Back at it

Well, we have settled back into life here after our wonderful vacation. The air has definitely turned in this part of the world and it is clearly not summer anymore. Temps have been in the low 60's during the day and mid-40's at night, but we have had plenty of sunshine ever since we got back. I haven't taken any photos this week though, so here is one my favorite photos from the archives...she is 5 months old here and on her way to the bath.
I think Rhiannon is excited to be back at barnehage. She had been calling for her new teacher Mona (pronounced "Moona") over the vacation, so Rhiannon was happy to see her again. The first few days I took her in the morning she cried for a few minutes, but on Tuesday we didn't even make it all the way inside before Rhiannon had climbed onto the back of another kid's tricycle and was off! And now that the new school year has started, Rhiannon is no longer the smallest or youngest so I think she likes that.

She continues to speak a mix of Norwegian, Welsh and English. I hope that she will soon start to realize that Norwegian is for speaking at barnehage, Welsh is for Daddy and English is for Mama but at the moment its a mix of everything (at least at home). She is pretty effective at communicating though, even if she doesn't know the word for what she wants.

Not a promising start

Today we bought Rhiannon a doll. We have started telling her about the "new baby in Mama's tummy". Apparently at barnehage (nursery school) she loves carrying a doll around and pushing it in a stroller. We thought we should promote the whole 'being gentle and loving with new baby' idea. Well, her first afternoon with this doll didn't go so well. After this video clip was filmed, Dolly got thrown into the wading pool by a certain little Minx and is presently getting dried out...


Rhiannon first says "Bike! Bike!" and points to the sky because she thinks she is hearing a motorcycle. Then when she grabs the doll, she says "Na-non", which is her way of saying "Rhiannon".

Old and new friends in Goleta

On the last day that we were back in Goleta, my two good friends Amy and Diane from grade school times came by to visit. Diane lives on the east coast, but she happened to be in town with her nearly 1-year-old daughter Kate while we were there. Here we are with Amy (middle) and Diane holding Kate.
Kate was quick to increase her crawling speed when Rhiannon came crawling after her!

Post-wedding Burrito Breakfast

On the Sunday morning after the wedding, Eric and Kristin had arranged for a catered Burrito Breakfast back at the Gans house. It was such a nice way to end the event and say goodbye to people. Four generations of girls...me, Rhiannon, Grandma Debi and Great-Grandma Linda
Rhiannon loved rubbing noses with her Great Uncle JoeGiving Great-Aunt Libby a big high-five
Trying on Cousin Keltie's sunglasses
Helping Kristin and Eric pack for their honeymoon Dragging Uncle Eric around for one last chase down the hallway
Happy with all the attention she is receiving

Recipe for travel success

We actually had a pretty good trip back to Norway! We were braced for the absolute worst because we had quite a few things going against us: we were NOT in business class this time, we had 3 large heavy suitcases, a bike and a Burley bike trailer that we were attempting to check in all the way to Oslo. Throw in the pregnant lady, the toddler with stroller and the gimp husband with his arm in a sling and that was us! We must have really looked a pathetic sight and I reckon that was the recipe for our successful trip. Thanks to Great-Aunt Libby for providing the disguise below which provided a few minutes of entertainment!

