From Finland to US again

We had a great summer back in Finland. The weather was really bad (worst in about 30 years) but even that didn’t prevent us from having good time with all our friends and relatives. It felt good but at the same time very wistful to come back here. I know I’ll miss my lovely friends a lot during the upcoming year. I’m glad that there’s Facetime and Skype. It makes it lot easier to keep in touch!

Here are some pictures from our summer vacation and lovely Finland.

Our summer house in Hankasalmi.

Sauna by the lake.

One of their favorite books.

Kids had their own little store by the ferry to the nearby island.

Fish stories 

Dude actually catch this pike by himself when he was fishing with my good friend's spouse. Thank you T for for teaching our Dude some fishing skills.

Picking strawberries...

...and blueberries. 

Picking up potatoes...

...and washing them.

Traditional friends meeting <3

Awesome adventure park in The middle part of the Finland.

Dude entered his first 10km in Keuruu and we ran right by his side. 

The first thing we had to do when we came back home was to move to our new place. When we first moved here two years ago I was actually quite excited about apartment house living. I imagined how easy it would be with the kids and it sort of was. Over time we started missing backyard and some more privacy. Last year was also difficult in that way that the kids needed to share a room. Basically what happened was that our daughter had a room and the dude had a place to sleep. So we started to dream about living in a house again.  We got lucky when we found this sweet little house in a very quiet neighborhood. Now we actually have four bedrooms so we have plenty of room when our friends come to visit us. Especially dude is overwhelmed about this new place. He keeps telling me that this is the best place he has ever lived and how much he loves this house. I have to agree with him.

Our quiet home street 

We love our backyard!

The only downside in this house is that it’s little further away from school than the old place. Actually quite a bit further. It takes us 40 minutes to bike to school so we decided to only do that twice a week. On the other hand the route is much nicer so it’s actually safer to bike to the school from this location.

In the morning...

...after school. Kid's favorite activity is to bike in this nature made bike park. 

A week after our moving day we got to be a part of our friends special day when they said “I do” in this awesome scene. The wedding was like from movies. It was a very elegant but at the same time filled with humor just like the couple itself. Thank you H and J for having us there on your special day and thank you for making it possible for me to find out that my dude has amazing dancing moves. It came as a surprise to me too!

The beautiful bride 

I love the fact that they knew how to write my (last)name. I'm so used to being Rajamaki. ;)

Cool wedding candy.

Dude's amazing dance moves!

The next day after wedding we visited the Monterey Aquarium. It was really awesome place (especially to my hubby and our kids for their diving and snorkeling enthusiasm) but I would recommend it to everyone who likes to see beautiful fish, other sea creatures and life under the surface.   

School year started this Wednesday. Our daughter got dude’s teacher from last year which made me very happy. Dude got himself an “old school” lady whom he likes very much. He even likes the fact that the teacher is going to teach them how to play flute. It was a nightmare in my childhood so good luck with that. I haven’t said anything because I don’t want to drive my prejudices into him but I’m really waiting to see how he feels about this flute thing later on. Dude’s teacher is also into gardening and has her own little garden right front of her class room so I bet that’s something kids will find very interesting too.

In conclusion they are both very happy to go to school again and I guess that’s the most important thing!

Getting ready...

...for the school year. 

I’m also very excited about this upcoming school year. I’m going to be the Art in Action docent this year which means that I get to organize art lessons once a month in our daughter’s class. The lessons are ready planned so I don’t actually have to worry about planning anything but it’s still a big deal for me to be able to do this. I know it’s going to take a lot of time to prepare myself to do this but I’m sure it’s going to be worth it!

I also started sewing this week. I bought a bunch of Marimekko fabric from Finland and I had no idea what to with it. I basically bought it because I like this pattern and colors and because it was on sale. Back home I noticed we could use a curtain in our kitchen. The fabric piece was of a perfect size and in a blink of an eye we had ourselves a new curtain for the kitchen window. Dude wanted to have Star Wars curtains to his room so I visited my favorite local fabric store and found a perfect match for his window. Well, actually he chose this pattern by himself contrary to my suggestions. I wanted the fabric to be a lighter color but he wanted this one so that’s the one it was about to be. He’s happy, I’m happy!  

"May the force be with you during this upcoming school year" ;)