2008 Chicago Marathon

No, I didn't run it this year, but after seeing it I sure want to!

Katie and I were in Chicago for 4 days, primarily for me to attend a web conference. But we were pleasantly surprised that we arrived the day before the marathon, and the route went right by our hotel. We saw both the start and finish.

Twin Cities 10-Mile

I ran the Twin Cities 10-Mile, held in conjunction with the Twin Cities Marathon. It's a beautiful route, not to mention a pleasant experience to race and only need to run 10 miles! Very fun. More here.

BWCA 2008

Photos from this year's trip to the BWCA. My 8th year in a row (and 7th with my father-in-law Kent); Grace's second trip; Sarah's third.

Click on the slideshow to play, and for an enlarged version click a second time.

Undefeated Champions: MU Thunder

Warning: parental pride is imminent.

Sarah's soccer season culminated in a 3-1 win against St. Louis Park tonight, making them undefeated for the season.

And I should mention, just as an aside, that Sarah scored all three goals this evening. Hat trick.

The team had a fabulous season— it was certainly a thrill to watch them this year. And we could not thank their coaches and winter trainers enough: they did a wonderful job building a team that worked together, and enjoyed every minute of it.

Third Marathon

I finished my third marathon in 4:43:15! More here.

Home Spa

Just when you think you've seen everything, my oldest daughters have a spa evening in their bathroom.

When is my appointment?

Track & Field Day

Today was track and field day at Grace and Sarah's school. Katie and I were there at the beginning and saw he all-school parade, and watched Grace compete (Sarah was in the afternoon).

Makeover

Our house in mid-makeover, as it gets repainted. I think it would have taken me all summer to do what these painters did in two days!

Memorial Day

Remembering our departed.

Sarah and Grace were in Arizona over the holiday weekend, visiting their Grandpa Steve and Grandma Cherie. And Katie was working, so I took Emma and Anne with me to stop at cemeteries and see some of my relatives in northern MN.

Puerto Rico

The three oldest girls got to come along with Katie and I for a short trip to Puerto Rico (Katie had a 3-day medical meeting there; we arrived one day early).

Highlights included our stunning beach-front location (the InterContinental San Juan), taking a day trip to the El Yunque rainforest, and being there with one of Katie's partners who is married to a Puerto Rican. Sean and Jessica travel to PR about 5 times per year to visit family (lucky!) and, having grown up there and lived there through medical school, Jessica had a ton of helpful advice about places to see, where to eat, etc.

The two photos above are of the girls at our hotel, and at the base of a waterfall in the rainforest.

Happy Birthday Emma!

Emma turned 5 today. Amazing...her last year of preschool, and about to begin kindergarten in the fall.

Can Katie and I really have three children aged 5 and older? And Anne turns 2 in four days, too!

Photography...When You're the Subject

Our friend Jim Fuglestad, who does photography professionally (see sledding entry below), wanted to take some shots of us to promote his "Relationship Session" idea. This is aimed at couples like us, who feel like we never had cool enough pictures taken at our own weddings, and are now jealous of the creative ways that weddings are photographed by talented people like Jim.

Which is a great idea...until you actually do it!

No, seriously, Jim did a fantastic job. It's just funny, though, how fun it is to work with him when your children are involved, and how that changes and makes you so self-conscious when you are suddenly being photographed. But Jim is a master at making the experience fun and casual, and I have to admit, the photos are better than most of our wedding photos from 1994!

See more of Jim's Relationship Session photos here.

Chicken Cookies

Annie is almost two years old (April 4) and, accordingly, is learning how to assert her independence in a variety of ways. One of the many ways is to arbitrarily limit her diet. Well, it's not entirely arbitrary: basically, she eats cereal or toast in the morning, and sometimes yogurt, cheese, and grapes for other meals. And cookies, cake, or ice cream. She loves cookies and desserts, but not much else.

(and it's not for a lack of us trying)

Today while Katie was at work, I did one of my quick and embarrassing dinners of chicken patties, salad, and potato chips. No real skill involved in this meal, and not much in the way of nutrients either. But it still offers a somewhat balanced array of protein, fresh produce, and carbs. If only Anne would eat some of it.

Then I had my idea. They weren't chicken patties. They were chicken cookies.

The results speak for themselves:

Sledding

My friend Jim Fuglestad took these fabulous photos of the girls when we met for sledding about one week ago. 'Newton Hill' is a great place for this, just a few blocks away along Minnehaha Creek.






