Canada trip (part 3; the end)

So, this will bring an end to my posting about our trip back to Canada for Christmas (from which we got home over 4 weeks ago!).

We spent a lot of times with our dear friends, the deGraafs.

Uncle Steve took the 4 kids to a Canucks game (Sam didn’t get a jersey, but a hoodie).

Joel’s favourite gift.

My dad turned 78.

The kids played laser tag.

With the deGraafs.

We visited Auntie Gayle (my best friend’s sister) who did daycare for the kids since Sam was 10 months old (except the school year 1999-2000) . . . Mattias used to call her “my udder Mudder” (other Mother).

I enjoyed Starbucks with the Coffee Club . . . we worked together for years, and were at my last school together, too.

The view from the backdoor of my childhood home (the apartment blocking the view is new).

The kids went wall-climbing.

Sofia and Joel.

We celebrated Mattias and Joel’s birthdays a little early. My dad made a chocolate cake. Joel had 11 candles on one side.

Mattias had an arrangement to represent 14 on the other side. I have no idea what Sam is doing . . .

In the evening we went to deGraafs where the kids got an ice cream cake and we got a “Happy Travelling” lemoncello cheesecake!

And Joel got tied to a bed.

It snowed throughout the night before the day we were to leave.

My dad’s dog, Taco.

My dad used to carry his first grandson around on his shoulders . . .

About halfway home . . . on the bus changing terminals at Heathrow . . . looking a little haggard . . .

Driving home from Helsinki . . .  a little cramped in the van with all the baggage . . . .

And so the trip ended . . . arriving home at about 4 am, sleeping for a couple hours and then off to work/school by 8.

That’s all for now.

Barb

Canada trip (part 2)

Been busy.

But you don’t need to hear the excuses.

I’m just going to post some pics from our trip to Canada . . . mostly for the benefit of dear brother who hasn’t seen them yet since it was a pain to email them.

Joel opened the first present of the evening (holding to Scandinavian traditions, we open our presents on Christmas Eve BUT we throw our own spin on it by having stockings Christmas morning).

I LOVE the crocheted angels on the tree. My Grandma Kasper made them years ago. I brought home 2 with me . . . hopefully I can find someone here who can make some for me.

Mattias made this dish for my dad in his wood-working class. He had actually forgotten it at school on the Friday before we left, so I sent an SMS to the high school’s principal and she was happy to meet us at the school and open the door for us. Not too many places where that happens!

Sofia and Joel got some Lego from Moffa to share.

All 3 boys got their own knife from Moffa.

Mattias loves the 2 pairs of Converse runners he got from his Uncle Steve.

Some of the presents were wrapped way cool!

When Mattias saw this chocolate bar in the store, he couldn’t get over the name. So, he thought it was hilarious to get one for Christmas.

I think we found the key to getting Sofia to use lip balm.

Sofia with 2 of her cousins (Kilee and Caitlin).

Family portrait.

My Uncle Gordon took them to the barn to show them the Fresian horses.

I just think it’s funny to see such big guy holding such a small dog.

The lake was frozen at the cabin.

Sofia is carrying in a chunk of ice so we can melt it in a pot on the wood stove to use for washing dishes. Her pants got destroyed when they fell onto said stove for about 2 seconds, max.

Sam was practicing his archery skills.

I forgot about the Christmas crackers at Christmas so we used them at New Years instead . . . I figured they wouldn’t let us take them on the plane (being explosives, ya know).

The traditional group photo, just before leaving the cabin.

Just note, my children don’t really have such red lips (as in the Christmas Eve photos), that was a result of the photoshop presets I used.

Have a great weekend! I’ll probably be doing laundry for a large portion of it!!

Barb

start at the beginning

So, we went away for awhile . . . we went back to my/our hometown in Canada for Christmas, and I was super busy before we left and spent this last week settling back into routines & getting over jet-lag, so-much-so that I had no time for blogging (writing or reading).

