The winter that never happened

This winter has been a bit of a bust here in Minnesota.  We are accustomed and look forward to snow falling in November or December and staying on the ground well into March.  Kids wear snow pants and snow boots back and forth to school for months on end, and we embrace the frigid temps along with skating, skiing, and sledding.  This winter has been so abnormal, we have had to work a little harder to enjoy our winter activities.  We planned a trip to Bemidji to ski, only to find that they hadn't had enough either.  At least we were able to try out some ice fishing (Travis and Greg caught a northern), and there was just enough snow to ski on the frozen Mississippi with my cousin Rebecca.

Our x-country ski league had to meet every week out at a recreation area that was making snow and grooming a track for all the die-hard skate and classic skiers in our area.  Only once was I able to go out and ski at the golf course near our house.  And the City of Lakes Loppet race was shortened from a 33k race through the woods and across the uptown Minneapolis lakes to 5 laps around a man-made loop at  a golf course.  Leif worked on his skate x-country technique this year in the ski league, while the girls perfected their classic skills.  All three of them also joined a swim club and worked twice a week on refining their strokes, learning flip turns and dives, and participating in a swim meet in January.  By the end of the season, both Leif and Hanna were able to swim the 500 yard freestyle in 10 minutes, and Elisabet improved from barely being able to complete 2 laps to having perfect backstroke and breaststroke techniques and keeping up with all the older kids during the workouts.

Wren's big accomplishment for the winter was learning to walk.  She is motivated by a loud cheering section of family members and I imagine it won't be long before she is running to keep up with all of them outside.

And here are some random photos to peruse:

Winter 2011/2012

And some professional photos:

family portraits

Early Winter in the upper Midwest

Fall seems a distant memory, now that we have snow on the ground and temperatures are staying below freezing (mostly).  It has not been nearly as snowy as last year, but the long dark nights remind us we are in the heart of the cold months.  Our winter is filled with the celebration of 4 birthdays in the family.  First up was Wren's first birthday on December 2nd.  Next will be Leif, then Travis and finally Elisabet.  I guess what better time of the year to be filling up with chocolate cake?

We spent Thanksgiving in Iowa with Travis's family and enjoyed some exploring of the farm and the prairie.  We were able to spread some prairie seed on a new patch of ground with a team that included four generations of family members.  The next project in the spring will be a controlled burn of part of the prairie.

The three older kids have been swimming two times a week for a swim club.  They've made amazing progress over the last couple months, learning flip turns and perfecting their strokes.  After a practice last week, we calculated that Elisabet swam at least 24 lengths of the pool- not bad for a 6 year old.

Wren is cruising on all fours and climbing the stairs.  She loves showing off for all of us after dinner- downward dogs, spins, and clapping.  We're starting to hear a few words too.  Important ones like "hot", "mama", "dada", and "cockadoodle doo".

If you'd like to see photos of some of these events, click here:

Fall and Early Winter 2011

To Maine and Back

If you google the drive time from St Paul, Minnesota to Bayside, Maine it says it should take 27 hours.  If you put four kids (ages 11, 9, 6 and one 8 month old baby) and two adults (age 36) in a van to actually drive the recommended route, it will take 30 hours.  And those extra 3 really take their toll.  Google apparently doesn't factor in the added time for all those toll booths, the traffic in Chicago (even at 10:30pm), diaper changes that are not timed to the other bathroom stops, and the feat of getting 6 people in and out of a vehicle at rest areas.  It's a beautiful drive though, traveling through the fields and plains of the midwest, along the shore of Lake Erie, and into New York with it's rolling hills and forests and then through Massachusetts and up along the coast of New Hampshire and across into Maine.  Once into Maine, the smell of the ocean mixes with the scent of the pine of the north woods, and we know we are almost there.

We returned to a cottage we've stayed in before.  There is a rocky beach which disappears at the peak of high tide, and is great for exploring at low tide.  Across the Penobscot bay we can see the island of Islesboro and even farther, Searsport and Castine, ME.  We only had one day of rain- which we spent at the Penobscot Maritime Museum.  We were lucky enough to have wind to sail twice, but not too much wind for kayaking.

