Dead-End Roundabout

I Hope I Never Have To Do That Again

2012-01-25T22:14:00.004-05:00

I was 13 weeks pregnant. I went in for my first OB appointment on Monday. The doctor couldn't pick up a heartbeat on the doppler, so she sent me in for an ultrasound. Turns out the baby never really formed. A blighted ovum, or early pregnancy failure, is what it's officially called. Miscarriage Tuesday night. Definitely on the top five worst events of my life. I won't go into the the details, but click here if you want more info on a blighted ovum.

January Happenings

2012-01-19T15:32:00.002-05:00

We finally got our first snowstorm last week. There were a few storms while were gone for Christmas, and we came back expecting there to be snow on the ground, but the ground was as bare as when we had left. But we finally had a real storm, and it dumped around 6-8 inches of snow. Not a huge amount, but enough to play in:
Waimea went to a birthday party at a beauty salon:
She came home having experienced things I never have, including a manicure and a facial. They also did her hair (I pity the person who did it!--she screams and cries the minute I touch it), put beads in it, and applied make-up.
Erik came back for his interview in Springfield and spent a few days with us, including his birthday. Good choice on the pumpkin cheesecake, Eh-eh!

Copycat

2012-01-19T15:25:00.001-05:00

Trying to be just like daddy:

Christmas 2011

2012-01-19T12:04:00.004-05:00

We had a few Christmases this year. 2 with Evan's family, one with mine. It can be hard to get all of Evan's siblings together sometimes, which is why we had two: one on the 23rd and the other Christmas day. Here are some shots of the kids opening gifts on the 23rd:A dream come true for Spencer: Harry Potter stuff AND Legos:And Mea got princesses and kitty cats:Christmas Eve is my family's traditionally big day. We have our yummy Christmas food to kick off the celebrations:

Then we gather around the tree and have a spiritual message:

And then take turns opening gifts. The kids are amazingly patient during this time, watching all their aunts and uncles open a gift before they get to open another:

It was a great Christmas! We're glad we went to Utah, but we wish there had been at least one snowstorm! Thanks for putting up with us, families!

Blanding Trip

2012-01-19T10:25:00.005-05:00

Now that Evan is a student (again), we have more vacation time. So we decided to go to Utah for three weeks around Christmas. We spent the first week with Evan's parents down in Blanding, which is about an hour south of Moab in south-eastern Utah.

We had a fun trip, with a lot of time spent playing with toys in the basement. In between, we took some mini road trips to some sites nearby.

The first of these was Four Corners, the place where Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico meet. It's actually of Navajo land, and they've built the place up quite a bit. I was expecting a simple plaque on the ground. Here we are, trying to get a family picture in with each of us in a different state, but Waimea would not cooperate. So Evan is straddling the Utah/Arizona line:
The plaque I was expecting:
The building in the background is an open market where the Navajo people come to sell their goods. There were a few shops open, but it was so cold. Grandma and grandpa treated the kids to a dream catcher and jewelry.
On another day Grandpa took the kids and Evan fishing at the local reservoir (they stock it with fish). They were just getting ready to pack up and come home, empty-handed, when they caught an albino rainbow trout.
Here's a blurry picture of what they caught:
Next trip: Monument Valley, also on Navajo Nation land. (We told the kids we were going to Ornament Valley, like in the movie Cars. Bad idea--Waimea was sad at the end because we didn't see Mater or Lightning McQueen or Sally). It was really quite an impressive place. The pictures just don't quite do it justice:
We ate lunch at a restaurant with this view:
And then drove through the park, viewing all the monuments. It was really neat!

We found a "W" for Waimea:

Looks like it should be warm, but the wind was bitter cold.
It was a really great trip! Thanks for having us grandma and grandpa, and for the awesome outings!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-03T22:08:00.003-05:00

It's funny to look at this picture now after what happened less than five minutes later.

In this picture, we have just finished all the food preparations: our unaromatic turkey (we kept waiting for it to start filling the house with turkey smell as it was cooking, but it never did!), mashed potatoes, rolls, apple stuffing, gravy, sweet potato casserole, jello salad, peas, and cran-sprite drink. Waimea has decorated our entire wall with Thanksgiving decorations. And we are all starving and wanting to eat.

Then, out of nowhere, Spencer says he doesn't feel well, and needs to throw up. We tell him to get to the bathroom, but he doesn't make it. So we got to start our Thanksgiving feast this year cleaning up throw-up. He ended up having the stomach flu, and didn't get to eat his Thanksgiving dinner until Saturday night.

(Ironically, Erik ended up getting the same bug the night before he was to fly out Wednesday morning. We thought we were in the clear by that point. But Erik missed his flight, and his interview in Seattle, and had to reschedule both. BUT, we got to have him here an extra three days.)

Black Friday was spent glued to the internet, awaiting the fantastic amazon lightning deals that weren't quite as fantastic this year. And dealing with Spencer's stomach flu issues coming from the other end. If you know what I mean.

Luckily Saturday was much more cheerful--we continued with our tradition of buying a fresh tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. The kids had a blast decorating it. And Spencer is getting tall enough now that the ornaments aren't all clustered in the bottom 2 feet of the tree.

It's a great way for Evan and I to celebrate our anniversary of meeting each other (8 years ago that night, at a party of all places).

What a memorable weekend.

First Trip into Downtown Chicago

2011-11-29T21:48:00.003-05:00

The day before Thanksgiving, Erik and I took the kids into downtown (Evan had school that day, would you believe). Knowing it was going to be busy, and that the kids wouldn't last too long, we only planned on doing three things.

First, we wanted to see the bean. Appropriately named:

It distorts everything, and it's obvious that the biggest tourist appeal to it is seeing what kinds of crazy pictures you can get with it. Waimea quickly took over the camera and took these three shots:

Spencer, however, wasn't that enthralled with it. He only saw before him a marvelous opportunity for teasing the pigeons that were in abundance. I'm surprised we weren't cited for animal cruelty or something.

Next stop: Yelp.com's highest ranking chicago-style pizza in the loop area of downtown Chicago--the Avanti Cafe. It's this little Italian deli, and I would never have thought to stop in without the online recommendation. But I give it high ratings: it wasn't busy, it was clean, it didn't seem to be over-hyped, very reasonably priced, and the food was great! I can't vouch for its authenticity, but it tasted better and more unique than just about any other pizza I've had. Wish I had taken a picture...

Third and final stop: Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower and tallest building in the world until Dubai took over).

I knew I wouldn't be going up to their observatory (on the 103rd floor!) with the kids, but Erik wanted to. So the kids and I wandered the gift shop (location of Waimea's angry birds Chicago Bull incident) while he took these picture for me:

The kids' favorite part of the day: Riding the train and stopping in the Disney store. Go figure.

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

2011-11-28T23:14:00.002-05:00

The week before Thanksgiving, Evan's parents came for a visit. Looking back, I realize that I didn't take anywhere near enough pictures of their visit. But we had a great time with them.

Spencer has a great relationship with them from when we lived an hour away from them in Texas. So it's easy for him to latch right on. He came home from school every day and immediately enlisted them in his play.

Waimea is still getting to know them, but she latched on quick, especially with grandma. If grandma ate an apple, Waimea had to eat an apple:

Grandma did so many crafts with her, to the point where the wall shown in the picture above was entirely covered in pictures.

We took a quick trip to see the lake:
They took us to the Museum of Science and Industry (they used to live in southern Illinois, so are quite familiar with Chicago. This museum was one of Evan's and his siblings favorites when they were young). It's a HUGE museum with many hands-on displays and exhibits. The kids had a blast.

They weren't able to stay for Thanksgiving, so we had a pre-Thanksgiving preview dinner, with most of the fixings. Instead of a turkey, though, we bought a rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club. And instead of pie, we had pumpkin cake.

Thanks for the visit, grandma and grandpa! The kids are counting down the days until they get to see you in Utah (only 15!)

Doctoring the Doctor

2011-11-28T22:53:00.002-05:00

My brother, Erik, is in his last year of medical school at University of Hawaii. During this last year, the school gives the students a three month break for interviews for their intern year and residency. Erik decided to spend 3 1/2 weeks of this break with us.

He has been here long enough now that I don't know what we'll do without him. It's to the point where, when Waimea draws family pictures, Erik is included. I haven't had to play with my kids for weeks. It's always "Eh-eh, come play with me," or "Eh-eh, do this," or "Eh-eh, sit by me." One more day, and then he's gone.

Sadly, there will be no more of Waimea playing doctor to the doctor:

No more uncle jumping in the leaves and playing with them:

And no more having to delete about 30 variations of this (all taken by Waimea):

You will be missed, Eh-eh. It's a good thing we'll see you in Utah, three weeks from now.

2011-11-28T09:25:00.003-05:00

Last week we took a trip into downtown Chicago. While looking through a gift shop, Waimea saw this logo on a backback:

and very excitedly said, "Look! Angry birds!"

Throwing in the Home-Made-Halloween-Costume Towel

2011-10-31T23:38:00.005-04:00

Remember these costumes from last year?

I made them extra big so that they could wear them for (at least ) 2 years.

What was I thinking?

