Winter

Tired of seeing pictures of my kids in their snowsuits? I'll admit, I'm a little tired of taking photos of my kids in their snowsuits, but we are trying to take advantage of all things outdoors right now. Next week is "ski week" for Joey and Sam (no school!). Surely, there will be many more wintry photos as we attempt a family outing on cross country skis, will head to the best-yet snow hill for sledding and will skate at one of Helsinki's "official" skating rinks complete with a cafe for hot chocolate and coffee!

I know there are a lot of Finns following, if you have a favorite winter spot for us to visit during ski break, please leave a comment. We have not decided where we will go skiing, so recommendations are welcome!

Nice ice

There was an ice sculpting competition at the Helsinki Zoo this past weekend, so we decided to check it out. (By the way, all of our family outings after the Kiasma catastrophe have been quite tame!)

The zoo is located on a small island just northeast of the city center. A long pedestrian bridge connects the ticket booth and the gift shop to the main part of the zoo.

Once there, the majority of animal habitats and all the paths are located outside (unlike the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago where habitats are both inside and outside allowing winter visitors to get warm for a bit before continuing to the next animal house).

Some really energetic women were giving kids dog sled rides at the entrance for free.

The singles ice sculpting competition was the previous weekend, so we got to see the completed sculptures, as well as their rank.

My favorite

was not the first place winner,but this one was:

The couples competition (not necessarily married couples) was in process. I've seen ice carving at our local zoo in Chicago, but I think they always start with a very large chunk of ice. From what I could tell, these folks start out with smaller chunks of ice

which they then break into pieces

and sometimes, stick together with (I think) water and snow.

The sculptors use all kinds of tools to achieve their desired effect.

Sometimes, the process is a bit messy

but also worth the effort in the end!

We enjoyed our first "grilli" sausages at the zoo too. Sam had a minor meltdown. He swore he would NOT eat a sausage without a bun (no buns in sight). Yeah. Two sausages later....

Hey, if you're hungry enough....By the way, those sausages were YUMMY and Sam has asked if we could have them at home!

So How's It Really Going?

How are things really going here in Helsinki?

It's not always smiles and snowy days! But I try to look at the bright side!


We're all a bit tired of getting dressed in multiple layers to go outside...

...but once we are dressed and outside, we all really enjoy ourselves!


It's nice having less "stuff" in our apartment. But having less stuff means the kids have less to entertain themselves and we have had to relax our 30 minutes of screen time per day rule. (Even if we go outside, since they get home at noon and 1 p.m., that's a lot of unstructured afternoon time!)

We all really miss our friends and family (and Izzy our dog!) at home....

But being able to Skype with people has made us feel a little closer to home. (This is a picture of Joey Skyping with his history class in Chicago.)


I'm still having a bit of difficulty finding the right ingredients to make the meals I know how to make at home...

but sometimes I can find just what the kids love!


Walking everywhere is good exercise and a great way to see the city, but boy do I miss the freedom that having a car allows. I'm sure this sounds crazy, but I really miss wandering the aisles at Target!

The good news is that while Lily, Sam and I generally still walk home from school every day (Rob takes the kids to school), Joey is now an independent young man and decides whether or not he will walk or take the bus home by himself everyday.


Moving across an ocean with three kids is an adventure...YES! However, it can not be compared to moving to another country when you are in your 20s and single!

When I was 22, I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica. I lived in a small town there for 3 years. My life was transformed (for the better) by my experiences in Costa Rica which is why I've always been open to living abroad again.



I've spent the last 4 weeks expecting my adjustment here to be similar to my adjustment to life in Costa Rica. I've learned, the hard way, that there is NOTHING similar about the two experiences!

Oh, the days are getting longer and I'm already nostalgic for the long nights! (To see the sunrise and sunset schedule, see the times on the sidebar of my blog.) It is getting light at about 8:00 a.m. and not getting dark until 5:00 p.m. I miss the mornings when Sam would wake up and ask, "is it 8 in the morning, or 8 at night?" and shuffle right back to bed!

Sledding/sliding...it's the same thrill!

...especially when the slide is coated with ice! 

