Finally!

It appears that we are finally having some nice weather! The rest of the week should be sunny and around 20 degrees, which is a huge change from what we've been seeing every day since we moved here. I may actually be able to send my kid outside without a hat and mitts!!!

This also means that me, a dryer-less mother, gets to finally hang some clothes out on the newly installed clothesline (thanks Opa!), which also means that I can do more than one load every two days. That's how long it took for my clothes to dry using the drying rack. So keep bringing on the sunshine!!! I do realize I will run into a problem come October when the sun is non-existent and I have two babies' worth of laundry...

I have been impressed with the postal service as well. With the exception of one incident of a missing parcel that was later returned to Holland (thank you anyways, Hennie!), things seem to go very quickly. I sent a letter Express on Thursday to Canada for 10 euros (almost $15 Canadian) and it was there by Tuesday. Recalling my Canada Post working days, the cheapest we could Purolate anything internationally was about $50 and it still took 3 to 5 business days. So two points for Finland!

We are also getting the hang of Skype, where it is very nice to see all my nieces and nephews and the rest of my family. Maddy is in love with Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend, and wants to dance to the music video for everybody. So my apologies to all those SKype family members who have to sit through the entire song every time we Skype you.

Another minor accomplishment today - we got the vacuum cleaner to work. The entire apartment is hardwood but we have some rugs. Andrew was worried it was going to blow up because we were getting close to the transformer's limit, but it worked! So yippee for clean rugs.

Tomorrow is Ascension Day, in both Finland and Canada. The good news for us is that Finland recognizes it as a holiday and Andrew will have the day off! Finnish people really know how to squeeze as many holidays as they can, it appears there have been about two holidays each month. I'm definitely not complaining.

My thoughts are with Alicia today, as she ends her maternity leave and officially goes back to work. XOXO

Signing out,

Kim