We took our time driving back, stopping for two days in Vermont to visit family and go hiking.  From there we drove to Amherst, MA to visit friends, and then continuing on to Buffalo, NY via Ithaca.  I had not been back to Cornell since graduating from college, so it was fun to show the kids the beautiful campus and drive along Cayuga Lake.  About an hour from Cornell, Travis started humming "Far above Cayuga's waters..."  not having thought of that song for years.  It reminded me of my grandfather's story about hiking in Utah as an adult and suddenly remembering the names of grade school friends.  Of course neither of us could get past the first line of the alma mater.

We took a photo in front of the clock tower, got ice cream from the university dairy, and took in the view of the lake from the deck of the student union.  Then we peered over the bridge down into one of the gorges and walked along the path and up the steep steps by the engineering building where I crossed the gorge to get to campus.

Our next stop was at Kate, Matt and Willa's new house in Buffalo where Willa showed us tricks on her rings in the back yard and we got to see a bit of their new neighborhood.  Not wanting to spend any more time than necessary in the car, we decided to save a visit to Niagara Falls for our next visit.  Buffalo was only 16 short hours from St Paul (note the sarcasm), so we made it as far as the western suburbs of Chicago where we just happened upon a hotel with a small water park inside.  Elisabet found this to be a highlight of the trip.  She kept telling us it was the best hotel ever.

Fifteen days after we set off, we returned to our house with 3, 549 miles on the van, four large loads of laundry, and at least a bucket full of sand in the car mats.

Photos of our adventures can be found here.....

The Ranchin' Life

We did a little ranching this weekend down in Iowa.  Calves needed to be de-wormed, vaccinated and bull calves castrated.  Then the herd needed to be moved to the east pasture where the grass has grown in thick and tall.  After the manual labor was finished, we took the truck and jeep to a fishing pond and had a cookout and the kids caught a few nice looking sunfish.  It's a great change of pace from the "city" life in St Paul, and fun to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Hanna celebrated her 9th birthday on May 26th.
She had a lovely party with balloons and chocolate cake.

Here's a video of the process:




Pictures can be found here:

Late Spring

Spring has been slow to arrive this year in Minnesota.  When we traveled to Point Reyes, California for spring break, it snowed in St Paul.  And then it snowed again in April and again on May day.  The leaves on the sugar maples along our boulevard have finally appeared, along with the flowering fruit trees and spring bulbs.  We found that the slow unfolding of the buds allowed us to have an entire week of spectacular bird migration viewing from Leif's bedroom window.  Travis and I had a little friendly competition for unusual sightings and between us we saw 12 different warbler species, numerous swainson's thrushes, an indigo bunting, eastern bluebird, several orioles, and rose-breasted grosebeaks in our backyard elm tree.

School is winding down and the kids are excited for summer to begin.  There will be soccer, violin, piano, sailing school, art camp and day camp, canoeing in the Boundary Waters, along with a trip or two to the Iowa ranch and Wisconsin and then the east coast in August.

Wren has each one of us enamored with her every smile, and she gives them out liberally.  What joy it has been to have a baby in the house again.  Each new development from laughing to chewing on her toes is greeted with cheers and claps from her siblings.  Leif wrote a poem about her for school and declares his love for her regularly.  Hanna is disappointed if she isn't awake before they leave for the bus, and Elisabet does not seem bothered at all by her displacement as youngest in the family.  Someone at church told me recently that they love how they huddle around her when she is awake during the service.

Winter photos

I've had several requests for new photos of the Saveraid children- or maybe you're yearning for a photo of Travis now that he is 36?  Speaking of turning 36, Elisabet recently asked me "Mom are you 63 or 36?" I guess anything over 15 seems old to her.

We've had quite a winter of snow and cold.  Actually the cold has been less severe, except for a brief spell a couple weeks ago of negative temps, but the snow has been epic.  Well, maybe not epic, but impressive.  One morning I was walking with Leif and Hanna down to their bus stop and the towering snowbanks on either side of the sidewalk was pretty imposing.  At least waist high on both of them.  After a thaw last week that finally put a dent in the snow cover, we had another 15+ inches fall on Sunday and Monday.  The official total at the MSP airport was 13, but we measured 40 centimeters on our table on the back deck (the only ruler I could find was Hanna's from Switzerland).

