!

We're looking forward to Anja's baptism tomorrow and we'll post some pictures. If anyone is in town, you are welcome to attend. It will be at University Lutheran Church of Hope. http://www.ulch.org

-Erik

5 Weeks!

Anja is 5 weeks old today and continues to grow like crazy! According to our scale, she's about 9.5 pounds. She's becoming more animated and smiles often. These photos were all taken within the past week except the last one (which is one of her dad's favorites).

Look at me . . .

It's hard to believe that Anja is already growing. She's already over 8 lbs. and has certainly grown at least an inch and a half. Things are going well and Anja has been great. Despite a few sleepless nights, she traveled to Winona with us for a swim meet, has been on numerous errands and even came with us to get our Christmas tree, although she did stay inside with Grandma Erickson. She'll be on skis before we know it!

The next few weeks will be a bit crazy. Erik is back to work and has finals coming up for his Master's program while Shana will continue coaching. We're definitely looking forward to Christmas break when we'll have some time to relax - notice how we didn't necessarily say sleep :-)


Here she is checking things out. Her eyes are really starting to turn blue (even though they still look pretty dark in the pictures).

Our first stroll . . .

On Friday, Minnesota's warm weather offered us the opportunity to take Anja on her first stroll to the post office. As you can see, she was all smiles to get out of the house. She managed to conk out as we stepped out the door, but we're sure she probably enjoyed it as much as her parents did.

We are thankful for . . .

Anja! On her way to Grandma and Grandpa Erickson's house for Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Letnes and Uncle Steve. Much to her Grandpa Letnes' delight, she's our newest little Minnesota Viking.

Homecoming

Yesterday, we took our little Anja home. Surreal is a good word to describe the entire experience. Time basically stopped while we were in the hospital and to find ourselves walking into our home with Anja felt like we were stepping into a new world. Nothing will ever be the same!

Despite the last two sleepless nights, we both feel like we're hanging in there. Grandma Erickson was especially kind to watch Anja for a couple hours last night while Shana and I slept. It's amazing what just an hour of sleep can do.

Thanks to everyone for all your wonderful comments and well wishes, they are greatly appreciated!

We'll keep the photos coming and we hope you enjoy these new additions. We're quickly learning that digitial photography and proud parents can be a dangerous combination (how many photos of a sleeping baby do you need? :-).

Vi håper at det bli ikke for langt før vi kan reise til Norge med Anja. Hun må treffer Norske bestemor og bestefar og alle andre familie og venner. Vi håper alt går bra med Mariann og Terje også - sende oss en e-post når dere fikk tid til det. Kanjske en dag Anja og Elise (og andre?) kunne gå på folkehøyskole sammen! Jeg håper alle fra Hedmarktoppen har det bra og har lyst å høre om hva dere drive med nå. Takk for alle beskjed!

Erik and Shana

Say hello to Anja

On Wednesday, November 15th at 05:56 am, Shana gave birth to a beautiful little girl. We named her Anja Letnes Erickson (Anja is pronounced ahn-ya). She was 6 pounds 14 ounces and 19 inches long. Both mom and baby are healthy are doing very well! Shana did an amazing job, delivering naturally with amazing strength and serenity. She is already well on her way to recovery.

Anja has since spent most of the time sleeping and through just about anything. We’ve been trying to do the same, but with all the check ups and excitement, it hasn’t worked as well for us. As can be imagined, the grandparents are especially excited. We’ve also received many congratulatory phone calls from friends and family. Thank you.

We’re gong to try and post fairly regularly over the next couple months with plenty of pictures of Anja and her milestones. Thanks to digital photography, Anja is already well documented. Anja is not even a day old in all of these photos.

The Waiting Game

No baby yet! We've gone from expecting our little girl to be early to wondering if she might be late. We'll keep the updates coming as it could be any day (or any week). We feel as ready as we can be, now it's just keeping our nerves from becoming totally fried.