No kid wants to wear the same costume two years in a row, even if they say they do. And my kids are so fickle with their costume demands that even when I make a new one, they often don't want to wear it when it comes time. Take Mea, for example. She has a whole arsenal of princess costumes. But she wanted a mermaid costume this year. So I, being the pushover that I am, made her one last month:

She hasn't worn in. Ever. And refused to for Halloween. About a week before Halloween she decided that she was going to be a kitty cat.

And Spencer couldn't decide whether to be Darth Vader or Harry Potter. Either way, I wasn't making the mistake of sewing more costumes.

So here's how it turned out. Here's Mea at the church Trunk or Treat with some friends, sporting her thrift kitty cat costume:

Cost rundown: 99 cent pants from the thrift store, shirt from her drawer, foam mask purchased at Michaels for $1 (with pipe-cleaner whiskers added), and a kitty cat tail made from some old fleece and stuffing that I already had, safety-pinned to her pants. I've never made such a ghetto costume in my life. Did she care? Nope. She pretended to be a cat for days.

And here's what Spencer decided to be at the same event:

Cost rundown: I got really lucky and found the mask at the thrift store for 99 cents, and the rest of the costume at the same thrift store (different day) for $2.

I really am not creative enough to decorate our trunk, so I just threw the few decorations we have in the trunk and called it good:

Luckily, when it came to the day of Halloween, Waimea was still happy to be a kitty cat again:

Here's her tail:

(Just so you know, I found that the best way to make a animal tail flexible, but still shapeable, is to insert the stem of some fake flowers (flowers removed, of course), into the middle of the stuffing.)

Spencer, however, decided to be Harry Potter after all. Luckily I had made him a Griffindor scarf weeks ago, just in case ($4 for yarn). A friend of ours loaned us a cape with the Griffindor emblem sewn on. And I made those lovely construction paper glasses literally minutes before they walked out the door:

Good enough.

Anyone want to buy a girls size 4 mermaid costume?

October Happenings

2011-10-25T09:45:00.002-04:00

We have an amazing library. Spencer's favorite part is the free Wii game rentals. He recently became obsessed with the Harry Potter Wii game, and wants to play it all the time. So we've had to put restrictions on him, AND make him earn his time. How? By reading to Mea:

I now know why people cut down trees on their property. We've never lived in a place where we had to rake leaves. But we're sure getting our share of it here. This was the first week:

And it is now week four of this, with little sign of letting up. At least Waimea is having fun with it.

This is becoming a nightly occurrence:

And this past weekend we were invited to a pumpkin party. We carved our pumpkins, and they were judged according to age group. Waimea's kitty cat won for ages 4 and under, and Spencer's won for ages 5-7. (Evan and I feel kind of bad because we did most of the carving, but does any kid carve their own pumpkin at age 7 or under? At least they chose their designs, and Waimea did the painting on hers). So here they are, our prize-winning pumpkins:

And She's Four...

2011-10-16T21:57:00.005-04:00

It was Waimea's birthday today. And we celebrated it by going camping. You may think that is cruel, but it is what she requested. She loves to camp.

Illinois is not known for its camping. But we picked a state park surrounding by lakes (appropriately named Chain O'Lakes State Park), and went up Friday after Evan got out of class. We pulled into our site about 8 PM, got camp set up, and immediately went to bed. We woke up to cold, windy weather. So Waimea opened her presents in the tent (we decided to celebrate on Saturday):

An Aurora doll, Prince Phillip doll, Aurora dresses, and three mini fairies from Grandma and Grandpa:

A Belle doll from mom and dad:

A six pack of fairies from Mummi and Pappa:

A doll, some cutely-adorned clothes, and hair clips from Aunt Kristy, Uncle Todd, and cousins:

And, not pictured, a Rapunzel lunch box and book from Spencer, some homemade dresses for her Belle doll from mom and dad, and some braided yarn Rapunzel hair, also from mom and dad. Quite the loot! But we've always told our kids that we'll give them more presents if they don't have a birthday party. (Sadly, I think Waimea thought she was going to have friends come camping and have a birthday party at the campsite. Oops!).

The temps warmed up a bit (not much with all the wind!), so we headed out for some walks to the lakes:

Played on the playground (What is it with campgrounds with playgrounds? I never saw them until we moved out east. Must be compensating for lack of real camping atmosphere):

And then we spent some time in the tent (it was just way too windy outside!):

Spencer and Daddy working on something:

Mommy napping (Do you blame me? Friday was crazy, packing up everything by myself):

Waimea playing with her new loot:

And when we made it back home, Waimea had this easel to open on her actual birthday:

We had a great time! Thanks for wanting to go camping Mea! SOOOO glad you're part of our family!

Sleepy Times

2011-10-12T09:24:00.001-04:00

The joys of Sunday naps:

Evan came to check on the kids before he went to bed and found them like this:

Preschool Time

2011-10-11T10:13:00.005-04:00

By the time we arrived here in Chicago, it was too late to register Waimea for any of the cheap preschools (like the ones offered through the high schools). And since she misses the cut-off date here for Kindergarten next year, it looks like we've got an extra year of preschool, anyway. So we'll just save the real preschool for next fall.

In the interim, I have been having a mini-preschool with her. (Can you believe it?! This is SO not my style!). It came about because Waimea was literally begging to go to school. And being as limited on funds as we are, we can't afford a real preschool. But Waimea has been loving mommy-preschool so far.

We bought a preschool activity book that goes through letters, shapes, and such. We decided to start with the alphabet. There are about 4 pages of "activities" for each letter, so we do a letter per day.

And then we read a book that corresponds with the letter we studied that day. Someone gave us this set our first year in New Jersey, and we almost got rid of it at one point. I'm sure glad we didn't.

Today we do the letter "W." A few more days, and then I have to be creative about what to do next.

I also signed her up for a once-per-week, six-week art class, and a four-week cooking class through the community center. It's about all we can afford, but between these classes and preschool with mom, she seems to be content.

Lost Tooth

2011-10-06T15:25:00.004-04:00

It has finally happened. Spencer has been waiting for this day for years. Literally. It all started at our last dentist appointment in August. The hygienist was cleaning his teeth and found that the lower right tooth was loose. It has progressively gotten looser and looser, and he has been complaining more and more about not being able to eat. I told him Monday that I'd pull it out for him, but after gripping it, he told me to stop. Last night he didn't eat dinner very well, and I threatened to take it out while he was sleeping (I'm such a great mom, aren't I?).

Turns out I didn't need to. Evan and I were getting ready for bed when we heard one of the kids call out. We thought it was Mea, but then Spencer said, "My tooth fell out!" Sure enough, it did.

The tooth fairy gave him a whopping $1 bill for his exploits. With all his tossing and turning, though, it fell on the ground under the bed and Spencer thought that the tooth fairy forgot about him.

This is the biggest he has smiled for the camera in quite awhile. Usually he's making some ridiculous face. Love this smile:

New Job

2011-09-21T21:56:00.002-04:00

My employment history is pathetic at best:

Joann Fabric associate--10 months

BYU paint crew--1.5 years

lifeguard and swim instructor--6 months

independent painter--1 year

mom--7 years

I went back to school in 2010 at the local community college to finish out my drafting/autocad certificate that I had started in Washington right after my mission. (My art history bachelor's degree is worthless to me.) But when I finished last December, I wasn't able to seriously look for a job because I knew we were moving in 8 months or less.

And when I got here, I thought for sure no one would hire me, based on my pathetic employment history and huge gap of no employment, even after getting my certificate.

But then there was a craigslist post from a contractor seeking a drafter for some of his projects. I applied, and he responded immediately. We had a phone interview (which, if any of you know about how much I despise talking on the phone to strangers, you can imagine how well that went). He said he probably wouldn't be able to pay me even the minimum of what he posted, and that he'd get back with me the next week when he was back in town.

I got off the phone feeling like absolute crap, and feeling quite sure I'd never hear from him again. The next week passed. I gave up hope about the job. Another week passed. And then this past Monday, I come home to a message from him, asking if I'm still looking for work. I called back, and he told me to come in that day, and he'd start me working.

Here's the great thing about it--he wanted me to work on his computer in his office, but it turns out that his autocad subscription has expired (it's thousands of dollars), but I still have the student version on my computer at home. So I get to work from home, designing in my own time (it's only part time). Which means that Mea gets to be with me all day still. I report back to him daily, and when I complete a project (I finished my first today!), then I have to take the plans into downtown Chicago to the building department to get them approved. And he's paying me more than he said on the phone a few weeks back.

So it all works out beautifully. I don't know how long he'll be able to employ me--he's a licensed contractor, but he also owns a mailing/printing company, which is what he spends most of his time doing. So I just have a few projects lined up right now, but he said it may expand to more. But at least I'm getting real experience and will have something substantial to put on my resume. And maybe we won't have to take out as many student loans to get us through these four years. We'll see.

Two Birds With One Stone

2011-09-15T23:19:00.002-04:00

Problem A: Spencer is required to practice his reading every night for homework, but doesn't like to do it. He does, however, insist on a bedtime story to be read to him every night.

Problem B: Since school started, Spencer decided that he was too cool to play with his little sister, and has been quite condescending of late.

Solution: In order for Spencer to have a story read to him, he has to read a story to Waimea--one of her choosing, too.

Brilliant! (Evan gets all the credit.)

Evan's Birthday

2011-09-15T22:58:00.004-04:00

Evan's birthday was Monday. He requested a cookie cake, once again. Thick and yummy!