Leif, Hanna and Elisabet participated in a ski league this year.  We load up the car with 5 pairs of nordic ski, poles and boots and head to Como Park for the afternoon on Sundays.  This year they had 130 kids sign up- that's what happens when you have a couple of good snow winters.  All 3 of them really enjoyed improving their skills on cross country skis, particularly going as fast as possible down the hills.  Leif is starting to work on his skate skiing technique.  I'm looking forward to taking him out with me to the groomed tracks as he learns.  They skied the evening luminary Loppet in downtown Minneapolis at the beginning of Feb.  It is a weekend filled with ski races- skijoring, freestyle, classic, junior and sprint races and part of it goes along the lakes in Uptown.  For the evening ski, the track is lined with ice luminaries and with good weather this year there were around 9,000 skiers.

winter

New addition

If you haven't heard by now, we have a new addition to our family.  Wren Louisa was born on December 2, just in time for one of our first big snowfalls.  Since her arrival, she has been loved, kissed and hugged daily by her older siblings.  We have all been marveling over her tiny little person- all 5 lbs 13 oz of her at birth.  She has long fingers and toes, a small dimple on her left cheek (possibly the one Hanna left behind?), and quite a bit of blonde hair.  Elisabet wonders if she will have green eyes when she is older, although they are blue right now.  This is likely because we recently discovered that Elisabet's eyes are turning green so she inspects them daily to note changes.  She is quite pleased to discover something she shares with just mom.

Leif's 11th birthday and Christmas went by in a flurry.  We had a huge 18+ inch snowstorm the week after Wren came home and since then we have been digging out.  It looks to be a great winter for snow sports.  Leif, Hanna, Elisabet, Travis and Papa went skiing at Afton Alps and had a fantastic time.  Travis and Papa spent the day trying to keep up with them as they bombed down the hills.  They also all went ice skating at the local outdoor rink.  This weekend everyone will start nordic skiing with the MN Youth Ski League.  It will feel good to get back into skiing shape!

We celebrated an early Christmas with Travis's family and then we had the special treat of getting all the Haslers together at Christmas this year.  The three newest grandchildren got to meet one another, and we had several evening gatherings over great food and wine. It definitely seemed as if we had really multiplied this year!  But the chaos of all the cousins is lots of fun.

Here are some photos of the various events:

Wren's birth


Birthday and Christmas

Saying goodbye to summer

A late posting of pictures from our trip "up north" to the Gunflint Trail, a road that winds it's way through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area from Grand Marais.  The drive from Duluth north follows the shores of Lake Superior (Elisabet must have asked us 30 times "is this the largest lake in the world???".

We enjoyed spectacular views of the lake, the birch/pine forests and exploring the northern reaches of MN.  We even took our canoes across the Gunflint lake to a picnic spot in Canada.  The weather wasn't very summery, in fact it was extremely windy and cold, but we still managed to find plenty of things to do.  And we could always warm up from being outside by hopping into the Jacuzzi tub (or zoo-cozy as Elisabet called it).

A long overdue adventure

We're not sure how it happened, but we're a little embarrassed to have lived in Minnesota for 5 years (minus one of those in Switzerland) and never taken a trip to a lake cabin in the state.  So after a year of more "exotic" travels, we dedicated this summer to more local explorations.  First up was a trip to Lower Whitefish Lake north of Brainerd, MN with Papa and Nona, Aaron, Melissa and Jens.  Melissa's relatives generously let us stay in their lake house, newly built and beautifully situated on the peninsula.  The first day's weather was windy and cool, but that did not stop the kids from donning their swimsuits and jumping off the dock.  There was a great variety of floating rafts- alligator, turtle, lounge chair, etc to keep them occupied until the teeth chattering set in.  In addition to hours of swimming, we also tried out "Big Mable" an extremely large tube for pulling behind the boat.  The girls screamed for us to go faster while Leif shouted slow down.  Jens enjoyed watching all the action from the boat, although he also thought that caution was preferable to excessive speed.  All three older kids tried water skiing- Leif and Hanna were successful on their first try and skied across the lake on a pair of classic wooden skis.  Then uncle Aaron got up on the slalom ski to show them what they can aspire to.   Papa brought their kayaks and they were fun for exploring the shoreline and finding a quiet bay for fishing.  Travis caught quite a few fish, including a small muskie.  Everyone was successful in catching numerous sunfish, rock bass, and a couple large mouth bass.  Leif even learned how to remove the hook and get the fish back in the water all by himself.

