President Bill Clinton

Tonight I went to see Bill Clinton, yes the former president, speak at the local high school which is literally 200 yards down from our house. He was here campaigning for Hillary of course. Since the Democratic race is so close this year, Indiana is actually relevant and thus Bills visit. I believe from what I heard tonight that 1987 was the last time a former president actually campaigned in Indiana.

He gave a very rousing speech. He is clearly a gifted and talented speaker and he had the local crowd of approximately 2000 cheering all night long. It was very powerful and a lot of fun.

I have lots of photos from our weekend which I will post tomorrow night.

Spring Finally Arrived!

Yes I think it's finally here, Spring that is, and just in time for Easter. Today was beautiful. Clear blue skies with the sun out in all its glory. It was still a little chilly but it didn't dampen the spirits. It has been a long winter.

The girls spent a lot of time outside today with Kristina and Emma who was over for most of the day.

We are very pleased with how Kristina has adopted to helping us with the girls and they certainly seem to really like her. She is busy at the moment getting ready for her wedding in May. She bought a dress this week. Shaun, her fiancé, also had a big week. He turned 21 on Monday and his mother was here from California to celebrate with him and the rest of his friends and family. Sounded like they had fun!

Isabel has started talking. Of course it's still totally gibberish but she is extremely pleased with her ba, ba, ba, ba, since it normally evokes a response from us. Language acquisition has started, it's amazing!!

 

 

Happy St Patrick's Day

To all of you out there, Irish or not, Happy St Patrick's Day.

We're not doing anything that special for the day/evening. I know many will be out there painting the town and bars green, have a great evening.

Anja was sporting some green today and a few items that my Mum sent over. Thanks for everything you sent Mum, the Irish Rugby Jersey's are really cute!!

 

I Said I Did'nt Like It

We had some fun with Isabel today. I was trying to feed her some lunch and she was simply not having it!!

 

Lynne's Art!

The sun was out today and this inspired Lynne to venture out into the garden with the camera and catch some Spring images!! The snowdrops look great and she could not resist Daisy in her pose!

 

 

All Fired Up!!

The weather was still very wintry yesterday so we took ourselves off for a morning activity at this place in town call All Fired Up! Essentially you purchase one or more pottery pieces from a vast collection. You then let your artistic side wild and free and paint the item. They will then glaze and fire it and you collect it one week later. We had fun. Anja did a bowl for herself, Lynne helped Anja of course, did a bowl for Isabel and I got to paint my very own daddy coffee mug! It was something very enjoyable to do for a few hours on a cold dark Saturday morning!!

We made a huge mess, which I think is the whole point (particularly if you can simply stand up, declare that you are sorry for the mess and then walk away - cool)!

 

 

 

 

Some Pictures

Looking back over the last week or so, I realized that we were devoid of any pictures. Sorry about that!

Shown below are few which we took of the girls this weekend. All are growing up. Anja is firmly holding her Easter egg, her first ever I think, that arrived all the way from Ireland yesterday. She was very excited, not sure how we are going to keep her out of it this week.

 

 

 

 

10 Years Today

Hard to believe it really but this day 10 years ago Lynne and I got married in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe. Time certainly passes by so quickly, seems like yesterday but yet so much has happened in such a short time. We dug out the wedding album this evening. Anja really enjoyed seeing her Mummy in her princess dress. Daddy was the prince!

At that time we were so excited about moving to Sweden and starting our married life. Those five years were a great part of our life, great work experiences and life-long friends. Now we have been here in the US for over five years and this phase of life has been focused on having our two very happy girls. I'm sure our next ten years will be greatly dominated by their upbringing and also back to more travel as they get older.

Tonight we got to steal away for a while for dinner, Kristina was kind enough to stay for a few hours (Thanks).

 

Sorry No Pictures of New Orleans

Got back from New Orleans late on Tuesday night. Took me two and half hours to get from Indy in the snow. Frustrating after a day of travel. I'm sorry that I have no pictures. Typical really, I got the battery all charged up but left the camera behind.

It was an interesting visit. I got there late Saturday night and took a walk through the French quarter, down the famous Bourbon St. What a party place. Not much fun I can tell you if one in on your own and sober. I had to give a presentation Sunday so I was keeping a low profile. I actually got to see a lot more of the city when I went for a long run early Sunday morning (9 miles). New Orleans early on a Sunday morning is not pretty and smells even worse. They actually spray the streets with disinfectant. I ran along the river, through the French quarter and north toward Lake Pontchartrain. I did get see some of the devastation, a few FEMA trailers, it was not pretty.

I did get to sample some of the party atmosphere Monday and Tuesday with some Lilly colleagues. Had some great Creole and Cajun food. Lots of sea food smothered in spicy hot buttery sauces. I'm avoiding the scales for a while. It was fun, the conference was OK.

I'd recommend New Orleans for a long weekend, I'd go back!

Update in Advance

I'm off to New Orleans this afternoon for a few days to attend a work conference so there will be no weekend update. I'm really looking forward to visiting that city and curious to see what devastation is still evident from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Lots I'm sure, I'm planning on taking some photos.

Not much to report really. Still cold and white outside here. We are now showing signs of cabin fever.

Hope you are all doing well, I'll post a New Orleans update on Wednesday.

Active Weekend!

Had a reasonably active weekend in addition to all the usual chores. I did my first reasonably long run yesterday in preparation for the Indy half marathon. I had an hour open up in the day and grabbed it. Managed to get though 7.2 miles and although there was snow on the ground, most of the paths and roads were cleared. I really enjoyed it.