Now that we have a backyard, I was finally able to give him the gift I've been wanting to for years:

Our neighbors here have one, and we smell the campfires every weekend, with envy. Now there's no more need to covet our neighbor's stuff. Happy Birthday, Evan!

School Days and Birth Days

2011-09-10T00:06:00.005-04:00

Spencer started first grade soon after we arrived. He's into his third week, and is already making friends and settling right in. Here he is on the first day (he's really into making faces for pictures right now):

Evan started school on the 29th. The semester hasn't technically started yet, but he is attending a mandatory "math review" for the next few weeks. Here he is on his first day:
The 29th was also my birthday. Ugh, I'm getting old. My parents drove into town a few days prior, so I got a yummy, homemade dinner, and a scrumptious Finnish cake:
The kids were really cute on my birthday--they really wanted to wrap up presents to give to me, so they kept wrapping up their toys for me to unwrap. They also created a few things out of Legos, just for me. One of them was Quack, from the show Peep and the Big Wide World. He's this quirky, blue, self-centered duck, and I can't get enough of him. It's the one show that I will happily watch, anytime. If you have never seen the show, click on the link above, or YouTube it. Here's Spencer's Lego rendition of him:

I don't know if I can ever break it. I may have to super glue it together.

The New Name

2011-08-25T00:04:00.002-04:00

While knocking on doors somewhere in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area, I came across an interesting door plastered in bumper stickers. One of them stood out to me: Dead-End Roundabout. It sounds depressing initially, but it's not.

With our house plummeting in value, Evan working at a zero-growth-potential job, and my unemployment woes, we felt like we were heading downhill towards a dead-end. But we've taken a roundabout before hitting that dead-end. We'll see where it takes us...

Mission Completion

2011-08-18T22:28:00.003-04:00

The container is packed. We reserved 21 feet, and thanks to our awesome packer friends, we only used 15 feet. So we will be refunded $300. Not bad!

Packing Day

2011-08-16T23:22:00.003-04:00

It's been a mad dash to box all our stuff up. The container arrived today. After searching and comparing quotes, we found that far and away the cheapest way to move yourself is through ABF U-Pack. They drop off the container at your door, you have three days to pack it up, they pick it up and drive it to your new door. Then you have 3 days to unpack. If we were to use the entire 28 foot length, it would be $2000 (I'm sure this number changes according to the distance traveled). So far, with about 99% of our stuff packed we have only used about 12 feet. If you don't use the entire container, they subtract what space you don't use.

Pack Rat and PODS were about 3 times the price for the same idea, and they don't discount you for the space you don't use. And we don't have to drive the container like we would have with Penske or U-Haul. I highly recommend the ABF U-Pack!

It was a hectic day. It started with Evan's surgery at 6 this morning. He had a lymph node removed that was bigger than it should have been (with no apparent infections to make it so) to test it for cancer. He's doing fine now. We'll find out the results later this week.

But when we came home from the hospital, my sister, who was supposed to be flying out early afternoon, couldn't find any record online of the first leg of her journey--Newark to Chicago. They only had record of her Chicago to Salt Lake. So after a bunch of calls and emails, and finagling with the airlines, we rescheduled her flight for tomorrow. Somehow they had just dropped her off the flight when they changed the itinerary. Very odd. But they were trying to get her to fly out of La Guardia, first at 2, then at 5. No way. Not on a day like today when Evan had surgery and the men of our church congregation were coming to help us pack up the truck. So luckily, because they had goofed big time, they allowed her to fly out tomorrow, instead.

I can't tell you how glad I am that she was here today!! She helped me out so much because Evan wasn't able to. And she cooked the pizza and organized the treats that we provided for those who helped. And she watched the kids while we were all busy. I'm convinced that it was an act of God, having her not fly out until tomorrow. I wouldn't have made it without her. THANKS, ANDREA!!!

Speaking of Andrea, I don't know what I'm going to do with her gone tomorrow. She's been with us for about 2 months this summer. I'm actually going to have to get my kids breakfast now. And lunch. And cut up their food for them. And I won't be able to just run to the store without my kids anymore. Want to spend every summer with us, Andrea? Maybe you should transfer to Northwestern and move in with us.

Anyway, a BIG thanks to the men from church, and the surprising number of men from Evan's work. I don't know if they came because they took pity on him because of the surgery, or if they would've come anyway, but I'm so glad they did. We got everything packed in two hours. There are a few things left, but not too much.

All in all, I'd say it was a successful day.

Our Flip Has Flopped

2011-08-15T06:49:00.005-04:00

We failed. It's as simple as that. We bought our house hoping to flip it and make a profit (a meager one--we never expected anything huge). A year ago when the market really started taking a nose dive, we knew we wouldn't get a profit, but just hoped to break even--break even with the bank, not break even with all we've spent remodeling. This summer when we put it on the market, we knew we'd have to dish out some money, or at least do a short sale.

We never thought it would sit on the market for four months and never sell. We've had many, many showings. We are still having showings. And we've had so many buyers say they love the house and want to buy it. But we've stopped believing that anything will come of what they say.

So we're going to walk away. We stopped making payments a month ago. Our credit has officially taken it's first hit.

Our house is still listed as a short sale. We will keep it like that for another month or two. If it hasn't sold by then, we will hand our deed over to the bank--it's called "deed in lieu." Basically that's one step above a foreclosure. Instead of making the bank hire lawyers and fight us to take ownership of the house, which is what happens in a foreclosure, we are handing the deed over willingly. The impact to our credit will not be as devastating.

Sad, I know. (And that's the understatement of the year). We are forcing ourselves to become emotionally detached from all aspects of our house--how much time, sweat, and energy that went into it, all the money that we've spent, the care with which we chose the designs and products--everything.

Yet another life dream of mine has officially been squelched. The first dream died in 2004 when 7 graduate schools for architecture rejected my applications, with no acceptances. When I realized that I would never become an architect, I turned my attentions and dreams elsewhere--to flipping houses. I thought this would be something I could do every time we moved--buy a cheaper, crappy house, live in it, fix it up, sell it, and move on to another one. It would be my job, and it could be accomplished at home with my kids around me. But I've been shot down on the first try.

Needless to say, it's been a distressing summer. And now I need a new dream. Any ideas?

I also need to change the name of my blog. Our flip is officially over, and it has flopped.

We're heading on to new adventures. But I'm stumped as to what I should rename this blog. Any ideas????

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

2011-08-14T18:29:00.002-04:00

My dad used to say that whenever we'd pull into our driveway. I've said it a time or two with my kids, but I couldn't help laughing a little when Waimea said it the day after we got home from our Finland trip.

It is good to be home. But it's funny how some things can feel so strange after being gone for 3.5 weeks. Here are some things we noticed:

-The noise. JFK airport was a zoo. Everyone is talking, and everyone is talking louder than they need to. Do they really want you to hear all the stupid details of their lives. I sometimes think Americans talk just to talk. Are they really saying anything important? In public areas of Finland, I was constantly shushing my kids so as to not draw attention to us. I even asked them, "Do you hear how quiet it is? You really don't need to talk so loud." I'm calmer in public areas in Finland--there's no constant overload to the senses with all the talking and laughter.

No one honks in Finland. I REALLY miss that. I hate NYC and their obsessive compulsive need to honk when inconvenienced. Is it really necessary? Is it really solving anything?

The sounds of the A/C turning on kind of freaked me out. I forgot how loud it can be. I miss the sounds of nature from open windows.

-The water. It's disgusting here. I never thought so before, but after drinking pure Finnish spring water for almost a month, I can't stand the chemically-treated junk that comes out of the faucets here. And I actually do miss fetching it. It's too easy to turn on a faucet, and I find I waste a lot more water doing it.

-Laundry. My clothes aren't "crunchy" from hanging on a clothesline and air-drying. And it took no time at all to do. But it's still sitting in a laundry basket, whereas in Finland, I folded the clothes as I took them off the line.

-The heat--I forgot how oppressive the air is here. It was hot in Finland some days--even as hot as it is here, but there was a freshness to the air there that you cannot find here.

-Bathroom proximity. I must admit it's kind of nice not having to trek out to the outhouse in the middle of the night.

-Showers. I'm used to cleaning myself in the sauna using a bucket, dumping water over my head to rinse off. It's kind of weird to have a constant flow of water. Again, I waste a lot more water this way.

But, despite all this, it's good to be home.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 24--Goodbye, Finland

2011-08-14T17:51:00.005-04:00

The journey home turned out to be quite eventful. The three hour drive to the airport went fine, as did the 8.5 hour flight. It was driving home from JFK that gave us problems. More on that later.

First, though, while in the airport in Helsinki, I came across a few more things that add to the Finnish brilliancy.

Don't you hate trying to find parking in car garages? The Finns solved that by have sensors above cars, with an electronic system letting you know where the open spots are. When you drive into the garage, there is a screen that lets you know how many spots are open and in which direction. Then, when you drive down the aisle, the open spots are easy to see because they have a green light above the car instead of a red one:

If you look very closely on the right-hand side, you will see three green lights in a row. We found a parking spot in seconds.

Then, inside the terminal, we found this little gem:

Now, I know that there are family bathrooms in some locations in the US, but how many of them have little kiddie-sized toilets? And these things are everywhere. And look at the size of the room--you could easily fit a whole family in there, not like some of the places in the US.