The entire picture story can be found here.....



.... and for those of you surprised by the change in my appearance, it's a girl.  Due in December.  Jens is expecting a sibling as well (sex unknown) in September.  More adventures and an expanded 'cousie' club to be had in the future!

Cousins

Kate and Willa flew out from California to visit us last week.  What a fun time having all the cousins together to play.  Elisabet was excited to finally meet Willa "in human" rather than over Skype video chat.

They certainly all look related.....

and more.....

Willa's first visit to MN

Workin' the cattle

School is out and it's time for summer fun.  Our first trip was loading up the kids and aunt Gloria to drive to the ranch in Iowa and work the cattle.  Baby calves ranging from 1 day to 2 months old needed to be vaccinated and tagged.  Saturday started off with an early morning thunderstorm, 1 inch of rain and lots of lightening.  During a break in the rain, Craig headed up to the barn to get the cattle up into the sorting pens.  Four neighbors came with their horses and rounded them up- this was also the moment it decided to rain and thunder dramatically again, so we stayed in the house and watched from the window as the cowboys braved the inclement weather.

Each person had an assigned job:  Several men on horseback bring the cow and calf pairs into the first sorting pens, then a couple guys in that pen separate the cows out and funnel the calves into another pen, Cody gets the calves up and into the chute and calls out the sex, and Travis lowers the head gate on each calf (one at a time). Craig administers a couple shots, dewormer, and then tags their ear with a number- right ear for bulls, left for heifers.  Marta is in charge of filling up the syringes with dewormer and replacing needles, as well as recording the sex and ear tag number of each calf.  Leif started off loading the tag "gun", but then switched to helping Cody in the calf chute.  This is tough physical work and due to all the rain, extremely muddy.  After being slammed against the fence and having his feet trampled on by numerous calves, Leif decided to switch to manning the bar behind the calf.  Once the calf is immobilized by the head gate, Leif slid an iron bar behind them to prevent them from backing up or another calf from coming up from behind them when the gate was released at the end.  Gloria helped out as well with both these jobs, which was evidenced at the end by a coating of mud on all her clothes.  Hanna took on Leif's job of loading the ear tagger, and then relinquished it to Elisabet after about number 50.  Elisabet took her job so seriously she did not even take time for a joke or a smile.  During this whole process, cows are bawling for their calves and the calves are bawling for their mothers- it's nearly deafening!  120 calves (66 bulls, 54 heifers) and 3 hours later, we were finished.

photo slide show:

Spring time fun

New kittens, a trip to Madison, a birthday for Hanna, and homemade popsicles.  Enjoying spring in the upper Midwest.

table style="width:194px;">

springtime fun

Spring on the Farm

For the long Easter weekend we drove to Iowa and spent time "ranchin", prairie burning, hiking and exploring.  Leif donned his cowboy hat and boots and went out every day 3-4 times with Craig to check on any new calves and to feed the 2 whose mothers were not being very attentive.  They would arrive back at the house and Leif would give us a run down on all the happenings.... i.e. "134 just isn't taking to her calf, we found #67 down in by the pond, #164 is a huge calf, and #162 her bag isn't looking full."

We burned a small patch of prairie and the kids had a fun time stomping out the edges with their boots.  It was a little wet, so the burn moved slowly and didn't go past the field, so it stayed well under control.  We had wet towels, shovels and also did a back burn to make sure it didn't spread into the neighbors pasture.

