Boardman-Grimes Blog

Our family just got bigger. A lot bigger! And John & Mikal a lot more tired. Eric & Alex Boardman Grimes were born on Oct. 8, 2007. See the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/MikalGrimes/AlexEricArrive and http://picasaweb.google.com/MikalGrimes/Oct2007

We did something very un-American and spent five weeks in Sweden this summer. It wasn’t completely vacation since Mikal worked, but it’s a far cry from our normal existence in Austin and John did take off from his job. We have lots of Swedish connections: Mikal’s mother emigrated from Sweden and his sister, Marcia, lives in Göteborg with her husband, David, who was also Mikal’s grad school housemate. We also speak Swedish at home with Sylvia since Mikal grew up speaking it with his family. This trip was a chance for us to see Mikal’s family, for Sylvia and Marcia to spend time together, and for John and Sylvia to be immersed in Swedish. Not surprisingly, Sylvia’s malleable toddler brain leapt ahead of John’s calcified noggin in Swedish.

We spent the bulk of our time in Sweden’s second largest city, Göteborg (Gothenburg), where Marcia & David live. It’s all those things American cities now want to be: pedestrian- and bike-friendly, compact without being overwhelmingly dense, sidewalk cafes and shops abound, there are over a dozen light rail lines, and grand buildings from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s line the streets with the occasional 17th century building popping up.

The weather in Göteborg can be dicey in summer, but we lucked out with only a couple of rainy days and lots of sunshine. We also spent a week at Mikal’s family cabin farther north in the woods on a lake. Wild blueberry bushes literally covered the forest floor, and we plucked enough for John to bake two blueberry tarts and still have plenty leftover to dump in our cereal bowls each morning.

Normally after a long trip, we’re dying to get home, but this time we are perfectly content to stay longer. Alas our flight leaves in a few days and we’ll be back in our cars. But the mild Austin winters are pretty darn nice and Austin’s not too shabby a place to be, so I don’t think we’ll be pulling up stakes to move to Scandinavia any time soon.

You can see our pictures here

It’s been a year since we updated our blog, but we have some news that’s so big that even lazy we must post about it: Sylvia is about to share the stage with two baby brothers! Yes, we’re going to have twin boys in October. My, oh, my! We were planning a family of four, but Mother Nature had something else in mind. I guess she decided we had it too easy with gentle Sylvia who slept through the night at 8 weeks, so just to make sure that we don’t soft and lazy, we’re now going to be juggling a toddler and two babies. On top of that the ultrasound weight estimates show them to be several weeks ahead in size, so we might have two strapping little terrors running around next month.

We flew from blazing hot Austin to the much cooler Bay Area for the wedding of Dan and Carol in August. Mikal’s college buddies flew in from all over, so it was a mini-reunion for the class of ‘89 as well. We took some good pictures and you can download the larger originals or order prints from Shutterfly.

Mikal, Sylvia, and I got in a little hike in the woods plus an afternoon in San Francisco with my best friend from high school, Jeff. The trip was capped off with an incredible multi-course dinner at one of the best Chinese restaurants in SF. All the food was delicious, but the chilean sea bass was hands-down the best fish I’ve had. Syliva had a great time playing with the kids, eating the fruit that was literally falling off Peter & Betty’s trees in their yard, scrambling over logs in the woods, and making friends up and down the streets of San Francisco.

Lots has happened since the last post. Sylvia turned one on April 14, and we celebrated with a little brunch and the birthday cake Mikal’s Swedish mother, Inger, made for him: a yellow cake frosted with whipped cream and topped with strawberries. As expected Sylvia was more interested in the berries than the rest of the cake and more interested in the wrapping paper than the gifts themselves.

This past weekend we went on our annual trip to South Padre Island with our friends Steve & Steve. Last year the ocean made Sylvia cry. This year she enjoyed watching the waves lick her toes, but I think she had even more fun making friends with everyone walking by.

Sylvia has been walking with assistance since January but has been in no hurry to let go of our fingers. This week she finally made the progression to walking independently, much to the delight of her daddies’ sore backs.

You can see all that and more in the latest set of pictures, plus we threw in our Christmas photo as a bonus.

We bundled up the girl, hopped on a plane, and went to Sweden for Christmas. Mikal’s dad, Milton, hooked up with us in Memphis and flew with us to Gothenburg. The catalyst for the trip was Mikal’s sister Marcia’s defending her PhD in Political Science at Gothenburg University. That makes me the black sheep: Mikal, Milton, Marcia, and her husband David all went on to graduate school and got PhDs. I’m the only one who quit after four years and stuck with a Bachelors. I’m not sure who that means is smarter…

Sweden isn’t as cold as most people think; it’s a heck of a lot warmer than Minnesota or Wisconsin. For a Texas boy who considers it a treat if Christmas is simply cold enough to justify wearing a coat, Christmas in Sweden was magical. We spent a few days in Gothenburg and then headed to Orsa in the Dalarna province where Mikal’s mother came from. We visited with her side of the family and had a postcard-perfect Christmas. Then it was off to Stockholm for a snowy city trip before we headed home.

You can see the pictures here.

It was Sylvia’s first Halloween, and after five seconds of thinking about making her a costume, Mikal and I realized we could just go to Old Navy and buy one. Thanks to the miracle of globalization and some fine folks in Malaysia, our little girl got to be a cow for Halloween. And boy, what a happy cow she was! This picture was taken when I took Sylvia to Mikal’s office. We never got a chance to go trick or treating because she crashed just as dusk approached.

Fall is finally here in Austin, which means no more highs in the upper 90s and 100s. Yesterday we had blue skies and temps in the 70s, so Mikal and I bought a baguette, cheese, and a bottle of wine and took Sylvia down to Town Lake. She loved watching everyone running, walking, riding, and boating by. I snapped away and got lots of pictures of her playing with Papa. See them here.

As is our tradition, I made cupcakes for Sylvia’s birthday and at four months she has developed a keen interest in candles. I hope we don’t have a budding pyromaniac on our hands…

We went to Waco this weekend so Sylvie could meet her cousins, Ellie & Evan, and her Aunt Ruth and Uncle John.