It's official, summer's over

Mattias and I realized that summer was over this morning-- we woke up at our regular time (thanks, Linus) and noticed it was still dark out. I figure now is a good time to post the last of our summer pictures.

The heat and activities really take a lot out of us Karlssons, and it's not uncommon for us to look like this on any given hot day:

The heat does have it's advantages though. Try growing these heirloom tomotoes in San Francisco:


Mel came over for a short visit after a long road trip from San Francisco. Willie was not that happy to visit, especially after Minners gave him a scratch on the nose. Here he is taking his frustration out on Linus' cuddle lamb.

This picture cracks me up. When I first saw it, I thought "Why does Mel look so happy and refreshed, while I look like I've given up on life?" Then I remembered, "Mel has been on vacation since November!" Oh, the life of leisure!

I knew I wasn't going to make it to the end of the summer without eating crabs, but I've had trouble finding those who want to partake. Afterall, it's messy, it's stinky, and it's a ton of work. But we were super fortunate that our friends Amy, Maben, and Jason offered to host the crab feed and that they have an awesome house made for backyard parties.

The goods: large Maryland Blue Crabs

We filled up the swimming pool for the babies and grilled up some burgers for those who couldn't fill themselves with crab.

I'm in heaven (but also completely stinky!) Linus loved his first taste of crab meat! He is afterall, half Filipino.


We have to give Magnus credit for trying... but it looks like he's dissecting the crab :)

Another fun summer memory for the books.

29th Birthday & Robert's Wedding

Despite living on the other side of the country, us Karlssons get our fair share of visitors from back home. We would love to think it's because we're special, but in this case it was because one of our childhood friends met and married a very special lady from the Washington DC area. So two weeks ago, Mattias' buddies from 6th grade came out to celebrate Robert's marriage.

We were fortunate enough to all get together the night before the wedding to drink, joke, and eat chili tater tots. You can't really see Eddie's shirt in this picture (a beautiful hue of lavender) that was the center of many jokes that night.


When we're together, there's no such thing as "closing time."

The next morning Minners/Minnow gave Sam and James her special wake-up call, included in the Karlsson hotel wedding stay package.


We were all getting ready to go to brunch when I noticed this: a bright green loofah glove with accompanying coconut-lime shower gel. Last I checked, there were no girls staying with us, so I had to know which of the boys showered like a girl. And that would be Sam, a 29 year old electrical engineer who loves surfing, mountaineering, and the occassional drink.


We made it out to Georgetown for some food and people watching, when the guys popped their collars in an effort to fit in with the preppies. Nice.


Sam asserting his manhood by ordering a mimosa and tiny little crab cake sandwiches.

Then on to the main event! We knew it would be good when we walked in and saw this candy display.



I was having a great time despite there being NO ALCHOHOL. Mattias' opinion differed.

But you guys know me and how I like to plan ahead... so the night was saved by my purse minibar and a clandestine under-the-table bottle of Grey Goose!


Showing our Milpitas pride at the end of the night :)

The following day was my 29th birthday. I didn't really want to do anything big, just to relax with my family and eat some good food. Mattias and Kerstin put together a beautiful picnic in the park, and the guys were able to join us before their flight home.

Italian subs from the Italian Store in Arlington. People drive many miles to get these... mmmmm.

And the BEST cake ever made by Kerstin. This cake is going to have to be an annual tradition, it's that good.

We sat, relaxed, and enjoyed watching Linus play in the water park. Afterwards he helped me open my presents.


But the highlight of the day was going to the first good Chinese restaurant since we've moved here. We'd heard rumors that the Peking Gourmet Inn was a favorite of Colin Powell's, but we really wanted to go for the food. Little did we know that the place is popular with all the big-wigs from senators, cabinet members, to supreme court justices. In our case newly confirmed supreme court judge Sonya Sotomayor!!! She walked right by us and was seated in an area right next to our table. Too cool.

We only got this one picture of Melissa hoisting Finn over the screen to take a look :( Sorry, the secret service would have beat us up.

Sorry about the 2 week blog hiatus. It's not easy having 3 sets of houseguests in 2 weeks, plus all of the regular stuff we have to take care of. But if you like the blog, please comment! It's nice to hear from everyone, and this blog is afterall, a way for us to keep in touch.

Love,
Us Karlssons

Such a boy!

When did my sweet, sweet baby turn into such a boy?

He's already learned the fine art of "tuning out" the Karlsson women! I must say, Magnus and Mattias lead by example... What's the next lesson, "selective memory?"


I know he's seen Mattias do this, but really, did he have to do it during breakfast? This is what Linus does when you ask him where his nose is :)


Oh my. What have we got ourselves in to?