7 Months & Counting!

I have no idea how this happened, but Freja is already 7 months old! She is growing & growing, and eating food and rolling around and jabbering up a storm. She's very entertaining these days, with new tricks all the time. We're working on sitting up unassisted, introducing new foods and crawling just might be around the corner. We've also been introducing her to some basic sign language - mostly "Daddy," "Mommy," and "kitty" for now - to see if it catches on.

The three of us are holding on tight to warm summery days (even though it's now officially fall) and plan to get outside this weekend for some family time on a bike ride - time to break in the Chariot bike trailer we recently got so Freja can ride along!

New pics have been added to the flickr feed - enjoy a little Freja fix!

Sittin' On Top of the World

Or at least, sitting up high in her high chair! We finally got a chair for Freja to make feeding her solid foods easier, (a little) less messy, and to give us a place for her to hang out while we're working on dinner etc. in the kitchen. So far she seems to like sitting up high instead of being down on the ground, this way she can keep an eye on us. Since Jan & I like to cook, now we get to involve Freja when we're in the kitchen. It won't be long until she's our little sous chef! 

By now we've tried two types of solid foods, rice cereal and sweet potatoes. Both proved to be pretty popular! Last night I put peaches in a mesh feeder, which is sort of like a lollipop that she can chew on without us having to worry that she might choke. She LOVED the peach, as evidenced in today's video. Have a great weekend!

Freja's First Food

Freja is just over 6 months old now, just the right age to move beyond the liquid diet and try some food. We've been experimenting with rice cereal this week, and tonight we're moving on to sweet potatoes. It's fun to see her reaction to food, the spoon, getting the cereal all over her face, etc.

On Sunday we went up Aspen Mountain to watch some friends finish a mountain bike race and see some bluegrass. The family photo shows the gorgeous (although cloudy) views from the top.

Hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend!

Living the dream

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday and this week marks 6 months that Freja's been out in the world with us. Life just keeps getting better for all of us. Kelly sent me off to Steamboat for the weekend to do some mountain biking and when I came back we had a fun dinner out with a group of friends. Four different couples and 5 little girls ranging from 4 to 4 months. It was pretty cute. Freja continues to develop and grow. It's a nice finish to each day to come home to such a lovely daughter. She loves her jumper and the following photos I think are pretty cute. Enjoy!

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!