Love - All

As long as I can remember my dad has played tennis. He tried many times in my childhood to get my sister and I interested. It never really stuck. Maybe it was too slow, required too much skill to be exciting; or maybe I had too many other activities vying for my time.

For an embarrassingly long time since I became an adult, I've intended to sign up for a tennis class. FINALLY - I've done it! Its just with the local community activity center, but we've got a great coach (my dad got to play my coach and said so ;-)) and I'm having lots of fun. I can see how the game becomes addictive.
Grandy is also keen to get the next generation out of the court and has already bought Peanut her first racquet when she was about a year old. There must be something to it. Grandy bounced the ball around on the racquet when we visited him and the next time Peanut saw him many months later, the first thing she did was turn around, run out of the room to her room and return holding her tennis racquet.

During their visit here last month, Grandy took us all out for a little training session. It was Papa's first time on a tennis court and it was hard to break out of the squash playing mold as you can tell by the "I'm going to send this one into orbit" look of determination on his face.

Shamu! Shamu! Shamu!

Grandy and Nana spent a wonderful week with us around Easter. We took the chance to visit Sea World - our first theme-park outting!

To be honest, I was dreading it a bit. Tex is one a year so I thought there wouldn't be much to hold his attention and once he is done with something, the little guys wants to MOVE! I thought we'd be floating in a sea of people, standing in endless lines and looking for the exit in no time at all. Our Peanut is very sensitive to noisy, large and electronic things like rides, characters, talking trash cans and quickly hides under her blanket when they frighten her. I imagined us having to carry her through the park shielding her eyes half the time.

But, none of it was true.

We all had a fabulous time. Tex and Peanut could not have been more enthralled the 45 mins we spent at the Shamu show (OK, at first the loud music got Peanut anxious, but once the whales appeared all was good), the 30 mins at the dolphin show and the hours we strolled around looking at the exhibits. Both little ones got a stuffed Shamu and now P

It wasn't crowded. It wasn't loud or obnoxious anywhere. There were no characters to run and hide from. Just a beautifully landscaped, breezy, very large park that happened to be full of opportunities to get close to wonderous and amusing marine life.

The only glitch in the system was the entry-point where eveyone was finger-printed which slowed the line. When I asked why we had to be finger printed, the Sea World employee tried to explain it wasn't finger printing, but a "biometric scan capturing five uniquely identifying characteristics of your finger". Really. You could opt to show your photo ID.

We can't wait to go again!

I'm glad to see January go

Hurray for February!

I suppose this makes me superstitious, but January was a month of bad health news for our family and I couldn't wait for February 1st to roll around to give us a fresh start. I feel somewhat safer on this page of the calendar.

My mom's dear little doggie, Geisha, passed away last week. She had been ill and lived a life where she was loved, cared for and definitely spoiled. As my mom became an empty-nester, I know that Geisha's companionship was more important than ever. She was always there to offer a bark, or fluffy cuddle. My mom is a friend of all animals and her mothering instincts never faded. Geisha gave her a way to continue sharing that warmth and nurturing when her daughters flew out into the world. I hope that our kitties, Miuku & Mauku, who moved in with Grandma as we started our moves this year, are keeping my mom good company.

Early in the month we got the news that my dad's cancer had resurfaced even though he had had surgery, radiation treatment and hormone treatment two years ago for prostate cancer. We don't yet know the details of what is happening or where, but lab tests show that something is happening. Thankfully, my dad is otherwise as healthy as a man his age can be and has a positive attitude to match.


We also heard that a long-wished for addition the family would have to wait.

And, so, I am happy to see that its February 1st.

Alaska Greetings

Earlier this week, Peanut & Tex received an Alaska care package from their Grandy & Nana, who are on their nearly annual adventure to the wilds of Alaska.



From the pictures we've seen, they are enjoying themselves as never before. Grandy is hauling in halibut (see picture) of sea-monster proportions with struggles that sound as if they could be the basis for a good fairy tale.

Whales, sea otters and other wildlife glide past their boat as they explore the coast. Grandy has made connections with one of the only other Finns in the area and his eagle eye spotted the local sauna one evening. They've been offered a turn "whenever they don't see smoke coming out of the chimney".




Even Nana gets a turn at the helm of their craft.




Inside the care packages were three unique tales from that great state. Peanut's already been enjoying the Alaska ABC's book from last summer. She'll often tell us that "D is for dall sheep going down" and "V is for vegetables in the valley".


This time, the little ones received The Alaska Mother Goose, Count Alaska's Colors, and Alaska's Three Pigs.


In the package were 6 cans of fresh caught salmon and two jars of hand-picked and lightly prepared blueberries. Yum! The blueberries tasted like blueberries which is not always the case when you buy a jar of jam from the store.

And for dinner tonight --- Salmon Burgers! Peanut's papa reminded me I couldn't just post the Salmon Burger recipe Nana had sent since she copied from the Alaskan Cooking cookbook, but certainly I can link to an Alaskan Salmon Burger recipe.

Santa's smaller helpers

On Saturday, Peanut's Grandy and Nana were busy at the dog park in Gulf Breeze, FL, taking pictures of Santa's four-legged helpers to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

About 100 dogs & owners stopped by to have a photo taken and printed at the rolling stand. Grandy reports all went well and there weren't even any dog fights!

