Northern most McDonalds

Made it to Rovaniemi!

We are Finnish-ed with this place

Ad in a map of helsinki

Ok, I'm missing the kids. Ready for some hugs and kisses. There are tons of kids out and about everywhere we go. I cant wait to see mine again.

Estonia!

Spent our one day in Helsinki...in Estonia. Took a two hour ferry across the Baltic sea and wandered among buildings built in the 1200s. Absolutely awesome. Just what I imagine European tourism to be.

Easily made it to Helsinki on a quick plane trip. Rain was falling when we got here, but it looks to be clearing up. One more day, then we will start the adventure home.

24 hour sunshine

just went out at 11pm to check out the sun. This was the first time we have seen the sun in several days. Clouds have blown away and it is beautiful outside! Wish it was so nice at 2pm this afternoon. Now, we aren't feeling so sleepy.

Rovaniemi in a day

Arctic Circle! also Santa's Village, a reindeer, cool Lapland museum, and a cheesy forest museum.
Going to do some sitting tonight in our private sauna.
Tomorrow - heading to Helsinki on an airplane.

Adventure on the train

Well, everyone can make a mistake, right? We discovered on of mine this morning when the conductor pointed out the our train tickets were actually booked for tomorrow. Sigh. But, without being kicked off the train, thrown in jail, or even charged a penalty, we are safely still on our journey. He rolled his eyes, took our itenerary, called the station and moved the date to today. Thank you nice conductor man! Now we can Finnish our trip. Ha ha ha

North

Heading up north to Rovaniemi today. It is just south of the arctic circle. Not sure of our wifi access, so posts might slow down a bit.

Laundry

Tampere has exactly zero laundromats so Jim and I will spend tonight drying our jeans with a hairdryer.

Pyynikki Observation Tower

Ha ha! I beat you, elusive tower!

I don't like tuna fish on my pizza.

C25K

Brought some jogging clothes, but have felt too jet lagged to do anything with them. I was feeling great yesterday, so I planned to jog today but is 3:30 am and I have been up for 2 hours and don't seem too close to sleep. Don't think I will be much for jogging later today. I really didn't want this trip to set me back, but it has. I haven't given up though.

Cute, no?

Found this on the wood floor peeking out from under the bed. Can you read the last line?

My kids

Found this picture on my iPod and missed them a bit, in a good way. Isn't she great?

Long walk

Took a LONG walk today looking for an observation tower that the guide told me about yesterday. Never found it but enjoyed the walk. Wouldn't you think an observation tower would be easy to find?

Long walk

Took a LONG walk today looking for an observation tower that the guide told me about yesterday. Never found it but enjoyed the walk. Wouldn't you think an observation tower would be easy to find?

Finally adjusting

Fancy French meal at the restaurant downstairs last night. Five forks and five courses. It was fantastic and the waitress was very kind and patient with us. 
We were so tired last night that we took an hour nap before we could change into our PJs for bed.
But I finally slept last night! First night that I got more than 3-4 hours of sleep. Jim woke up for an hour an half somewhere in there, but he was able to go back to sleep. We both agree that we are feeling better this morning.
It has been quite cloudy out, with patches of rain here and there. Because of the clouds and the length of days here, 10am looks like 4pm which looks like 10pm which looks like 4am. But as strange at that is, I can only imagine what it would be like to have it exactly opposite in December. Three hours of daylight a day would seriously tax my sanity.
Daily chats with the kids on Facetime is amazing! Some things about technology can be so awesome; free video chatting between continents is one of them. Between our chats and updates from Jim's parents, it seems like they are getting along very well and having fun.
I'm glad I decided not to take any major trips during our time here in Tampere. We had talked about me spending a day or two in London or Oslo or Stockholm or somewhere "more exciting". But honestly, this has been a great time to recover from the time change, get to know this very nice town, and take some downtime to read, sleep and relax sans kids.
Tomorrow, I will seek out a laundromat. And then Tuesday, we take a train up to Rovaniemi, a town 5 miles south of the Arctic circle. Then it will be Jim's chance to switch to vacation mode too!

Walking Tampere

Found a poster for a free walking tour at dinner last night(great pub!)
I showed up for the tour today, but just barely. I didn't sleep much last night and had to force my mind to work after a too-short nap this morning. Plus I looked out the window and it was raining. That was *almost* enough excuse to stay in bed, but I rallied and made it out the door. I grabbed a quick lunch at a very hip noodle shop, then met the tour guide. She was actually from Italy and very nervous for her first tour. Very sweet girl (lady?). In fact their was an Italian theme to our group. There was a couple who quit their jobs and were spending a year traveling the world. The woman had lived in Italy years ago. And there was an Indian graduate student living in Genoa, Italy. I don't think there is a big link between Italy and Finland, just coincidence. The tour was great, people very nice and I stopped at a museum afterwards that was recommended by someone in the group. I stopped for gelato on the way back, which seemed appropriate ( and delicious!). Now I'm pooped again, but so glad I went. The sky cleared up for the tour but is clouding over again now. Guess that means naptime again!