We took a walk to the sea on Tuesday.  It's just 2 blocks away!  We found this awesome park.  I can't wait to see it in the summer.  I think we were climbing on snow-covered rocks, but I'm not sure!  At one point, I was stuck in snow thigh high.  I got a little nervous because I had my camera around my neck and I didn't know how I was going to get out of the thigh-high snow without getting the camera full of snow, but somehow I managed to get out.  (In the meantime, Lily lightly walked on top of the snow right next to me--taunting me with her mobility as I was stuck in the snow and getting a bit claustrophobic.)

Anyway, as we walked and walked, we found this playground built into the side of a hill.

The slides were crazy fast because they were coated with ice.

The boys were actually airborne a couple of times.  At the end, you slam into little wall of snow.  I think this must be how Olympic luge athletes start their training! 

The smaller slide was actually faster and curvier, so you could get more air.

The landings looked a bit painful to me...I contemplated giving it a try, but I  had my camera around my neck ; )

Moomin Mania

Let me introduce you to my new friend...Moomin.

Isn't he cute?

Moomin and the other characters from Moomin Valley,

are sort of the Finnish version of the Peanuts.   Created by Tove Jansson in the 30s, these beloved cartoon characters today are recognized by Finns everywhere.  Their images are often made into toys, dolls and other household goods.

(I would love to bring a few of these Moomin mugs home as gifts, but they are quite expensive!)

I've seen Moomin described as a hippopotamus-like troll who deals with everyday human issues. The humor is subtle, but "relate able." (Is that even a word?)

Lily and I made our first visit to the library today. I was surprised (and delighted) to find the first book of the Moomin adventures. I had read that the English translation of Moomin's adventures were hard to find. (A subsequent search on Amazon.com today came up with lots of Moomin books in English for sale at reasonable prices.)

In the first strip I read, Moomin is overrun by house guests. He tries all kinds of crazy things to get rid of the guests (he floods his house, but the guests decided to have fun swimming). Finally, he goes to his friend Stinky and invites him over. Stinky quickly rids the house of all it's guests, but stinky has an insatiable appetite and ends up eating poor Moomin's house! (Stinky is the character in the middle above.)

I find this little guy and his Moominvalley friends quite addicting. I'm hoping we will make it back home with at least a few Moomin souvenirs!

Clean Up, Clean Up...

Our new kitchen (and the new dishwasher that came with it) was only 7 months old when we left our house in Chicago to come to Finland. I have to say, besides our doggie, it's one of the things I miss most.

At the same time, I like our little kitchen here. It has everything we need.

Except a dishwasher.

Even though everybody is helping out here, I miss our dishwasher.




But more on dish washing in a moment...

Did you know that Finns are the brains behind the Linux operating system? and Angry Birds? and Marimekko fabrics? and Fiskar scissors?

But what Finnish man or woman was the genius behind this?



This dish drainer is conveniently located...




directly above our sink! Seriously, isn't that just genius? I think so. Dishes just drip dry right into the sink.


Sadly, laundry for us? Not so genius. In fact, it's VERY time consuming. I can probably fit 1/4 the amount of dirty clothes into our tiny little washer here compared to what I could squish in at home!





(Yes, our washer is located in our bathroom. See the sink making an appearance in the bottom corner of the photo and our shower curtain to the right?) It's a tight fit in there (both inside the laundry tub AND in the bathroom!)


The tub is about the size of a small spare tire.





And no dryer means this:








is a pretty common sight in our apartment.

In order to keep up with clothes, towels and sheets, I need to do at least a load of laundry a day.





Whites...take 2 hours and 12 minutes to wash and lots of time hangin' around to dry!



I'm pretty sure I'll have a new found appreciation for my appliances when I get home. Although I've got to admit, even though I feel as if doing a load of laundry every day means we are using up more than our fair share of Finland's super clean water from the tap, I do feel as if we are putting less of a burden on our planet by not using a dryer.

It does make for some scratchy towels and jeans though. Just the other day, I realized Sam hadn't worn jeans for about a week. He kept wearing the Sam sweats over and over. When I finally realized and asked him why he wasn't wearing jeans, he explained that they had "turned into cardboard" since we came to live here and they are no longer wearable.

I guess I need to invest in a better softener!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Eastern Europe has been facing a bit of an arctic blast the last several days...



I always thought it couldn't snow if it got so cold...



...but it keeps snowing and snowing!



It's beautiful, but cooolllddd!!!