And here's another stroke of brilliancy: toilets that have two options--a button that uses a little bit of water, and a button for when you need more:

Again, I know that you can find some of these in the states, but they are everywhere in Finland.

Now, back to our drive home from the airport. We were on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn in stop-and-go traffic. At one point while we were stopped, our car gave a little shake and then died. We were in the far left lane, but luckily there was a grassy median between us and the oncoming traffic. So Evan and I hopped out of the car and pushed it onto the median while Andrea steered. Surprisingly no one honked. There we tried multiple times to restart the engine, but it just wouldn't catch.

So we called our emergency road-side service. About 40 minutes later, the tow truck pulled up, and we found out that they could only tow us to the next exit because it was rush hour. So then we waited another hour and a half for another tow truck (that was supposed to be there in less than an hour), and tried calling multiple cab companies to arrange for a way to get home. Most either did not answer the phone, did not have minivan cabs, or did not have any cabs withing an hour's distance from us. We finally located one that was 5 minutes away. The second tow truck finally arrived, and so did the cab, and thankfully, the cab driver knew of a good garage nearby that was open to 11 PM (our insurance company wouldn't pay for our car to be towed more than 5 miles because that was where the nearest dealer was to us, which was closed for the weekend. Otherwise we would have had it towed to our favorite garage near our home). We initially were just going to take the cab to Penn Station, and then catch the train home, but by this time, our kids were asleep and we had luggage to deal with. So we dished out the $160 cab fee to take us home. It was an annoying end to a long day.

Our car ended up needing a new fuel pump, and the garage that we took it to gave us a steal of a price, so long as we paid cash. At least it broke down when it did, rather than on our drive to Chicago next weekend.

Speaking of Chicago--they have direct flights to Helsinki on American Airlines. I think I'm going to like that. Our new house is only about a half hour away from the airport--much better than the 1.5 hour ++++ drive to JFK here.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 23--Last Full Day

2011-08-14T16:11:00.007-04:00

We were rewarded with a magnificent sunset on our last evening. The day started with rain and cold temps, but cleared in the afternoon. There was just enough clear weather to truly enjoy the last day.

Last sauna, last time eating Finnish food. I overate, of course--Finnish pancakes for breakfast, makkara and two cupfuls of yogurt for lunch, lihapiirakka and more yogurt for dinner. At least I have this loot to look forward to consuming while I'm away:

Here are some last pictures to remind us of our stay:

Playing in the sandbox:

The only place in the world where I will find my name on anything. Too bad it is bathroom products (the "N" at the end indicates a possessive case):

The mushrooms that were so plentiful in the forest, especially with all the rain at the end. This one is probably poisonous, but there are quite a few edible forest mushrooms:

Spencer never caught his fish, despite an astounding number of tries. Chance was just not on his side this year:

Waimea had a blast gathering wildflowers:

Goodbye, our Finnish heaven. Until next time....

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 22--Telltale Signs of a Blueberry Lover

2011-08-10T10:39:00.003-04:00

You can tell when someone's been snitching too many blueberries. Their hands are blue, their clothes are stained blue, and my personal favorite:Blue teeth!

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 21--Battle of the Elements

2011-08-09T16:23:00.005-04:00

It was a crazy day, weather-wise. Sun and clear skies in the morning. Cloudy and still late morning. Rain and some gentle wind mid-day. Some clearing and patches of sunlight early afternoon. Hard rain and thunderstorms late afternoon, with patches of sunlight and clearing in the distance. Just when we thought it was clearing up, a huge windstorm came from the opposite direction, bringing more rain. An hour later it was clear and sunny. Just enough time for us to do sauna. And then more rain at the end, while the sun was setting in the distance.

It was interesting to watch the cross-currents of clouds throughout the day. When we had the huge windstorm, the wind was coming from the west, but the clouds were coming in from the east. I wish I knew more about Finnish folklore--I'm sure they have an explanation about who is battling it out on days like this. Ukko is supposed to be the god of sky and thunder, and thunderstorms are supposedly created when he drives his chariot in the clouds, using his stone hammer to create the lightning. He must have been battling it out with someone today. Suprisingly not Louhi, the goddess of the north. Nothing was coming from the northerly direction today.

I've never been one to be interested in myths and folklore. But it's interesting how you crave their explanations for changes when you are alone or nearly alone among the elements. At this time of year, most Finns are no longer taking their summer vacations. It's mid-week, and nearly everyone is back in the cities. We are the lone wanderers right now. We're in a small, two-room cabin in the woods on an island in the middle of a huge lake. No running water--we have to fetch it from the well. No bathroom--just an outhouse that we have to walk to in the rain or wind. No heat, except from fire, which we have to perpetuate with the gathering and chopping of wood. Needless to day, weather affects us. It's not like the nonchalance of living in town with everyone else, the weather being a slight nuisance, but still manageable. Here, changes in weather are noticed, and they affect our lives. And it would be nice to have an explanation for why it's happening.

Amidst all this crazy weather, I kayaked around the island. It's about 5.5 miles around. I've been planning on doing it sometime before I left, and time was running out. I left when the weather was cloudy and still. While I was gone, it started raining and the wind picked up. At one place, I turned a corner and was hit dead on with crazy wind, waves, and pelting rain for a good 20-25 minutes. But I still emerged triumphant--I knocked 4 minutes off my time from last year. 68 minutes last year, just under 64 this year. If it's clear again sometime before I go home, I will attempt it again and see if I can better my time.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 20--Outhouse Symbols

2011-08-08T10:00:00.004-04:00

Have you ever wondered why there's a crescent moon on pictures of outhouses?

A few months back, I decided to make a crescent moon for my parent's outhouse and stumbled across the answer to that question.

It turns out that back in Colonial times, a good portion of the population was illiterate. So they put symbols on outhouses to differentiate between men and women's--crescent moon for women, a star for men. But because women were better at keeping theirs kept up, they lasted longer, while the mens fells into disrepair. Thus, only the outhouses with crescent moons survived, which is why we associate them with outhouses in general. Want to read more about the history of outhouses? Click here.

When I read this, I knew that I needed to make a crescent moon and a star.

Using scrap pine, I drew out the shapes, cut them out using a jigsaw and a coping saw. Then I roughened up the edges with a chisel, blackened them with my woodburner, and then applied some watered-down paint. Here are the finished products:

Definitely an American thing; Finns know nothing of the symbols. But I thought it would be fun, nonetheless.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 19--Two-Weeks Notice

2011-08-07T09:13:00.003-04:00

Evan gave his two-weeks notice.

Many of you may know about this, but many also do not. Evan is going back to graduate school to get a PhD in the operations management side of business. He starts on the 29th of this month at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.

This all started last year when I came home from Finland and Evan announced that he was going to take the GMAT. He's been reading business textbooks for years, and toying with the idea of switching careers. While I was in Finland, he had been studying and taking practice tests and doing very well on them. So he took the test last September and earned a 780 out of 800 on the GMAT. A nearly unheard-of score. Then began the months of applying for schools and ignoring requests from all the other schools that wanted him to attend.

And then the agonizing wait to hear back from schools. And then even more agonizing over which school to attend. Northwestern is what we ended up picking. We've had to keep it on the low-down so that Evan could continue working at his current employment. But now that the two-weeks notice has been given, there's no reason to keep it secret.

Last week, Evan flew out to Chicago and found us a house to rent. After our horrible experience in Jersey with trying to sell our house (it's still not sold, BTW), we knew we would be renting for the next four years. As soon as we arrive, I'll post pictures of the house Evan picked.

I have five days left here in Finland, and then four days at home to pack up all our belongings before the ABF container gets dropped off. Three days to pack it up before it gets picked up, and then we drive away the next day. It'll take two days to get to our new home. So, basically, two weeks from today, we will be pulling into our new home.

I'm ready for a new adventure.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 18--Moving Rocks and Planting More Grass

2011-08-07T08:54:00.003-04:00

The Finnish soil in these parts is more rock than anything else. With the area around the newly-dug well all torn up, we have had to move many of these rocks and fix up the area. So we've been terracing it, and making it so that we can have another grass area.

Many of the rocks were huge--requiring three or more people to move:

The kids joined in with the patting down of topsoil and spreading of seed:

Now is the waiting and watering time. A few more days, and we'll see sprouts of green.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 17--Construction and Destruction

2011-08-04T16:46:00.005-04:00

My parents, being the remodelers that they are, are not content with things as they are. The cabin, when purchased, was not up to standards. They've slowly been remodeling things. One of the things that is fast becoming a priority is the front porch. They want to take off the old, warped boards, replace them, and then expand it to a deck twice the size. But they've been delaying working on it, finding other things to work on instead.

I forced the issue with my wanting to build a treehouse. I needed wood, and the warped front porch boards were just right for building the treehouse floor. So I tore them up. Half of the front porch is gone now: The kids have been super-excited about the prospect of their own treehouse. They have volunteered their services:

I found three trees on the property that would make for a fun, triangular-shaped treehouse. I finished the floor, and will hopefully get some walls in before we go back home.

The point nearest us in the picture is going to be a little "deck" and will house the entrance to the treehouse. The higher of the horizontal posts was going to be the floor level, but we decided that was a bit too high. So now we'll just use it for wall supports.

