Heading back to Cali... by JPK

So, it's been awhile since our last blog update, but as always things have been busy. Kelly has been back working part-time since mid-June, and I've been busy trying to organize a bike race for later in August. That said, we took our first real vacation of the year and drove out to California. We visited both friends and family as well as enjoyed a few days to ourselves.

We started our trip at my parents place in Garden Valley. My mom and her friends threw us an amazing party at their house. She invited a lot of my old teachers and other people I had grown up with... most of whom had known me since I was born. It was a lot of fun to see them and introduce Freja. It reminded me of how lucky I was to grow up in such a tight community of friends and I hope that we can provide a similar environment for Freja.

Our next stop was in Calistoga, a small town just outside of Napa. We didn't venture out much there, but had some nice times at the pool and ate lots of good food. From there we started our trip south and headed to Los Gatos to see Will, Nika and Persis. Will and I have been friends since before I even could spell the word 'friend' (or Will for that matter). Persis is about a month older than Freja and is a super sweet baby with her Momma's good looks.

I enjoyed copious amounts of Will's home brewed beer and watching Persis and Freja interact. We all went to a baby music class which was ultimately more fun for the parents I think than the girls. Persis conked out at the end of it. We also did a private wine tasting at Ridge Winery which was exceptional. Wine tasting with babies in tow is a bit different from wine tasting in the good ol' days, but fun nevertheless.

From there we headed to Ojai which is inland from Santa Barbara. We stayed at a resort owned by the same family that owns Aspen Skiing Company. Again, we did little other than relax and eat.

Our final stop for the trip was Los Angeles. Uncle Jan and Nancy hosted us at their place and Arie came up for a visit. The highlight for us was going to visit Grandma Rachel in Santa Monica. It was fun to have four generations of family in the same room. I am blessed with being related (and married) to strong women, but none are stronger than Grandma Rachel. I hope Freja inherits of her strength and spirit.

We also had a great time introducing Freja to Arie, Jan and Nancy. I love the influences each of them will bring to Freja's upbringing and I hope each will come to visit us in Colorado often.

So, that's our trip in summary. I will note that on this trip Freja started sleeping longer at night and started rolling from her back to her stomach. Both good signs of progression. For me, the best part of this trip was spending much needed time with my smoking hot wife and darling daughter. I really am a lucky man.

Finally, here is a fun video we shot just today. Freja is really starting to love playing peek-a-boo!

California Dreamin'

Hi everyone & greetings from Los Gatos, CA. We are in the middle of a two-week long road trip visiting friends & family in the Golden State. Our little Sweet Koorn has been such a trooper in the car, in & out of the car, meeting lots of people and setting up shop in different locations.

For our first stop we spent a few days at Jeanne & Dirk's house in Garden Valley; they hosted a fun meet & greet party so their many friends could come meet Freja. It is nice & quiet up on the Divide, and Jan & I really enjoyed being truly unplugged for a few days.

Next we stopped in Calistoga, which is up in Napa/CA wine country. The hotel we stayed at had a great pool and yummy restaurant, so much fun to be had there that we barely left the property. We were surrounded by wineries but managed only to do wine tasting right there at the hotel.

On Thursday we left Calistoga and headed down to Los Gatos where we've been staying with Nika & Will and their sweet baby Persis. It's been so fun seeing Freja play with a baby so close to her in age - although somehow we haven't gotten the girls on the same schedule, so when one is napping the other one is ready to go! Babies as you all know are unpredictable. Yesterday we enjoyed a private wine tasting at Ridge Winery in Cupertino, delicious wines and great views of the valley. We took them to a music class this morning, Freja was so intrigued by all the singing, clapping and instruments (Jeanne & Dirk rejoice, it seems she's gotten your musical genes!).

Tomorrow we head down south to Ojai where we'll have a few days to ourselves before we venture down to LA to introduce Freja to Uncle Jan & Nancy, Grandma Rachel and Arie & Mikako. We'll keep taking lots of pictures and refresh pics on the flickr stream when we get home next weekend. Love to you all!

Nineteen Weeks Old!

Nineteen weeks just sounds so old, amirite?

I just added a new round of pictures to the flickr stream tonight, as you can see we've been so busy as usual. Freja continues to break in her jumperoo, suck her thumb, and her latest trick, playing with and eating her feet. Jan & I get worn out just watching how active she is, and we can't wait to see her move even more. It won't be long until she's sitting up on her own, eating solid foods, then crawling and walking!

Oh boy. On second thought we are relishing this time when she's pretty stationary.

We hope you all have a great long holiday weekend!

Happy Feet

Hello everyone & happy summer! Freja had her four-month checkup last week; since her two-month checkup she has grown 2 1/2 inches to 25 1/2" long and gained 1 1/2 pounds to a total of 11# 11 1/2 oz. She's long & lean just like her daddy, or as her doctor said, right on track to be a supermodel!

We had a great visit with my mom Cecilia, stepdad Dennis & favorite nephew Zack. Zack is also growing like a weed, topping out almost as tall as Jan at the ripe old age of 13! They were all so helpful watching & reading to Freja, cooking & cleaning for us, and even let Jan & I get out for a date day at Food & Wine on Father's Day. We miss them already.

One of Freja's many new tricks is playing with her feet, as evidenced in today's video. Happy viewing!

Guest Blogger: Grandma Cecilia!

Zack, Papa Denny and I are having a good visit and enjoying getting (re)acquainted with Freja. She has a sweet personality; she coos and babbles and can carry on quite a conversation! She loves nibbling on either fist, but really prefers her left thumb when she’s tired. We have all taken turns reading to her; she seems to really enjoy it. Saturday, we went to Carbondale to watch her Daddy in a bike race and today Mommy and Daddy had a real date (Food and Wine in Aspen) and we got to care for her while they were gone. Papa Denny used that time to sand and stain the front door. HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to all!

Finally New Photos

Hi everyone,

I know it's been a while but I finally just added a new batch of photos to the flickr photostream! It's hard to get much done online what with all the sunny gorgeous summery days we've been having. Poor us! There are pictures from the last month or so of Freja hanging out on her playmat, in the bumbo, in the jumperoo, being carried around in a pack - we've got all kinds of contraptions to keep her (and us) entertained. It's yet another picture-perfect day here today and she & I are heading up to Aspen later. We'll do our best to keep the blog & flickr updated so you can keep up with how much she's growing. Lots of love!

Fifteen Weeks

Before Jan & I had a baby I always thought "I don't want to have one of those houses that fills up with so much baby stuff." Those of you who have babies or know anyone with babies know this is hilarious. You just can't escape the 'stuff'! We are accumulating & borrowing things at a rapid pace these days! Our most recent acquisition for Freja was the jumperoo jumper seat she's in in this video and it is a huge hit - with her and with her parents! She seems to really enjoy being propped up so she can see what is going on around her, and the bells & whistles on the seat itself keep her entertained. It's a bonus for us that we can get some things done while she's in it.

You'll see in the beginning of this video that Freja is a little thumb sucker. It seems to really comfort her as she is doing it all the time these days! Before the thumb she was all about the pacifier, and now she won't even take a pacifier. This is okay with us since she always has her thumb with her, we don't have to worry about her losing or dropping a pacifier. It really is pretty cute with the thumb sucking. She really gets after it sometimes!