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| Espen in his Chinese shirt during cocktail hour at the reception. |
cute video clips
16 years ago
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Haakon...
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| Future Test Pilots? |
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| I woke up one morning to find this after Bjorn had left and Audriana had come running into my room telling me that Haakon was in trouble. |
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| I searched and searched and found the epicenter. |
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| Haakon's partner in crime. |
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| Scout, the amazing four-legged big brother! |
Wedding News
Congratulations to Brad and Chenda! We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Brad (or Uncle Brad) into our family this past week. The five of us traveled up to Minnesota for my sister's Cambodian wedding ceremony. In addition, I left the kids for the first time with Mima and Bumpa while I headed out to Hawaii for the bride and groom's official wedding ceremony. It was an incredible whirlwind and unforgettable week and we are so glad that we go to be a part of it!
Before I go any further, I am sure that many of you have read my post from about this time last year highlighting my last commercial flight with Audriana and Haakon. I vowed that it was going to be a long long LONG time before I stepped aboard another plane with my children. My, my, how the mighty have fallen. Ok well, not actually. I did get on another commercial flight with my children and this time around, I added an extra child JUST to see if we could get TSA to boot us from the plane (kidding!). To my astonishment, my two once-hellion children were p e r f e c t angels on the flight. They listened. They waited patiently for the food and beverage cart to roll by. They declared loudly that we were blasting off to Mars at take off. They giggled at landing. They are a mother's dream. VICTORY.... REDEMPTION. Finally. My take away from the successful flight was to stock up on play-dough, stickers, crayons, coloring books, gummy bears and most of all, a shiny new Cars character toy for each leg of the trip (Target was having a sale on them for $0.99). Plus, the sit-n-stroll carseat stroller was amazing for a certain little man who gets too tired to walk after 5 steps. The littlest man in the family still needs a little bit more traveling to be as jet-set as his big brother and sister. He was a handful and that is all I will say. No need to mar the perfection of our last travel excursion with a smudge :)
Back to the wedding. So on Saturday morning, we woke up early to prepare for the 8AM dowry procession for wedding. Audriana and Haakon were both suppose to be in the procession holding little baskets of flower in front of their new uncle. Not only that, but they also needed to be in traditional Cambodian garb. It took quite a bit of bribery, conjoling and exaggerated compliments for Audriana to get into costume. In the end, she came through beautifully. Haakon was another story. He put it on after the same trial as his sister. But as soon as he got a peek in the mirror of himself, he took his bottom off and strutted around the bridal suite showing off his best pair of Huggies diapers. Classy. So we had to call in a second string player and all was saved for the 8AM kick-off of festivities. My words could not do justice to the ceremony. It was tremendous to know that Bjorn and I went through the same thing almost 7 years ago and humbling now that we are on the other side giving blessings to the new bride and groom. My words could not do the ceremony justice, but the pictures capture the morning beautifully. Here is the link to their wedding photographer, Joe Krummel, who tells the story stunningly with his camera. Click here to see pictures from their Cambodian ceremony. Afterwards we got to kick off our shoes and dance the night away with dinner and cocktails at Atlas Grill. It was so much fun. Bjorn and I got to dance and enjoy ourselves while Mima and Bumpa and Auntie Kari brought the kids home and helped them to bed. We are so grateful for their help so that we could enjoy ourselves.
The following Monday, a group of us made our way to Kaui'i to see Brad and Chenda get married officially. The Garden Island is breathtaking! The ceremony was incredible. The sights and food of the island was out of this world and best of all...I can't wait to go back with Bjorn (and maybe the kids :) . Here is a sneak peek of their wedding from Joe. It was a super short trip for me since it was first time that we had ever left the kids without either one of us with them. But I did manage to make a trip out to see Waimea Canyon (the Grand Canyon of the Pacific), toured the Kaui'i Coffee Plantation, hit the beaches and chase after a few chickens (there are more chickens on that island than there are people!). There was plenty more I wanted to do, but I had to pick and choose. So hopefully, we'll go back there REAL soon!
Before I go any further, I am sure that many of you have read my post from about this time last year highlighting my last commercial flight with Audriana and Haakon. I vowed that it was going to be a long long LONG time before I stepped aboard another plane with my children. My, my, how the mighty have fallen. Ok well, not actually. I did get on another commercial flight with my children and this time around, I added an extra child JUST to see if we could get TSA to boot us from the plane (kidding!). To my astonishment, my two once-hellion children were p e r f e c t angels on the flight. They listened. They waited patiently for the food and beverage cart to roll by. They declared loudly that we were blasting off to Mars at take off. They giggled at landing. They are a mother's dream. VICTORY.... REDEMPTION. Finally. My take away from the successful flight was to stock up on play-dough, stickers, crayons, coloring books, gummy bears and most of all, a shiny new Cars character toy for each leg of the trip (Target was having a sale on them for $0.99). Plus, the sit-n-stroll carseat stroller was amazing for a certain little man who gets too tired to walk after 5 steps. The littlest man in the family still needs a little bit more traveling to be as jet-set as his big brother and sister. He was a handful and that is all I will say. No need to mar the perfection of our last travel excursion with a smudge :)
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| Haakon in his Chinese outfit from Mima's last trip to China. |
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| Some of the aunties plus me and my gorgeous cousin, Julie (left), during cocktail hour at Atlas Grill. |
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| My mom and me. |
After a brief hiatus....we're back!
