August Travels Part 1

This has been an unusual summer for us in that it was not planned down to the day with travels and trips. We spent the month of July settling in to our new apartment and Kyle went up to UW many days to finish work on his dissertation.  We were also waiting (somewhat) patiently for an indication of employment for Kyle.  By the time August rolled around, we were ready to hit the road and go visit family in Montana and North Dakota.  In what would have taken us two days to drive in the "pre-baby" era, we stretched in to four more leisurely days. We are lucky to have friends and family spaced at great intervals, providing a nice visit and a place to stay along the way.  On our way westward we stayed with our good friends Katie and Scott Sulpizio in Spokane, WA.  Next, we stayed with my dad and step-mom in Billings, MT.  On the third night we stayed in Mott, ND with Paul and Molly Peltier (Paul was Kyle's best-man).  By that fourth day we were ready to be done with the car and reach our destination of Grand Forks, ND.  Kyle's family lives on a beautiful farm and it was fun for Annika to see cows and horses in person.  We didn't get too close this time around but I'm sure in the future she will get to ride a horse and explore the farm a lot more.

Kyle's family has kept a lot of good toys from when he was little.  I used to have the same smurf table and mini pound puppies.  Annika is already having fun with them both.

 Annika enjoyed sitting with her Grandpa Ardell.

 The sunny afternoon we had set aside for going to a swimming pool turned into a misty afternoon at the splash park.  Still had fun but will be better when Annika is able to walk around and play in the water features.

Trying on grandpa's cowboy boots. 

 Family picture with Kyle's parents.

We visited Mott on the way back and stayed again with Vemund and Molly.  Vemund and Annika had a great time playing together.

9 Months

9 Month Stats

Height:  Not sure    Weight: 17 lb 1 oz.

New Skills: Moving from sitting to her tummy, scooting backwards, pinching things between her thumb and first finger, combining a lot of sounds, lots and lots of clapping, two teeth on the bottom

Interests: Books, a bucket of shapes and blocks, things that make noise, her little Lambie, faces of babies in books, other children

Favorite Foods:  Smoothies- loves greek yogurt mixed with fruit and cereal, trying bites of food from our plates such as rice, pasta, cooked veggies (carrot, roasted red pepper, potato)

It's hard to believe that Annika is already 9 months old and developing more everyday.  We keep waiting for the moment when she has separation anxiety but that hasn't happened yet.  Annika is very serious and studies new people but doesn't cry if someone new holds her.  Once she warms up, the smiles are nearly non-stop.  Annika will make a "hi" or "ha" sound to get someone's attention. She is happy with each new toy that she picks up and especially likes things that make noise or that she can hit together.  We've noticed that she is beginning to have mini tantrums if she gets tired of an activity or realizes that she is heading for a nap.  Naps continue to be very easy and she goes right to sleep after any initial complaining.  Books delight her and she loves to take turns turning the pages and pointing at pictures.  Noses seem to be one of her favorite things to point to or grab on everything (people, stuffed animals, pictures).  Annika is a humor-filled little person, with her wiggles and toothy smiles. 

New Home

My slow rate of blogging this summer has been largely due to moving to a new apartment in Tacoma at the end of June.  We moved to Tacoma last summer so that I could be closer to work while Kyle was in Norway.  We only had a 10 month lease on our Tacoma house, which we thought would be perfect given our uncertainty of what would be happening when Kyle got home.  We have decided to remain in Tacoma for at least the next year and found a nice apartment in a great neighborhood.  Many of the houses around us are very old and huge.  Most appear to be single family homes but some have been converted into separate units.  The apartment resembles our first home (apartment) in Seattle, just a bit larger.  We've been enjoying taking walks down to the waterfront, city parks, coffee shops, and local cafes.  An area's "Walkability" is high on my list for quality of living.

 We have the upper unit in the building and a nice, covered front porch- the perfect spot for our Adirondack chairs. Our neighbor on the first level has developed a lovely garden and small courtyard in the front of the building.

It's great have a place to eat dinner outside and enjoy some good beer.

 The apartment came with our very own lockers :)  Apparently the lockers have been there through many residents.  They are painted with chalkboard paint and we anticipate that this will provide some entertainment for any visiting children.

Having tea in our lovely and bright kitchen!

 One of our local coffee shops and a new favorite spot.  

We were surprised to discover a statue of Henrik Ibsen at a large park that is close to our place.  Ibsen is the playwright that Kyle focused on for his Master's thesis and a component of his dissertation.  We take this as a very good sign that we are living in the right place :)