Finn Kids Having Fun

Last week I went with my friend Mia to an indoor sports arena. Once a week they let the kids run loose with tons of balls, gymnastic equipment, and a bounce house. The boys were so excited. I haven't seen them this excited since we moved to Finland. Who new that 5 euro could create such an exciting experience. Mostly, they just loved to run in the open space and kick the balls, but they also really enjoyed the gymnastic equipment.

Ryan wanted to come back the very next day. However, the excitement died down as we had to get dressed, walk to the bus stop, and wait. Smiles and hugs were replaced with frowns and struggles, and that is why we won't be going every day! With such a long winter, I was glad that the city thinks of fun ways for the kids to get out their energy.

Nap TIme

There's nothing like a nice long nap...

in a hard piece of plastic storage underneath the bed!

I actually couldn't find Ben for a minute or two. I looked all over the house and started to get a little panicked because I didn't know where he was. I actually had to pull the blanket off of his head. He had gone in there and covered himself up to hide from a diaper change which I guess I forgot about, and he feel asleep waiting for me.

Date Night

We have such great friends here in Finland. They recently became concerned that Tony and I had not gotten out by ourselves since we arrived. My friend Suoma graciously volunteered to babysit our kids and my friend Mia drove us downtown and picked us up later that night so we could experience an evening out in Oulu. We went out to an island that is just a short walk over a bridge from downtown. There was a cute little restaurant in an old log building that serves authentic Finnish food.

Tony ordered the elk meatballs and reindeer stew. I bravely tried one bite of each and went back to my steak. We sat and talked and walked around downtown Oulu and overall really enjoyed the night. The photos are from our phone so they're not the best.

Leah is Sitting

Leah has grown unsatisfied with living life only on her...

stomach...

and back...

and has started to sit by herself...

with some help...

or for a handful of seconds by herself.

The Last Big Snowfall!....I Hope!

These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago when we had another 4 inches of snow dump on us. My friend Mia and her daughter Sophia came over to play outside with us. The kids were excited to build a snowman. We started with one, and then we decided to build a whole family. What started as a project for the kids quickly turned into a mommy project. The snowballs got so big so fast that it took two of us to lift them. We were exhausted by the time we built so many snowman, but it was fun for everyone. Ryan suggested carrots for the noses, and Ben was concerned about getting the eyes on just right.

The Whole Family. From Left to Right: Tony, Sarah, Benjamin, Leah, and Ryan

Me and the kids and our friend Sophia

Fun with snow

Easter in Finland

We had a great Easter Saturday together. We had been saving some U.S. easter candy that Grandma Becky had packed for them when Grandpa Charlie came to visit. We hid baskets around the house and had the boys look for them. We tried to get some nice pictures of the kids, but nobody ever looked at the camera at the same time so here are our best shots.

At the end of this post you will see the way Finnish children celebrate easter. Children dressed as witches come to your door and recite a chant wishing you luck and good health. They give you willow sprigs with brightly colored feathers glued to them in exchange for candy and coins.

This is apparently a combination of traditions. The Karelian tradition (a group of people once part of Finland but now belonging to Russia) of giving willow sprigs to friends and neighbors on Palm Sunday is instead of the palm branches that the people in Jerusalem greeted Jesus with. The other part is a Finnish tradition of children walking around as witches and trolls between Good Friday and Easter Sunday signifying that with Jesus in the tomb, evil spirits were free to move around.

On Palm Sunday we had a group of children come to our door. They let me take their picture and make a short video clip of their chant for us. I gave them a few coins, and thus we participated in a Finnish easter celebration.

Ryan's 1st "Peeps"

The game is, "Guess how many candy Whoppers are in my mouth"

Ben lovingly cared for his "Peeps" as he ate them one by one.

This is the kid's on their easter egg hunt for any who are interested.

Leah is Five Months Old

I can't believe how old Leah is getting. She is five months old now! I also can't believe that she has spent most of her short life in Finland. Here is a look at how she's grown.

Mammia

Tony was at the store last week with his work colleague and he said to Tony, "Try this, it's very Finnish. I don't think they make this anywhere else." handing him a brightly colored yellow package with brown sludge in it.

Tony politely said, "What does it taste like? Is it a dessert or is it salty", and his colleague in turn replied, "I can't explain it." Tony then asked, "Aren't you going to buy one for yourself?" He said emphatically, "No, I don't like it, but you eat it."

I asked my friend about this easter Finnish food, and she replied with a smile, saying that she liked it and it's so Finnish that one little bite of it will have me magically speaking Finnish.

My visiting teacher at church said, "Mammia is really good with lots of cream and sugar." Her brother said, "The thing about Mammia is, the more cream and sugar you put on the better it tastes. And what's even better is when you eat the cream and sugar and leave out the Mammia!"

In light of these glowing endorsements we let the Mammia sit in the fridge for two weeks and on the eve of its expiration we reluctantly pulled it out in a half hearted effort to try it. You would think it looks like a nice plate of chocolate brownies, but one whiff of it tells you it's something much worse. Apparently it's main ingredient is fermented wheat. Tony tried it first and said, "it tastes pretty good, but let's throw it out now." I tried it next, and one tiny taste of it sent me running to the sink!

Some of the other Finnish delicacies are blood pancakes and liver casserole. To be fair, they also are known for making delicious cakes. Mammia was definitely a once in a lifetime experience!

Christmas in March

Tony has been wanting a Drobo for a couple of years. I really can't explain what it is so here is the definition via Tony:

A Drobo is a safe and expandable external hard disk device that makes two or more hard disks work together as a single disk. The Drobo provides safety (or "redundancy") for data because the same data is saved to at least two different hard drives at the same time. So if one hard disk breaks (which actually happens relatively frequently), you still have your data on the remaining working hard disk

Anyways, we've never come to agreement on spending that much money on a hard drive. However, after publishing a paper in a journal the University of Dauphine (France) gave Tony an award that had very specific ways that he could spend the money.

Tony ordered the Drobo and it arrived last week. Tony took Leah in the stroller down to the local post office and picked it up. When he came home, he walked in the door and said, "Merry Christmas!" Poor Ben picked up on this right away, thinking that Tony had brought a present that had a toy in it for him. I had to explain to him that this is a present for daddy and that it was not a toy. He still thought it was pretty cool.

Leah Laughing

Ryan loves to interact with Leah. He is a great big brother. He is always trying to get a reaction from her, some sort of noise, and then he will ask me what she said. On this particular day, he wanted to make Leah laugh, and lets just say he succeeded in a big way.