Let it snow!

We hope that other Minnesotans are happy about the new snow we're getting right now . . . all of us got out for a snowy romp-around this afternoon. Yay!

Hushovd takes stage 3

I must admit that I'm not following the cycling world as avidly as I once was. I did however, tune in to see a good chunk of today's stage in the Tour of California. You can watch the stage live on their Tour Tracker website. It's pretty cool. You can follow individual riders, get mph, time gaps, etc. Stage 3 was clearly a sprinters day. Some early climbs and then about 50 miles of flat to finish off the 104 mile stage.

A small group had broken away and got a 5+ minute gap. It wasn't enough. The peloton slowly starting reeling them in. Unfortunately, I had to go with about 12 miles to go. The gap was now around 1:30. At this point I decided to call the race for my favorite Norwegian sprinter, Thor Hushovd.

In the end, the peloton didn't catch the break until the final kilometers. Then in a text book lead out, the Cervelo Test Team set up Thor perfectly to take the win. You can check out the video here: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/race-live/video.html

I also love the picture above - you know this was as much a victory for Thor's team as it was for him.

Happy Heart Day!

Anja's Valentine's Day pizza, complete with roasted red and yellow peppers, pine nuts and mozzarella cheese. Yum! (We added garlic, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms for Erik, sauteed onions and corn to the others.)

Beginning late last fall, we tried to establish a once-a-week tradition of making homemade pizzas. So, the weekly thing hasn't worked, but we've certainly tried. (We hope that once the swim season is over, we'll be able to do it more often!) We got the recipe from our friends Adam and Laura when we traveled to Seattle last summer. Turns out we owned the book that the recipe for "Friday Night Pizza" came out of: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, but we hadn't reached that part in the book yet. (You can have the recipe too, just look under "Recipes" on the right side.)

Anyway, to celebrate another pizza night and Valentine's Day, we made heart shaped pizza this evening. Below is our little helper!

Anja's got a knack for spreading toppings and rolling out the dough!

He's In!

Erik received confirmation today that he was accepted into the University of Minnesota's Comparative International Development Education PhD program, effective this fall! This is a true affirmation of his academic skills and scholarly interests. CONGRATS PAPA!

String of Things . . .

Anja, post production, still decorating her hearts.

Since last Halloween, Anja and I have enjoyed celebrating holidays by decorating the house with a few arts and crafts projects. Valentine's Day this year is no exception. Anja LOVES hearts, so she was especially keen on this project. (And we busted out the markers too which doesn't happen very often!) We took a cue from our friends' "Love Mobile" on this one (see "Growing" blog), but added our own twist. We decided to make a string of hearts for family, friends, and even a heart for "hearts." These are all people and things she thought of, so if you see your name, consider yourself on Anja's "A" list.

Anja's string of hearts graces the wall in her room.

We're Still Having a Girl!

Well, the one perk to having "pre-term" whatever you want to call it, is that you get frequent ultrasounds to check on how things are going. We went in again yesterday and although things aren't perfect with her mama, our baby girl is doing well. (It's also nice to have confirmation that she is indeed a she.) :)

We've got another ultrasound scheduled for next week, so we'll probably post another pic then. Meanwhile, my doctor says it's time to slow down (again, but seriously this time, although no best rest). I may get to finish the swim season after all. Yes!

What's an hour?

Today I skied the City of Lakes Loppet. My intense training regimen enabled me to finish the 35 km freestyle race in 2:29:07. This put me in 639th place.

In 2006 I skied this same race and finished in 1:27:31 and was in 130th place.

What's an hour? In geologic time this is like a fraction of a hundred-thousandth of a second and thus, I'm feeling pretty good.

I'll try to post some pics later.