Oh no...almost forgot about the birthday boy

I know I am a bit behind in recording the events of Erik's first birthday celebrated in Lithuania, but I am committed to sharing a few pictures from a really fun day of seeking to give thanks for Erik's presence in all of our lives. I think he truly enjoyed his day back on January 24th. Another reason to give thanks on that particular day was for our newest member of the family, Jaxton, who entered the world back home in Duluth, MN, the firstborn son to my cousin Heather & her husband, Jeff. We waited in anticipation as the delivery updates showed up in our inbox. Now I'll have to anticipate even longer as I wait to hold the little guy when we are home in a few months. Man, it is hard to be far away when so many family members and friends are growing large with pregnancy and giving birth without me there to share in the experience. I have to smile as I think about what my mom would say in response to my feelings. "Becky, you aren't the center of the universe. Life does happen whether you are there or not." Tis true. Still, I do miss being able to participate in the ways that I normally would.

January 24 fell on a Sunday this year. We woke up late and had the most delicious pancakes...a batch of chocolate chip pancakes delivered straight to our kitchen in a package sent by cousin Heather (the new mother!). We have not been successful in making fluffy pancakes since we arrived, so we fully appreciated the American baking staples of flour and chocolate chips. Next came the birthday gift. I gave Erik his first, authentic, sauna hat. Everyone here in Lithuania has a sauna hat. It is believed (and is most likely true) that a sauna hat prevents your head and hair from drying out during long sauna sessions. This sauna hat is the only one of its kind. Our good friend, Vaida, a local of Klaipeda, has a side business of selling her handmade felted sauna hats. She and I worked together to come up with the design for Erik's hat and then she introduced me to the steps involved in felting as I watched and participated in the creation of Erik's gift. It was incredible to watch her work. As you can see, a masterpiece was produced! She even embroidered his nickname, Ej, on the backside of the hat in Lithuanian letters. Pretty sweet.

Of course, the logical next phase of the birthday is to go try out the birthday gift. We wrangled up a crew of Erik's friends who were willing to brave the local public sauna I had heard about being located near the Sea, and we crossed over to the beaches on The Spit via a 15-minute ferry ride. The picture included below is not actually the boat that we were on, but one of the ships in the harbor we could see from the ferry. The high temperature that day was approximately -17 degrees Celcius, which is right around 0 degrees Fahrenheit for those of us still getting used to the Celsius scale.

We trekked the 1 km across to the white sandy beaches and discovered the public sauna. Sunday afternoons must be a favorite time for the locals to enjoy this national pastime as the sauna was pretty full. No one seemed to mind allowing our group of 10 additional people, who were obvious outsiders, to join in to the fun. This next picture is of Erik and I standing by the Sea before we all changed into our swimming suits in the busy waiting room, crowded into the hottest sauna I have ever been in, and then followed one another out into the cool, wintry air to dive under the icy waters of the Baltic Sea, shrieking loudly the entire way. (Okay, maybe the only one doing the loud shrieking was me.) We did it over and over again. Well, at least 3 times. What a rush. It was officially decided that this is one place in Lithuania we are definitely going to have to include in the tour we give to our visitors. So, hurry on over before the weather gets nicer. The cold, snowy days have been lingering around here since Christmas, while everyone around us here says this is very unusual weather for coastal Lithuania. I am convinced that we are the reason the deep drifts of snow are stickin' around so long; I always appreciate a winter with lots of snow.

So, Erik's new sauna hat passed the test with flying colors. We wrapped up his day with an evening church service (where Erik played guitar and sang one of his own songs) and a sloppy joe dinner with everyone afterwards. The last event for Erik was the Vikings game, starting at 1:30 in the morning here in Lithuania. Although we may have celebrated in true Lithuanian fashion earlier in the day at the sauna, he made sure to end it in true American fashion with a late night football game and die-hard fans. Thanks for waiting around to hear the report on Erik Kristofer.