The kids are excited about it, but I think I may be more.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 16--Town Trip

2011-08-04T16:44:00.004-04:00

In Lappeenranta, there is a park that my kids love. Spencer went last summer, and has been begging to go back this year. We finally went. It was his first time in town this year.

What's so fun about this particular park is that they have these cars that move by pedaling like a bike. There are mini-roads that wind around, complete with parking areas, road signs, and playgrounds to stop and play at. The kids had a lot of fun. But I think Spencer was a lot more aware of the language barrier this year, and it made him a bit self-conscious around the other kids.

Then we made the typical stops again--Lidl and Prisma. We found some more funny-named cereals in Lidl. In addition to the "Special Flakes" and "Master Crumble" from last year, we found "Nutter Flakers" and, my own personal favorite, "Nougat Pillows." I wish I had taken a picture.

But I did get this great picture. Combine the bug-eye sunglasses with this picture, and you get this:

(Look closely--you'll see him with his reading glasses over the bug-eye sunglasses. I wish I had gotten a side view).

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 15--Treehouse

2011-08-04T16:42:00.006-04:00

My kids have been wanting a treehouse and/or playhouse. A lot of cabins that we have visited of my relatives and friends have playhouses. They are quite common here. But Spencer really wants a treehouse. I started trying to build a playhouse and have a balcony attatched to the nearby trees, but it was just too much--I really couldn't envision it. So I pretty much gave up on the idea of doing it.

Until we visited my aunt and uncle's cabin and found a treehouse that hadn't been there in years past. Apparently it had just been built, and had only taken them two days. My kids fell in love. Spencer was in heaven. Waimea picked up the broom that was there, and started sweeping and singing.
So now I'm determined to at least start one before I leave. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 14--Fishing and Cleaning Fish

2011-08-04T16:41:00.006-04:00

One of my earliest fishing memories is of being on a boat in the middle of this same lake with Jeremy and my dad. I was 6, Jeremy was 8. We went fishing a lot back then. At least it seemed so. I was never really good at it. I probably had never caught a fish. But it seemed like a lot of time was spent sitting in a boat, watching Jeremy and my dad fish.

This one particular memory I have is of watching Jeremy fish. He had gotten in the habit of casting his line, even though he hadn't completely reeled it in as far as he should have. And this time it hooked into his head. I vividly remember the panic, the rushing to the hospital (a good 45 minutes away), and the wait. They got the hook out, of course, and he was fine, but ever since then, I've been afraid of hooking my head or getting it hooked by someone else fishing in the same boat.

My dad is probably afraid of the same thing. (He'll never admit it, though). So he's extra careful with Spencer. We've taken him out quite a bit recently because he really wants to catch a fish, especially now that Waimea has caught one. I'm sure if we hadn't had the hook-in-head experience, we would think Spencer is doing just fine. But we're scared. So he stands behind my dad who rows, and I sit at the opposite side of the boat with Waimea (because she insists on going, too). Waimea is done after just a few minutes, so I use her miniature rod, while she takes pictures of us fishing. Here's my favorite: Here's the problem: Spencer never catches any fish, and I keep catching them. We're only gone for about 15-20 minutes, but every time we've gone, I've caught at least two fish. And Spencer has caught none. I don't know why--I never have that much luck when I'm fishing any other time, and with all the casting Spencer has done, surely he should've caught one by now.

Anyway, because I've been catching more fish than I ever have, I decided it was time I gut my own fish. I've watched it done so many times in my life that I know what to do. But I hate touching fish. Raw chicken or ground beef from the store--not a problem. Fish--no way. Time to conquer more irrational fears.

So I did it. I scaled it, with Spencer's help. That's his favorite part:Slit the gills, sliced the belly open, cut the head off and removed all the entrails, popped the "bubble," scraped away the brown stuff, cut off the fins, rinsed.

I'm loving it. Can you tell?

What I'm ashamed to say, though, is that I could not kill them. I was there, all ready to go, holding an almost dead fish, and I could not bring myself to do it. Jeremy had to kill them first, and then I was able to do the rest. One of these days...perhaps I'll be able to kill them, and perhaps Spencer will catch his own fish...

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 13--A Novel Idea

2011-08-04T02:44:00.006-04:00

Outhouses with a view. What a great idea. Why do bathrooms never have good views? Or even windows? Where else in a home are you sitting with not much else to do?

Here are some views from the outhouses that we frequent:

Other great ideas from the Finns:

-longest paid vacations of any other nation--usually 4-6 weeks

-shopping carts for kids

-padded, rolling, swivel chairs for cashiers to sit on

-bike paths throughout cities w/bike racks in front of every store

-stores charge you for using plastic bags--it really forces you to recycle or bring baskets to carry groceries home

-stores require a deposit for using shopping carts--50 euro cents--that you get back when you return the cart

-public bathroom stalls that are more like rooms, complete with a sink and a hose with a spray nozzle (kind of like a badet)

-when buying produce or other items sold by the pound, you weigh your own items, enter the item number (clearly listed by the item), and get a sticker with a bar code and final price

-kid-sized potties in just about every public establishment bathroom

-sliding glass enclosures on nearly all balconies (so they can actually be used in the winter time!)

-extra-wide streets on country roads to ensure passing with less chance of accidents

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 12--A Visit from Louhi

2011-08-03T16:17:00.002-04:00

A storm came in. But not a rain storm. A cold storm--from the North. Usually that means very cold, biting winds from the northerly direction, and temperatures in the teens (Celcius). We end up spending more time in the cabin, or working even harder outside to stay warm.

When these storms come in, the Finns often say it's Louhi, the Witch of the North, casting her spells of enchantment. Louhi is a character in the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. (You'll have to click on the links to learn more about these topics--I don't know much). But I do know that when these storms come in, it can feel menacing, and almost believable that these storms are intentional. How else could temps flip-flop from the upper 20's to the teens?

Finland is situated so far north--over 1/3 of the country sits above the arctic circle. The extreme changes of weather--windy, cold and menacing one day, then sunny, still, and peaceful the next, combined with the extreme changes in daylight--the midnight sun in the summer (in the northernmost part of Finland, the sun does not set for 73 consecutive days), and the lack of sun in winter (it does not rise at all for 51 consecutive days in winter in that same place up north), and you've got a pretty eerie place. The Kalevala seems to explain a lot of it. It's interesting to read about.

But alas, life continues. Just more of it is spent indoors. It's no wonder the Finns invented the sauna--it gives them something to do to stay warm during those crazy, sunless winter days, and something for us to do on cold, stormy summer days.

Thank goodness for lifetime supply of wood to burn.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 11--Night Fishing

2011-08-03T07:06:00.003-04:00

Spencer and Mea have been begging to go fishing. It's best to go around sunset, but that's usually when the kids go to bed. Spencer has tried during the day, but hasn't caught any. So we decided to try night fishing. I went with Pappa and the kiddos in the row boat, and the others went in the motor boat. Here's the sunset before we took off:Mea used Spencer's old "training" fishing pole--it's about 1 foot long. I cast it for her, and she reeled it in. I got distracted, watching Spencer, about 10 minutes into our fishing session, before I realized that Mea was struggling with reeling hers in. I looked over the boat, and there was a fish, a little pike. It took us both by surprise. Her first fish on her first fishing trip! When we got back, we found out that Jeremy had caught a mega pike:
Maybe we should go night fishing more often.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 10--Kayaking and Grass

2011-07-31T06:45:00.007-04:00

We only have a one-man kayak here at the cabin. The kids have been wanting to try it, so I decided to give them a ride with me after my daily paddle. It was a squishy fit, but they had fun.

Last week we planted grass. It took a lot of prep work, but we've enjoyed babying it and watching it grow. As soon as it grows a bit stronger we'll be able to play yard games and such.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 9--Conquering Fears

2011-07-29T03:28:00.006-04:00

One of my biggest irrational fears has been of swimming in lakes. I swim an hour or more every day in a pool. Back in college, I swam 12,000 yards in one session. It took just over four hours. Water itself scares me in no way. Deep ends of pools do not scare me. I do not fear drowning. I do not lack confidence in my swimming capabilites (quite the contrary, actually). But lakes, with their murky, unknown depths and contents, freak me out. I cannot explain it.

Up until last summer I was only able to go about waist-deep in the lake. Last summer I conquered my fears a little bit and swam out a couple hundred meters. I have continued that this summer. BUT, I cannot put my face in the water with my eyes open. I cannot submerge completely. I cannot even try to put my feet down. I try to stay as horizontal as possible, with my feet as near the top of the water as I can get them. I don't want to know how deep it is or what is at the bottom. I definitely cannot try using goggles. In fact, knowing what's there freaks me out even more. I just can't think about it. So that means I am stuck swimming breaststroke, sidestroke, or elementary backstroke. Which is fine. It just means I can't swim quite as fast as I do when I swim freestyle in the pool.

Last summer after I left, my dad and brother swam across the section of lake in front of our cabin. (Just so you know, Lake Saimaa is HUGE.) Ever since then, I have been determined to do it. This was the day. Andrea, Jokke, and I decided to do it together. For safety sake, my dad rowed the boat nearby with the kiddies. See the land mass in the background? That's where we swam:
Here we are, about halfway across:At the other side:

The kids joined us for the last 1/3 on the way back:

Finished!