They raised more than $600 during the afternoon and will be back at Shoreline Park for more photos next weekend.

Papa's little Peanut

We had a mellow Father's Day yesterday as Peanut was recovering from a fever. She sported special, hand-made, designer (read: mama went to Michael's and decorated) shirts all day long with messages like "Papa's Girl", "I love my dad" and "My papa rocks!". Luckily there were three shirts because by day's end she had had all off & on :-)

Peanut's papa had dreamed of a breakfast at IHOP for Father's Day. I'm not exactly sure what he expected from IHOP, but being Dutch I suspect it was something similar to the mega-pancake houses you can enjoy in the Netherlands. There you get such pannekoeken delights as cheese and bacon pancakes...ohh...so good! IHOP is not exactly that, but off we went! Unfortunately, many others had pancake plans and the guests were spilling out into the parking lot. We decided to pass and enjoyed some treats back at home.

While we were out, my dad had left us a message. He's already in Finland enjoying the summery shores of Lake Koitere near Ilomantsi where our summer cottage is. Lovely sunset, perfectly still waters, sauna heating, freshly caught perch frying....and amazing temperatures of 80F. We miss it already! He just finished his prostate cancer radiation treatments last week and was on a plane bound for 'home' as soon as humanly possible. Now we wish him a beautiful Finnish summer to help recuperate and repair his mind, body and soul.

He's also planning to film some of the surrounding wildlife for Peanut - the diving birds nesting under the sauna, the seagulls, the island mice and those soothing birches swaying in the breeze. I'm so happy that Peanut will also get many years with him to learn about the joys of nature - just like he unveiled to me and my sister.

Skype IS the future

While way too many technologies overhype themselves and how they will make our lives 'easier, better, cheaper, faster...etc', Skype really really does.

I had one of those 'the future really is here' moments yesterday as we had a live video/audio call on the computer between our house and Peanut's grandparents in Florida. It was like we were living the commercial where the grandparents coo at the grandbaby miles and miles away.

We started using Skype back in Finland to keep in touch with family in the Netherlands and the US. The audio quality was always amazing - crisp and sometimes even clearer than on our real phones.

Now, they have rolled out the beta version of the video call. Both parties just need a simple $25 webcam on their ends and you're ready to roll. To get the grandparents set up, peanut's papa sent them a short email with instructions on how to download the latest version. They didn't run into any problems and using the program is so intuitive, we were looking at each other in our nightgowns and morning hair in no time :-)

It is just like they've been promising! Peanut's grandparents just loved it. Instead of keeping the webcam static on us sitting here, I let Peanut loose and followed her around the room with the cam that way they can see what all she's up to. I suspect we'll soon have to set up a regular broadcast schedule and some sort of Peanut show :-) I'll have to figure out if Skype supports conference video calls.

Oh! the cost of all of this -- $0! Skype is free!!

Prostate Cancer - Get Screened

Two days after Christmas Peanut's Grandy had surgery to remove his cancerous prostate. He's now recovering well at home and even swinging around a tennis racket (though his not yet supposed to!). He'll undergo radiation therapy in a few weeks as an insurance that all the cancer is really defeated.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer in the United States.

One in six American men will develop prostate cancer in the course of his lifetime.

A little-known fact is that a man is 33% more likely to develop prostate cancer than an American woman is to get breast cancer.

Play offense: Eat right. Stay in shape. Get screened. Early prostate cancer has no symptoms - annual screening is critical to catching it early.

Read more about the symptoms, treatments and lifestyle changes:
Prostate Cancer Foundation
Prostate.com
National Prostate Cancer Coalition
http://www.prostateinfo.com

Breakin' ALL the rules

Yes, that's right, we broke all the rules of baby sleep over the Christmas/New Year's holidays. Guess what?! It didn't mess up Peanut's sleep program. She didn't turn into a n overly dependent baby who couldn't sleep alone. No, as a matter of fact, everything returned to normal very quickly.

Now, what was this extreme situation that we were in that drove us to abandon all the guidelines about babies and sleep. Grandma, Grandy, Nana and Oma & Opa - that's what.

Peanut was sooo overly excited about spending Christmas with her grandparents in Florida that she could hardly sleep. She was in a travel cot next to us in the same room. Peanut usually went to bed on time and without much fuss. Though I did often 'milk her down' to make it easier for her.

Then she would start waking up around midnight. We tried letting her cry a bit to settle down. Nothing doing. She was awake, standing and looking right at us.

That's when we went for the drastic move of bringing her into our bed/onto our air mattress. She loved it. Peanut snuggled in papa's armpit or on mama's chest, suctioned in her little thumb, let out a happy sign and was off to dreamland. We then moved her gently into the space between us for the night.

We'd never co-slept before so the first night I was very conscious of her little body next to mine. I awoke several times to make sure she was still on the bed and not stuck under the pillows, etc.

It was so nice to wake up in the morning next to the angelic face still deep in sleep...so warm, so peaceful.

After the last set of grandparents left after New Years, we thought we were going to be in for several nights of crying and struggling to get her back to sleeping on her on.

Nope.

The very first night she slept soundly in her own bed in her own room.