Tor Tales: Two Getaways

As promised, I've procured the photographic evidence of Tor yukking it up on both coasts. First up is his time with the Andersen clan in California. After a great barbecue party at Erik and Heather's in Orinda, we slept at Grandma Betty's and headed down to a Pacific Grove rental only a few miles away from Mormor's house in Carmel.

Holding court at 15 Southwood

Our family descended on the Pebble Beach Club for lunch as only an army of hungry Scandinavians can. Nearly everyone had been there at some point with Mormor and Morfar, so it holds special memories as well as serving food fit for gods. Another evening, we also enjoyed dinner at Lugano's Swiss Restaurant, another of Morfar's favorite places to bring guests.

We can Photoshop Lars in for the Christmas letter

Steven and Yuqin chartered a boat for the family so that we could scatter Morfar's ashes off the coast of Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. We sang a few hymns and left a trail of roses in the boat's wake--I think Morfar would have liked it. Tor was a little put off by having to don a life vest, but his good humor returned when he was allowed to drive the boat for a stretch.

"Why aren't YOU all wearing these?"

Slight correction by actual captain

The rental home was absolutely massive, and since we were feeding upwards of 25 people, we tended to congregate there.

Showing Aunt Caitlin his stuff

The premise of Connect 4 still escapes him

And since the fog held off for nearly our entire stay, we spent plenty of time outside.

All that fresh sea air, etc., etc.

Gymnast in the making

Tor's first album cover?

Bubbles were a HUGE win (thanks, Aunt Heather!)

And thus was Tor ostracized at our Danish family picnic

His sense of object permanence forestalled a serious freakout

Way too early in the year to be playing St. Nicholas, buddy

Interlude: This is from a couple of months ago, but I found it on Lars's phone and thought it was cute enough to post. Take that, chronology.

"Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm," if you know
what I mean

Upon returning home from the reunion, Tor and I generally hung out and did some packing. Nothing too exciting, except for a couple of good dinners with friends. Then we took off for New York. The first night we were there, we got to have dinner with Rhonda Hadi, my best friend since first grade/maid of honor/behavioral science PhD candidate/generally excellent human being. We hadn't seen each other since our wedding--which, the numerically minded among you might recall, was ten years ago that week. It was definitely a highlight of the trip; the only downside was that she departed the next morning for a conference in Europe! Terrible timing on Tor's part.

"Wait, so who is this again?"

One outcome of this trip: we can say with certainty that we never want to live in a studio apartment with a toddler, especially when it's 95 degrees out and there's no air conditioning. Tor morphed into a sweaty human pinball in the tiny space, and the only relief came from plunging him (and one's self, usually) into a cold bath. So we tried to spend a lot of time at parks, museums, or restaurants.