More Steps and Teeth, Some Driftwood, a Soccer Game and the Wexford!

Anja walking with her Nuk in hand . . .

Adam's "gift" (that would be the piece of driftwood from the San Juan's) made it home and into her stash of toys! :)


Six teeth . . . count 'em!



Julia (freshman) and Kristina (sophomore) are on Minnetonka's JV soccer team. We went and watched their game tonight. Minnetonka won (3-1), thanks in part to two goals scored by Kristina. Both girls played great in a game that Minnetonka dominated.

The winners, and the fans.

We drove right by my Mom and Dad's new house and checked on the progress (from the hill behind the house). Looks good from the backside!

Nine Month Specs . . .

Finally, mama lets me check out the dryer! Look closely, and you'll see a tooth or two.

Anja continues to be a healthy and happy baby . . . her nine month check-up gave us a few more specs for the baby book. She is now 29 1/2 inches and 19 lbs. 9 oz. (95th and 50th percentiles respectively).

Cheerios are a favorite snack. Watch out, or she'll grab the entire bowl!

Dinner with the McMahons

(L to R: Karl, Paul, Hannah, Laura, David, Shana, Erik, Anja and Marilyn)

Last night we ventured down (parts) of 35W to the McMahon's for dinner. As usual, we ate well, laughed a lot, drank some wine and learned a few kitchen tricks from Laura. Thanks for a great time and best of luck to Hannah who will attend Knox College this fall!

With our favorite photographer, David.

Laughing with Hannah (our other favorite photographer) and mama.

First steps!

We stopped at Concordia on the way back from our trip and tried Anja's walking skills out on Olin Hill. Though she didn't take her first steps there, she gave it a great effort. In the past few days however, she has taken several on her own which we're pretty excited about. (Not for long, say the seasoned parents out there!)

Starbucks Bares All

Imagine this logo plastered on every cup of Starbucks coffee, it could have been! The above photo is the original Starbucks logo. Undoubtedly, some marketing guru decided this just wasn't going to suit the mass market.The current Starbucks mermaid is a definitely a bit dull compared to this one.

The original Starbucks is located in Pike's Place Market in Seattle, WA. We spent the day touring through the shops and enjoying a great public market. Pike's Place is also home to the flying fish stand. I'm not sure if that's what it is actually called, but many of you may have seen the video segments on the guys who throw fish from one counter to another. It was fun watching them work and you can tell they really enjoy what they do. If you look closely in the photo below, you'll see a crab in mid-flight. The other photos are taken from around the Market and are fairly self explanatory.



For those who don't know, we got back into town last Wednesday, so these posts are a bit of a retrospective. Since we've been back we've been settling in and enjoying some downtime.

The Pig War

Many of my generation fondly recall an early computer game called Oregon Trail. It was a game that was supposed to teach you about the westward expansion of the United States. You had to get your family to the Willamette Valley and along the way you encountered the typical challenges of life on the trail. As a 7th grader, all I really recall is shooting giant bison and elk only to find out I could only carry 100 pounds of meat back to my wagon.

In retrospect, I realized I knew nothing about what Oregon actually meant back then. Unlike today, Oregon consisted of not only the present state, but also of Washington and Idaho, parts of Montana and Wyoming, and the province of British Columbia. Evidently this territory was at first owned jointly by the Brits and us Yanks. However, it didn't take long for good 'ol manifest destiny to rear her ugly head. Of course it was our land! A treaty was ultimately signed that gave us everything below the 49th and England everything above, except for Vancouver Island. The boundary would then extend through the middle of the channel between the continent and the island. The problem was, there were two channels and the treaty didn't specify which one. Enter the pig.



It so happens the San Juan islands are in this disputed territory. Depending upon which channel you use, it belonged to either the British or the Americans. The San Juan's were named after some New Spanish viceroy in the late 1700s because some Spaniard saw it first. By first of course, we mean the first person who didn't already live there. Anyway, it didn't take long for both a British and American camp to be set up on the same island. To make a long story short, an American shot a British Pig, the farmer demanded to be repaid and the American said, "up yours," or something like that. Despite his tough words, the American citizens called for army protection and in rolls Captain Pickett (later General Pickett for you Civil War buffs). The Brits send in three war ships to try and get rid of Pickett. No one budges, nothing really happens except angry stares and probably some good insults. Finally General Scott arrives and calms down the situation. Eventually, Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany settles the dispute and gives the Americans the Islands. Sorry Brits, I'm sure the power struggle in Europe during the late 1800s had nothing to do with the decision.




Today the islands are a top tourist destination. We took a day trip out to the San Juan Island with our gracious hosts and good friends from the Peace Corps, Adam and Laura Braddock. This island is home to Lime Kiln State Park, which is one of the best places to view Orca whales from land. While we didn't see any, we still enjoyed the views and got a couple of good pics of the shoreline and lighthouse. The Red Madrona trees that line the shores are also pretty amazing. It is almost as if the tree does not have bark it is so incredibly smooth.

The ferry ride out to the island was also a great experience in itself. While the weather didn't totally cooperate, it wasn't bad. Anja seemed to enjoy herself and appreciated all the extra attention she received. She took numerous trips around the deck of the ferry and is getting incredibly close to walking on her own. I hope you enjoy the photos and that you found the short history enjoyable. After all, how many stories are there that include a Spaniard, the Americans, the British, Kaiser Wilhelm, and a pig.
ps. You can download the original Oregon Trail here. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm assuming it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

Stanley Park is full of crazy seagulls

While in Vancouver we spent the better part of a day touring through Stanley Park. This is an absolutely amazing park and we both wished we had our bikes with us or at least the opportunity to run the trails. First of all, Stanley Park is huge! While there are a number of amenities, there is also plenty of forest and natural spaces. While we weren't able to check out the aquarium, the beaches, or some of the great little water parks for kids, we did get to do some hiking through what seemed like typical Northwest forests and along some of the coastal trails.

While I can't speak for the rest of the wildlife in the park, the seagulls are something else. Well at least one was. We stopped at a small cafe for lunch and ordered a couple of panini sandwiches. Shana and I have begun taking turns when eating at a cafe. One of us entertains Anja while the other eats, it works pretty well. In any case, a lone seagull landed near us eying my sandwich the whole way. I shooed it away and thought that was the end of it. I finished a third of my sandwich turned in my chair to take over entertaining Anja and Whoosh! right over my shoulder the seagull struck. I hadn't even left my seat and this seagull had the nerve to snatch a third of my sandwich right under my nose.

Unfortunately we didn't have the best weather in Vancouver. Although the city's tourism literature does its best to reassure you that it is sunny in the summer, we only had glimpses of the sun. However, we didn't let the weather get us down. We spent some time shopping and touring the city. We even picked up a Haida art print called 'salmon people.' The traditional art of the Pacific Northwest is beautiful and we enjoyed checking out a number of galleries. I'll post a photo of our print along with the legend some point in the future.

We also got to check out the Vancouver Art Gallery and saw the exhibit, "Monet to Dali: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Art Museum." Shana and I both greatly enjoyed the exhibit as it followed the historical journey from the original impressionists all the way to the surrealists. The photo to the left is a clock that is outside the museum counting down to the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.


A big thanks to Nathan Gossai for identifying the yellow bird below as the Western Tanager. In that spirit, we have two additional challenges. Name that fungus and name that flower. We found both of these in Stanley Park, and have no idea what they are. Any help is appreciated.


To leave you all with a final little anecdote. The quote of the trip comes from a grungy looking vagabond we ran into one evening. We were on our way to the skytrain and Anja was in full force testing out her voice, "bah bah bah bah bah." As we crossed paths with this character he says, "that's what I said, and they arrested me for drunkenness."

Anja in Vancouver

We had a great day in Vancouver! We spent the majority of our time touring Stanley Park, did some shopping downtown, toured some of the waterfront parks, and took a ride on the seabus. We'll try and post some more photos when we get back home. However, here's a photo you might call, "Anja with leaf." Very original title, I know. It was taken late this afternoon when when the sun was almost peaking through the clouds in a park near the waterfront. She is so much fun to watch as she checks out this world! I should also mention she has another tooth, bringing her total to four. Tomorrow we're off to the art museum, outdoor shops, and maybe some art galleries.

Out West

Shana, Anja, and I have been having a great trip thus far! We are currently in Spokane, Washington and we head to Everett, WA tomorrow and then on to Vancouver. Anja has been a trooper, despite an additional tooth and what looks like more on the way. She has also really started to cruise around on her feet. While she's balanced a few times on her own, she is walking all over the place with help. Here she is with Grandpa Erickson near the Lower Falls in Yellowstone.

