To infinity and beyond!

In addition to signing "hungry, more, food, and water" Linus has also learned the signs (and sounds effects) for "airplane, car, helicopter, rocket, motorcycle, and firetruck." So what better way to expose him to the things he likes best than to take him to the National Air and Space Museum out near the Dulles airport? A certified big boy, Linus spent most of the time on his own two feet "oohing" and "aahing" at all the planes hanging from above.

We like to call the following series of pictures "McLinus" since they were taken during his first ever meal at, that's right, McDonalds. Mattias wanted me to add a disclaimer stating that we fed him a yogurt before offering him a toxic Happy Meal, and that's milk he's sipping (not soda.) Also, McDonalds was the only restaurant at the museum.

That said, look at the pure joy in his face after getting a taste of french fries. He's so excited he's crashing them together like he does his toy trucks!

Then he savors a little chunk of McNugget. I don't even know if they're made of chicken anymore?
He must concentrate while he demonstrates his straw skills. Again, it's milk not soda.

Mesmerized by this piece of jet engine. Linus also spent a lot of time next to WWII missiles. When did he become such a boy? It must be in part due to Mattias' and Magnus' engineering genes.

Such a simple outing, but one of our most memorable days as parents. There's nothing like taking your child out, exposing him to something new, and seeing the wonder in his face after he's made some kind of connection.

Appalachian Weekend

A couple of weeks ago we drove up to Shenandoah National Park for a little R&R. It is a new tradition we started last year when we were first blown away by the beautiful fall foliage. But this year, we were lucky enough to stay overnight at the Big Meadows Lodge-- a historic lodge built in the 1930's.

Linus was at the tail end of a bad cold and was a little out of sorts. Here he is after he fell asleep on Mattias lap, on a rocking chair in the Great Room (complete with a view of the Shenandoah Valley.)

We spent a little time at the playground, where Kerstin and I did most of the playing ;)

But Linus loved to look at sticks and such.


Just for comparison, this is his photo at Shenandoah last year. He was still a little baby (said in super-nostalgic-Ellie-voice.)

Before dinner we head up to a lookout with Linus in the backpack, to catch a glimpse of the famous Blue Ridge Mountain sunset.

Pure magic. And in Karlsson-style we got there just in time to see the sun slip below the horizon.


The next morning we took it easy. READ: Kerstin took care of Linus after he woke up screaming at 5:30AM while Mattias and I slept in. Then we decided to take on the Appalachian Trail. That's right, we can say we hiked the Appalachian Trail... even if it was just for 45 minutes :)


Here in Arlington we were able to squeeze in an afternoon of walking, and Mattias took these fabulous pictures.

Linus found this ginormous leaf.

You know it's a big leaf when it covers the entirety of Linus' head.

Halloween!

Mattias and I are known to be Halloween celebrating types: I love making costumes, Mattias loves eating candy, and Gus and Linus both are good victims for dress-up. And the fact that Linus was old enough for trick-or-treating made the holiday that much more exciting this year.

But first things first, Linus needed to inspect the goods. Which, by the way, he had never eaten until Halloween day. Nothing like a huge pile of candy surrounding you.

But these things are so hard to open! Later on in the afternoon while we all sat and relaxed in the living room, we realized that Linus was being awfully quiet and still. Upon further investigation we discovered that he had tore in to a fun sized Milky Way bar! His actual words were "Mmmmmm" and "More?"

Gus again fell victim to Halloween. He was by far the biggest hit at our building Halloween costume party for the picture below. He was my "ugly child" and rode around in Linus' sling for the majority of the party.


This year was a record for me in costume making-- 4 crow costumes for me, Mattias, Mel, and my mom. Below we were on our way to "Night of the Living Zoo", an adults-only party at the Smithsonian Zoo. We were able to enjoy a lot of the exhibits sans children, and even watched a sword swallower!

Here's right before trick-or-treating. Linus is Our Dear Leader Kim Jong Il.

The cool crew of kids posing for a picture before we hit the pavement. It is really hard to get that many kids in costumes to 1)keep still and 2)not cry.


And we were off!

See the anticipation and excitement in his eyes?

After it got dark we walked over to Jackson Street, a street in our neighborhood where it is a tradition to go all out on decorations and make haunted houses. The streets were filled with people and it was almost like the Castro party in San Francisco minus the naked people, and the gay people, and the booze.




It started to rain a little but we just had to hit up our last stop for the night: a bonfire at Lyon Village Park.


Someone was mesmerized by the flames.


Compared to living in the Bay Area, I will have to admit that celebrating holidays is a lot more exciting out here. It's a combination of the change in weather that makes things festive, and our dreaded anticipation of the winter to come that forces us to go outside and do things while we still can.

This weekend we are headed to Shenandoah National Park to enjoy the last of the beautiful fall leaves and colors, relax at the lodge, hike, play board games, and maybe even visit a cave. Because we know, pretty soon, there will be no greenery outside at all.

Lola visits

As we speak Lola is flying back to California. While farmor Kerstin is in Sweden, Lola came over to take over Linus-duty and catch up on some much needed quality time. We had so much fun on her 8 day visit, and we are pretty sure she is sleeping well on the flight.

The two of them got cozy right away.

The weather was pretty awesome during her visit, and we couldn't resist taking her to Great Falls National Park to enjoy the fall colors.

While we were at work Lola took Linus to his regular stomping grounds. The library is his favorite.


When we're not around, Lola lets Linus do things he's not usually allowed to do. Like stand on chairs :) But isn't that what makes grandparents fun?

Lots of time was spent in the apartment with toys. At the end of the day it looked like a nuclear toy bomb was dropped in our living room.

And when that just wasn't good enough, Linus proclaimed "More action!" and Lola took him to the park to play. Who's in charge here? It looks like Linus leads the way as always...



Linus thinks Lola is pretty darn cool.

Then when I was off we head over to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum where we explored the butterfly and insect exhibits, and romped around the great Mammal Room.

Lola even got to visit Linus' new daycare and participate in the annual Halloween parade.

Needless to say, we miss her already and can't until we visit in January.