aaahhhhh.....

I just finished writing my exam for the Financial Accounting course...Ahh, it feels good to scratch another one off my list. Can't believe it but I'm 1/6 done already. Time is flying by. What an adventure!!!

Banana Hammock? Really?

We met our dear friends Gretchen and Lina today at the Helsinki Swimming Hall so that the girls could swim together. The whole family drove into the city in the hopes of having a great time in the pool together.
Until Andrew walked out of the dressing room. Wearing his bathing trunks. Which apparently are unacceptable in Finland.
He wasn't allowed in the pool because he wasn't wearing Speedos!!!!!!
When asked for the reason why, the lifeguard explained that swim shorts are too much like regular shorts, and people might be outside playing sports and then come straight into the pool and get it all dirty with their sweat and grossness. Seriously?
Although Gretchen told me that they probably have a loaner pair at the front desk, Andrew conceded and waited patiently in the hall until I was done swimming with both the kids. Loaner banana hammock? No thanks.
And now we have to go shopping for a Speedo for Andrew. Two years here and we are STILL learning about the culture. For better or for worse....

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Another year has passed and Andrew turned 32 this past week. He spent most of the day in a training seminar at work, but hopefully he will agree that we had a nice celebration in the evening for him. Marinated steaks (a very rare and expensive treat for the Conleys in Finland), mashed potatoes, corn and bread for dinner. Chocolate devil cake with chocolate icing, layered with jungle animals for dessert, and a birthday card handmade from his beloved daughter.
Happy Birthday Andrew!

TWO YEARS!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it's already time to post this, but we have been living in Finland for two years!!!!
Yesterday marked our two year anniversary since we first stepped foot on our new land. Two young kids with new hopes and fears, a two year old in tow, and morning sickness. It was a scary hopeful combination but look at how the past two years have shaped our lives! Charlie is here, Maddy is four, and I'm going to school. We've travelled around most of Europe already and made a life for ourselves here.
I'm very proud of what we've accomplished in our new Finnish lives, but it would never have been so easy without the love and support of our Canadian family and friends. To say that I am not homesick would be a huge lie. But we are blessed that so many have come to this side of the pond, and we look forward to our visit in August.
I know the next two years will be filled with more European holidays, new adventures with the kids, and hopefully an MBA graduation under my belt.
Good times.
xoxo
Kim

Course number 3!

Starting my third MBA course tonight. Financial Accounting. Considering that I have a Finance degree from university, I'm guessing this won't be my most difficult course. A refresher is good for me, though, since I haven't used my degree since I graduated from Western 9 years ago. Gulp, I'm getting old....

The Bus Lane

I ride the bus to get to my classes in the evenings, and I have to say that the public transportation here in Finland is fabulous. If you are at the bus stop at the moment it's supposed to arrive, you will never wait more than two minutes. They are pretty much exactly on time, if not a few minutes early.

One of the ways they are able to keep schedule is that the highways have designated bus lanes. Which means that while the rest of us may be bumper-to-bumper on the highway, the buses whiz right by us. In addition, cars in Finland will ALWAYS let the bus go ahead of them. It's not a big deal to be "stuck behind a bus" because all of the bus stops are pulled off to the side, unlike London Ontario where you can easily stop twenty times going up Richmond Street or Wellington Street due to the bus stops.

It's nice to have something dependable. Like getting to class on time.

Snow Removal

I am guessing that maybe Canadians are more patient? The reason I am making this statement is because every five minutes or so, another giant truck is driving down the street hauling snow.

Last week, for two days straight, there were two dozers and four trucks taking the snow out of the townhouse parking lots on my road.

In Canada, we just let it melt. So maybe we are more patient...or maybe we're just lazier?

Yllas - Finnish Lapland

Yllas was the last stop on our Lapland tour. We had stayed in a cabin on Lake Akaslompolo and did a hike around that lake. The colours of the trees were breathtaking. We went out for dinner this night and I remember Alex having a pizza with about 20 ingredients on it.

The next day we did a hike along the Wizards Trail. It was almost 4km long and Maddy had hiked the whole thing herself! We were very proud of her. She really was a trooper. In the afternoon we did a final hike along the Cloudberry Path before we hopped on the train back to Helsinki.