Here is what we did: drove to LAX from Santa Barbara in a Ford Expedition SUV (our stuff wouldn't fit into our original rental car, so we had to trade it for this) and arrived 4 hours before our flight. I dropped Rhodri off at the curbside of our terminal with all of the stuff while I returned the rental car, and Rhodri found a baggage guy with a big cart who he paid $20 to help him get to the counter. That $20 turned out to be the best move, because the guy took Rhodri and the cart-o-stuff right to the front of the line and told the check-in desk lady that all the weights were fine (we had weighed them before leaving and we knew that they were overweight!). Then the check-in lady was able to move our seats to be in a better location and gave Rhodri boarding passes for all 3 of us even though Rhiannon and I were not there yet! We knew that we were over the baggage allowance limit and so we had planned on coughing up the excess baggage fees for the bike and trailer, but somehow we didn't have to. I was really surprised when Rhiannon and I got to the terminal and found Rhodri with all the boarding passes and the luggage checked in. That was the first sign of good luck on this journey. At several points in our journey, airport employees saw us coming and ushered us a separate (shorter, faster) way or helped us without needing to be asked to help. At security checks in LAX and also at London-Heathrow, we were sent to the Fast Track line and not given any hassle. Then in Oslo when we were trying to get us plus all our stuff onto the train, the train lady helped carry the bags on and found a place for us to all sit together.
Here is the Minx before the juice kicked in...
On the plane from LAX to London, Rhiannon slept for 6 hours thanks to the knock-out juice we gave her. I had mixed feelings about giving her "the juice" originally, but I think it was the right thing to do. When she gets good sleep and wakes up smiling, life is so much easier! She was really good the whole trip and didn't cry or scream like other toddlers on the planes. Fortunately I had brought a bunch of toys, stickers and snacks to keep her going when she started to fade towards the end.

The one sad thing is that one of our suitcases got lost, but it could have been a lot worse. Once we got to Oslo, we were sure that the 2 large boxes for the bike and trailer would draw the attention of the Customs officials but they didn't! The hardest part was when we finally arrived by train into Asker and we couldn't find a taxi that had a car seat for Rhiannon plus enough space for our luggage. But as luck would have it, our great friend Emily arrived into the Asker train station just as we were struggling with taxi drivers so she was able to walk home and get her car to shuttle us back to our house. Phew!

So we made it home around 6:45pm yesterday, exactly 24 hours after we left Santa Barbara. We had a bit of dinner and then all went to sleep and woke up at 9:45am this morning. Now Bentley is back with us and we are gearing up for work and barnehage tomorrow.

An epic wedding

We have a new Mrs. Gans in the family! My little brother Eric Gans married the lovely Kristin Chadez yesterday in a wonderful wedding -- perfect weather, great people, excellent food -- one really could not have wished for a better wedding day. Here is Grandma Debi with the Minx before the ceremony outside the church. The Minx has been really into eating apples lately. She eats the entire thing except for the stem (even the seeds!).
No photos of the ceremony itself, but here are 4 of the 5 groomsmen with Rhiannon after the ceremony...Rhodri, Scott (Kristin's brother), Brandon, and brother Will. Rhiannon seems to LOVE males. Notice how flirtatiously she is looking at Scott!
The whole Gans family: my brother Will, Grandma Bucky, Dad Carl, sister Heidi, Bride Kristin, Groom Eric, Mom Debi, me, Rhiannon and Rhodri.
The wedding was in Montecito, but the reception was at our family home in Goleta. Here we are all revved up outside the marquee tent. Rhiannon did a lot of running and dragging people to "come" with her to play in the dirt. The Minx got to sit between Grandma Debi and Grandpa Carl, and although she was really good for the whole reception dinner, she wasn't exactly cooperating in this photo!
There were many moments that did not (thankfully) get documented by photo.... aside from the great food, music, and dancing late into the night, there were a few casualties of excess alcohol slumped in spots around the garden and there was one saucy dancer who gave everyone something to talk about! It was the way a wedding event should be, I think. Rhiannon went to bed at 8pm, slept through all of the activity and woke up at 8:15am Sunday morning. Woo hoo!