Winter is starting to make it's way into daily life as the days become shorter and we've even had some flurries. It won't be long now until we can do a little skiing! Although I doubt we'll be putting into too many KMs this year.

Oh, we should mention that we revamped how you can post comments. You no longer need to be a member in order to post comments. Just click the circle next to other or anonymous. Notice how even in 'other' the name and web page field are both optional. Then just fill in the word verification and hit publish your comment, after you have finished typing your comment of course. Hope to hear from all of you.

Still Waiting

No baby yet . . . but we're as ready as we'll ever be. Shana and I have been doing our best to enjoy our last few days of just the two of us. This past weekend we went and saw the movie, "Borat!: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." This movie is not for those easily offended. I think the New York Times review did a nice job summing it up. You can check that our here. I would say it's Monty Python meets Jackass, although not quite as witty as Monty Python. I enjoy satire and dark humor, but I could see how it could be harmful, especially for those who don't realize that the biggest joke is on the racist and misogynistic ideas and people themselves. This is especially poignant when Borat meets Americans who basically are the same or worse than he is.

We should also mention that Borat doesn't even come close to resemble someone from Kazakhstan. No wonder the Kazakh president has been angry about Sacha Baron Cohen's (the actor who plays Borat) movie and skits.

We also wanted to pass along a great article on the history of Circle Pines. Stephen Lee wrote an exhaustive history on our unique little hometown, but for those of us who haven't been able to read his book (ourselves included), the aricle by Christy DeSmith gives a nice little snapshot. I've linked the article here. The title, "A People's History of Circle Pines" is apt.

Red Barn CX Classic

My second year of promoting the Red Barn CX Classic was a good one. We couldn't have asked for better weather and we had a better turnout than last year with 104 riders showing up and a good size crowd. Moreover, we received a lot of great feedback about the race and everyone had a great day. I've posted a few photos. Check out www.skinnyski.com for more



We're already looking forward to next year's event, although I have to say I'm relieved to have this year's event behind me.
-Erik

The Last Month!

We're finally in the home stretch! The question is . . . when will this baby arrive?! For those who don't know, we're having a little girl. We have a name picked out, but no one's getting it out of us!


Stay tuned!

For Eric Meyer

May the legend continue . . .

Happy anniversary

Today, August 31st, marked our 4th wedding anniversary. We celebrated in style, at least as best we could, with a wonderful dinner at French Meadows in Uptown. It was great to slow down for a bit and enjoy a nice meal together. It will be interesting to see how many nights we'll have like this after the baby arrives!

We also would like to wish Ron (Shana's dad) a Happy Birthday!

Speaking of Peace Corps . . .

To our surprise, we also found out that Austin, Tom, and Matt were in town (all former Kyrgyzstan Peace Corps volunteers) after a week in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. We went to Famous Dave's in Uptown to watch Prophets of Soul, a funk band that one of Tom's good friends is a part of. Jeff (also a former volunteer) joined us as well. It was great to catch up!I had also just gotten back from an Outward Bound trip with a group of students in the BWCA. It turned out that we weren't too far from where Tom, Austin, and Matt were. Here are a few pictures from my trip.

Marky Mark is Back

Sort of. . .

It was a great surprise to get a phone call one early morning and find Mark on the other end. He was home for a vacation from the Dominican Republic where he is serving in the Peace Corps. We spent a Sunday afternoon barbecuing and playing some serious Bocce ball in Central Park. Here are some photos from the day.
Mark is doing some great work in the DR and if a link exists to one of his Peace Corps partnership projects I'll have it posted.

Grandma's Marathon

It has been a little over two months since we ran Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, but I thought I'd finally post some pictures. Guest commentary anyone?

The Boys

We're hoping our two nephews will be able to see some of the fun pictures we took when they were visiting us. We had a great time and it gave us a preview of life with children.




Here's Antonio doing what he does best!