We made it across in just under 25 minutes, and back (with the kiddies, who slowed us down tremendously) in 31. Even though I swim that much and more every day in the pool, I have never swam that much doing any stroke other than freestyle, and it was all in a lake. Major accomplishment for me!

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 8--Town Day

2011-07-28T17:10:00.004-04:00

The inevitable town trips usually occur every 3-5 days. I usually go just to get off the island every 4 or 5 days. This time it was 8 days--my longest stretch ever. I think I prefer the longer stretches between town trips.

Spencer stayed behind with Pappa, playing coyboys and indians, legos, and master and slave. They also went fishing, had a Finnish language lesson, and Spencer practised rowing on his own. Of course, part of the concessions for being left behind (not enough room in the car) meant that we would bring him an ice cream cone and candy king from Prisma. Here is Spencer rowing and playing master and slave. Guess who is who:

I think he had a better day than us. It was so hot--about 30 degrees C, and no air conditioning in the stores or in our car. We hit some of the usual spots, and then some.

Here are some more stores I forgot to mention last year:

Robinhood Säästötalo: The latter meaning "savings house." This is another store that most Finns hate because there are too many Russians. It has a weird assortment of items (it seems that most mega-stores around here do). Kind of like a mini Wal-Mart, but with only the basic foods, not like in the super-Walmarts. While here, we heard a Russian lady approach a sales clerk and ask for something. The clerk responded, "Do you speak English? I don't speak Russian." There was so much disdain dripping in her voice, I almost laughed out loud.

Biltema: Another euro superstore. An interesting cross between a hardware store and a sporting goods store. Finns view it as a "cheap" store, probably the way most Americans view Ikea.

Kodin Ykkonen: A home store--seems to me a cross between Ikea and Crate and Barrell. We like the stuff in here, but it's a bit pricy.

Then on to Lidl and Prisma we went.

Something I've always admired about Finland is their infrastructure for bicycling. All the cities have bike paths criss-crossing throughout them. You can get anywhere in town on a bike path. Many Finns bike and walk more than they take cars. This was instigated years ago when the Finnish government urged Finns to get more exerice--they were finding to many early deaths due to sedentary lifestyles (long winters) and high cholesterol diets. I really wish America would get on the ball with this--we are encouraged to take public transportation and carpool, but they should really come up with other means, such as bike paths and walking paths. I would walk to the stores if it were safe to. But it isn't.

What I really like is that the bike/walking path are completely separate from the road, and plenty wide:

Unrelated note: The 27th of July is celebrated here in Finland as "Sleepyhead's Day." Usually the title goes to Evan, but with him not here, this year it went to Spencer.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 7--Laundry and Teepees

2011-07-28T16:34:00.003-04:00

Today was laundry day. Despite having electricity and well water at the cabin now, we don't have a washing machine, so we still do some things the primitive way. Click on the link above to learn and/or refresh your memory on what it's like with no washing machine and dryer. This time I made the mistake of going an entire week before doing any. I've learned in the past that it's easier to do a little bit every few days than to do a huge load once a week. I find the opposite is true at home.

Something interesting we've noticed here is how labor-intensive it is just to live. But we enjoy that aspect of it (for the most part). At home, we just throw stuff in the wash, push a few buttons, switch to the dryer, push a few buttons, remove and fold. Here we have to fetch the water, put the clothes and soap in, agitate by hand, scrubbing where necessary, wring out soapy water, rinse in the lake, wring out lake water, rinse again with well water, wring it out again, hang them out to dry, and then hours later, remove from the clothesline and fold. And that's just laundry. Dishes, bathing, cooking--everything requires us to haul water. Just walking to the outhouse is a distance at least three or four times to that of walking to a typical bathroom. Add to that all the work we put into this place, improving it, and it's no wonder we're so tired at the end of the day. It's also no wonder we have obesity problems these days--life is too easy, physically.

On to a completly unrelated topic--Pappa decided that Spencer and Waimea needed a teepee to play cowboys and indians. He played that growing up and said that it is an essential part of his childhood. So he and Spencer built one, and have proceeded to play coyboys and indians with it. Today was the first day I let them watch a movie on the portable DVD player. They haven't even asked until today. 7 days of absolutey no tv or electronics of any kind. I'm pretty darn proud of myself. Of course, now that I let them do it once, they are asking for it again. But no--I know they can go 7 days without it, so now they will go at least that before watching anything again. I'm hoping I can continue this at home--I really want to unplug my kids.

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 6--Finland Forests

2011-07-26T12:28:00.003-04:00

I was going to spew some interesting facts about the Finnish forests, but decided I'd give you a link instead: Finnish forests. If you're interested, read it. If you don't care, then just go away from reading this entry with this: forests cover 74.2% of the land area of Finland, making it Europe's most heavily forested country.

They are everywhere. And I love it. And the forests regenerate so quickly. We've seen areas close by where the forests were cut down, and already, in just a few years, there are trees growing back, the underbrush is thriving, and you'd never guess it looked so desolate so recently.

We had quite a few trees cut down on our property this last fall to make way for the well digger's equipment. Add this to the stockpile of logs and firewood here when we bought the place, and we've got fuel for a decade or more. And there are still plenty more trees to cut down if we need them. And more popping up each year (especially behind the outhouse). I think this is where I'd like to be if a major disaster struck--fuel and water a-plenty. Fish to catch. Berries everywhere.

Our job on this day was to gather all the logs from the cut trees around the property and pile them behind one of the storage sheds. The kids even helped (I wish I had taken a picture of that). Apparently, this is the best way to stack them to "season" them and let them dry out. After that, you layer them to store. My dad is saving this pile for Evan to split next time he comes. Are you excited, Evan?

One of our assignments in the coming years is to make a new storage shed for the wood. The previous owners piled it under the house. It's kind of creepy down there, fetching wood. We've been coming for six years now, using 30-50 logs a day, and we've just barely made a dent in the woodpile below the stairs. What an amazing natural resource when managed properly.

Heard enough? Here's today's sunset:

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 5--Sunday activities

2011-07-25T03:32:00.006-04:00

I get a lot of people asking what we do about church when we're here.

There is a church building and a ward in nearby Lappeenranta. Ironically, it's the same church building that my dad used to steal potatoes from the field when he was a young boy, before he became a member of our church. It's a boat ride and a 40-minute car ride away. My parents attend quite often. Think what you want of me, but I don't even bother bringing church clothes anymore. I found that with my kids it's just too hard. They don't understand. They are restless. I am busy keeping them quiet (because it's REALLY quiet there), so I can't even try to understand. Besides, there's not enough car room for all of us to go, anyway.

So we try to find Sabbath-appropriate activities instead on and around the island, instead. We don't do sauna like we do every other day. We don't go fishing. We don't go kayaking. We don't work. But here are some things we do:

We make Finnish pancakes in the grilli for breakfast.

We go for boat rides:

We help Pappa steer the boat:

We find round rocks to add to Mummi's round rock garden:

We admire the views from other vantage points:

We help Spencer practice his casting:

We pick blueberries. Look closely--they are everywhere:

We take walks in the back woods (boots a must--there are no trails)...:

...picking blueberries, and eating them, along the way:

We listen to Andrea read Harry Potter to Spencer:

We light fires in the fireplace and roast our makkara dinners.

We make blueberry pies.

We visit relatives.

And of course, we watch sunsets:

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 4--Who needs the Jersey Shore...

2011-07-24T15:15:00.006-04:00

...when you have a better shore at your feet?

Call me spoiled, but between Finland and Hawaii, the Jersey Shore has absolutely no appeal. Why drive an hour to sit on the beach with thousands of other people, not be able to swim because it's too cold, lug a week's worth of junk from some far-away parking space, watch your kids play in the sand when they could do it in a sandbox in your backyard, and to top it all off--have to PAY to do it? I just really don't get it.

But like I said, I guess I'm spoiled. I have this:

My kids can come and go as they please. They can play in their swimsuits, or stay in clothes (or do it Finnish-style--bare naked). The water is shallow, there are no waves or currents to worry about. I don't have to cart stuff down to the beach, and I can leave it there, rain or shine. And best of all, I don't have to share it with thousands of people. I can sit in my hammock and watch them play, or I can put their floaties on and swim out a couple hundred meters into the lake with them. Who could ask for anything more? No freaks to worry about, either. And even though my dad may look like one in this picture, I know better. He's just like me--so unphotogenic. (Plus he's wearing my sister's old bug-eye sunglasses that were so in a few years ago because his are broken).

Lastly, you can't watch sunsets from the Jersey Shore. But I can here. Every night. (Are you sick of them, yet?)

Blog Cabin 2011, Day 3--Well Water

2011-07-23T16:20:00.005-04:00

Dowsing. Ever heard of that term? Maybe doodlebugging, water divining, or water witching? Apparently there are people who can somehow sense underground water through the use of fresh-cut, y-shaped willow branches. Here in Finland they call them "kaivonetsija," meaning "well searchers."

I had never heard of it before until a few years back when I was here in Finland. My parents were in need of a well. I heard all this talk of a well witch and just laughed. But apparently they exist. And somehow my parent's talk of needing a well brought secrets out.

My aunt is a well witch. Water affects her so much that she can't even sleep with her bed near any walls because the water running through them disturbs her so much. My parents didn't know she was a well witch until she came forward and told them she could find them a well.

