In Memory of Else Berg...My Great Grandma

My Great Grandma died yesterday in Oslo Norway. At a young age of 97! I feel very lucky that I got to meet her but wished I could have spent more time with her in her younger years. She had a great smile and a clear mind until the end. We captured this 5 generation picture in the summer of '06. It is pretty incredible that she was able to live this long as the doctor said she would not live more than a couple hours when she was born. She was born so prematurely at a time when they didn't have the medical technology we have now.

Yay for Kaia!!

Kaia has been going poop in the toilet 100% for over a month now. No accidents!!! Yay for her. She tells me when she has to go and has been going pee in the toilet more frequently as well. We are down to about 4 diapers or less a day. I am so proud!

Boston Terrier

Picture I drew of a Boston terrier. On the Wacom Tablet

Dahlias from our yard

Picture I took at Chris and Jen's wedding

I was kind of proud of this pic...

Soy ginger roast chicken with shitake mushrooms

A special dinner I made for Tim, ended up turning out really good! http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=600537

Mama gorilla nursing her baby

Picture I took at the San Diego Zoo

Time out mat

I plan on getting this mat for Kaia when she turns two. I think it is an awesome idea. Hopefully we won't have to use timeouts but if we do it will be there. The timer is nice because then you don't have to set a separate time and the child knows how much longer she has. Then when they are good it flips over to a happy face and it says I love you....very cute! http://www.momsonedge.com/servlet/the-2/%C2%A0THE-NAUGHTY-SPOT/Detail

Funny Kaia/John and Kathy's wedding

I just have a couple very short stories about Kaia I wanted to share before I forget them. The other day we had just put Kaia in her car seat and she pulled her foot up to her face, as she usually does to play with, she started saying Uh Oh many times over. She was looking at the bottom of her foot so I went to look thinking it would be nothing. Much to my surprise there was a huge sliver under the skin of her foot. It would have had to have been a centimeter in length and really deep. She was so calm until we actually had to pull it out. The only time I could think it could have happened was the day before when we were out on the deck barefoot. Wow she is a tough girl! We were in Target the other day and Kaia was going down each isle with Tim underfoot checking everything out. We get to the pet supplies isle and she grabs a dog bowl and puts it down on the ground and sits on it like a potty. Kaia has been getting better about communicating verbally when she has to go potty but it happens when I am out a lot and I don't know what I should do. I don't really want to carry a potty with us although they make super tiny ones....and I am unsure if we should allow her to use the public potties yet....? Any thoughts? We have been pretty busy the last week attending bridal showers, bachelorette parties and a general party that we hosted for John and Kathy. They got married on Saturday. Their wedding was so beautiful!! I was touched by how much love there was in their family. Since it was held at John's Grandpa's house (which he had built himself) on Whidbey Island you could feel the family history. I am amazed at the amount of talent that was present as well. You only have to ask to see their wood and metal invitations to see some of the talent. Musicians who had written beautiful songs for them, a craftsman that had built a beautiful and special umbrella for them to stand under. Tim sang two songs for them and their aunt had put together really lovely flower arrangements. John had also made Kathy's wedding ring design and crafted it himself. Amazing. I can not put to words the feeling the day had. It just felt so right and was topped off by an amazing full moon rise.

Kaia's New Words

Well we are back home. It is kind of weird after being gone for over a month! I feel like the energy in the house is very stagnant. I am looking forward to the next sunny day because I am just going to open this place up and let it breathe.

This evening Kaia said some pretty complex words very clearly. First she said Bubbles and pointed at her bottle of bubbles she obviously missed. Then she said cracker and lastly she said Chicken. We are so proud! We were sad to come back to rain but we look forward to catching up with everyone.

If you are looking for Kaia's Dancing video....

You are in the right place just scroll down. I decided to add some posts after it. Sounds like you guys in Seattle are trying to beat the heat. It is so weird, I actually haven't been too hot here yet. I have actually been too cold a couple times though. Weird. I am kind of homesick but it is a good thing. I will just appreciate it more when we get back. Kaia has been saying so many things! I think she has said her first sentance even. She says "I want some mommy." We are trying to introduce please and thank you. Please she does really well...she says peas. Thank you, I think she has said a couple of times but it is too hard to make out. She says color and water really well but it kind of sounds like she is underwater. She also says Kaia perfectly. We look forward to seeing everyone at home!

Balboa Park

Balboa park has been a lot of fun the last couple days. They have 13 different museums, huge atrium, and gardens. My pictures do not express the beauty. The museum of Photography was small but really neat. They had some Ansel Adams. I really want to learn photography more and seeing some really cool silver gelatin prints of the 1950's made me wish I lived back then. Kaia loved this mosaic lizard. She loves rocks and had a lot to tell me about all the rocks. I have many more pictures but I will have to wait and post them on the website when I get back.

Zoo...

I love the giraffes they are so cute!!!

Sea World

I have now been to Sea World 4 times. I am still not bored which is kind of cool and I still haven't done everything. I guess it is worth my year pass. Can you believe they use your fingerprint as ID!!

My favorite part is the dolphin feeding which is where you pay $5 for 3-4 fish and get to feed and pet the dolphins. As you can see in the picture above they are very enthusiastic to get the fish. Kaia loves the dolphins as well but she is scared to pet them. Which is probably for the better.

Trip to Kid City with Ba

Kaia had a lot of fun with Ba at Kid City a small children's museum.

Kaia Dancing!

San Diego

The backyard we get to enjoy for a month! Thank you Tin & Ania.

This week has been really busy. We have visited the beach, the zoo, Sea World, and Balboa Park. Everything was really cool. I think my favorite part was getting to pet and feed the dolphins at Sea World. It was hard to have Tim back at work this week, it just reminds me how much he adds to our lives. Kaia loves it here and has really enjoyed being outside a lot. She loves Tin and Ania's pugs Bob and Ada.

Vegas Baby!

Kaia had a lot of fun in Vegas. We stayed at the Mandalay bay resort the last night it was really nice. Tim and I saw Zumanity by Cirque Du Soleil. It was cool but would recommend other shows before this one. Kaia was really happy to see her Ba and Um again.

The road to Hana

This was a great day. We went with Alan and Carol on this adventure. The road was a little treacherous but worth the beauty. Black sand beach, lush forest, bamboo and Rainbow Eucalyptus.

Day at the Aquarium

The Wedding day

Bachelor/Bachelorette parties...

Renee decked out in her bachelorette paraphernalia.

It was really nice that they had planned the bachelor/bachelorette parties on the same day but opposite times so Tim and I switched off Kaia duties. Tim woke up at 5:30 in the morning and went with the boys on a day of snorkeling, surfing, and drinking and then came back to take care of Kaia at 5:30 so I could go out to dinner with the girls. I thought it was so nice of him to allow me to go even though he was so tired. When I got home at 11:00 both of them were passed out.

The pre dinner, dinner, and after dinner events were all very fun and filled with a lot of laughter. (as you can see above) I almost peed my pants at one point! Lets just say there was a lot of good, clean, innocent, involvement of others. Involving waiters and a really nice motorcycle.