Days before the Big Day

Things have been busy at the Gans family house! With the big marquee tent set up in the backyard and lots of people coming and going, there is no shortage of attention for the little Minx. There have been BBQ's and brunches and general hanging out at the family home, and it has been wonderful. Here is the Minx with Grandma Debi.On the way to the wedding rehearsal at the church yesterday, getting a fast ride from Uncle Will, who she calls "Woo"
Up the back steps to the church, being carried by Grandpa and Uncle Will. Rhodri in the backgroundShe took an afternoon nap during the 5pm rehearsal so that she would be revved up for the Rehearsal Dinner at 7pm. Here she just woke up and was being cuddly with Grandma Debi and Aunt Heidi.
Great-Grandma Linda gave Rhiannon a very soft cuddly dog and once we got home after the Dinner, she didn't want to get off the stairs where she was cuddling.
The Rehearsal Dinner was a success, and boy was Rhiannon revved up! She has been shouting her words lately, and last night was definitely a shouting night. Anytime someone got up from the dinner table, she would shout "Back! Back! Back!" -- as in, "come back!". And whenever she sees someone with a mobile phone, she shouts "Halllooo! Hallloooo!". So she is very excited about all of her new words. She is also really good at pronouncing people's names, or at least trying to. She is best at saying "Bucky" (as in, "Great-Grandma Bucky") and "Becca" (as in Rebecca, Uncle Will's girlfriend).

Goleta the Good Land

Now we are back on home turf, staying at the family home in Goleta "the Good Land" California (Santa Barbara area). Various family members are trickling in the past few days before my brother Eric's wedding on Saturday. Rhiannon instantly took to her Uncle Eric "Eh-tid" and her Uncle Will "Woo", as well as to their better halves Kristin and Rebecca. The Minx loves getting so much attention from everybody! So life is pretty great here at the moment.
Below, Rhiannon enjoys some melon and lounging time with her friend Liam (19 months)Each day starts with an early morning visit upstairs to "Ga-ka" and "Ga-pa" so that Rhodri and I can sleep in a little bit more. Yay!! Then there is the mandatory visit to feed the kitty cats outside before having breakfast and waiting for Rhodri and I to wake up.
Grandma "Ga-ka" Debi bought this little froggy pool and so Rhiannon has spent hours transferring water from the pool to the cat food dish and back, taking sips for herself every now and then.The cat food dish getting water dumped out, with Grandpa "Ga-pa" Carl helping

Dancing queen

Oh wait, I guess that is another song...this is Abba's "Take a chance on me" being danced to by Rhiannon, Jayden and Hannah while we were in Reno last week

Goodbye San Diego

We left San Diego sooner than originally planned. Poor Rhodri with his gimp shoulder had booked an appointment with a specialist in Santa Barbara for Monday, and so we left San Diego Sunday afternoon. There were so many people that we didn't get to see! Apologies to those who didn't hear from us at all -- it just was too short of a visit.
Once we hit the road Sunday afternoon, we got stuck in traffic for a ridiculous amount of time. Eventually we made it to San Clemente and called in with Mike and Deanna Pearce and their 2 boys Aidan (4) and Tyler (17 months). We had a nourishing dinner with them and then put all the kids in the bath. Here is Aiden, Rhiannon and Tyler playing nicely with the bath toys.
All sweet and clean, ready for bed -- or at least ready to fall asleep on the 3 hour drive up to Santa Barbara!

Sunday Brunch with the Vivas

I was looking forward to this Sunday morning for a long time because I had planned to meet up with all of my Mama friends and our babies who are all about the same age. Most of us became friends while we were pregnant and then we went on to enjoy regular playdates with our young ones and we even formed a little club called "Viva Las Mamas" ("Vivas" for short, with the motto, 'what happens in Las Mamas stays in Las Mamas').
Here are (clockwise from back left): Ruby w/ Cade, Lisa w/ Isabella, Nicole w/ Sofia, Rosie w/ Toby (asleep somewhere), Heidi w/ Elke and us.Elke, Isabella, Cade, Rhiannon and Sofia really wanted to get into the duck pond at our brunching location (94th Aero Squadron).Cade and Rhiannon loved playing in the fake barbed wire.Toby, Ben, Rosie, Brett, me, Elke, Heidi, Rhiannon, Rhodri, Cade, Ruby, Lisa, Isabella and Espi in front of 94th Aero Squadron Restaurant. Nicole, Miguel and Sofia had already left unfortunately :-(

