In Washington

Christmas Eve, and we're in Seattle.  Bothell, actually.  We're staying with Nelson's parents and visiting with family and friends.  We'll be here until December 31st.  It was blizzarding yesterday in the Twin Cities, so we're missing some excitement back in Minnesota.  We're enjoying the warmer climate in Seattle - though, with all the rain, we still spend most of our time indoors.  Merry Christmas.

Vikings Warriors of the Swedish Institute

Actual footage from yesterday's trip to the Swedish Institute. Warning: For Mature Audiences Only.

Swedish Institute

We went to the Swedish Institute yesterday.  They have a very nice display of all things Scandinavian inside.  

Inside, we encountered some Viking warriors:

Self-Portraits

We're just clowning around.

Christmas Wish Lists

If you're family and you're wondering about Christmas gifts for the
kids, you can view the wist lists here:

Aimee
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?

ie=UTF8&type=wishlist&id=3RAYCU0P3LTH

Holden
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3VCUGFFBBAESR/

ref=cm_wl_rlist_go

Grace
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3UIZ5N1FOFI8R/

ref=cm_wl_rlist_go

For all others, you can make out your generous Christmas checks of
$10,000 to Nelson. Please don't send cash for this amount - and do
not put Aimee's name on the checks. We prefer undesignated gifts,
but if you must designate the gifts (i.e. to be used for Travel,
etc.) it is our policy to do our best to honor the intent of the giver.

Merry Christmas.

How the View has Changed

The view from our apartment in October has changed from green to white.

Wine and Cheese Party

Last night we hosted a little wine & cheese party with our Seminarian friends.  Much wine was tasted and large quantities of cheese were consumed.


A collection of tow heads: Here are all the seminary kids piled in the guest room watching Mickey Mouse on DVD, while the adults talk, eat, and taste wine - Johannes, Andreas, Tovah, Grace & Toby.

Sophie (6 days old) was also in attendance.


Proof that adults were present (since mostly I took photos of the children. Funny how that works.)

Tovah & Sophia; and Astrid and Johannes (our Norwegian friends staying in the U.S. for a year)

The older children followed their collective muses and created this modern art sculpture out of toys.

Grace & Tovah, partying late into the night.

Angel on the Tree

Here's Grace putting the angel on the tree. Or, alternately, Grace pretending to put the angel on the tree since we forgot to take pictures until after the tree was decorated.

Ho Ho Ho

Another Flood Photo

Another photo from the Woodinville, WA flood.  It's simply amazing.

NW Storm

The big NW storm that hit a couple days ago is about to heap some snow upon us here in the Twin Cities. Here's a picture I found on the SeattleTimes website - taken in Woodinville, a 1/2 mile from my parent's house, not far from where I used to catch the bus last summer. I was a little shocked at this picture. I have never seen water in this intersection like this. I hope everyone is okay.

Photo: STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

The Giraffe went over the mountain

The Giraffe went over the mountain
The Giraffe went over the mountain
The Giraffe went over the mountain
To see what he could see.

Scenes from the snow

It's still snowing - we've got lots of inches. Grace has been out to play in the snow twice - this picture was taken after an hour of cold (wind-chill of negative seven degrees.) Note the rosy cheeks, forlorn expression, and the look in the eyes saying, "Daddy, hurry up and take the *&** picture because I'm cold."




Here's a video of some fun in the snow:

Snow

I see Seattle is getting some snow today. We're getting our first
significant snowfall today, too. We expect to get around a foot of
snow today. All the children in the family housing spent the first
part of the morning with their faces pressed against their apartment
windows, watching it snow, begging their parents to go outside. By
mid-morning we parents each gave in, and were all outside. With the
wind-chill it feels like it's subzero, so the smaller children didn't
last long.