Witty even while distracted

Jenny: Look at all the 'm's on that pillow.
Jim(reading a magazine): mmmmm-hmmmm

Coffe shop, strawberries and market

Tampere is a great city! It helps that the weather is stunning today. Blue sky and maybe 70 degrees. I googled "Tampere Otto" and found an ATM about 5 blocks away. A nice walk over a pretty river. Had a small lunch in a coffee house. Lots of people out and about! Where are they going at 2:30pm? Lots and lots of baby strollers too.
It is a different animal to be a tourist in a country where you look like a local, but can't even pretend to speak the language. I've only ever had the chance to visit Asia and Australia. In one, I was an obvious outsider and no one expected me to speak the language. In the other, it was just a matter of deciphering the accent that I wasn't used to. But thankfully, I have had nice people who are willing to repeat themselves in English for the stupid uni-lingual American.
So I also stopped in a bookstore for postcards and a Finnish-English dictionary. And a stand selling fresh produce (I got strawberries ). And a convenience store for shampoo and conditioner.

Otto

Off to find an "Otto" (ATM). Gorgeous day outside, but i frittered away the morning reading and napping. It was divine.

Breakfast

Breakfast was fabulous. I'm a big fan of almost any complimentary breakfast, but this really goes over the top.
All the regulars:
Toast
Scrambled eggs
A warm pot of oatmeal (not packets if instant )
Fruits
Fresh plain yogurt with jam or berries
Fantastic cottage cheese
Juices
Coffee
Tea
Milk
Also extras:
Deli meat
Cheeses
Prosciutto
Lots of meat choices
And it's all fresh and abundant
Looking forward to breakfast the next five days!

3:31am

Time change is difficult. But sunrise at 3:30 am isn't too helpful for the body clock either. Jim is still conked out which is the important thing. I can be a lazy bum all day, but he must actually Be coherent in front of people he is supposed to impress. His conference schedule makes it look pretty laid back though. I think he will have fun too.
I liked Tampere immediately. The 3 block walk from the train station to the hotel passed lots of fun looking shops and restaurants. (A used bookstore!) It is much less crowded and less cosmopolitan than Helsinki. Perfect for spending a few days alternately vegging and roaming.
Our trip here was typically long and slow, full of long stress-free layovers by design. I was uncharacteristically goofy with happiness, no freaking about the broken train, not speaking the language, being awake for 36 hours straight.
Our hotel is very nice. Small, but well equipped, comfortable and modern room. Fantastic shower, but a garden hose would have felt nice after that trip.
More later...

On the way to Finland

An hour from Amsterdam.
Not a bad flight. Personal tvs that you control are awesome. I watched two movies and read a Corrie ten Boom book.
On the way out of MN we saw the still deflated metrodome and a line of blue tarped roofs where the tornado ripped through northern Minneapolis.
The moon was brilliantly full and made a cool reflection on the top of the clouds.
Just passed over Ireland. Too dark to see much but city lights. Headed over England now.

Pendolino train

Looks cool, but it broke down on the way

Full moon from the plane

Welcome to Europe Jenny!

Happy Birthday Jim!!

Sibling Fun

These paint an awfully rosy picture of their relationship. 

I'm sure you know they spend much of their time pinching, hitting, biting and screaming; 

but the good times in between are increasing.

Crazy weather the other direction

Monday and Tuesday: 

highs 90-100 F

beach swimming

multiple times in various sprinklers

tank tops

shorts

sun hats

air conditioners

Thursday:

52 F when we arrived at the park

jackets

hats

pants

clouds

open windows

MN Zoo 5K

OK, I did it. I just signed up for the 5K at the Minnesota Zoo in August. Oh boy. At least now I have a real motivation for continuing this program while we are on vacation. Today I completed the 25 minute run, and it was pretty doable. However, I am running very very slowly. I only made it just under 2 miles. Its going to take me 45 minutes to finish a 5K. But I'm still in the middle of training, so maybe I can pick it up a bit by August.

Beach on Monday morning

The beach on Monday: a major advantage to being a Stay At Home Mom.

It was pretty deserted at 8:30 this morning!

Laura had a blast making lakes and rivers in the sand.

Adam pooped out pretty early, but had fun snuggling while Laura played.

We did some swimming too, but I didn't get any pictures of that. 

Laura made a wildlife list for this morning:

lots of dragonflies

several butterflies (she decided it was a Great Spangled Fritillary using our butterfly ID card)

Momma duck with 5 babies

Hawk

huge turtle that tried to bite me as I helped it off the road

tiny turtle

lots of small fish

Spring flowers 2011

My mom was visiting last week. We sent her home with a nasty cold and she missed our blooms by a week. Bummer! But we were glad she came to visit!

 Columbine from my mom's garden

 We call this the rocket plant (from my mom's garden)

 Coral Bells (from my mom's garden)

Daisies (from Uncle Richard's garden)

My new garden by the kitchen window turned out very nicely. Ferns from my mom. Some kind of ground cover and some coral bells from the farmer's market. Day lilies from a generous person on freecycle.com.

And a rhododendron that I am super excited about. I had no idea what I was getting when we bought it, but once it gets a little bigger, I think it will look really nice in that back corner.

I read a quote the other day that said tulips teach us to live in the moment. For me - it is this lilac bush. I gush about it all the time and walk out there every day for 2 weeks each year while it is in bloom. It's scent is so intoxicating. 

Silly Girl

C25K

Yes, I can indeed run 20 minutes straight. This is awesome. Looking forward to 30 min and maybe 45?