Overall, it was a fabulous trip!!! So much different from any of the other European trips we had done, with so much hiking and cabins and saunas and reindeer (both walking around and on our plates). And of course we got to hang out with Alex.

Hoping we can head back to Lapland sometime this year, and maybe we'll get lucky and see some Northern Lights this time.

Pyha-Luosto - Finnish Lapland

Our fourth trip along the way was in Pyha. We hiked along the ski hills and also took a wonderful Isokuru hiking trail, which goes through Finland's deepest gorge. This was a very pleasant hike. We stayed overnight in an adorable cottage in Luosto, where we had a fireplace, bunk beds, and a sauna.

The following day we went to Kopara Reindeer Farm, where we could get buckets of food and feed the reindeer. It was truly a remarkable experience, we could pet them while they were eating and they would also eat out of our hands. Maddy got the most attention when she started letting them eat right out of the bucket, but ended up getting their antlers in her face since she was the wrong height, she thought it was pretty funny.

We also did a beautiful hike around the lake by our cabin, and then headed to Lampivaara Amethyst Mine, where we toured the mine and then got to hunt for our own amethyst stones. It was difficult for Alex since he's colourblind, but I ended up with quite a rare treasure, and Maddy enjoyed digging through the rocks. A very fun few days in the Pyha and Luosto area!!!!

Levi - Finnish Lapland

Levi is a cute holiday town with activities that go on year-round. We had a very exciting adventurous time in Levi. First stop was the Levi Adventure Park, where the family decided to do some high ropes courses. Andrew and Alex did the one for adults, and I stayed with the kids so that Maddy could complete the children's course. She was hesitant at first, but soon realized how much fun it was and had a blast. I was really proud of her for her efforts. Of course I didn't get to see Andrew and Alex climb, but know that Andrew attempted all of the tracks and really pushed himself to the limit to become the ultimate high ropes climber. And Alex...well.... he put forth an effort...

We also took Maddy to a summer sled track down the side of a mountain. She really enjoyed this as well, as the adults took turns taking her down. Everytime you reached the bottom, she'd yell "let's go again".

We also hiked the Levi Fell, which was a beautiful site. We were lucky that we had pretty decent weather but also came late enough that we hit the starting of "ruska", which is the Finnish term depicting the beginning of the changing of the colours.

Levi was very fun, especially our hotel - we stayed at the Crazy Reindeer :)

Kemijarvi and Suomu - Finnish Lapland

Next spot on the trip was to visit Suomu and Kemijarvi, which are small towns in eastern Lapland. We were very excited to catch our first glimpse of wild reindeer!!!! Of course by the end of the trip, we had seen hundreds of them and they weren't a huge deal by that point, but I recall our excitement at seeing the first few of them. There are approximately 250,000 wild reindeer in northern Finland and it was a sight to see.

This area was particularly nice, with the Suomu fell and the lakes and bogs. We also walked around the town center of Kemijarvi and tried our luck at spotting some northern lights. Sad to say we were not successful at seeing northern lights this trip, it was too cloudy, so we will have to return some other time.

Of course, we did some hiking and had a wonderful visit.

Rovaniemi - Finnish Lapland

Andrew, Alex, the kids and myself hopped on a train from Helsinki and travelled to Rovaniemi. We had a sleeper car and the train also takes the car so it worked out perfectly.

Rovaniemi is the area's capital city and it was cute. Of course we are in northern Finland so the amount of stores and tourist hotspots was limited. Luckily we had our hiking shoes and we did an amazing amount of trails and hikes. Beautiful!

We stayed at a gorgeous little cottage in the Santa Claus Holiday Village. It was right by Santa Claus' Village, where you can visit Santa year-round. It's also right at the border of the Arctic Circle, so it was extremely exciting to not only see Santa Claus, but also cross the Arctic Circle!

We went on a nature hike on the Oonasvaara nature trail, and visited the Arctic Science Center. Alex and I tested the waters going white water rafting, which has always been a dream of mine to do, while Andrew went hiking with the kids. And of course we visited Santa.

It was a fabulous way to start our Lapland trip!!!!!

Welcome to Finland, Alex Richman!

In September, our friend Alex from Canada came to visit us. He stayed with us for a few days and then we ventured off to Lapland, which is the northern area of Finland. Maddy ADORED having Alex around. Here are a few photos of his time in Espoo.