Here's the two boys in our backyard.
It was also a lot of fun to mess around with our new digital camera. So far it has been great! We had a great time taking silly pictures full of nose picking, goofy eyes, stretched lips and dangling tongues.


One last shot of the boys with some classic bunny ears. As you can tell, we were having fun and we'll be looking forward to their next visit.


Hopefully they'll remember to be good! :-)

Highlights of France and Belgium

Honfleur
Considered to be one of the birth places of Impressionism, we loved this small Norman fishing village. This harbor is right in the center of town. There is also a wonderful park that pays tribute to all of the artists and patrons of the arts who worked in Honfleur. They have even created a water garden right next to the bust of Monet.

We also met a wonderful artist named Julien Schuster, whom we purchased a painting from. He has a website you can check out: http://www.julienschuster.com/


The American Cemetery
As a history teacher, I was especially interested in seeing the beaches of Normandy. We visited the American cemetery with over 9,000 graves. It was incredibly powerful. The cemetery is immaculately kept up and is an apt resting place for the fallen. The French are palpably grateful for the American, Canadian, and British sacrifices.

We also visited the German cemetary which is home to 22,000 (and that is not the only one in France) fallen German soldiers.
After visiting the Caen Memorial Museum and these two cemeteries, you are hit with the immense loss of human life and have to wonder why we still can't find better ways to solve our differences.


Mont-St-Michel
Mont-St-Michel is an immense church located on a small rocky island off the coast of Norman France. This picture doesn't do it justice, as it only shows a small chapel at the foot of the island. During low tide, you can walk around the mud flats that surround the island. During high tide, the water reaches the steps of the chapel and Erik (in the picture) would be in well over his head! Believe it or not, there is also quicksand in the mud flats and Erik was doing his best to find some.

Nowadays, they have built a causeway out to the island to bring in the tourists. While it was an incredible sight, it is indeed a tourist trap!


Chateau de Chenonceau
Probably one of the most picturesque chateaus in France. It was orginially built as a castle and then continually expanded until they eventually built it to span the river. Only a tower exists from the original castle, but it is quite spectacular. Chenonceau is also unique in that it was mainly run and developed by women! Catherine de Medici was one of its most famous female owners.
The Medici family basically funded the renaissance in Italy, or at least the start of it. They made their millions from banking, but got into a little trouble when they were caught loaning money to both France and England during the 100 years war.
History aside, the chateau was beautiful. We rented a row boat and took a lovely little boat trip on the river and admired the gardens, wine cellar, and historic farm site. They also had a fantastic audio guide via a rented i-pod! Check their website for more info: http://www.chenonceau.com/media/gb/index_gb.php


Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium
We were always a bit rushed in Brussels, so by the time we finally found this museum we couldn't help but wish for more time. It is actually a collection of museums, ancient, modern, and a few others. The building itself is also very unique. We felt lost in it half the time, but it somehow worked and added to the experience. More importantly was the art. The impressive modern collection was home to this Dali (picture), a great Magritte collection, and a host of others. The museum also housed "The Death of Marat," by Jacques-Louis David.
This museum was a great way to end our trip and we can't wait to get back at some point!

http://www.fine-arts-museum.be/

Le Tour

We had a great time at the Tour de France, although it was a long wait for the riders to finally arrive. We thought about watching from the Champs-Elysees, but in retrospect I think we found a great spot (across from the Tuileries with the Seine behind us). I've posted a few pictures from the day.


Say it ain't so Floyd! Here he is on one of the first laps around. We're still hoping he's able to prove his innocence, but we'll have to wait and see. Like his mom said, if he doped, he doesn't deserve to win.


The peloton across from the Tuileries.


If you didn't know, Thor and I go way back and here I was congratulating him. Ok, actually Shana spotted him walking to his hotel and he was gracious enough to stop and pose for some photos with fans. I did, however, get to congratulate him in Norwegian!


Another shot of the peloton. Notice the Norwegian flags on Thor's jersey.