Tuscany, Italy

We took a recent trip to the Tuscany region of Italy to visit Uncle Bill and Brian. What a wonderful time! It was a 'real' vacation - no email, no computer, no work. In addition to wonderful food, great company and beautiful artwork we experienced life with a baby that no longer crawls! Odin has become a full-time walker and even at times almost a runner!

Odin, Uncle Bill, and Dad relaxing. Odin found some new toys while in Italy...one of his favorites was the salad spinner (pictured below).

Mom and Odin after a long hike in a huge national forest called Casentinesi.

Odin showing Uncle Bill around the local favorite resturant, La Gravena.

Odin chasing pigeons in Arezzo. It was his first real "run." He really wanted to play with them, but they always kept about a 1-2 meters away from him.

Odin and Mom on the streets of Poppi after visiting a 12th century castle.

Dad, Odin and Mom in the yard of the beautifully renovated farm house we stayed in near Arezzo in the Tuscany region.

Uncle Bill, Dad and Odin checking out the sights in San Gimignano, a wonderful historic town.

Mom and Odin in Florence.

Julian, Uncle Bill, Odin and Brian after a nice long dinner.

Walking

Odin's walking has really improved over the past two days. As everyone said, IT HAPPENS SO QUICK! Yesterday we had a little party and Odin was the hit of the party showing off his newly found walking skills.

Odin's friend Cornelia came to visit with her dad Peder.

12 Steps

Odin took his first steps today! He took two steps for mom twice during the day and then when Papa came home he took 12 steps for him!

Over the weekend Papa successfully completely a 30KM (18.6 miles) race in Stockholm!

While in Stockholm we spent a lot of time in Gamla Stan (the old city).
To celebrate Papa's finish (as well as the other friends that ran and finished) we are throwing a party. Odin's bringing the beer!

And cooking!

Helping Mom Cook

Odin can now reach the knobs on the stove allowing him to help me cook dinner!

Hey Mom look at me!! Am I doing something I'm not supposed to do? Fortunately, the stove has a "lock" option that will not let him turn on any burners or open the oven door.

We had some friends over for dinner and Odin enjoyed some blueberry pie!

USA Visit

We had a great trip to the US in early September! Odin got to see all his grandparents and some friends. In Swedish, they have different names for each grandparent, mother's and father's. It makes a lot of sense and you can distinguish between grandparents.
MorMor = Mother's Mother
MorFar = Mother's Father
FarMor = Father's Mother
FarFar = Father's Father

Odin with his FarMor Cathy and FarMorMor Lucy (Father's-Mother's-Mother).
FarMor Cathy sure can make me laugh!
Odin found some "toys" to play with while visiting his FarMor. Now we know why one needs lots of tupperware!
Odin and MorFar Dave. His shirt reads "I'm Slow, I know, Get Over It" we thought it was funny because it applies to both him and Odin. Ha!
Odin loves dogs! One of his favorite is Uncle Jeff's dog Mynx.
Odin's new favorite book is a cat book his MorMor Fern got him.
Odin and dad enjoying some fun times with Uncle Bill and FarFar Jim.
Our friends, Mark, Mel, and Madelyn, from PA drove up to NJ to see us.
Odin and Madelyn had a great time "yelling" at each other. Click Play on the video below to see and hear!

Odin's First Birthday

Today we celebrated Odin's first birthday. We can hardly believe a full year has passed since Odin made his surprise entrance. The year has been wonderful and we are amazed at how much we enjoy watching his growth and development.

We threw Odin a birthday party. Mom made him a blueberry pie. All of his friends came! The apartment was buzzing with laughter from many children. I'd say a good time was had by all.

Except Odin didn't get a good afternoon nap before the party and was a bit sleepy...

and feel asleep in his Swedish Grandpa's arms. Kenneth held him while he slept for an hour or so and then he woke up. When he woke we sang Happy Birthday to him in English, Swedish, Spanish and the silly "you smell like a monkey" version!

Here we are singing the English version...you can tell he still looks a bit sleepy :-)


The night before his birthday we let Odin open one of his birthday present from us. A wooden alligator that moves and makes noise as you pull it along.

Visit from Tracy

We had a visit from our friend Tracy a few days ago and she and Odin had lots of fun together. Here is a video of Tracy making funny noises to make Odin laugh. Afterwards, Tracy said, "The only other person who has had their hand in my mouth for that long of a time has been my dentist!" Ha!

Also here is a cute pic of Dad and Odin relaxing on the weekend.