"Cheees!"

Anja spots her Papa with some string "cheees!"

Anja's new favorite "word" is "cheees" as her favorite foods, Cheerios and string cheese start with this lovely sound. She also calls her other favorites by this same word, including bananas and apple sauce. We love it!

Anja cruises over to plead for some of his snack (he gave in).

Anja is also learning the ins and outs of our furniture. All usually goes well, unless she really gets herself into a predicament!

Anja "swinging" on the drying rack. Believe me, I didn't put her in there!

Anja making her way out.

Free Balloon with Purchase!

We went to Trader Joe's today and Anja was lucky enough to score a great green balloon. Score one for TJ's! (For those of you concerned about her safety, we're not letting her out of our sight with the balloon!)

Anja has become a great little walker in the past few weeks. She's lost the drunken-stagger walk for the most part and manages to keep quite the pace!

See ya!

Just Cruisin'!

This morning, Anja and I discovered a new mode of transportation: her Pampers Cruisers box. She had lots of fun going back and forth across the carpet . . . not a bad way to spend the morning!

Anja's Party Tricks!

Anja has impressed us lately with her expanding resume of party tricks. They include, but are not limited to: high fives, clapping, waving bye, walking (kinda like a drunkard yet), etc. One of our favorites is pictured below---Anja shows us she's "this big!" at the dinner table. She's a fun one!

Ironman Wisconsin 2008 it is!

After Peter's phenomenal Ironman Wisconsin performance yesterday, I've decided to take on IM WI for the 2nd time next year. Let's hope it's not 96 degrees like 2005, because I'd like to knock off a couple of hours. Let the training begin!

If you'd like to sign up for IM WI 2008, it's already too late (registration opened at 11am this morning). See for yourself: http://www.ironmanwisconsin.com/entry.php !!!

10:42:17 -- WOW!!!

Congratulations Peter! With an absolutely amazing time of 10 hours 42 minutes and 17 seconds, Peter Nelson finished his 2nd Ironman today. We just missed his finish on ironmanlive.com by two minutes. Needless to say, Peter was flying today and we're totally excited for his excellent time! Way to go Peter!

Erik, Shana, and Anja

Good Luck Peter!

With Peter in March at our place . . . after this picture was taken, he sang the Badger fight song to Anja . . . how sweet! :)

Our good friend Peter Nelson will be competing in Ironman Wisconsin this Sunday. This is Peter's 2nd 140.6 mile event and we wish him the best of luck. Peter has been absolutely flying this year with a 3:19:02 marathon at Mad City and he won the Blue Mounds Classic bike race. We're excited for him and wish we could be there to cheer him on!

We'll be sure to post a photo and his results next week.

Good luck Peter!

Erik, Shana, and Anja

5 Years and a New Record: 16 Steps . . .

After dinner we took a stroll down River Road. It was a beautiful night.

We celebrated our 5th anniversary yesterday . . . Grandma Marilyn babysat and we ate at one of our favorite restaurants in St. Paul, Punch.

This evening, Anja took a record 16 steps. She continues to amaze us with her ability to go and go and go. She's been sleeping really well lately, no wonder!

Here she is being silly with us today.