Wow! I can't believe how much time has flown by since my last post. Its been a crazy whirlwind last few months, but boy, have we ever enjoyed having the Daddy-man's undivided attention that entire time without the distraction of work and flying. The kids absolutely blossomed and adored spending time with Daddy and I think Daddy enjoyed the time spent getting to know his babies even more!
For Thanksgiving, we decided to make the 23 hour road trip from Maryland up to Minnesota to see family. The kids did AMAZING for all the time they spent strapped in their carseats and we were incredibly lucky to have the gift of amazing friends who opened their homes to us half way through in Indiana. Our friends, the Silverbergs, live in Indiana and are owners of a beautiful red porsche....or also known as Lightning McQueen to a certain two-year old little boy. We spent the first day's car ride watching "Cars" and when we pulled up at dinner time with Mr. Silverberg showing Haakon the red porsche, we were certain that Haakon's eyes were going to pop out of his head with disbelief! He was so excited. Since returning home, Haakon has since referred to our friends' car (their son and who also happens to own a gray porsche) as Lightning McQueen's cousin. This observation is then generally accompanied by a low rumble from Haakon as to signal the start of the engine. Our friends, Jon and Tiffany, are tickled to death by this compliment :)
For Christmas and New Year, we decided to keep it low key and stay home in MD. But since we live a mere 2 hours away from my grandmother, aunties, uncles and a bucket load of cousins, we meandered to the DC area on Christmas Eve to celebrate our first Christmas with my mom's family EVER (I know, its terrible, but traveling from one snowy place to another was never a huge temptation and our families are so huge). It was the best big family Christmas that I could have asked for for our children. They got to run around, play with their big cousins, great-aunts and -uncles, chase around Lucy-dog, stay up late and open tons and tons of presents! We are so so incredibly blessed to have a family who utterly showered us so with love, affection, and gifts. And the cherry on top of the season was the last minute visit from Grandma Kris and Grandpa Byron (also affectionately known as Mima and Bumpa). It was so lovely to see and spend time with them both. And as always, house and personal projects are always accomplished with them in our corner. Thank you!
A few days after New Year's, reality had finally settled in on us: it was time to return Bjorn back to the Navy. It was an incredible two months of having him selfishly to ourselves and the five of us savored and stretched every moment of it. He traveled down South to get qualified on a training jet and I got to figure out single parenthood in a new state with three children three and under....talk about baptism by the fire! But our survival was not without help. Grandma Charey came out to help me (actually just spend time with the grandkids) for a week and it was so much fun! She was instrumental in helping me keep sane after so much time with Bjorn. So really, I only had three weeks of single parenthood. Looking back on it, it was probably the best "welcome" to the next 12 months there could have been. I still very much love the kids and the kids love me right back. We're good!
For Thanksgiving, we decided to make the 23 hour road trip from Maryland up to Minnesota to see family. The kids did AMAZING for all the time they spent strapped in their carseats and we were incredibly lucky to have the gift of amazing friends who opened their homes to us half way through in Indiana. Our friends, the Silverbergs, live in Indiana and are owners of a beautiful red porsche....or also known as Lightning McQueen to a certain two-year old little boy. We spent the first day's car ride watching "Cars" and when we pulled up at dinner time with Mr. Silverberg showing Haakon the red porsche, we were certain that Haakon's eyes were going to pop out of his head with disbelief! He was so excited. Since returning home, Haakon has since referred to our friends' car (their son and who also happens to own a gray porsche) as Lightning McQueen's cousin. This observation is then generally accompanied by a low rumble from Haakon as to signal the start of the engine. Our friends, Jon and Tiffany, are tickled to death by this compliment :)
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| Lightning McQueen |
For Christmas and New Year, we decided to keep it low key and stay home in MD. But since we live a mere 2 hours away from my grandmother, aunties, uncles and a bucket load of cousins, we meandered to the DC area on Christmas Eve to celebrate our first Christmas with my mom's family EVER (I know, its terrible, but traveling from one snowy place to another was never a huge temptation and our families are so huge). It was the best big family Christmas that I could have asked for for our children. They got to run around, play with their big cousins, great-aunts and -uncles, chase around Lucy-dog, stay up late and open tons and tons of presents! We are so so incredibly blessed to have a family who utterly showered us so with love, affection, and gifts. And the cherry on top of the season was the last minute visit from Grandma Kris and Grandpa Byron (also affectionately known as Mima and Bumpa). It was so lovely to see and spend time with them both. And as always, house and personal projects are always accomplished with them in our corner. Thank you!
A few days after New Year's, reality had finally settled in on us: it was time to return Bjorn back to the Navy. It was an incredible two months of having him selfishly to ourselves and the five of us savored and stretched every moment of it. He traveled down South to get qualified on a training jet and I got to figure out single parenthood in a new state with three children three and under....talk about baptism by the fire! But our survival was not without help. Grandma Charey came out to help me (actually just spend time with the grandkids) for a week and it was so much fun! She was instrumental in helping me keep sane after so much time with Bjorn. So really, I only had three weeks of single parenthood. Looking back on it, it was probably the best "welcome" to the next 12 months there could have been. I still very much love the kids and the kids love me right back. We're good!
So we're very much well into TPS and its everything that everyone told it would be. We are LOVING Southern Maryland and everything it has to offer. Although its not exactly the pristine-ness of the Pacific Northwest, its a good imitation :) We are looking forward to the next few years here and all that is in store for the Anderson family!
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