Saturday, September 6, 2008

People will do anything for Annikka

During our trip to Minnesota, we stayed at the Tappe's house in Buffalo. One day, cousins Rachel and Emilie entertained Annikka by running outside in middle of a downpour. Annikka was captivated.

It's hard to tell from the video, but the rain is really coming down.

Enjoy:



Thanks to Uncle Aaron for catching it all on video and putting it on youtube.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

August

It's been a busy August. We've been away from Corvallis the last four weekends. The first two were in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The next weekend we made the drive down to beautiful Ashland, Oregon, for Garrett and Lynette's wedding. We had a great time.

We didn't know anyone else, but we did have Annikka who is an instant friend-maker. She attracted Lynette's friends from Santa Cruz, California, who couldn't put Annikka down. Annikka wouldn't have wanted them to anyway.

From wedding


From wedding


She loved the attention. By the time dinner was done, Annikka had ditched her dress and was playing in the courtyard sans everything but the diaper.

From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


From wedding


Annikka was a real trooper. We kept her up waaay past her bedtime, but she didn't stop smiling and flirting.

This past weekend we hung out at the Oregon coast, in Waldport, with Pete and Meredith. We lucked into staying at a house right on the beach owned by Pete's mother's boyfriend, John. We squeezed in some sleep, games, conversation (mostly about babies and pregnancy; Meredith's pregnant, yo), and a short hike or two. We should have some pictures soon.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Pics from the Wedding

Annikka and Aunt Rachel:


The Howe family and the Lucius family:

More pics from the Larsen get-together

Here are some more pics of Annikka from the reunion in Chetek:

Here is Annikka stacking the Ohio State cups my team-mates and I "won" in the 18-hole golf lesson I received from Alecia the scramble golf tournament that Alecia set up:




Annikka and her second cousins on the Larsen side (all of whom are the great-grandchildren of Clifford and Evelyn Larsen):


Annikka, looking pretty comfortable with Papa:


Again, if you have any pics you can spare, lay 'em on me.

We're Back.

We're back from our trip to the Midwest, and I'm trying to piece together some pictures to post. Our camera died on the trip, so it's going to take a me a little bit of effort compile other people's pictures from the wedding and the family reunion. I'll post what I have when I get it. If you have anything you can share with us, please let me know.

It was a great time. Very relaxing, and very fun for all of us, especially Annikka. Rachel's wedding was wonderful. Jerod is a great guy, and it was fun to meet his family. It was nice to get a glimpse of the life that Rachel and Jerod are putting together, and it's good to know that Annikka has a great new uncle.

And it was exciting to see so many of our friends and family again. It's been way too long in most cases.

It was also fun to spend some time in the Twin Cities. Touring the old neighborhoods (Seward, Cedar-Riverside, Nokomis) was great, almost enough to make you homesick. But as Dana and I are quick to remember, the winters suck and KARE 11 is the most annoying news team on the PLANET, so we'll probaly just stay in totally awesome Oregon.

The Larsen family reunion in Chetek, Wisconsin, was a blast. Annikka spent most of her time being carted around by random family members, distant and immediate. She loved that, and she loved meeting the three other Larsen babies around her age.





That's Annikka on the far left (taking after her parents -- ha ha -- "far left," get it?).

More to come. "Before We Go" (copyright KARE 11 News), however, here is Oregon State's new basketball coach, Craig Robinson, speaking at the Democratic National Convention. Check out the 3:00 min mark for a shout-out to the Beavers.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Minneapolis, here we come.

Evening, all.

Dana and I are getting ready to leave tomorrow morning (at 5:40 in the am) for the mini apple. We're eager to see everyone and excited for everyone to spend some time with Annikka.

Annikka has been crawling a LOT since the last update. It's fun(ny) to watch. She gets around, but she holds her left leg crooked the whole time. She's not real graceful, yet.

Here is a fun video that Dana recorded tonight of Annikka playing with Oliver. We didn't have time to get the video camera, so she took it on our digital camera. Hence the grainy footage. Enjoy.



I've got to go clean the cat box, write out some instructions to the lady who'll be taking care of the cats, and pack my dress-up clothes.

See you all soon.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Baby Says "Hi," Crawls, Goes to Bed.

CORVALLIS - Annikka crawled for the first time tonight. She doesn't have it mastered, but she'll be moving around on her own pretty soon, if not tomorrow. The days of stationary Annikka are probably over, which means we have to stop leaving her on the bed while we go shopping.

Dana and I are happy to see that Annikka is moving around, but at the same time we're concerned because we don't have any baby-gates or anything, and the house is definitely not baby-proofed. Careful, Annikka!

Also, Annikka has spoken. Her first word is "hi." She's been saying it for a number of weeks now, but I didn't think she knew what it meant, so I wasn't sure it qualified as a first word. But when I said that to her day care workers, they looked at me like I was nuts (not unusual). According to them, Annikka knows what "hi" means and she knows how to use it. Apparently she says it to everyone who comes in the door.

And according to Dana, Annikka says "hi" to the empty hallway every morning when she arrives at day care, and she says hi to everyone she sees at the grocery store. Annikka also said it to Grandma and Grandpa today when they came to visit.

So anyhoo, big news here. Our kid is moving around, and she's starting to talk. Pretty cool.

See everyone soon! Here are some pics to tide you over: