Bon Voyage

Two more days until we leave for our trip. We'll be touring Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, Luxembourg City, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Gouda, Hamburg, Bremen, Copenhagen, western Sweden, and Oslo. We arrive back from our trip on our 8 year wedding anniversary!

Wishing you all a wonderful June and we'll have lots to share when we get back.

xoxo

Kim

Not Dressed Up with Somewhere To Go...

So Maddy had her Spring Concert at school last week and it was interesting to watch. Maddy spent most of the time waving to us and not participating in the songs. At least Andrew and I have heard her sing the songs before, since she enjoys practicing at home.

However, we goofed.

The concert was at 6 and we usually pick her up around 5. So I packed a supper picnic, we picked her up at 5 and went to the playground in the park to play and have supper. When we got back to the school for the concert, we were mortified to see that all the other kids were in their ball gowns with their hair all done up, etc. And there was our kid, fresh from the park with dirt on her face, hair messed up, in her jeans and sweater.

I'm such a dumbass.

Stockholm Part Two

Like I said, there were so many things to do in Stockholm!!!

The last part of our trip, we walked through the Royal City Park, exploring the different royal palaces and gazebos. We stumbled upon the Butterfly House, which ended up being a real joy! Maddy really enjoyed it and Charlie was mesmerized by their koi tank.

We took a relaxing day trip to Drottningholm Palace, where the King of Sweden lives. You can tour the palace (the parts he doesn't live in) and also the palace grounds. I'm not sure how I would feel about having my grounds open to the public all year round, but the parks were gorgeous and many people were having picnics, jogging, cycling, or just laying on a blanket taking a nap. It was a gorgeous day!

Another wonderful place we went to was Skansen open air museum. It had an amusement park, an aquarium and a zoo. That was likely Maddy's favourite day, although we didn't get to see all of it. We'll have to come back to that one again.

On the ferry boat back, Maddy got a "Little Princess" manicure at the spa on the boat. She was very good at sitting still, and of course picked the brightest colour pink you could imagine....

xoxo

Kim

Stockholm Part One

When my mother-in-law was here, we took her to Stockholm Sweden for four days over Mother's Day weekend. It was a wonderful trip! In hindsight we shouldn't have brought the car so that we could stay more in the downtown core, because traffic and parking was not easy. However, there were so many things we wanted to do and not enough time, so Andrew and I have decided that we will be going back again next year! It was a fabulous trip.

We stayed at a gorgeous hotel on the lake and Maddy got to feed the ducks every morning. She enjoyed watching us smuggle bread from the breakfast buffet table in order to feed her awaiting friends. We visited the Royal Palace and the City Hall, where the Nobel Prize is handed out each year. We also visited the Vasa Museum, with an old ship that took many years to build and only sailed for 20 minutes before sinking. It was very well-preserved and interesting to see. We also walked around Gamla Stan area, which was very cute.

As a future Nobel hopeful, Andrew was pleased to hold the kids in front of the Nobel Museum... we'll see if we ever get to return.

xoxo

Kim

Wishful Thinking...

I know that you never want your kids to grow up too fast, because before you know it, they are picking out their own clothes and wanting their privacy when they use the potty.

But I think (or at least I hope) every parent agrees with me that at some point, there are things that you wish your child would figure out sooner rather than later.

I checked Maddy's baby book and she started sitting independently at 5 months, 10 days old. Charlie is now 7 months, 11 days old and he's still not figuring it out. As we are leaving in a week for our big trip with a list of details still to hash out, it would be lovely if Charlie would sit on a blanket, even for a little while, and play independently with his toys so that I could get a bit of work done. He's getting pretty tired of laying on his back and I don't want to sit with him all day on the floor with his toys holding him up.

Or maybe that's just me...

Riga

After we left Parnu, we continued on our drive to Riga. I have to admit, I was a bit worried when we crossed the Latvian border because things looked a bit sketchy. We had to pull over on a side road to feed Charlie along the way and even Fred looked a bit nervous.

Luckily the closer we got to Riga, the more beautiful the scenery, and we passed some gorgeous houses. And we were blown away with the beauty when we got to Riga!

Riga is the capital city of Latvia, and the main tourist attractions lay in the "Old Town" part of the city. They also have an Art Nouveau district which was amazing to see.

On our drive back, we stopped at a sand beach where the icebergs were still floating around in the water. Gorgeous!

Here are just a few of my fav pics of Riga, but I truly think everybody should experience this town for themselves.

xoxo
Kim

Who Needs a Chequebook?

Next week, Madison's school is putting on a Spring Concert for the parents and we are looking forward to going. Today an email was sent out from one of the parents to all of the other parents asking if they wanted to put their money together and buy gifts for all of the teachers.

Instead of a parent saying "pay me $20 at the concert" or "here's my address, mail me a cheque", the technological advancement of Finland has proven once again to be beneficial.

"Here is my bank account number". You sign into your bank online, fill in the bank account number and name of the individual, and how much you want to give them. Boom, money is sent. No cheques, no cash, no change. There is also a handy little Message section so that I could write Maddy's name and in which class she's in. And no bank fees.

It's a beautiful thing. Although I'm not sure Andrew appreciates how easy it is for me to spend our money...

Parnu

On the drive from Tallinn, Estonia to Riga, Latvia, we stopped in Parnu. It's a cute little seaside beach summer resort town almost halfway in between Tallinn and Riga so it seemed the perfect place to stop along our drive. Of course we wouldn't be sporting our bathing suits in April in Finland (although Fred did manage to get a sunburn, ha ha) but it was a cute stop. Of course where there's sand, there's Maddy's demands for a sandcastle, to which Fred happily stepped up to the plate. I shoulda warned him that Maddy's favourite part is breaking them...

Tallinn

So while Fred was here, we did a bit of travelling and had a great time. Here are some pictures we have taken from Tallinn (both this trip and last summer). Tallinn is the capital of Estonia, and there are two-hour ferry rides that you can take from downtown Helsinki.

Maddy wiped out and split her lip open, but other than that, we had a great time!!

Update

It's been a while since I posted - time flies when you're having fun!!! We had a fabulous visit with Uncle Fred! He and Maddy were best friends and he had quality time with all of us. We travelled to Tallinn, Parnu, and Riga and the trip was fantastic. Pics to follow.
We are now getting ready for our visit from Andrew's mother. She comes on Tuesday and we will be taking her to Stockholm for Mother's Day weekend. Maddy is excited to go on another trip and has already decided which toys she will be packing in her suitcase :) Her and Grandma are going to share a hotel room and Maddy is very excited to have a pajama party with Grandma.
Charlie continues to be sick with a bad cough (leftover from the pneumonia) and a runny nose, so the nights have been pretty sleepness. I'm hoping Grandma will come over from Canada and fix him :)
Exciting times!
xoxo
Kim