Happy Birthday Sandra!
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August 21st, 2005
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Dear Sandra,
Your actual birthday turned out to be a puke fest with Daniel so we'll pick another day to celebrate. It has been an eventful year and we have lots o be thankful for. When Daniel was born we had decided to still have a fun life and try to include him in everything we do. The other option wild be what most couple's do. Stop living, have no more fun, cease all hobbies, go out for dinner once a year, and not do any traveling unless there is death in he family. That blows and we are never going to settle for such a crappy life. I feel really good about our lives with Daniel. This past year we have spent three months vacationing in Mexico and also vacationed in Norway, Paris, Italy twice, New York twice, Hampton's, Baja California, and north of Sweden. We moved into a great new apartment. And we both got our websites going.
Vacations are one thing but Daniel is of course our number one priority. He couldn't be doing any better. Happy, smiling, gentle with other kids, calm, curious, and extremely cute. And he flirts just like his mother, A LOT! I know he can thank you for much of his progress. You are a first time mother with skills most mothers can only dream of. Of all the mothers I have seen, and this includes mothers with many kids and lots of experience, you are one of the very best. I can say that objectively and without hesitation. I'm not at all surprised by this. It was always crystal clear for me. We are both not happy with average performance in any areas so why should kids be different.
Do you remember what you asked me a few months before Daniel was born? You said, "What about if I'm not a good mother?" I told you immediately that you would be a great mother. Not to brag, but I was very right. Daniel could not be in any better hands.
As I was writing this I thought about you and how versatile you are. You are one of the best mothers but can do so many other things most women can only wish for:
You can almost play world class tennis, hold a boardroom presentation, wear a thong on any beach and look great, drink tequila like few men can, scuba dive with sharks, don't have to wear makeup to look great, trek to the top op Southeast Asia's highest mountain, walk in Borneo's cockroach infested caves, cook great food, take beautiful photos, arrange a cruise for 60 people with spouses, do a model photo session, and throw an American football.
You can also mountain-bike among Moab's hardest trails, hold a great dinner party, ski double diamond slopes, update your own website, dance with the models on the bar at South Beach's Mangos, parallel park a car better than most, change a bicycle tire in a couple of minutes, know what bluetooth and WI-Fi is, handle a kayak among high waves, run 10k, know how to use a FTP program and Photoshop, trek jungle full of bloodsucking leeches, shop NYC like few others, rock climb the Dolomite mountains, make the best margaritas anyone has ever tasted, handle a Canon 600 L IS lens, know what Unagi means, travel lighter than anyone I know, and ride a horse. And those are just a few things of the top of my head. I challenge any man to find a woman that can do all those things well.. Thank God Brad Pitt doesn't know what he's missing. Me and Daniel are very lucky people to have you around. I promise to tell him about all these good things about you as he grows up. And perhaps a few funny stories as well… Lets hope for another great year.
Happy Birthday!
Love, AdventureDad
Sep 9th, 2005 at 8:59 pm
[…] g loving tribute to Sandra over how great and special she is but I kind of did that for her birthday a few weeks ago Focus you attention on […]
Oct 16th, 2006 at 9:29 am
[…] Posted on Sunday 15 October 2006 Wife and Daniel next to a stunning Norwegian lake (Click for larger image) Canon Powershot SD500, ISO 50 Photography is a hobby of ours and we take lots of photos. The screen saver on our Imac consists of many thousands of photos from our collection and I love to sit and browse through the images. I love the photo above because it clearly shows that having a toddler doesn't automatically mean no more travel, fun and adventures with your child. The photo above is taken last summer during a week long trip to the Norwegian mountains. Wife has a huge smile and is enjoying a day out on the bike trail with her son in a beautiful setting. We spent some time in the little village of Gålå which is located in the stunning valley of Gudbrandsdalen four hours north or Oslo. It was a relaxing week filled with nice food and adventure for both toddler and parent. We see way too many parents who stop living when they have a child. We try not to go down that road and like to include Daniel in our activities. We loaded up the car with our camping equipment and the mountain bikes on the roof and headed out into nature. We spent a couple of nights camping and week in a mountain cabin. Daniel can't join us on our extreme biking adventures so we had to work around this and take turns riding during the day. One person riding and one having fun with Daniel. We also took a few casual trips with Daniel in the bicycle seat he loves so much (read more about biking with your toddler here). It was a a very memorable trip for the whole family, especially the last day when Daniel started puking in the early morning and continued throughout the day. To top it off it was also Sandra's birthday:-)) Take my advice, don't stop living when you have children. Try your best to include them and your likely to have more fun than ever! […]