Markus Kari and Stella Being Cute

Those Eyes...

Markus Kari and Hekla

Markus Kari met Auntie Lola's best friend's daughter on our trip home and they seemed to get along swimmingly. Had some good laughs over the toys and then proceeded to get a HUGE kick out of licking the mirror in the foyer. Hekla enjoyed for about 3 seconds, but Markus stayed on for more. You've got to wonder - what does this say about him exactly?

I Love Stulli the Kisa

Markus was remarkably gentle with my family cat and local buddha, Stulli. All he really wants is love and affection...or maybe it's just attention that he's after. Here's a little video of them watching some boob tube together :)

Markus Brushing His Teeth

So, Markus has recently begun to really enjoy brushing his teeth. I might be exaggerating slightly, but he, at least, does not mind when I give his teeth a good brushing followed by his replicating the experience while sucking off as much baby toothpaste as possible from the brush. Here are some photos...please excuse that they are a little out of order :)

Markus, Katrin and Isol

Markus spent some quality time with his cousins Katrin and Isol while we were in Iceland. While Isol is just 6 months old and not really interested in getting her play on yet (although she is super, super cute as evidenced by the photo below), Katrin and Markus had a great time tearing it up (or, um, screeching, in Markus' case). Unfortunately, most of the photos of them together were taken on my mother's camera and are only available on ofoto, so I can't post more now. I am going to try and figure out my new Mac (it is so pretty!) and do some cutting and pasting soon, but until then there is one good one of them here...

Markus is on a Private Jet to Paris!

There are likely not very many times that a girl gets the chance to fly off to Paris in a private jet for 48 hours...

Does it change things a bit when she is accompanied by her 23 month old son? Sorta, kinda, but in a good way. Although I was slightly nervous about taking off on this family adventure with Markus (as was the rest of the family!) he ended up being, for the most part, an angel. Apart from some slight misbehaving, which any boy his age would partake in, he did an extremely good job. We hung out a little bit in our hotel room, but it was pretty much good times all around. Here are some photos:

We're off to Wisconsin for the 4th!

I will finish uploading pictures from the Paris trip and the rest of Iceland once we return next week from our week in Wisconsin....we still have a bunch of stuff to post!

Yes, that is who you think it is....

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE AT LANVIN!!!

How funny is that??

Here we are, driving down one of the swankiest streets in Paris and who do we see in the window of the Lanvin boutique, but Thomas!!

I, being the super speedy mom that I am, grabbed for the camera and caught a quick photo of Markus' hero through the window of the taxi.

Markus Hanging at Le Meridien Avec Maman

I went to Paris with Markus with the clear understanding that, depending on his highnesses mood, I might be stuck in our hotel for the majority of the 48 hours that we were in the city of lights. However, he surprised all of us with his even keeled temper and good humored nature during the trip. The first night, however, we did stay behind at the hotel while my sister and mother went to dinner and my father gave a speech somewhere...

We watched some European Cartoon Network and ate some seriously overpriced Caesar salad with chicken :)

I went to Paris with the understanding that I would be a little stuck with the Little Man here and there. Actually, it ended up being much easier than anyone had anticipated since he was clutch, as always, under pressure.

Here are a few photos of our first evening at the hotel while my sister and mother went to dinner and my father was giving a speech somewhere...

Walking to Dinner with "Mamma 2"

Markus Kari refuses to even try to pronounce his Auntie Solveig's name. No Sola, no Lola - simply mamma. I guess he agrees we look enough alike to share the same name...don't know how

to feel about that one ;)

                                           

Strolling in Paris With the Fam

Little Plastic Houses and Big Cousins Rock

Who knew how happy a plastic playhouse would make Markus!? Maybe it was also playing with his ever so cool "older woman" cousin, Katrin. Even though I'm sure it isn't en vogue to play with little kids, she did a fantastic job entertaining and seemed to have a pretty good time herself...