Jim does amazing work and photographs professionally. See the rest of the photos from this session here, and contact Jim if you want to work with him or know anyone needing a photographer for a wedding, graduation photos, etc.

Merry Christmas!

With about six inches of new snow arriving yesterday, it has made today a spectacular Christmas Eve! We're looking forward to Grandma Sharon arriving soon, and then there will be church services, dinner, and opening presents.

We hope that everyone who is reading this is also having a safe and joyous day. Merry Christmas!

Kris, Katie, Sarah, Grace, Emma, and Anne

Feelin' a Little Swedish

Today Sarah was mentioning how one of her classmates was "so Swedish" that she celebrated St. Lucia's Day at home. I grant that this can make you seem awfully Swedish, but I pointed out to Sarah that we are also part Swedish.

"How much?" she asked.

Well, allow me to elaborate. First, I will be the first to admit that, until 2002, I had no idea that I was part Swedish. I thought I was Finnish and German/Polish, and with a strange but meaningless last name. Fortunately, this all changed when I went to Finland for two weeks. There, armed with the scant knowledge that my ancestors were from somewhere in Finland and used to be named Kouri, I had a conversation with someone who told me that, apparently, my great-great grandfather must have decided to use his Swedish name upon emigrating to the U.S.

"Swedish last name?" I asked, perplexed.

"Of course," the friendly Finn replied. "Layon is Swedish. It should be spelled Lejon. It means lion."

Lion!

Since then, other things I've learned:

- The Göta Lejon was a ship in the Swedish Navy until - interestingly - 1971, when I was born.
- Försäkrings AB Göta Lejon is the city of Göteborg's (Sweden) insurance company. Göteborg (Gothenburg in English) is named for the river Göta, which empties into the North Sea at this location.
- Saab's logo incorporates a griffin, a mythical creature that is part lion and part eagle. "The heraldic griffin's head - derived from the coats of arms of the Skåne and Östergotland counties in southern Sweden - traditionally symbolises vigilance."

And at the time that the Lejon-Kouri situation was explained to me, I also observed that western Finland was bilingual and bicultural, so I just happen to fit that mold perfectly. For example, the city where my friend Vesa lives is called Turku in Finnish and Abo in Swedish. (photo of a Finnish train bound for Turku/Abo). My ancestors are from Tornio and Kemi, right on the border with Sweden.

So I went from having a family name and history that I thought meant nothing, to this, in a matter of minutes.

All Kinds (of Beautiful)

Today is Katie's birthday. And as I was driving to work, I started playing Dan Wilson's wonderful new CD "Free Life". The timing couldn't have been more perfect: thinking about Katie, driving past the beautiful shimmering water toward the Minneapolis skyline (Dan lives just up the chain of lakes from us), and listening to "All Kinds". The song is lovely, and says a lot of the same things I would say about Katie and our girls.

A lovely Minneapolis autumn morning...and a great way to start a birthday for my most beautiful wife.

• Listen to "All Kinds" on Dan Wilson's MySpace page
• Email katielayon at hotmail.com to say happy birthday (37!)

Nearly Halloween

This evening we got ready for Halloween. It was about as perfect of a fall day as one could hope for, starting with raking leaves, carving pumpkins, eating German food for dinner, and having a campfire with smores.

More photos here.

Tsunamis

Sarah had a report due this week, and decided to do it about tsunamis. She also decided to do the report in iMovie.

She had never used iMovie before. And except for answering a few minor timing/editing questions for her, all I did was format the final draft for both web and DVD. She spent about one week working on the project.

( note: I spent an entire semester in graduate school taking a digital video course... *sigh* )

After the initial sound effect, the voice track is not very loud, so you may need to crank up your volume setting.

5 Things I Want My Daughters to Know

My good friend Pastor Eric tagged me to come up with these:

1. You are four of the greatest gifts I have ever been given (the fifth is your mother).

2. I also suspect that you will be the four best gifts I ever had a part in giving to the world. You make me feel very humble about everything else that I do, and have ever done; nothing else matters as much as being your father.

3. I think that you are here to bring much love, joy, laughter, and good will to the world. You do this already, and there is nothing else as important or as precious as that.

4. Being with you teaches me new things about the world, and how it can be seen and experienced. I think I've learned that this is a central part of love, for being with people you love...and who love you...changes your relationship to the world. It is very exciting, and I thank you for this!

5. More than anything, I wish your Grandpa Roger could have met you, and you him. He would have loved being your grandfather.