Juhannus

Minä olen nyt junalla Helsinkiin. Sitten matkusta lentokoneella Lontoon iltapäivällä. Minulla on minun läppäri ja netti, siksi minä kirjoitan blogiin.

This is me practicing my Finnish. What I said above is "I am now on a train to Helsinki. Then I travel by plane to London. I have my laptop and internet, so I write to the blog."

Sounds a bit odd in direct translation, but you get the idea ;)

With the free two hours I have on this train, I thought it was a good time to make a post here.
This past weekend was Juhannus, or midsummer. It's a big holiday here in Finland, so most people went out to their summer cottages to celebrate the 'yöton yö', or nightless night. We stayed home for the weekend, so on Friday night, I had lots of coffee and stayed up late to watch the sun. It was quite a cloudy night, so most of the sky was obscured, but it was still quite bright. I know in Northern Finland, the sun doesn't set at all, but since we are in the southern part, I thought it would get dark for a little while. Turns out it just looks like dusk for a few hours, which was amazing to see.


This picture was taking at midnight, 12:00, from the roof of my building.

This one was at 2:00am

And this one at 3am, when the sun was rising again.

Kesä!

We have been quite busy since the new year has begun! I'm now in a full time Finnish course, so my learning has greatly improved! I still know very little comparatively, but learning more every day.

Amy has completed second grade and is now on her summer vacation! She did very well in school and we are quite proud of her. She already misses her brother during the day though as he still goes to daycare. We love how well they get along and how much they seem to still love each other. We know it won't last forever, so we try to enjoy and encourage it now :)

Finland has had amazing summer weather so far! It was sunny and warm for the entire month of May, so we tried to spend as much of it outdoors as we could. We went to parks and lakes and just played in the yard as well. The sun stays up late and wakes up early, so it's hard not to enjoy it.

The summer (kesä) is already unfolding and it's exciting! Toward the end of June, I will be going to England with some friends of ours. I've never visited England, so I'm quite excited to explore it. I will be mostly in Cheddar, with some time in Bristol and London as well.
Then in July, my niece is coming to visit and we have some fun things planned, including going to a mökki, which is a summer cottage here in Finland, and a trip to Tallinn, Estonia. We will also spend a few days in Helsinki to explore there. Then there is also a trip to Turku and possibly another to Stockholm later in the summer. It will be quite the traveling time!

We don't yet have plans to go back to the US, but hopefully it won't be long. We do have some family coming to visit in December, so we're already very excited for that!! I can't wait to show everyone around our new city and spend time with them here.

As it's been almost a year since we moved here, I've been doing a lot of reflecting. It's been a great year and I'm happy to be where we are. It's hard to miss so many people, but it's been such a great experience and there still seems to be so much to look forward to!

Hyvää Uutta Vuotta!!

It's hard to believe another year has come and gone. Every year brings a new adventure and this past one did not disappoint.

I think we all are settling in to our Finnish life nicely. The kids seem to be doing well in school and enjoying it. I've been enjoying getting to know the culture and lifestyle here, while also taking some night classes to learn the language. It's a slow process, but it's getting there!

Amy's school is one thing that amazes me. Many of the things people in the US hear about Finnish schools are true, but not all of them. There are also things I had no idea about. First of all, one thing I hear about most is that there is no homework. That's not true at all. Amy has homework every single day, sometimes even quite a bit of it. She does only go to school for 4-5 hours a day though, depending on the day of the week. School schedules vary, so she starts and ends at different times each day. They do so many different activities as well. Tomorrow she starts learning parkour, which she is super excited about. They've also gone swimming, ice skating, orienteering, to museums and plays, and other things I can't remember at the moment. And this is only in second grade, older children do even more activities. So far, that's one of my favorite parts, all of the fun things they do. My other favorite part is school lunches. They are free and all of the children eat whatever is served, they do not bring their lunch. (If a child has a special diet or allergy, the school will accommodate that). This, mixed with some strong enforcement at home, has led to Amy trying and eating so many new foods. She just doesn't have any other option. It was really tough at first, but we're so proud of her for it.

I also hear the kids, especially Cole, throwing in some Finnish language in everyday conversation. Tonight they were playing together and showing each other dances. When Amy was finished, Cole said "Hyvä!", which means good. They also often says "kiitos" for thank you and "moi" as a greeting to people on the street. All of our language skills still have a lot of work to be done, but I'm proud of their progress.

The weather has finally gotten cold here, today was -13C. There is snow everywhere and the trees are beautiful. Growing up, when I saw a fake tree that was made to be white, I never liked it. I always thought it looked too unrealistic, like they were trying to be whimsical and it failed. Here though, the trees are actually white! I now realize why manufacturers make fake white trees!
One of these days, I hope to take my camera on a walk to get pictures of the nature. Every time I step outside, I am amazed at the beauty, so I want to share it!

Getting settled

We're in our apartment. Kids have started school. Brandon is back to work. Things are slowly settling in to every day life.

It's definitely been an adjustment living here, but not completely unfamiliar, at least for me. I feel like this is similar to when we moved to Montreal, only more pleasant. It's a new city to learn, we don't have a car and therefore walk or take buses everywhere, smaller grocery stores (but more of them), and everything is in a different language. The more pleasant part comes from the people. Everyone has been very nice so far, and when we mention that we don't speak Finnish, they don't seem bothered at all to switch to English. We've been very welcomed and have met several wonderful people. I am looking into Finnish classes, of which there are many, and hope to start one pretty soon.

Cole is adjusting well, though he is so young so it's not quite as big of a deal to him. Amy is having a bit of a harder time. She had friends at school and certain things she enjoyed about home. She knew her school and how things worked there. Now she is at a new school that works differently with new kids who don't all speak English as their native language (and therefore switch to Finnish on the playground and during break time), so she doesn't quite feel like she fits in yet. She hasn't found her place. I know that with time she will adjust and it will get better, but when you're 7, it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

One good thing that has changed with Amy is her attitude toward food. She has always been the pickiest eater I know. She lived on nutrigrain bars and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. For months, we've told her that will have to change when she gets to Finland, and now it has. It was really hard at first, but she has gotten over the hump and is now eating so many more things, and trying new foods happily. It's such a huge deal for her, and I'm so proud of her for it.

Amy leading the way to school practicing for next week when she starts walking by herself.

Cole picking out what pastry he wanted after a day at school.

She asked, on her own accord, if she could have some blueberries. So huge for her.

Overall, I think we're all hanging in there and doing well. Each day is a new adventure and new opportunity!

We made it!

We arrived in Tampere two nights ago, and are mostly relaxing and enjoying our time so far. The time change is difficult to adjust to, so sleep (especially for the kids) has been a bit of a challenge. Our first night here, they slept 17 hours, then last night decided to wake up for the day at 2:30. We're crossing our fingers for a normal night tonight!

We're currently at the studio Brandon has been renting, and will be staying at one more temporary place before our apartment is ready late next week. Once we get these keys, we have so much shopping to do since we are starting with practically nothing.

It's been fun walking around the city so far. We had a parents meeting at Cole's new school and we're able to meet the woman who runs it (she is actually from the US as well), and I'm excited for him to go there. It seems like a great place. Next week we have a meeting at Amy's school to hopefully learn more about that.

Brandon took off work for a few weeks so that we can all get settled in together, which has been great. These are very exciting first steps and I know we'll only continue to learn more!

Here is a view from our current apartment window.

Home stretch and Italy

We've been so busy with everything lately that I've barely had time to get on the computer, which also leaves no time for posting here.

Quick updates. We sold our house, I left my job, we moved in with friends, kids finished school, we went on vacation, and then we went to Texas to visit everyone there.

Vacation was great. We traveled around Italy and saw so many beautiful things. It was a nice country and we would love to go back one day. I took so many pictures, but here are a few of my favorite.

As for everything else, we move to Finland in less than two weeks!! While I'm sad to leave everything and almost everyone I know behind, I'm very excited to be there, see Brandon and have everything settled. To not live out of a suitcase and to have our own space. We have an apartment and we'll move in shortly after the kids and I arrive. It's very close to their school, which was a high priority for us. So everything is falling into place and finally happening!

Bump in the road

We hit a bump with the house. The original buyer needed to terminate the contract for personal reasons, so we had to put it back up for sale. We got a new offer and are now under a new contract. So hopefully things go well and we close in a few weeks as planned!

Other things are still about the same. The basement bedroom in our friends' house opened up, so the kids and I will be staying there until it's time to move, which works out very well.

Next weekend, I fly to Finland to visit Brandon, so I'm very excited for that. It's been far too long since I've seen him. I do feel bad that the kids won't also be seeing him, I know they miss him as well. But that would have just been too much for a weekend trip.

Closer

Things are pretty slow at work today, so I thought it might be a good time for a blog post. Brandon's been gone for just over a month now and everything is moving along. We still talk to him and FaceTime him often. The time difference makes that difficult sometimes, but we make it work.

The house selling is going well. I originally intended to have it on the market around March 1st. There was so much going on at the time that it really stressed me out. I finally just realized it couldn't be done and told myself I will get it up when I am done. I've switched to focusing on one thing at a time. Once that one thing is done, then I will focus on the next big thing I need to do. Once I changed to this mindset, I have felt so much better. Everything seemed to be piling on at the same time, but I didn't have to figure it all out at once.

So the house went up on Friday the 17th and we went into contract the following Monday. Now we are working on things like appraisal and inspection, so hopefully it continues to go well. My focus has now shifted to finding our temporary place to stay once we close.


The kids are taking everything well. They are such little troopers, hanging in there even though I know a lot of things have been tough lately. I know I haven't spent as much time with them as I would like to, but they are pretty understanding.


We got notification a few days ago that our Finnish residence permits have been approved, so we are one step closer to moving. A pretty big step too. Brandon is only allowed to work there for 90 days before having a residence permit, so we're glad to hear that they are on their way and should be here in plenty of time for me to send his over to him.

One step at a time!

Saying goodbye

Wow. What a whirlwind the past month has been. This is one of the few times I've had to sit and write something without being up late and completely exhausted. We've been getting everything ready for our move, from application paperwork to clearing out the house to sell it, so we've been incredibly busy.

One of the big things we've done is take a trip to Washington DC to visit the Finnish embassy and complete our applications. Since we were already going there, we decided to take a few extra days and see some sights. The kids had a pretty good time overall. They were tired from all of the walking, but they loved the metro system and staying in a hotel. Here are a few pictures from some of the things we saw.

Today, Brandon left for Finland. He has officially moved and will start his new job on Wednesday. I'm happy for him, and I do believe he will enjoy working and living there, but we already miss him a lot. It's going to be a long few months. We will be visiting Italy in June and he is going to meet us there, so we will get to spend those two weeks with him. The he goes home to Finland and we will join him there in July.
Brent took the day off work and went with us to the airport. Here are some goodbye pictures.

Things have been so stressful lately, and I know it's not going to get better soon, but I do believe it will be worth it in the end.

Emotional

For a while now, I've been ashamed for America. Our election was a joke. A man came in and did and said all of the wrong things, but somehow still became our president. He is full of hate all around. Everything he does is to lessen the well being of someone else with the guise of helping our country to be "great". These things have led me to be angry, appalled, ashamed, disgusted, and all of the other things you could find in the thesaurus.

Then people started fighting back. He threatens to take away women's rights, women across the world march in protest. He tries to silence the social media accounts of government organizations, they make accounts he can't silence. He bans people from Muslim countries, people protest at airports and lawyers work around the clock to lift it. Organizations that help refugees have gotten massive amounts of donations. People took to social media to start movements urging people to resist. I'm touched and inspired and so happy to see that there is still massive amounts of love out there.

I'm still also terribly sad for all of the displaced refugees. Families being torn apart, children dying or living in fear. I saw a picture of a 4 year old girl with her hands up in surrender because she thought the photographer's camera was a gun. Overwhelming sadness. I've cried tear of both sadness and happiness at all of the things I've seen lately.

Then I read about citizens following our president's example. Hate speech both online and in person has run rampant. Mosques are being burned down. People are being assaulted. More anger. I don't understand how a person can act in this way and not care about the people they are hurting.

When I think about our upcoming move, I'm then relieved that we are going to a country that cares about people, where I don't have to deal with all of this. I'm a little ashamed of that relief because I know that all of my family and friends and so many others will still be fighting this battle here over basic human rights that shouldn't even be an issue.

On a more personal and selfish note, I'm also very overwhelmed at all of the things leading up to our move. Housework, paperwork, living accommodations. There is so much to do that I sometimes feel like I'm drowning in it and can't function. I know I need to take it one step at a time, but it's all still looming.



I do realize that this was very ramble-y, but there is so much going on in my head that I had to get some of it out. That's what blogs are for, right?

So it's been a while...

As you may have noticed, I neglected this blog last year. It wasn't that I forgot about it, it was more that there was a lot going on that I wasn't ready to talk about for one reason or another. I tend to be a fairly private person, so I don't always like making a lot of my life public, hence why I'm not a good poster. I also don't particularly like to let negativity show, so when something bad happens, its not something I care to share.
I try to change that though, because I like keeping these sort of records to go back and look at, and also because it helps people to keep up with us who I may not talk to as much as I would like, whether it be good or bad. Life is full of ups and downs, and while I tend to not talk about things, I also don't want to lie about them.

Now we have some big news and I finally feel like I want to share. In a few months, when we get everything taken care of here, we will be moving to Tampere, Finland. There is a game company there who Brandon is very excited to work for. It has been, and will continue to be, a long process, but we are very excited at the opportunity. We visited Helsinki last year about moving there and we loved it. The city was beautiful, the people were friendly, and the food was delicious. That opportunity did not work out, but now that we are presented with this one, we feel like maybe it was for the best. The kids are mostly excited about the move. Amy is upset that she has to go on an airplane again, but other than that, she is happy. Cole is thrilled. He asks us all the time if we can go to Finland. It's going to be an adventure and I will try to take you all along ;)

Speaking of the kids, they are doing very well. Amy is in first grade now and getting smarter every day. The things they learn in school so young amaze me. She loves school and is reading very well, she even reads her chapter books to us now. Cole is in preschool and he really enjoys that. The things that he was not willing to learn from us, he is learning in school, like colors and letters. I always had the hardest time trying to teach him things, he somehow refused to learn from me, but his teacher is really great.

I started working last year. I work in an office of a small company. It's very laid back and easy going, I really enjoy it. Everyone I work with is great, though I rarely see people. I'm by myself in the office most of the day, which is a nice break after being surrounded by children constantly for the past 7 years ;)

Brandon is also doing very well. He is really excited and optimistic about this new job. He visited the company and loved the office, the people, and the city so much that he didn't want to leave. He can't wait to go back there and work with them. He sees so much potential there and wants be be a part of it.

Another thing I talked a lot about previously was my surrogacy journey, which a lot of people still ask me about. I haven't talked to the family recently, but I like to think they are doing well and that they are happy. I do know that they moved and they were very busy with the twins. I still think about them often, but I understand that they needed to move on with their life. I'll always know that they are out there somewhere and be proud of that.


Life can be full of adventures, so here's to our next big one! Cheers!

Bunny rescuer

A few days ago Cole was playing downstairs and he came and got me telling me he needed to show me something downstairs. I went with him to a window, and there was a baby bunny that had falling through the grate and was stuck in the bottom of our window well. We took off the screen, got the bunny out and let him loose in the back yard. I don't go downstairs much, and probably never would have found him myself. So thanks to Cole, we were able to save a little bunny's life. Way to go kid!

Park

Amy has a Girl Scout meeting at the park today, so we decided to arrive early and play for a while.

Pets

Amy's been asking for pets for a while, specifically pet rats.

So meet our new rats.

This is Oswin

And this is Captain Jack Merlyn, who we usually just called Captain Jack.

The kids love them. They are still young and a little timid, so they don't really play much yet, but they'll come around.

Pictures

Cole loves exploring in the backyard

After a bath, I put his pull-up on him and then went to change my own clothes. Came back to him playing outside almost naked.

Amy loves swimming at the rec center. She takes swim lessons there and also just loves to go play.