We also hiked around on our land and looked at the small patch of grasses and the soybean stubble. It should be ready to go for planting grasses and forbes on it this year as we work on turning it into more of a natural prairie.  We found a deer trail through the wet marshy area and we even have our very own appliance dump!

The first pictures in the album are of Elisabet riding her two-wheeler and Jens at Mattocks park near our house.

Life on the Farm

Olympians in training

We're having our own version of the winter Olympics here in St Paul.  The snow has provided us with some of the best skiing in years.  Between the good snow cover and now the ice we can ski, skate or slide. Leif has been participating in the MN Youth Ski League and Hanna and Elisabet have been on their skis as well.  On Saturdays the girls are taking skating lessons and on the weekdays they spend time in the neighbors yard "luging" or "skeleton" racing down the hill.  Leif and his friend Henry even 'snowboarded' down the backyard slide one day (I didn't learn of this luckily until after he was back inside, still all in one piece).

Here are some photos of the girls at Como park.

Skiing in Madison

A long weekend made for great skiing and fun in Madison.  We skied at Olin park near Minona on Saturday morning and all 3 kids enjoyed shushing down the hill by the parking lot.  On Sunday we spent nearly 3 hours at Governor Nelson park which had something for everyone.  Skate trails for Travis and me, skiing on the lake Mendota for Leif, Hanna and Papa, classic tracks and a playground for Nona and Elisabet and skijoring for Belle and anyone who was daring enough to be pulled.  It was a spectacular day of sunshine and mid 20 degree temps.

We had an eventful trip driving to Madison on Friday night when about 20 miles west of our destination the car ran out of gas.  Travis and I had been chatting away, oblivious to the gas light which must have been on for 40 miles or so.  We are chalking it up to our year of using public transportation and not having to worry about stopping to refuel.  By some miracle we were cruising fast enough to coast UP the off ramp, around the corner and then down a slight hill with three more turns into the Exxon station.  All of this with the engine completely off!  The store was closed, but the pumps were open.... the only other station was not open at all, so we were feeling very lucky indeed.

table style="width:194px;">

Madison skiing

SNOW

This has been a fantastic year for snow in the Twin Cities.  I am taking full advantage of the nordic trails around the area- one close by our house at the Highland golf course.  Leif and I have been skiing on Sundays at Como Park and then I have been out to the Battle Creek Nature Preserve for several morning skis.  It's beautiful!

The kids are enjoying sledding off the hill in the yard and going down the slide in our backyard.  The swings are nearly sitting on the snow it is so piled up.

Elisabet is our budding chef.  She heads straight to the kitchen after preschool to make Travis a sandwich for lunch.  One evening she asked to make empanadas and did the dough rolling, filling, and egg brushing all on her own.  Today she is helping me with some red velvet cupcakes for Valentine's Day.

School and Birthdays

Life has been moving at a faster pace since we returned.  The days are more filled with activities:  school, piano, skating, skiing and violin.  Science fair projects and math homework are taking up time in the evenings.  Hanna and Leif are happy in their new classrooms and enjoying catching up with friends.

Elisabet has turned a corner and declared that she LOVES preschool because it is "so boring to stay at home".  We celebrated her 5th birthday on Friday and she has been wearing her fairy costume nearly every day this week.  Her inspiration came from attending the Children's Theater production of "Cinderella" with Papa and Nona.

We had a family reunion over the weekend to celebrate the birthdays of Elisabet and Papa (65!) and also a baby shower for Kate and Matt.  It was fun to think about how we were all together 5 years ago the weekend Elisabet was born in Washington.  And definitely exciting to think about the new little cousin that will be with us shortly.

More birthday pics here:
table style="width:194px;">

Elisabet's birthday weekend

Settling In

Minnesota has greeted us our first week back with a deep freeze.  The last two nights were -14 F and today was a balmy 8 degrees.  I actually heard the weather announced on the radio as "a high of zero- not too bad".  It's all a matter of perspective.  I've been wearing my ski hit indoors to stave off the shivers.  The positive part is that it is beautiful and sunny.

