Tuesday, February 26, 2013


Last night we finally made it to our first hockey game!  A parent at the boys' school was able to organize a special night for all the families from ISH to attend.  It was a fun way to spend a Monday night and I'm happy we finally made it out to witness a major Finnish past time.  This photo shows a fight that almost happened.  Apparently, there's not a lot of fighting in Finnish hockey.  What? I thought that was sort of the point of hockey.  Fighting or not, the beer and popcorn were great and I can honestly say a good time was had by all.  Go Blues!

Sunday, February 24, 2013




We're finally home in Finland after our trip to Berlin.  And guess what?  The sun is shining!  The sky is blue!  Yaaay!

We had a great time in Berlin. It was so nice to see family, especially for the boys to spend time playing with their cousins.  While we were there we visited museums, played at Lego Land, saw friends and ate lots (and lots) of good food.  


Walking around the Schlachtensee.



Henry starring in the Lives of Others at the DDR Museum.


Just making a call at the DDR Museum.


Knocking down the wall at Lego Land.  Also note Star Wars ships coming in for  back-up.


Checking out the Candy Bomber at the Allied Museum.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Good morning from Berlin!



This was the view from our bed this morning. Yesterday, while not warm, was a nice day and we were all so excited to have NO snow! Obviously things changed overnight. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

Yesterday we arrived in Berlin to find that Steve's brother, Chris, had made us a delicious dinner of turkey schnitzel with the most delicious mashed potatoes I have ever eaten. Seriously. I'm not exaggerating, Steve and I were still talking about those potatoes as we were falling asleep last night. To top it all off, Katrin, Steve's sister in law, made a not only beautiful, but absolutely scrumptious, Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte.


If you look closely you may notice that, suspiciously, a few cherries are missing. I blame one of these guys:

Sunday, February 17, 2013



Here we are with only a little more than two months left in Finland. One thing I'm really going to miss here is our sauna. Every house has one and I read the other day there's almost one sauna for every person in Finland.

Last week we were all sick with the flu and having a nightly (and sometimes daily) sauna was soooo nice. Usually I was joined by my pal, Henry, who had lots of valuable information to impart. For example, if you have have a choice always go with a sauna brush vs. birch branches. They're not as messy and don't sting as much. Thanks, Henry.