Today Anja and I went swimming and later in the day Isabel and I went for a really long walk. Gave Lynne some time to herself. It felt good and great to get out. I'm ready for Spring, how about you?

Had the Mauers over for dinner Friday evening which is always fun, although I believe Anja and Reina get a lot more enjoyment from it.

I was browsing pictures to add a good one from the weekend but none jumped out at me. So I pulled one from the past, here is Sam and Anja from about one year ago during our visit to Ireland and England. Have a great week everybody.

Little Miss Active

Isabel now wriggles and moves around as if on some high energy drink. Constantly on the move, desperately trying to crawl. I captured her a few times this morning while she was still stationary but she did have her customary smile and snotty nose. This has been her look since the day she was born.

Incredible to think that Anja literally did not have one sniffle until she was about 1 year old. Isabel has had about one week where she did not either have a snotty nose, cough or some other ailment. Generally healthy but constantly fighting off some bug!

I will not gloat over Ireland's win today !!

 

 

PLaying at the Weekend!

Randy took a few pictures when we went for a walk over the weekend. He just sent them over, thanks Randy!!
Just like her sister, Isabel was a huge fan of the swing!

 

Isabel and Frida

When Kaisa, Frida and Anna were over on Saturday morning I couldn’t resist trying to get some photos. I did try getting all four girls together but was very unsuccessful. These two of Isabel and Frida were about the best. Frida who is about six weeks older than Isabel has these huge blue eyes and I’m not kidding bigger eyelashes than Anja. Incredible.

 

 

Weekend Update

We have had a busy weekend here with visitors. Kaisa and her two girls visited on Saturday morning while I went for a run (it’s been a few days and my waist is starting to notice). Steef and Ginette who are only 6 weeks or so away from having their first baby were over for dinner on Saturday evening and then Randy and Lorraine for visited for breakfast this morning. Phew...It was a great weekend. It almost felt like spring since it hit the 50s today.

Shown below are a few recent pictures of the girls. Have none of Isabel’s teeth yet. Not sure I’m that good with a camera!

 

 

 

Kite Time

I forgot to post this cool picture of Lynne and Anja playing last weekend. They look like they were having fun despite it being about 15F at the time!!

 

Isabel has Teeth

It has been a few days, sorry. I was actually travelling this week for work and have only just returned. The big new from our house this week is that Isabel pushed two teeth through while I was away!

Quite exciting to see her reach this milestone. She is such a happy baby right now. Particularly since we are all cold free. This has been the first time I think since Isabel was born that she is without some sniffles.

Happy Valentine’s Day everybody!! I didn't get any cards, which is probably a very good thing since Lynne didn't send any. We did all enjoy some valentine chocolates after dinner this evening. Some dark truffles and chocolate covered cherries. Yum!!

Had an email today from Candi. You'll remember she looked after Anja while Lindsay was having Ruby! She checks in here regularly so just saying Hi. It was good to hear from you!

Sheri here this Week

The week is going well thus far. Thankfully we are over half way there. Lynne is feeling much much better I'm glad to report.

Sheri, from Hangman's Hill, is here this week on her biannual visit to Purdue. She is actually out to dinner tonight with Lynne and others from Lynne's department. Pleasure as always to have you Sheri, thanks for the bread/cake!

Davey and Sam have upgraded their blog in anticipation of their world tour. I know I said they were going ages ago but the slump in the housing market is obviously inhibiting a rapid sale of their house. We wish them luck over the coming weeks. They are very anxious to get going.

Nothing else to report, we have had lots and lots of rain this week, I may have to boat down to Indy to work tomorrow!

Kristina is doing well in her first full week, her husband has expressed interest in my home brewing and may wish to come watch some weekend! I must break out the kettles, it's been way to long since I last brewed a batch!

Later!

Lynne out of Action

The weekend activities were muted this weekend since Lynne was quite ill. She spent many hours Saturday in bed and was even bad enough to take herself to the urgent care Sunday morning. For Lynne that means she was quite ill.

Doctors seemed convinced that she had a case of food poisining, bacterial. She started some antiobiotics yesterday and after some rest she is starting to feel better. She has lost lots of weight which is not really that surprising since she is still nursing Isabel and has not eaten in a few days.

Whilst she is now eating more, it is still restricted to bland foods.

Weekend Update

Thus far a couple of things this weekend. Lynne has been out of action this weekend. She has picked up some stomach bug/virus and has essentially been sick and sleeping since Friday afternoon. She is asleep as I write. All three girrls are sleeping in fact!

Anja and I went to Ruby's first birthday party this morning. It was a lot of fun and Anja seemed to get more fun out of it than Ruby. She certainly had more cake and opened more presents than Ruby did.

Tomorrow is Superbowl Sunday and we are having a few friends over. An excuse to eat junk food and drink beer really. Hope your weekend is going well.

More snow....

We have more snow here in West Lafayette and we are now ready for spring. About 8 inches fell Thursday night, enough for Anja and myself to build a snowman Friday evening!! No comments on my building abilities!!

 

Changing of the Guard!

Thursday was Lindsay's last day with us, we got some shots of her with the girls on her last day, we will miss her. I have also posted a picture of Kristina in action. I'm sure there will be more to come, possibly even a few that Kristina will take herself. we are certainly hoping she will, she has a keen interest in photography.