And then my dad found out that his best friend is also one. He said the same thing, "I can find you a well." And he did. He even gave a demonstration to my family members and found three possible locations for our well. My skeptic brother, Erik, didn't believe it would work. But he saw my dad's friend walk all over the property, and in those three locations, he saw the y-shaped willow dip down. Erik even went behind and felt it, and there was an undeniable force pulling the stick downward. Weird, I know.

I'm not sure I'd believe it if I didn't have such close connections to them. And if my family hadn't had the experience of watching it happen.

But we have a well now, and it sits in one of the areas that my dad's friend located. Up until now, we have had to rely either on lake water for washing clothes, dishes, and bathing, or have brought water in from town to drink and cook with. Now we have no such need. Here it is. It's not very attractive right now. But thanks to the electricity that we now have at the cabin, we even have a pump to make it easy to use:

It was dug last fall. The well itself is about 5-6 meters deep, and the water is pure and cold--about 41 degrees. It springs from some underground location. When it was dug, they found this type of rock when the water started to flow:

Apparently, this is the best kind of rock to find when digging a well. It indicates the best water. So I'm told. It appears to be quartzlike, and it's the pinkish-red veins running through it that mean the water will be good. (Not very scientific sounding, but this is the info I was given). My parents had it tested for Evan's sake. After Russia he doesn't trust just any water. But apparently it is about as clean as you can find. No impurities:

I'd drink this water over tap water any day:

Here's the parting shot:
And my big question for the day is this: Do you believe in well witches?

Blog Cabin, 2011, Day 2--Adjusting and Working

2011-07-22T04:12:00.004-04:00

Spencer and Waimea slept until nearly noon. I guess that's what happens when you get only about 2 hours of sleep the night before. We held off making Finnish Pancakes until they woke up. They are best cooked over the fire stove in the grilli. While they slept, I got my morning kayak session in, and then worked, helping prep the ground for a new area of grass--hauling rocks, sand, and soil.

Here's Spencer, pretending to kayak:

And Mea, having a one-on-one with Pappa.

No day is complete without sauna and a sunset:

My day was done by 9:30 PM. I was beat. I fell asleep before the kids, before the sun even set.

Blog Cabin 2011-Day1--Time is a funky thing

2011-07-20T22:41:00.005-04:00

I thought too much about time this trip. And that can really mess a person up in the head.

Finland is seven hours ahead of New Jersey. The flight from JFK to Helsinki is a 7.5 hour red-eye flight. What usually happens on that flight is that we take off (around 5:40 PM). As soon as we are situated in the air, the dinner service starts. A couple of hours into the flight, they dim all the lights and encourage us to close the window shades (it's practically dark out, anyway) and "sleep." About 3 hours later, they turn the lights back on, encourage us to open our shades, and "wake up." They serve a mini-breakfast, and then shortly after, we land at around 8:30 AM Helsinki time.

Usually I don't think too much about it. The kids are pretty tired and usually fall asleep pretty quickly after the lights are out. I follow suit. The kids sleep the rest of the flight. I get awoken with the breakfast service, and then stay awake the rest of the time.

But I made some errors of judgement this trip--I kept thinking about how, when they dimmed the lights and I was trying to sleep, it was really only around 9PM New Jersey time. I NEVER go to bed at 9PM. So, instantly, I wasn't tired. I also kept thinking that 8:30 AM Helsinki time is only 1:30 AM New Jersey time. Which is closer to my midnight (or later) typical bedtime. So why go to sleep on the plane at all?

Then there's the 3-hour car ride from Helsinki to my dad's cabin. I usually sleep at least half of it. After all, it is the middle of the night in Jersey. But then I am usually good until bedtime, Finland time, and sleep through the night, and am (almost) fully adjusted to Finland time. But again, I thought too much about it, and even though I tried, could not sleep the entire car trip. I made it until about 2 PM Finland time before I took a 3-hour nap. Then I went to bed around 11:30 PM. But now, here I am at 6 AM, wide awake, have been up since 4:30, yet SO tired, and STILL thinking about time too much. How weird it is--I lost 7 hours of my life (I'll make it back up when I go home, but still--what if I were to stay??). Combine that with light manipulation, meal manipulation (they served us dinner and breakfast about 4 hours apart on the plane--who eats breakfast four hours after eating dinner?) and my brain is just going nuts. What's killing me most, is that if I had just given in to the flight's attempts at time, light, and sleep manipulation, I'd still be asleep and would be perfectly adjusted. Grrrhhh! Maybe now that I've posted about it, I'll be able to let it go. Then I can go back to bed and fall asleep with everyone else.

On a brighter note--it's good to be back. That's an understatement. The sights, the smells, the food, the rituals. The anticipation of what's to come the next 3.5 weeks........

Here's just a smidgeon of what we did yesterday: My parents planted a bit of grass. It was just long enough when we arrived to "mow" it. But I had to assemble the push-mower first. I was really looking forward to mowing it, but the minute Spencer saw it, he wanted to do it. Whyever would anyone buy a lawn-mower with a motor? Get some exercise with one of these. And maybe your kids will want to do it, too. (I understand if you have, like, an acre or more of grass, but seriously--this thing was much easier to push than any other lawn mower I've ever used). In our new home we're totally buying one of these. We'll splurge and buy the Fiskars model, though. Of course.

Time to sign off. Here's the sunset from last night--Wednesday. The 20th. Not Tuesday, the 19th, like it felt like.

Finland, Here We Come...

2011-07-18T08:47:00.004-04:00

A few months back, uncertain as to how our summer would unfold with trying to sell the house, I went ahead and bought tickets to Finland. Now, with at least 40 showings behind us (that was just an arbitrary number; I haven't been keeping track, but I know we've had way more than 40), distrust in our realtor's intentions, and frustration over the house not selling, I am looking forward to my 3.5 weeks respite away from all that is our house.

We fly out tomorrow--Tuesday afternoon. Get ready for daily (or at least nearly so) postings of life of a different sort--the fusion of old and new, rustic and ordinary. And get ready to see lots of these:

Goodbye, house. I will not miss you.

Washington, D.C. from Waimea's Perspective

2011-07-12T12:25:00.004-04:00

At many of our stops during our D.C trek, we handed the camera over to Waimea to keep her distracted from the heat. It turns out that a lot of her pictures are pretty cute. Future photographer, perhaps?

Jefferson Memorial:

Lincoln Memorial (there he is, behind that stranger):

Outside the Lincoln Memorial:

Capitol Building:

This candid shot of Andrea with the Capitol in the background is probably my absolute favorite:

Obviously the sites meant little to her; she just wanted pictures of the people she spent her time with. Love it.

Washington, D.C. Weekend

2011-07-11T21:34:00.005-04:00

Believe it or not, but I have never been to D.C. All three of my brothers went in high school. We've lived 3.5 hours away from it for four years. We finally got around to going last weekend. My sister, Andrea, who is visiting for this month, came along with us. And we met up with my brother, Erik, who drove up from North Carolina, where he is doing a medical school rotation in dermatology. It turned out to be a great weekend, despite the blistering heat.

Here are some pictures to document our adventure:

3 new states visited--Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. I have a lifetime goal of visiting every state in the US. It was kind of nice being able to check off 3 states in one day:

1st stop after checking into the hotel: Air and Space Museum (the one near the airport, not the one near downtown). Spencer had a blast here. I don't think he stopped talking the entire time we were there. But the thing that he got the most excited about was this (a mail box that looked like R2-D2):
We played dress-up with him in the gift shop:
1st full day: we all piled into our van and drove into DC. We had no idea where to park. We looked and looked and finally parked and started walking. We had no idea how far away we were from everything. It turns out we walked 8 miles in the blistering 90+ degree weather that day (Evan came home and tracked it on google maps). Spencer walked the whole way. This is how Mea spent most of the day (luckily there were 4 adults and we all took turns)

Sites visited: Jefferson memorial, Washington memorial, the White House, National Archives (to see the Declaration of Independence and Constitution), the other Air and Space Museum, the Capitol building, the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Iwo Jima Memorial. I won't bore you with pictures of those.

What we learned that day: the kids don't care about seeing historical sites. All they want to do is spend time at the hotel--eating the breakfast buffet, playing in the pool, and being with Uncle Eh-eh, and Auntie Ana. Also, like their mama, they are grumpiest when hot.

Day 2: we found street parking nearby and minimized our walking. There's no way we would've survived another 8 mile day with the heat. First stop: Lincoln Memorial, World War II memorial, Vietnam memorial, and probably a few other memorials that I can't remember.

Second stop: the Finnish Embassy. Our little piece of Finland in the USA. Spencer was pretty darn excited. It was a must-see for me--I did a research paper for my contemporary art class at BYU on the architects--Heikkinen and Komonen (Finns, of course)--who designed the building. It's the first embassy in the US to be LEED certified as a "green" building. What I love about it is, that, while driving up Embassy Row, all the buildings look mostly alike, and then bam--here's this weirdo:It doesn't look at all like an embassy should look. But that's not at all surprising: this is from the same people who invented the sauna, were one of the first proponents of the cell phone craze (Nokia is a Finnish company), and it was a Finn who came up with the "Angry Birds" app. Weirdos. Proud of it. But discreetly so. Just like this building. You wouldn't even know this was the Finnish embassy if not for the flag (hung on a flagpole instead of directly over the door like the other embassies), and this tiny declaration on the fence (look closely--small blue letters that spell FINLAND):I love that they planted the birch tree right there. So Finnish. So symbolic. So overlooked by everyone but Finns.