We are also relieved to hear that to our knowledge, all our friends and family are safe and sound after the 35W bridge collapse. We were shocked to hear of it and our hearts go out to all those who have suffered from this tragedy.

Our trip started out with a brief visit to Alexandria, Minnesota where we saw Shana's grandmother. Beverly was looking much better and she was in good spirits. From there we spent our first night in Dilworth, Minnesota with a wonderful stay at the Traaseths, Erik's godparents. As always the food was great and so was the conversation. Al and Jan even gave us a great restaurant recommendation and we are looking forward to eating at Confluence in Prescott, Wisconsin sometime when we got back.

Our next stop was Fort Smith, Montana where we met up with the rest of my family. Fort Smith lies at the start of the Bighorn river, which could be the premier trout river in the world. There are some 5,000 catchable fish, meaning they would be worth keeping, per square mile, and that is a conservative estimate. While Fort Smith is basically a small village just filled with fishing guides and shops, it was originally created to house the workers building the damn. Once the damn was finished, the town basically dried up. Fly fishing is probably the largest reason for the town's existence today. Evidently Dick Cheney came to Fort Smith and shut down a good stretch of the Bighorn river so he could fish it a year or so ago. Hopefully Dick was a better fisherman than hunter . . . somehow I doubt it. He probably used a spinner reel anyway (using a spinning reel on a trout stream might as well be blasphemous). For our part, we had some decent luck despite some tough fishing conditions. My dad and brother fared the best and I at least caught one fish. Shana even gave fly fishing a try and we were impressed by her natural talent. For anyone who has ever attempted fly fishing, it is not something most people can just pick up in a day and while I might be a bit biased, lets just say Shana isn't most people. The photo above is my dad in action while the two below, from left to right, are a section of the Bighorn river near 3-mile and the local baptist church in Fort Smith around sunset.


The best part of this portion of our trip, at least for me, is that we were joined by my brother. Karl is currently living the ultimate bachelor lifestyle in Japan where he is in the JET program. He is also a total surf bum, if the picture didn't make that perfectly clear, and just does his own thing. We really haven't seen him for over 2 years so it was great to do some catching up.

From Fort Smith we headed to Roscoe, Montana where we stayed with the Arthuns. We had great fun and we extend a huge thanks to our wonderful hosts. We went on a great little day hike up to Slough Creek where we got a little fishing in as well. The photo above is of my brother from across the lake. Mountain lakes can be a lot of fun and we managed to catch a decent number of cutthroat trout. By we, I really mean everyone else as I wasn't able to land a fish on this occasion.

From Roscoe it was on to Yellowstone and Anja's first camping experience. This was our last stop with the Erickson's. We enjoyed some great fishing on Slough Creek and saw a good deal of wildlife. If anyone can identify the yellow bird in the picture to the right we'd love to know what it is. The big adventure was camping with Anja. The photo on the left shows her cruising around the campsite. To give ourselves some extra space we borrowed my parents old expedition tent. It was fantastic until it started to rain and we found out that the once premier tent now leaks. Luckily it was a short rain and we are able to keep ourselves and Anja warm and dry. She was a real trooper, especially considering she was also in the process of getting her second tooth.
After the first day of fishing and getting settled in, we toured some of the sights. The above photo is the lower falls of the Yellowstone canyon. For the second night we stayed at the Roosevelt lodge in a quaint little cabin. It was a great little one room cabin with a little wood stove and all. While it was nice for us, I'm sure Anja also appreciated it as she was really in the process of cutting her second tooth and it was sure giving her some grief. The photos below are of a wildflower in some valley Northwest of Tower and a closeup of Anja walking around with Grandpa near the Lower Falls.


I also did a bit of reconnaissance work for a winter ski trip across the park. In the winter of 2009 I, along with some other adventurous souls, will cross country ski from the Southern edge to the Northern edge of the park. I got a lot of good information from the Rangers and now the major challenge is simply deciding which route to take. There really are just too many good options!

From there we said goodbye to my parents and brother and headed off to Bozeman where we stayed with Eric and Elizabeth Gilje, college friends of Shana and mine. It was great to catch up with them and to introduce Anja. We look forward to staying with them again on our way back. Eric also introduced me to some great Montana beer and I'm excited to get my hands on some more of that as well!
We'll try and post a bit more regularly as I believe we'll have more regular internet access for the remainder of our trip. We'll have to see.