San Diego Saturday

Saturday Aug 11 was another great day in San Diego. Rosie and I went to a pre-natal yoga class and left the Daddies to clothe the babies then meet us for brunch at the Big Kitchen in South Park. Our dear friends Rob and Marah met us there too and we had a fantastic time. Here are Rosie, Marah (in the background), Toby, Rhiannon and Ben outside the Big Kitchen.Marah and Rob with the Minx
After the meal, we went back to Rob and Marah's house and played for a couple of hours. The fun really started when Marah brought out the blue bowls and the wooden spoons! Rhiannon and Rob spent quite a long time banging on each other's heads and dancing.
Of course the Minx was really tired from all of the attention and activity, and once we left Rob and Marah's house she fell fast asleep in the car. The nap was short-lived, though, because we went over to visit Mike and Stacy Quesada and their new baby Corinne! Rhiannon sure did not like either Rhodri or I holding little Corinne - she got jealous and mad....uh-oh! We will have to fix that in the next 2 months. Anyway, by the time we got back to Rosie and Ben's house, fed the kids and put them in the bath, everyone was ready for a quiet night.
We had take-out Thai food from our old favorite spot in San Diego -- Sala Thai on College/ El Cajon Blvd -- and it was outstanding!

San Diego - Zoo, Pool and Dinner

Friday Aug 10 was a very busy day for us. We went to the Zoo with Rosie and Toby, and met friends Heidi and Elke there. We saw the gorillas, flamingos, elephants and giraffes. Rhiannon really likes pictures of monkeys, elephants and giraffes but had never seen them in real life so I was excited for her to see them. Her eyes were as big as saucers when she saw the gorillas, who were quite active - chasing each other around and thumping their chests. She kept making monkey noises and pointing to the gorillas. Then we took her to the elephantsI don't think she expected elephants to be quite so large. She had the same expression when we saw the giraffes.
Here is Elke, Toby and Rhiannon ready to leave the zoo.
We went for a quick swim over at Nicole and Sofia's pool (no photos unfortunately), and then raced off for dinner in La Jolla with Jacques and Chris. Rhiannon really took to our waitress Adriana! She didn't really want to sit still, and she also didn't want Chris or Jacques to hang out with her -- she kept following Adriana around and asking to be picked up.
All these late nights are not part of our normal schedule, but Rhiannon has done pretty well in spite of it all. Its hard work visiting with people, even though the people are great friends that we really miss and who we have been really looking forward to seeing.

Return to San Diego! Day 1

Yay! We made it back to San Diego on Thursday morning (Aug 9). We had a bit of hassle with the rental car but eventually we made it over to Rosie, Ben and little Toby's house where we are staying. Then we went for a sushi buffet with Vickii, who was our midwife when Rhiannon was born. Rosie and I took the kids to the swimming pool later in the late afternoon, about the same time Rhodri went mountain biking with some other friends.
It was all going great until I got a phonecall from Rhodri's mountain biking friends who told me that Rhodri had come off the bike and was in the emergency room! More on that later...
Here are Toby (16 months) and Rhiannon (20 months) hanging out in the backseat of Rosie's car -- they were having a noisy but funny conversation and kept trying to touch hands.

Goodbye Reno friends

After spending the afternoon at Lake Tahoe, we 3 called in with the Doerners who live in Truckee. It turned out to be a late night but the Minx was such a star. Rhiannon loved playing with their dog Ursa and with the big girls Corrinne (left) and Lilly (right). She got especially attached to Corrinne, who she calls "Ka-nan". Here is Rhiannon with our host Leann before we said goodbyeWe spent our final evening in Reno at Dee Dee and Wes' house overlooking the city and enjoying the sunset
Reno is special place to us, mostly because of all the great friends we have there. Thanks, everybody for the great time.

Up at Lake Tahoe

After having breakfast with the Cellura's and then a nice long midday nap, we drove up to Lake Tahoe and met Leann and the girls there. It was gorgeous of course and more than a little chaotic with all the beach toys to play with and birds to chase.Talking with Jayden about all the birds
Snuggling with Alyssa, who Rhiannon calls "La La"
On the drive from Reno to the Lake