School Pictures

Yeah, we make pretty cute kids....

 

My only complaint with the Finnish way of school pictures is that you are supposed to order your photos BEFORE they are even taken. This, to me, seems extremely inefficient, because if the pictures don't turn out, the company will print off what you've ordered and send them to you.

Should you decide you don't want some of the pictures, you mail them back what you don't want and pay them for what you kept.



From a company's point of view, this seems like an awful waste, because they are printing off photos that may end up the garbage. But maybe that's just me.

Sunday Mornings

Every Sunday morning during the darker Finnish winter days, we have been going to a sports complex in Helsinki that opens its doors to children. For two hours, they have many fun and
active areas for the children to participate.

There are many different things to play with:
- obstacle courses
- climbing wall
- a variety of bikes
- large playmats
- bouncy castles
- tunnels
- shaped foam pieces to stack and build blocks
- gymnastics area including monkey bars, ropes, and balance beams
- basketball, floor hockey, ping pong, bean bag toss, soccer, etc.
- large indoor track to run around
- sand pit for jumping

It really tires the kids out but they have a great time. I must admit it tires the parents out as well :)
It is closed for the month of December but will reopen in January. I'm looking forward to having a few quiet relaxing Sunday mornings without rushing off the gym, but this is a really great way for the family to play together and I'm sure we will start going again when it opens back up in the new year.

Happy Halloween!!!

Halloween is one aspect of North America that I really do miss. Although some of the stores are trying to bring it to Finland, it just doesn't seem to be catching on very well. Fortunately both of the kids go to international schools, so the schools do put on a Halloween party during the day. Grandma brought over Halloween costumes from Canada, so at least they had a costume.

The kids do miss out on trick or treating here, though. I remember fondly taking Maddy door to door in London, although she was so little and now she'd be a whole lot more fun!!!! Keeping that in mind, we decided to do an Easter egg hunt in the house on Halloween in order for the kids to still get some special Halloween treats. They really liked it.

In the evening, Charlie's school hosted a Halloween party for the families, which we decided to attend. Charlie had a wardrobe switch so that he could be a monkey in the morning and Spiderman at night :)

Of course we are happy to be living in Finland and it provides our children with a very fruitful life that they may not get in Canada, but I really do think they are missing out on trick or treating. Who doesn't want to bang on people's doors and take their candy? Hello???

Grandma is here!!

Andrew's mother was here at the end of October for 5 days. It was a short visit, but it was fantastic to have her here, and the kids were thrilled! Although she was tired, she was a serious trooper, because my kids did not let her rest at all!!!!
We took her to the Flamingo Spa Waterpark for a day, we carved pumpkins and spent time around the house, I took her shopping, and we went to the children's sports park. Mainly, we hung out and played and did puzzles and read books. She got to experience a lot of quality time with the kids, which was the purpose for her trip.
Always wonderful to have Canadian visitors!!!! Sad to see her go, but happy for the time together.

Although it appears that Maddy likes pumpkins, she was actually quite disgusted at the pumpkin "guts". Which meant that Andrew and I were left to carve the pumpkins. In true Conley fashion, we turned it into a competition. Andrew was faster, but mine is scarier, therefore I think I am the winner. It's about quality, not quantity. Be the judge for yourself...

 

Eventually we got out the drill and Maddy was interested in carving some flowers into the pumpkins. Very beautiful pumpkins!

This photo was taken shortly before Andrew knocked the pumpkin off the bathroom counter and spilled wax all over the floor. Ha ha. Shh, don't tell the landlords :)

Little Man Turns 3!!

Well, he might be wearing size 24 month pants, but my little man turned 3 in October!!!! Unfortunately I had school on his actual birthday, but Andrew managed to give him a very special birthday morning by taking the kids to the zoo.

When I came back from school, we had a nice afternoon celebration the four of us, including a cake and gifts. Mom sent over a Chuggington musical birthday card from Canada, and Charlie was just elated!! Although Charlie hasn't grown much in the past year, it does mean that his "Happy birthday to me!" shirt that he wore for his 2nd birthday could be reused for his 3rd birthday :)

 

 

The following day, we invited some of my friends over with their children for another party for Charlie. The house was decorated with Cars decorations and Charlie was positively thrilled.

 

 

Happy birthday, little man!!



Ham

Just a few glimpses of Maddy at her best :)

Bike Races

Andrew has been cycling for a couple of years now, especially after he purchased a good road bike, and has now become comfortable enough to compete in some races. Of course he participated in Vatternrundan in Sweden with my dad and brother, but now he's decided to compete on home turf.

He did a Vantaa bike race to practice his strategy in his first mass start. Vatternrundan had like 28000 cyclists, but the start times were spread out over a 12 hour period. The Vantaa bike race was a few hundred racers, but they all started at the same time. He participated in this race with his co-worker Kari, who unfortunately had some bad luck with his wheels and could not finish.

Andrew was pleased with his race, especially since it was pouring rain and very windy that day. He believes he made some tactical errors but this race was a practice for him and he said that he learned a lot. Here is a photo of him at the start of his race.

He ultimately was practicing for the Tour de Helsinki, where they finished in the Velodrome (another first for Andrew) and Andrew did FANTASTIC!! He stayed in the lead pack the entire time. Unfortunately he was the leader for the last 15kms until the others, who were drafting behind him, flew past him right before the finish line. Jerks. Another lesson learned.

I'm very proud of Andrew and his accomplishments. Poor Kari had more bad luck with his wheels in the Tour de Helsinki, so instead of drinking beer in the sauna to celebrate, Kari drank beer in the sauna to mourn the race!!

For now, Andrew is training indoors for the dark Finnish winter months. But the kids and I are looking forward to cheering him on next year for whichever races he decides to participate.

Well done, Andrew!

Bad Weather?

I think I've talked previously about the tolerance of bad weather in Finland. It's not a big deal if it's yucky out, you just have to make sure that you're wearing the right clothes.

I was reminded of this Finnish culture yet again yesterday, as it was pouring rain. Driving through the suburbs to the mall and noticing that all the kids in the schools were playing outside in the rain. This would never happen in Canada.

In Finland, all kids have at least one set of "rain clothes", which are essentially rubber pants and rubber coat and rubber mitts. These are completely waterproof and can be worn over most outdoor clothes. For example, Rukka makes these products:

http://www.rukka.com/rain/products/#!product/welded-anorak2

Usually I'm always on the lookout for good North American products that should be brought over to Finland to be introduced to the market (chewy chocolate chip cookies, shoes that light up, etc.) but for once I'm thinking about bringing Rukka products to Canada.

Although when the schools don't let the kids go outside in the rain, there may not be a market for it after all....

Maddy Version 5.75

Maddy is spectacular! She is just so much fun and things are just so easy with her!!! She is a Little Miss Independent - she wakes up early and draws and colours until we are ready to get out of bed. She picks out her own clothes (albeit sometimes not always matching!!) and is able to dress and undress completely for outdoor clothing. She knows what she wants and doesn't have to play a guessing game with her to figure it out.

She is still wanting to a paleontologist when she grows up! When Andrew went to Boston for a work trip, he brought her back a Dinosaur book and she reads it all the time! She is so inquisitive and asks amazing questions about all the things she wants to learn about. He also got her a space and planets book and they often have great conversations about that as well.

Her school is great, she is very social and has lots of friends. Always wants to have friends over for playdates. She is missing soccer now that it is over, but still enjoying ballet and gymnastics. She does enjoy getting homework from school every Monday. And even though it's not due until the following Monday, she usually has it completed within ten minutes of coming home on Monday afternoon after school!!!!

She is a very sweet older sister and LOVES the fact that Charlie will basically copy her for EVERYTHING she does! Although she laughs at his antics, she is an extremely caring older sister and praises him every time he does something new or improved. I believe that she fully understands his personality and his nonverbal cues and totally "gets him". They are very sweet siblings.

Maddy is a strong girl with a very funny and quirky personality, but is definitely emotional when she's filled with feelings. Grandparents Day was particularly hard for her, since her grandparents are so far away in Canada. She recognizes when people are watching her or talking about her, and feels sad when she thinks about her cousins she misses. I am happy that we are able to talk freely about all of her relatives, and know that once we return to Canada, they will just pick up where they left off.

She is the best hug-giver and such a sweet soul. Although we had a bit of a struggle with her during her past year in terms of attitude, overall I say that she just keeps getting better and better.

Charlie Version 3.0

Although I am still waiting for Andrew to organize Charlie's birthday party photos, I thought I'd take a moment to talk about Charlie and his progress. He is now 3 and things seem to be changing every passing week!

He is really starting to become a ham! If you talk to him, he may choose to ignore you by purposely looking the other way and giggling. Or staring up at the ceiling and closing his eyes so that you think he's not there. His language is beginning to improve, he can now say "yum, yuck, uh oh, boo, yup, yeah, no, mama, dada" and as a result of spending the weekend with Andrew's mom, "grandma".

To say he has an obsession with puzzles would be an understatement. He adores doing puzzles of all kinds. From the moment he's out of bed, he is sitting on the dining room floor putting together puzzles while I make breakfast. On and off throughout the day and then after dinner before he goes to bed. Luckily he got some new ones for his birthday, as his older ones were getting so sticky because he used them so much!

His walking continues to improve and also his speed. I think "walking" is not in a 3 year old boy's vocabulary!!! His independence continues to get better and he plays with Maddy quite nicely as well.

School is going well. He is going two mornings per week and he is no longer giving me the death grip as I try to hand him over to the teachers. He is happily walking to class, switching his shoes, giving me hugs and walking into his classroom. This gives me much peace of mind!!!

I hope I don't jinx it by saying this, but his sleeping is also getting better. He now only gets up in the night one or two times per week, instead of consistently every night. A very happy gift to me, as I am usually staying up pretty late finishing up schoolwork.

Overall things just keep getting better. He is so much fun to play with, he understands everything we are saying and is finally starting to be able to verbalize with us. Plus he is just so darn cute!!!!!!!!!

Mushroom Hunting

Here is a picture of Charlie, hard at work mushroom hunting.
Man, he's got the life!!

Charlie's Birthday and School

Well, it is almost mid October and I cannot believe how fast the time is flying by!!!

Fall has definitely arrived here. We had two weeks where the kids were wearing their winter jackets but this week has warmed up to an average of around 10 degrees midday. The leaves are changing colour and it looks absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!

Charlie's birthday was yesterday and unfortunately I was in school for most of the day, but he had a great day at the zoo with Andrew and Maddy, and we hung out in the afternoon and evening for gifts and cake. Today was his birthday party, we had four families come over and it was a great afternoon!!!

I have just completed two more courses, putting my official status as 14/20 completed. As my business project and self development will be completed this month, I will only have four more courses to go! Three of which will be completed November/December all back to back, which is terrifying!  But it's really flying by.

Andrew's mother is coming here in a week's time and the kids are really looking forward to seeing her. We've been counting down the days! And my mother just told me that she will be flying to Finland next May for my graduation!!!!!!! Best. Mom. Ever.

As Canada celebrates Thanksgiving this weekend and we celebrate Charlie's birthday, I find myself reflecting on the past year and also to what lies ahead for us. I am so grateful for my little Finnish family and of course to my family back in Canada.

Feeling very blessed.

Mushrooms!

It is now starting to get pretty cold in Finland. It appears we have bypassed fall completely and in an instant we are experiencing winter weather, or maybe that's just how I feel since it seems to be taking me a long time to acclimatize to this coolness in the air.

Andrew has been in Boston for the past five days and it has been just me with the kids. On Sunday it was a pretty chilly day but we bundled ourselves up and joined our dear friends in the woods for some good ole' Finnish mushroom hunting.

The kids had a fantastic time! Maddy and Lina mostly played with sticks and branches and looked for really cool leaves, bugs, mushrooms, etc. But Charlie really enjoyed carrying around his little bucket and was thrilled when I would find some mushrooms and put them in.

When we got home, I reflected upon the afternoon and felt a sense of pride. Back in Canada 3.5 years ago, I would have likely suggested it was too cold to go outside voluntarily, and we would have spent the day indoors. In Finland they have this expression "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes". With each passing year, I find myself embracing this expression and learning that nothing should stop these kids from going outside, seeing what kind of adventures we can have and go exploring.

It's awesome to expose yourself to a new culture and then learn to embrace it!

The Snake

I am deathly afraid  of snakes. Not even an exaggeration, they absolutely send shivers up my spine even when I think of them.

So you can imagine my horror when I got a text message from my neighbour at 3am that her boyfriend just got bit by a snake down by the end of our driveway!

I believe her words were that he got bit by a snake hiding under the garbage can and I better watch out because they are poisonous and "they are everywhere". Especially with little kids.

Immediately I panicked, especially since Maddy is down by the garbage can every day checking the mailbox, and Charlie spent that entire afternoon pushing his little wagon around the front yard while I cleaned out the shed.

Despite the fact that it took me at least an hour to fall asleep that night after reading her message, I woke up feeling like we needed to move out of this house and into a top-story apartment building.

Andrew did a bit of research and discovered it was a European viper, which are venomous. However, they are usually very scared of people and bites are rare. I am trying to be more relaxed about it and realize it was a fluke that this happened to our neighbour (who is fine, by the way) but it's hard for me to shake the feeling that the kids should just be allowed to wander my front yard without me inspecting the grounds first.

I have encouraged Maddy to stomp her feet before approaching the mailbox, to announce her arrival as she nears the garbage can. I have pushed the can over a couple of times and there was no snake there anymore. The good news is that my classmates have given me really good advice on how to deal with the snake (apparently shovels are the trick) and my landlord told me about pills you can buy at the pharmacy for home use in case anything happened.

Although I am tempted to give a point to Canada for this mishap, Andrew was nice enough to point out that there were venomous snakes in Canada as well. I ponder why it appears that I know nothing...

We are Turning Into Finns!

I have mentioned in previous posts about how much Andrew and I are embracing the Finnish culture. In the past week I have two experiences that validate this statement.

Last Sunday Andrew rode in the Tour de Helsinki bike race. His time was amazing!!!! While he was racing, I took the kids to the large municipal swimming hall nearby. Our first experience a few years ago in the Finnish swimming halls was complete shock, with the amount of nudity everywhere. Bathing suits were absolutely not allowed in the sauna and there were zero stalls to change in. Over the years, we have grown accustomed to this, as was evident when we went swimming with the kids in Boston and there were stalls everywhere!!! Maddy was curious why there were so many stalls when we can just get changed out in the hallway. Now that we are back in Finland, it was not a surprise at all to go to the change rooms and get undressed in front of everybody like it was no big deal. I was surprised at myself for how little of a deal it was.

This Saturday we spent the day at Nuuksio National Park. There is a new Haltia Finnish Nature Center that opened up right near the park and we explored that in the morning. Then we drove to the park where we went for a hike. I had packed makkara (sausages) and had a campfire right by the lake to cook the sausages and eat lunch. That is very typical of Finns to cook sausages and go for a hike. The kids really enjoyed it and the hike was nice. Now all we need to do is learn how to pick mushrooms and then we will be even more Finnish :)

Back to Reality

Now that the Boston move is over and we have completed our Lapland trip, it feels like we are finally getting back to reality. Maddy is again in school 5 days a week and she is enjoying her extra-curricular activities of gymnastics, ballet, and soccer. It seems our weeks are pretty busy driving her around to her events, in addition to playdates and birthday parties and the rest.

Charlie has started going to a playschool two mornings per week, just for 4 hours at a time. Now that he is almost three years old, it is good for him to have some independent time away from Mommy and I'm trying to make the most of my time away from him. Nothing too exciting, I'm spending most of it at the desk working on my homework. But I feel like I accomplish quite a bit in those few hours, despite how fast the time goes by. Now that he is not napping anymore, I especially look forward to school days because I am missing that free time in the middle of the day.

As for me, I am back in full swing with my MBA. I completed two courses in August and next week I am back at it again for two more courses back to back before my next break. In addition to preparing for these courses, we are trying to wrap up the Business Project and my independent self development project. Looking forward to December 18, when I will have completed 19/20 courses. The last one will be taken in February, with our graduation in May.

For the rest of the year, we don't have much planned. I will be so busy with school and Andrew is now in full swing with his new position as a Project Manager. Other than the kids' birthdays coming up and our usual weekend family outings, we will remain pretty low key until the end of the year.

Running

In June, I decided that I was going to start running. I was searching for a way to get more "me" time and also a way to get healthier. This seemed to be my answer.

So in the middle of June, I started running 4 or 5 nights per week after the kids went to bed. It has worked out nicely, as I have managed to increase my endurance, I have an opportunity to leave the house and clear my head, Andrew has an opportunity to be at home by himself for a while, and I have shed many inches off my waistline!!!

It was a bit difficult during our Lapland trip but I did manage to also keep up my intense running schedule, for the most part. It was a motivator to keep running, though, because if I ever stopped for a minute to rest, I'd be eaten alive by mosquitoes!

On August 31, I participated in my first race. It was the Midnight Run Helsinki and I ran it with 9000 other runners. It was only a 10km race but it was through the downtown core of Helsinki and began around 9pm. It was interesting to run in the cobblestone streets, as I was paranoid I would twist my ankle, but luckily I survived and ran a personal best time.

At around the 8.5km mark, I thought to myself that "I will never do a half marathon", ha ha. We'll see how my training goes in the spring. I enjoyed the race but I'm not sure if I have the willpower to pace myself when I am surrounded by competitors - my first km in the Helsinki Run was 4:11, which is an insane pace for me.

For now, I will be happy with my progress so far. I'm not feeling extremely ambitious about competing in longer distances but perhaps I will sing a different tune once my MBA is completed and I have more free time in the evenings.

Raseborg Castle

One weekend in June, we decided to take a trip for the day to Raseborg Castle. On our way back, we stopped at in Ekenas, a beach town, for some water fun. It was a really great day!

Lapland Trip Part Two

The second half of our trip involved visiting Vuokatti, Kuusamo, Ruka, and Oulu.

The main purpose of our trip was to stay at Andrew's work's cottage for a week. He got use of the summer cottage in Ruka for 5 days so we had decided to make a trip of it and drive up, stopping along the way.

In Vuokatti, we visited the world's largest Angry Birds Activity Park, which worked out really well because it was one of our only rainy days of the whole trip. It was a giant indoor playpark (picture a McDonald's Playland but WAY bigger!) but also included a skateboard/scooter park, a golf course, a hockey area, gymnastics area, soccer, basketball, field hockey, cannonball shooting, arcade, etc. The kids had a fantastic day and Andrew and I were exhausted!!!!!

On our drive to Kuusamo, we stopped at the "Silent People", an oddity of Highway 5. It is a giant field of scarecrows, in a way, almost 1000 of them. They were made using peat from the fields and dressed with donated clothing. Reminds me of a field of zombies, it is kinda creepy but fun at the same time. It was just off the highway in the middle of nowhere but had fresh fire-made pancakes and we bought little stuffed reindeer toys for the kids in their gift shop.

Getting closer to Kuusamo, we knew we were approaching Lapland, as we finally spotted some reindeer on the side of the road (or in the middle of the road). While it is still exciting for us to see them, I believe the locals hate them, as the reindeer are constantly on the roads with no apparent hurry to get off.

In Ruka, we found our nice summer cottage and it was a pleasant change of scenery from the tents and tiny cabins. It was nice to have our own shower, bathroom, kitchen, a fridge, and beds. The kids had their own room too. We did a lot of hiking during our 5 days in Ruka, particularly in the Oulanka National Park. One day we did a 7km hike and Maddy did awesome!

Ruka is basically a ski town, with the town centre being the shops at the bottom of the ski hill. There is not much going on in the summer time, but they do run a summer sled track down the side of the mountain and the ski lifts bring you to the top for some nice views of the area. It was cool to ride up the lift and see all the reindeer on the side of the hills. Maddy loved the sled track, her and heran their sled much faster than Charlie and I!

We had one rainy day in Ruka and we decided to take Maddy bowling for the first time. It was a nice time, as the bowling hall was really dark and had fluorescent lighting everywhere. The kids thought it was pretty neat.

The hiking was really nice and the bugs weren't too bad as long as you bathed yourself in mosquito spray!!! Charlie did well on the hikes, I think he grew to like the hiking backpack a little bit. His favourite parts were stopping along the water and throwing rocks in. His favourite thing to do now whenever we see water.

Our final stop on our trip was Oulu. It was a couple of hours drive away and it was where the train left to take us back to Helsinki. As opposed to driving all the way back, we decided to maximize our trip by seeing more things and then taking an overnight train back. The car can go on one of their vehicle cars and we get a room on the train with two beds and sleep overnight. I think the train ride was about 9.5 hours but it was through the night.

Oulu was nice to walk around, it was on the water and had a lot of bridges and gardens. They had a market square where we bought some nice oil paintings of the Lapland landscape. We also found some football jerseys of the Netherlands soccer team for the kids. They liked having matching shirts.

Other than getting off at the wrong train stop in Helsinki (ie a different stop than where the car was dropped off....), the train ride wasn't bad and the kids enjoyed the adventure. It was nice to be back home though in our own beds. I started one of my classes the following day. Maddy still had the remainder of July off from school, so we still got to enjoy lots of beaches and parks and outdoor activities before going back in the first week of August.

We have done two trips to Lapland now. Both have been really  nice. I'm glad the kids don't mind the hiking and they seem to have a taste for adventure. Only I'm hoping our next "adventure" doesn't include a tent....

Never a shortage of lakes in Finland...

 

My Superman!

Testing out her golf skills in the Angry Birds Activity Centre

Building blocks

 The wrecking crane

 

One of our hikes.

The Silent People field. See, kinda creepy huh?

Can you find the Conleys??

From atop the Ruka Ski Hill

Loving the views from the top

Finnish sunset. Only two hours before sunrise :)  Finnish summers are awesome!!

 

One of the lakes in Oulanka National park

The Oulanka Canyon

Some flora. Or fauna? I don't know the difference.

Still looking adorable after hiking 5km

The Oulanka River

The bridge crossing the river.

A really cool shot

His favourite new pastime. Throwing rocks in the water.

A beautiful hike.

Family pic in front of the rapids

Bowling! Her first shot ever was a STRIKE! (beginner's luck though).

One of the many reindeer we saw in Lapland.

The policeman statue in the Oulu Market Square. The kids in their new jerseys.

A new outdoor toy

A summer beach in Lapland. Empty. Too cold!

A really neat shot of a halo around the sun. Andrew gave me the scientific explanation of what

was going on, but I think I stopped listening...

My girl hiking.