Still, just two teeth

Oh baby Lily, you are toddling around like a little wobbly baby duckling. You actually can't walk. Yet. But you sure want to try! You can walk with just one hand supporting you. Walking is your favorite thing to do. 

You say "Hi" and "Bye" by waving. Your two words are "YEAH!" and "Mama."  You are a full 13 months old, and you only have 2 teeth. Still. 

You are a daredevil! You LOVE love love to take risks. You explore and you crawl into everything and everywhere. The other day, we caught you jamming a bike under the teeter totter so you could stand up fully on the teeter totter. We know it wasn't an accident because you did it again with another tool later that day (the cart this time). You were successful and did balance yourself on the teeter totter. 

Those two teeth, proudly on display. You are happy ... all the time. ALL the time. It's incredible. You are good natured with your brother, even as he pushes his limits with sharing and being kind. 

Jamisen is learning numbers right now. He loves to do DIY projects with Mom. He says, "Mama, I want to do a craft project with you! Mama, I want you to stay home from work and do it with me!. Mama?" It's so sweet and just endearing. I want to raise a crafty husband to make some very lucky partner happy in many (20+!) years. 

Lest you worry that Jamisen is getting too soft with all these crafts, his Daddy has him fishing. Behold, his first fish! Go Jamisen! The momentous occasion was on our dock at Lake Samish. 

Behold, Lily walking with her favorite person in the whole wide world: Grandma! 

With summer here, we've goth been getting in amazing outdoor time. Chris has been biking up a storm in preparation for his triathlon this weekend and I've been hiking and reconnecting with the beautiful old growth forests in the PNW - while seeing good friends of course. Life is magical and blessed. We are so very lucky and don't take it for granted... ever. 

Whilrwind Europe Tour

I just got back from a whirlwind European tour -- well, at least two countries worth in just barely over 4 days.

I spent a few days in Denmark, speaking at a technology conference. I spoke about open source software design about how to make giving something away for free make money for you.

A few of my employees (Erica and Janae represented below) came to the conference because they were also speaking. It was great to have our little Bellingham studio represented.

Speaking was not the highlight of the trip; the highlight was definitely the once-in-a-lifetime visit to Noma. Noma has been rated the best restaurant in the world THREE times over the last five years. Getting a seat at the restaurant is like winning the lottery.

I just got freakishly lucky because one of my friends and subcontractors for my technology company hit the F5 button a million times to refresh once Noma opened up their reservations for the month and we got a table for 4 in their 19-table restaurant.

The experience was, of course, out of this world. The food was inventive, interesting and amazingly healthy. The chefs don't use any "tricks" like butter or cheese so it was easy to eat 25ish courses and not leave feeling too full. We felt satisfied but not miserable. My favorite dish was definitely the seaweed chip covered in fresh flowers, followed by the smoked quail eggs. The strangest dish was the onions with ants (yes, ants) on them, followed closely by the ebilskivers (small donut like things) with grasshopper sauce on them. Yup. Ants. And Grasshoppers. And I paid for this! =)

Technology is the best; I got to Facetime or Skype with Lily and Jamisen almost every day. It felt so good to see our little ones happy and healthy while I was gone.

I also took a quick trip to Norway for lunch with my family. It had been a while (7 years and 30 years!) since I had seen some of them so it was a blessing to have them take time for lunch.

Here I am with my Uncle Knut Johnny, Auntie Anne Margrethe and Auntie Wenche (yes, same name as my Mom). 

My cousin Martin and I. It was also wonderful to see cousin Jannike and I think I may have convinced her to visit the States and stay with us for a bit! =) Fingers crossed. It would be fun to have our kids play together.

We also visited Uncle Arne Henning's grave and Mormor and Bestafar's grave. That was meaningful and extremely special to see where they were laid to rest. The plots are in two gorgeous cemeteries, very peaceful and beautiful.

Finally, Aunty Anne Magrethe and I climbed to the top of the Norwegian Ski Jump (for the Olympics) and man were our thighs burning when we hit the top!

I was so lucky to get upgraded to first/business class on the Seattle to JFK to Copenhagen flights so it made things much easier for the travel. It's great to be a premier member with Delta. Thanks, Delta!  The short lines in security and customs with that really helped with a tight connection at JFK. I ran so far and so fast in that airport that I got 7000 FitBit points for the day. By way of comparison, on days that I run 3 miles in the morning and have a normal day with movement and kid time and office time, I average about 11,000 points.

