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.

A Rough Week . . .

Relaxing and reading the newspaper on Sunday.

Well, this past week has been full of rest, movies and several trips to see our doctor. It all started on Saturday, when Anja showed signs of some sort of sickness coming on, and Erik and I spent a couple of hours at the hospital because of a barrage of contractions in the evening (just like I had with Anja, only a couple weeks earlier this time).

After six days, we're both doing better (though not 100%), and I'm not on bed rest quite yet. (Just sitting a lot more, or else!) We're looking forward to a healthier week next week!

The Inauguration

We were all happy to witness history this past Tuesday. What an amazing moment. Here is a photo from one of my favorite sites, "The Big Picture: News Stories in Photographs." Check this link for 48 photos from the day.

Erik Skis the Pepsi Challenge

I started this winter with high hopes of putting in some serious skiing. While that hasn't quite panned out (I'm lucky to get out once a week), I'm not letting it stop me from doing the races I signed up for. Today I skied the classic 26 km Pepsi Challenge in Biwabik, MN. With all the stellar training I put in I knew I was going to be a contender in today's race. After getting winded in my warm up, I staked out a spot in the starting area and enjoyed the warm winter morning, it was 5 degrees above zero.

Rather than give a lengthy race report (see Peter Nelson's blog, Ironman and Beyond for stellar examples of truly in-depth race reports), I decided to include this helpful graph of my race. I thought this might help analyze my performance in order to improve in my next race. In the eating chocolate department and b-s'ing with the aid workers I was unstoppable today. Otherwise I think it's clear I spent far too much time limping, crawling, and walking rather than racing.

In all honesty, even if my legs would not agree, it was some of the most fun I've had skiing. Often times when you're racing you don't even notice the scenery. Not today. It was truly a winter wonderland. Pristine snow covered meadows with a light snow falling and just enough sun to give each snow flake a little sparkle. Truly beautiful. If I can find some pictures I'll post a few.

To Florida and back again . . .

The girls out snorkeling . . . I stayed on the boat because I can't snorkel (and I'm a little weary of the wildlife)!

This year the St. Kate's team training trip took us to the Florida Keys . . . the warm sun was fantastic and the girls' training was as well. Erik and Anja stayed home this time around, and they survived very well without me. Needless to say, everyone's glad that we're back together again. Here are a few shots from the trip!

Looking landward from the beach. I loved seeing green in the winter!

There were little lizards and iguanas everywhere! Yeeesh!

Ut på ski!

Anja got her first pair of skis this holiday season, a pair that both Karl and I used when we were little. While there is some uncertainty as to when my brother and I first used these skis, maybe it was at two years old, maybe it wasn't until we were three or four, there is no uncertainty about Anja. This kid is a natural. Here she is on skis for the first couple of times at two years, 1.5 months. Enjoy the video. It's one minute 40 seconds in length.

The clips where it is snowing was her very first time on skis. We had two brief attempts (we basically put the skis on and she was done) and then another great outing yesterday.

Happy New Year!

It's been a busy holiday break for us and I'm sure we'll get to posting about all that took place. For now, I just wanted to post a link to the lists of 2008. An impressive collection of bests and worsts of the year. Enjoy. http://www.fimoculous.com/year-review-2008.cfm

A Very Merry Christmas!

Anja in her Christmas dress, I mean "THE dress" from Hanna Andersson. This one was hard to get our hands on!

We've had a week filled with Christmas and holiday get-togethers; it's been great to celebrate with many family members and friends throughout the past few days. We have to say, that with such a packed week, we are looking forward to a bit more relaxation in the coming week, with a trip to Bayfield, WI (sans Anja who is staying with her Nana and G'pa Paul) and other than that, not too many other places to go!

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of days. We'll add more later!

Hmmmm . . . what is this all about?!
(Thanks, Nathan and Krista for the fleece PJs. She LOVES them!)

Hey! This gets more fun by the present!


Anja in her very own kitchen . . . she's a great short order cook!

A Delicious (and easy!) Recipe . . .

We had some browning bananas sitting around the other day, so I Google searched "Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins" and found this delicious recipe, courtesy of the "Curious Foodie" on-line (looks like CF has other delicious recipes I'll be trying as well). Anja and I finally got around to making them this chilly morning and were pleased with our results. My late "Grandma" Litka used to send Banana Chocolate Chip bread, amongst other goodies in a large box each Christmas season, so these bring back good memories of those treats. We hope you like these muffins as much as we did!

Oh Christmas Tree . . .

Anja puts the *star* up!

We had a great time with friends last weekend cutting down our Christmas trees. Unlike last year, it only took us a day to get the tree decorated. (YAY!) Here are a few shots we took last Monday.

Lights up and on! She was obviously super excited!

The final product . . . Anja making sure Snoopy was doing okay on the tree.

Master of Arts

While I had already "officially" completed my Master's, I attended the graduate commencement ceremony at the University of Minnesota yesterday. I have always appreciated such ceremonies and I have to admit, it felt good to take some time to reflect upon and recognize the past two years of work. I guess this means I am officially a Master, whatever that means.
Yesterday also marked the one year anniversary of my grandfather's death. It felt good to think about him watching down on us as we celebrated. It is odd to think how often the closing of one chapter coincides with the beginning of another. Of how often grief and sorrow is followed by joy and hope. This is, I think, one of the beautiful ironies of life.

Raku!

Over the past few weeks I've built a raku kiln at City Academy. I was pretty proud today - for someone with little to no ceramic experience, I was able to build a kiln (with assembly help from my students) and have a successful raku firing at school today. Fellow staff members Oscar and Mem gave some great help and it was a very cool process - we learned a lot. I'm already excited about a few tweaks and our next firing - probably in January, but who knows... could be sooner. I'll try to post some photos of some of the pieces we made. We had some mixed success with our glazes. Some of them turned out excellent, while others did not. Oh well, all part of the process.

