Sunshine Coast

We headed over to the Sunshine Coast this past weekend for a last camping trip of the season, and to visit Marcus, Suzi and the boys (and wee Kiki in Suzi's belly) in Gibsons. The weather was AMAZING with clear blue sunny skies, and we couldn't have enjoyed our campsite at Porpoise Bay more. There was a great beach to explore,




a river trail to walk and spawning salmon to watch,



a playground to visit,


and lots of time to practice walking, walking, walking.




After packing up camp, we spent a liesurely morning at the beach on Sunday before heading down to Gibsons for a visit with Marcus and family. What an amazing house they have built! Their open concept living room/kitchen area, with a view out over the Georgia Straight, is what I want for our next house. Anna had fun playing with the boys at the house, and after lunch we headed out for a walk on the Gibsons waterfront. Instead of Toby and Lukas, you can see that it was Darth Vader and Superman that accompanied us on the walk...

Walking - how quickly it goes!

Anna's very first steps were a little while ago now - somewhere around a month ago. But after that first day, she didn't walk again until the day before her 1st birthday, two weeks ago. Since then, she has been walking and gaining confidence every day. Have a look at her walking today...

Flowers and Raspberries

Anna just loves to pick flowers, weeds, grass, leaves, raspberries.... you name it. Walking anywhere with her is a slow process - there is plenty of time to smell the roses, so to speak. She stops to pick up a fallen leaf off of the sidewalk only to stop after another two steps to pick up a different leaf, and then a different one again. I've been trying to figure out what it is about a particular leaf that she is drawn to. Is it bigger than the others? Is it a prettier colour, or is it less damaged? But, I think that it is simply that everything is so interesting and new to her, that she can't bear to pass them by.


Today we spent a little time in the back garden, and there she picked some flowers,



some dandelion seed heads,


some apples,


and some raspberries.

Off to the races

Today we headed off on our bikes along a small portion of the Trans Canada Trail (which you can take all the way to Newfoundland - we didn't quite have the time for that today) into Burnaby. It was a pleasant surprise to find an urban trail that took us through the woods for several kilometers, and then spat us out at a park for a picnic lunch and some practice walking.



On the way home, we swung by the race tracks at Hastings Park - it was our first time there, though it's right in our neighbourhood. We were complete rookies when it came to placing bets, but we figured it out and managed to place a $2 bet on the horse that came in dead last. Ah well.

The terrible ones?

Everyone talks about the terrible twos - and don't get me wrong, I'm sure that they are going to be challenging - but here in the Eliasson household, we're starting to wonder if they're starting just a little bit early.

Anna is starting to refuse to eat. She takes one look at the food and then gives us this kind of reception with her mouth:


Now just add to that a very clear shaking of the head in a "no" fashion. I think that she is actually starting to give her dad a few grey hairs with this behaviour.

Part of the reason is that she most definitely wants to feed herself these days. Now, this is a good thing, right? She needs to learn this skill, without a doubt. It's just that her technique involves turning the spoon upside down before getting to her mouth, which means lots of food on the floor, her tray, and her face, and very little food in her mouth. Sigh...

Birthday Party

Anna's birthday celebrations continued today with a picnic party in Stanley Park. Mormor and morfar, moster James and cousin Isabelle, and Uncle Marcus, Auntie Suzi, Tobias and Lukas joined us for cake, a train ride, and a trip into the petting zoo. Anna was spoiled with gifts and attention, and she got her first taste of cake which she LOVED. Disappeared off the plate pretty quick...

We missed uncle Tim, but he was coming off of a couple of night shifts and wasn't able to join us. But we wish him luck in his half marathon tomorrow!



Meanwhile, Anna's birthday was also celebrated in style in Sweden. Viggo and Frans were visiting Anna's farmor and farfar in Lit, and they raised the flag for her and ate some birthday cake for her :)



Happy birthday sweet girl!!!

Anna turns one!

It feels a bit unreal that it has already been a whole year since Patrik caught Anna on her way from the comforts of my belly to the excitement of the outside world. Oh my... a lot has happened in the past year, not the least of which is that she is starting to walk. Check out the video below:

We started celebrating the day by talking to all of the grandparents, and a few cousins, and then heading out to spend the morning at the Vancouver Aquarium. Anna loved it! Her favourites were the sharks and the birds.

And later, Patrik came home from work early, and so we headed up to one of Anna's favourite parks to open up some birthday gifts, play on the swings and slide, eat some sand, and have a picnic.



It was a great day and it has been a very very good year.

Bonus Photos

Just because I have been very very slack at posting to the blog for the past month or so, here are a couple of gratuitous shots of our little cutie-pie...

Birthday Weekend

It has been a great birthday weekend for me and the family. The day started off with a little present from Anna when she slept in until 8:30, and went on from there with a gym workout while Anna stayed with Kate and William, lunch with Kate, and then a fantastic dinner out with my main squeeze. And Anna had her first sleepover that night too when our babysitter canceled at the last minute and Kate and Curt offered to keep her with them for the night instead. Sweet! The only drawback was that she had such a good time that she really wasn't all that interested in us coming to pick her up in the morning.




We spent the rest of the weekend across the border, with a little shopping in the Seattle area and then trips to parks, Mt. Erie, and Fidalgo Island. It was the first rainy and cool weekend we've had in a very long time, and it was a great way to spend it.