It was great to wake up to the kiddos in the morning - despite a very early morning arrival home - and be showered with kisses and hugs. Our little ones light up my life.

Chris & Erik Go Fishing

Chris and I won a halibut fishing day at a Boys & Girls Club Auction. Chris is on the board so it was great to go to a fantastic event and support the kids. Plus, my brother Erik (Uncle Erik to our kiddos) is an obsessive fishing guy so we knew just the man to take as crew.

They boys left early (early!) at 4 a.m. to head out to the islands to get their perfect catch.

And perfect catch they did get! Though the boys pulled in some smaller fish along the way, the big one was yet to come.

The Halibut was deep down and they fought hard to get it up to the surface. What a giant it is! And at halibut prices going for $22/pound, it was quite an expensive fish.

Erik and Chris gave away 75% of the fish but we still ended up with 28 pounds ourselves. Our friend Bob had a professional sealing machine and we are so lucky that he gave us bags and let us seal all the fish at his house. We gave him a few pounds of halibut and were super happy to share in the bounty. We know what we'll be grilling on the BBQ all summer long!

Lily's 1st Birthday

Oh little Lily! All the doughnuts, she's not sure what to do about them. Should she eat them? She doesn't usually get sugar. What to do? What to do?

She did try one and enjoyed her lemon coconut doughnut. The other one was a dark chocolate with an orange glaze.

Her little outfit is from Paris. It's perhaps the most difficult to get her into of all her outfits. Of course, it is the price one must apparently pay for beauty.

Lily alternated between trying to eat the cup and eat the doughnut. She still only has two little teensy adorable teeth on the bottom and none anywhere else. She sure is drooly though so she might be teething. It does make it hard for her to eat since she can't actually chew.

Lily had no idea what to do with the whole wrapping paper thing. She was quite enamored with ripping it and was interested in what was inside the boxes, though the concept of birthdays and parties doesn't seem to be very clear to her. Thankfully, she had her big brother to help unwrap and "borrow" the toys she got.

Lily received some cute clothes, two dolls and a ball to play with. Her brother promptly took off with both dolls and has to be coaxed into sharing them. It was a successful first birthday for our little one. =)

Paris Getaway

Chris and I had the chance to go to Paris for a quick 6 days last week. We have a couple friends in Paris and they offered to put us up and show us the town. We cashed in Chris's air miles, called upon Grandma Faiola and family, and jetted off.

It was amazing to hang out with Chris, without the pressures of our normal schedule and childcare, in the City of Love and Light.

We walked EVERYWHERE. One day, we walked over ten miles! It was crazy. It's been awesome for my FitBit points. I hit my top days for walking (25,000 steps one day - with NO work out!) multiple days in a row.

The food was amazing, off-the-hook, delicious. We took long, leisurely meals that started at 10:30 p.m. and ended at 1 a.m. Because of the jet lag, we didn't sleep a whole lot! But, it didn't matter because no one else seemed like they were sleeping either. The whole city was awake then too.

We visited Cannes for a few days and even got to take in a movie. We got all dressed up and enjoyed our big night out. I got to try on some incredible jewels and be dazzled by the beautiful dresses, gems and glamour of the city.

There were crowds of people everywhere (!) but we got out of the city and hiked to the tippy top of the old town and took in the sights with a sense of wonder and gratefulness. The yachts were the size of giant mansions. The opulence (and waste) was a bit overwhelming.

When Chris and I went to visit Ryan in Rome, Chris bought me a gorgeous purse (gorgeous green leather purse, handmade....) but alas, it got stolen  a few years back when my car was broken into in Seattle. Chris made good on the missing purse, purchasing this glorious handmade yellow bag ... made in Italy (!) in Paris. =)

We are so thankful that our friends, family and especially my parents helped out so much on this trip. We are lucky, blessed and just cannot get over what a fun trip it was. I told Chris it was better than our honeymoon but I don't think he agreed. =) I actually think he may have been a little insulted. Whoops.

The kids were happy to see us. Lily preferred Grandma to me by the time we got back. I'm happy they developed such a beautiful bond and I hope it continues for her entire life. Lily and Jamisen are lucky to have a caring, loving extended family.

I'm already trying to convince Chris that we need to do a romantic week-long trip every year. It was SO good for us to reconnect in a low-key, low-stress environment. Here's to hoping you see another update like this, next year!