Tomorrow the kids return to school.  Leif and Hanna to Capitol Hill and Elisabet to Jean Lyle preschool.  Elisabet is not thrilled and wondered several times today why adults get to stay home.

Our house is cozy and welcoming.  Here are some shots of the new arrangements and the snow piled outside.  It's impressively high.  Maybe if we get more I will lose my new white van in a snow bank?

Returning home

Going Home

Challenge #1: Carrying eight 23 kg (50 lbs) bags, 4 rolling suitcases, a bell, a violin, and my messenger bag.

Challenge #2: Getting to the airport.  This is the university van loaded with our bags.  We had to ride in another car- no room for anyone but the driver in this vehicle.

Challenge #3:  Check-in and weighing bags

It only took 3 luggage carts to take them to the counter!












Challenge #4:  Waiting for boarding and going through the full-body hand search.  Tip for parents- if your kids cry they can get out of the pat down.  No need to traumatize little ones.

Challenge #5:  Putting the rolling suitcases, bell, and violin in the overhead bins (two very kind passengers assisted with this task).

Challenge #6:  Passing the time on a 9.5 hour flight.  Not terribly difficult with tv/video screens for every seat.  It's amazing how many movies and video games you can watch with this amount of time.

Challenge #7:  Waking up an exhausted Elisabet and getting all four of us off the plane for customs in Chicago.

Challenge #8:  The "Passport Control" line in Chicago. Just looking at it brought Elisabet to a wail.

Challenge #9:  Collecting all 8 checked bags at customs, loading them on 3 carts again, and wheeling them to the re-check point.

Challenge #10:  Trying to make our connection to MSP in 44 minutes.

Challenge #11:  No boarding passes, self-check kiosk not working.  An agent took pity on our situation (at this point both girls were in tears at the thought of missing the flight) and literally ran back and forth between us and a booking computer with our passports.  Rushing back, she shoved them in my hands and yelled to us with encouragement "run, run, run".

Challenge #12:  Security line.  One boarding pass reads "Travis" not "Leif".  Only 19 minutes until the flight departs.  The head security person decides to wave us through- a huge black man who I would have hugged and kissed if I had not been carrying a bell, messenger bag, and two rolling suitcases.

Challenge #13:  Removing boots, jackets, watch, computer, and putting all bags back up on conveyer for their last inspection.  Convincing a now whimpering Elisabet it was worth it.

Challenge #14:  Getting to the gate.  Only 2 gates away from the security checkpoint, another lucky break for us.

Challenge #15:  Loading it all back into the overhead bins.  Seriously regretting that cow bell.

Challenge #16:  Gathering everything back up one last time to de-plane.

Worth every single challenge:  Seeing the smiles and happy faces of family waiting for us at the baggage carousel.

One more day in Switzerland

Packing your entire household is no easy task.  We've been working at it all week.  And then last night we saw the news of new security regulations for hand baggage.  On our trip to Switzerland we brought roll-on suitcases and an extra bag each.  We're going to have to hope for nice gate checkers that won't count Leif's violin, the cow bell, and my Freitag bag as a second piece of hand baggage......

Sorting through papers,  computer equipment and software.

A good scale is essential for weighing each bag.  We have our 8 allotted checked bags (Travis is still working on his) at between 20-22 kg.  The maximum weight allowed is 23 kg, so we're cutting it close.

We were treated to a special raclette dinner last night at a friend's house.  We met the family this fall through the girls' ballet class- they live in a nearby village called Birmesdorf and have 3 children.  They speak German, English and Polish (they lived in the US for 3 years, the father is Swiss and the mother is Polish).  The kids had a great time playing with legos, racing around and playing games.  We had Polish beet soup for a starter, a mache salad, and then raclette, made the traditional way.  This involves mounting the wheel of cheese on a post under a heater and then scraping it off in layers as it heats.  "Raclette" literally means scraped cheese.  It is traditionally a winter time meal because it was made from extra milk from the cows in the winter (when transportation was limited).  You eat the cheese with boiled potatoes, pickles, pickled baby corn, and a nutmeg and pepper spice mixture.  A great meal to finish off our year abroad, especially in the company of a warm and friendly family.