So, here’s the beginning of our time away:

We left our house on December 18th, and drove the approximately 6 hours down to Helsinki. We decided to stay at a hotel that was located right at the airport, just to make everything a bit easier. Unfortunately, the hotel had no rooms to accommodate a family of 6, so we had to take 2 rooms instead. Sofia and Joel stayed with me while the older 2 boys stayed with Stefan. After eating a late light meal at the airport, we wet to our rooms to go to bed early enough so we wouldn’t be too tired when the alarmclock rang . . . I left strict instructions with the big boys to avoid rummaging through the packed suitcases and to put anything back if they needed to take it out . . .

At 10 to 6, we met in the hallway and headed to the check-in counters . . . One thing we noticed, Helsinki airport is definitely WAY busier in the early hours during the winter than during the summer! After being in the check-in line for about 15 minutes, I asked Mattias where his laptop was . . . . the hotel room! He and Stefan had to run back for it, which ended up putting us about 20 minutes later than planned.

After check-in, we had to head through the long line at security and then again at passport control, and almost race to our gate which we had been warned was about as far away as a gate can get. Within 5 minutes of reaching the gate, it was time to board (I had just enough time to pop one of my anti-anxiety-pre-flight-pills). The flight from Helsinki to London was uneventful. We had a 7½ hour layover in London . . . blech . . . we used the restrooms, shopped, ate, watched tv, shopped some more, sat, used the restrooms again, drank coffee and shopped yet some more.

I definitely had time to take my anti-anxiety-pre-flight-pill, which was a good thing because while we were waiting in the plane for the trip to start, the electrical system shut down and re-started twice (I just told myself that the lights and tvs were on a different system than that which powers the plane to fly) and then that we had to wait for a passengers luggage to be located and removed from the hold because he never showed up!

We arrived in Vancouver about 7pm . . . my brother and our best friends picked us up and took us to my dad’s house. After visiting for a little while, we were able to go to bed at a decent time and sleep through most of the night (I think we woke about 5am?).

First order of business was to decorate the tree that my brother got a week earlier.

While there was a busy few days of shopping for food, Christmas presents and trying to get accustomed to the time zone, we had some low-key time to play games,

hang out,

play with Moffa’s dog,

and then it was Sam’s birthday. We went out for lunch with our best friends (well, 2/3 of them):

and then had dinner at Moffa’s house, followed by a DQ ice cream cake:

 

Well, that’s the beginning anyway . . . more details to come as I have time to get them down on paper.

Barb

confessions

I have a couple of confessions to make.

I haven’t really decorated for Christmas – which is something that I usually love to do. You see, we’re going to go to Canada for Christmas this year.

We leave on Sunday. That’s in 4 days!

I couldn’t bear the thought of having to deal with undecorating the house when we get back in mid-January, so I have only put out a few things, for at least a bit of a festive feel . . .

In the foyer. The metal item in the middle is a candle holder from an old design . . . in the 19th century the women would put these lanterns under their skirts to keep warm in church during the winter. You can see the kids’ class pictures in the background . . .

The kitchen table. Advent candles on the table, and an electric advent candelabra in the window (although I have no idea why those ones always have 7 candles instead of 4).

More of the same in the other kitchen window. Sam made the wooden advent candle holder in school.

Living room planter box. I had one string of clear lights in large plant close by, but Bruno chewed the cord apart . . .

That’s it . . . not much . . . just a little light in the dark . . .

The other confession – I’m not sending Christmas cards out this year. Difficult decision for me to make, because I love getting cards and sending them out, but with our travel plans and hoe busy everything has been, I just couldn’t do it. I hope no one drops me from their list because of it . . .

In other news . . . remember when I built this:

to keep the dogs out of trouble and in the mud room?

Well, somebody decided she wasn’t going to let gates define where she could be:

She jumped it repeatedly, so that we had to keep the door closed. Well, then it just got all stinky and humid in there.

So, I built an addition:

So far, it’s kept her in. We’ll see how long that lasts . . .

Barb

PS Another confession? The blue apron hanging on the kitchen wall was sewn by Stefan in high school.