It's Another Girl!

For those of you curious folks, we went in for our 20 week ultrasound today and found out we will be having another baby girl in April! We're very excited, and Anja is as well, although she wants to be the "little sister" and not the "big sister." We've got a few months to work on her yet, so we're not too worried. Anyone care to guess or suggest some names? (Please note: they must be Scandinavian.) We've got a few we're deciding between, but we're not telling!

Happy St. Nick's Day!

Anticipating St. Nick's arrival, Anja puts her boots out by her door.

Today Anja woke up to find a gift from St. Nicholas in her boots. She's been jumping around talking about "Nick" all morning. At this point in her young life, "Nick" is all about presents. In a few years, we'll actually be able to tell her about St. Nick and what he did for those in need. For those of you curious blog readers, here's more about the Saint from the St. Nicholas Center:

The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to the those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

Under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who ruthlessly persecuted Christians, Bishop Nicholas suffered for his faith, was exiled and imprisoned. The prisons were so full of bishops, priests, and deacons, there was no room for the real criminals—murderers, thieves and robbers. After his release, Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. He died December 6, AD 343 in Myra and was buried in his cathedral church, where a unique relic, called manna, formed in his grave. This liquid substance, said to have healing powers, fostered the growth of devotion to Nicholas. The anniversary of his death became a day of celebration, St. Nicholas Day.

Anja finds and opens her gift from St. Nick.

This year, St. Nick brought Anja Tomie dePaola's The Friendly Beasts: an old English Christmas Carol.

It's Time for Christmas Lights!

Anja has been eyeing the lights across the street, so we decided to start our holiday decorating early (okay so it's not so early for everyone else, but for us it is!). She was a great helper, checking the lights, "They work!" and helping string them around the railings. Next decorating task: getting our tree at the Erickson Bros. Tree Farm on Sunday with friends.

Anja also had her two year check-up today. She's a healthy 2-year-old! Her measurements put her in the 95th percentile in height (37"), weight (34 lbs.) and head circumference (20"). The only negatives of the morning were the immunizations and the milking of her finger for the lead test. Lots of tears! But, as you can see above, she made it through just fine. (She even took a nap for me this afternoon---those are hard to come by these days!)

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year. We got to see lots of family and friends and we had a few adventures along the way. Here is a slide show of some of the weekend's activities. The new snow today was a highlight. Anja loved it! I even got to go out for an afternoon ski at Elm Creek - fun to be on skis for the first time this year.

The only bummer of the weekend was not being able to get together with Sarah, Joe and their two little girls Maya and Elliot who we hope are feeling much better by now! We're looking forward to a rain check on our brunch - I always need a bit of an excuse to bake pain au chocolat (and for Shana and me to really get the house clean)!

Stay tuned for some more pics from Holidazzle and other events from the weekend.

Ron and Linda went to Italy and all I got was this apron!

David I am not, but with the help of this apron I am one step closer. Ron and Linda went on a month long trip to Turkey, Greece, and Italy and they brought back some very nice goodies for us, including this apron. I think it's a riot and have enjoyed using it over the past few days. Our annual Thanksgiving party at City Academy is next Tuesday. The staff prepares the majority of the meal. I've cooked a turkey for the past 4 years, but decided to opt out on the bird this time. Instead, chef David will be baking 2 cranberry tarts along with a pair of pies for this year's feast. Shana also likes the new look and says the baking isn't bad either.

Note: While chef David will be preparing the baked goods, he will not be attending the school Thanksgiving party - unfortunately, Michelangelo is probably still better known as the nun-chuck wielding ninja turtle, a.k.a. the one with the orange head band.

Best Book Title Ever

Now that the elections are over, my masters is finished, and Anja's birthday has passed I have a little bit of time to catch up on some random web surfing. Believe it or not, this is a published book which you can purchase on Amazon. It is also a classic example of trying way too hard to reach a teen audience - I can't help but laugh every time I read "but awesome takes practice." Thus, as comic book guy might say, it is indeed "the best book title ever."

Anja Turns Two!

Good morning! I'm two today!

Anja celebrated her second birthday today with parents, Grandparents, and cousins. We kept up with tradition by starting the day with Norwegian waffles for breakfast and our ever-favorite chocolate ganache cake from the Franklin Street Bakery for her birthday celebration. We ended the day by reading On the Day You Were Born by Debra Frasier.

Anja is definitely two . . . full of boundless energy, spunk and ever-present curiosity. We certainly wouldn't want it any other way.

The 2nd annual chocolate ganache cake.


Once she got started, Anja had a ball opening her presents. Here she is excited to see two Charlie Brown DVDs.


Thank you Huerta family for the great new bilingual doll!


Papa helped Anja blow out her candle this year . . . three times.


Yummy! Cake before lunch today!


One of her presents was a Crocodile Creek ABC memory game . . . we played a few rounds after presents were opened and cake was eaten.

The Change We Need . . . Is Here!

History was made last night, and we elected Barack Obama as the first African American President of the United States. What a relief it is to know that although he's got a lot of work to do, we have a capable, intelligent, insightful, thoughtful, and above all, respected leader headed to the White House in January. I look forward to seeing change being made in America.

In case you missed it, here's Obama's Speech from Grant Park. Wow, he's good.

Go VOTE, People!

So, there's a little bit of imprinting going on here . . . Anja can pick Obama out in pictures and can read "Obama" too. What a clever little girl we have!

Regardless of who you are voting for, it's going to be an historic day for every person who takes part. Be a part of the masses and go to your polling place tomorrow. If you don't know where your polling place is, just enter your address on this Google site and GO VOTE!

Note: All times are EST.