Spencer was disappointed (he was practically crying) that he didn't get to go inside because they were closed. But he was able to leave his mark in the port-a-potty that was on the site due to some construction. That made it all better.

3rd stop: Capitol building, Library of Congress, and Supreme Court building. All closed. But at least we got to see them. By this point we were too hot and tired to care.

4th stop: Washington D.C temple.

Kids favorite part of the day: taking turns playing doctor with Eh-eh's equipment: Saddest part of the day: saying goodbye to Eh-eh. Thanks for driving six hours to see us, though!!!
Biggest irony of the whole trip: being the art history major that I was, you'd think I'd have been in heaven with my choice of museums--National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art museum, Art Museum of the Americas, Sculpture Gardens, etc. But even if I had stayed a week, you couldn't have paid me to enter any of the art museums. I'm just not a museum person. And I don't give a darn about art. Why did I major in art history? That's a story for another day.

All in all--a great trip. Glad it's over. Glad we waited until July so that Andrea and Erik could be there with us. Thankful that the drive home was only 3.5 hours. Even more thankful there was no traffic coming home. Never again will we go to DC in July.

This is SO my dad...

2011-07-11T21:23:00.001-04:00

Niagara Falls and Palmyra

2011-05-31T11:23:00.005-04:00

We've decided that we'd better start seeing all the East Coast sites that we've neglected to see up to this point. Like Niagara Falls. Evan went there as a teenager, but I've never been there. Memorial Day weekend seemed as good a time as any.

We went to both the American and Canadian sides. The American side was ridiculously crowded. We initially were thinking about doing their "Discovery Pass," which included the Maid of the Mist boat tour, Cave of the Winds, an IMAX movie, and entrance into their Discovery Center and their Aquarium. But when we saw the lines we said forget it. So we just walked all over the park, trying to get a good view of the Falls. But you really can't on the American side. That's probably why they have all that other stuff to do.

So we drove over to the Canadian side. Much less crowded, better views, and virtually no lines for the Maid of the Mist boat tour. Jackpot! We also wanted to do the hike behind the falls, but the kids didn't like the sound of that, and we'd been walking all day and were pretty tired. But all the advice we got from people was correct--the Maid of the Mist is the best!! The kids LOVED it. Waimea was giggling almost the entire time, between getting wet, and watching the seagulls dive into the water (I don't think the falls really meant anything to her). Spencer was a bit scared initially because he thought the waterfall was going to make the boat sink, but when he realized we were okay, he loved it, too. But you really can't appreciate the magnificence of the falls until you see it from below, which is why the boat ride is so great.

Best view from the American side:

Evan and the kids ready to get wet on the Maid of the Mist:

American Falls as seen from Maid of the Mist:

Horseshoe Falls:

We camped about an hour away from the Falls at one of New York's state parks (we were not impressed). The campsite we had reserved online, site-unseen, ended up being in the middle of a field with no trees. GAG! Luckily, because of some flooding of sites nearby, our site was taken up by other people when we arrived. Also, a few other sites were empty, one of which was somewhat secluded and surrounded by trees. It was quite wet (which is why it was unoccupied), but better than an open field. And we were sure glad of that on the night we came back from the falls--we got hit hard with a crazy thunderstorm. I would've been freaking out, camping on the field, but surrounded by trees in our tent, I felt okay. We had our fire going strong, so we sat in our tent and watched the fire and thunderstorm from a distance. Not the first time I've camped in a thunderstorm, and surely won't be the last!

On our way home, we stopped in Palmyra. We saw:

Hill Cumorah:

The Joseph Smith Farm:

and the Sacred Grove:

It was a fun trip, and the kids did surprisingly well with only the battery life (about three hours) of our DVD player (the car charger broke last summer). We hate I-80, though. Always traffic. (Stupid New York City!)

Also on our trip we came up with some Native American names for some of us. Mine is Grumpiest When Hot. Waimea's are Eats A Lot, Whines A Lot, and Always Hungry. Any suggestions for Evan and Spencer? We had some difficulty with theirs....

House Sale Update

2011-05-23T10:35:00.002-04:00

So, our buyer dropped out. Their son didn't want to switch schools. We kind of figured they would, and we were getting annoyed at their low-balling us with their counter-offers. We feel our home is priced right, and we can't accept a much lower offer than what it's listed for.

But we had a good weekend of showings. Starting with Thursday evening, then another on Saturday. Yesterday was our big day--in addition to another open house, we had three showings. So we're definitely getting traffic through. We're just hoping that something will come of all this traffic!

Keep praying for us, please! We really need this house to sell!

Unsightly Nail Pops?

2011-05-19T09:29:00.004-04:00

Do you have them? Those annoying places on your walls where the nails in the drywall start to pop out and become obvious? I don't know about you, but I can't stand them.

What causes them? Most people will say it's because your house is settling. And that's certainly part of it. But a lot of it is caused by the temperature and moisture differences throughout the seasons--the studs and drywall expand and contract at different times and rates, causing the nails to loosen and pull away from the stud. Also, like in our house, sometimes the builder didn't hit the stud when nailing it in. So rather than remove it like he should have, he just left it and mudded right over it, causing it to pop out with time.

I came up with a solution to these unsightly wall flaws, independent of any training or advice that I've been given. Just out of curiosity, last night I googled this problem and watched a few videos on how the "experts" fix nail pops. Mine turns out to be a combination of many of them. Here's what I recommend:

1. Using drywall screws and a drill, screw in the screws within a foot of each other, surrounding the nail pop problems areas. Make sure you are hitting the stud (you'll be able to tell), and sink the screws enough that they are below the surface, but not so far that they break through the paper of the drywall. You'll find as you do this that more pops may occur:

2. Using a flathead screwdriver, pry the drywall off the pops, and then pry the nails away from the stud:

3. Using a combination of needle-nose pliers and the pronged end of the hammer, remove the old drywalls screws:

4. Using a sharp edge (a putty blade utility knife) and/or your fingers, clean up the area around the removed nail, making sure there is no loose drywall paper or paint chips. (Sorry, no picture).

5. Using lightweight joint compound (do not use spackle unless it is Crawford's Spackle--found at Sherwin Williams), and a wide putty blade, fill in the holes from the nails and the dimples where the screws have been placed. Tip: you will be applying multiple coats of this, so don't blob too much on here during the first coat, or else you'll be sanding forever. Just apply a thin layer, and scrape most of it off. If you can make the area right over the holes and dimples "bubble" a bit, then you are doing great:

6. After the first coat dries, apply a second coat. Spread the mud out a few inches to the right and left of the area you are working on, ensuring that the transition to your work is smooth. Also make sure that the holes and dimples are completely filled--sometimes the mud shrinks when it dries and tiny holes appear around the areas you want filled. If you have a longer drywall blade, it will be even easier to get it smooth and transitioned well. (Note: sometimes a third coat is needed, but usually two is good. You will never be able to get away with just one coat without it showing):7. After the second coat has completely dried, sand it smooth. Use either drywall sandpaper, or very fine grit (at least 180). If you mudded it correctly, this shouldn't be too hard--just lightly run the sandpaper over the surface, focusing more on the edges to blend it in to the existing wall.

8. Prime. Don't skip this step. The best primer for this situation is a primer specifically for new drywall. The mud will soak it right up and seal the area, getting it ready for the paint. If you paint before priming, there is a chance that the paint will flake off down the road because it may not bond to all the mud you just put up. Also, the mud will show through your paint, lessening any sheen you may want with your paint, and making the area obvious that it's been worked on.

9. Paint. Two coats. If you do just one, the area may still be obvious that it's been worked on. I can't stand that look--I want my walls seamless.

In case you were wondering, the key differences between my method and the ones that I saw in videos are these:

1. One video said to just remove the drywall nails and fix the wall. Why this is bad: You never know how accurate or good the drywallers were when they initially installed it. And you don't know how many nails are currently holding it up. If you just remove a nail without reinforcing it first, you may be asking for trouble (it may fall off the wall, crack, or cause more drywall pops).

2. Another said to just nail the pop back in and then mud over it. Why this is bad: you're not solving the problem, just hiding it again. It will pop out again (believe me, I know--this is the method I used to do).

3. Most said to screw in drywall screws around the pops, but none said to remove the nails. All of them (the ones I watched, anyway) said to just hammer the nails back into the wall after screwing in the screws. Granted, this may be fine. I don't know how much they'll be popping out again with the screws there reinforcing it, but I wouldn't want to risk it. You may as well remove the old nails and get the problems completely fixed than risk having the nails pop out in the future.

Good luck!!

Update

2011-05-17T17:00:00.005-04:00

So, it's been awhile. A lot has happened. I forget how much. But here is some of what has happened in the last month of silence:

-we finished our remodeling (enough, anyway, that no one knows what's left)

-our computer crashed, and with it, all our photos, including our "before" shots

-we decluttered our home and closets, and either sold, got rid of, or packed up and put in the attic half of what we own

-we put our home on the market last Thursday (the 12th). Here is our listing.

-within five days we had had 3 showings, a successful open house, and an offer

-we have countered the offer and are awaiting the results

-we have more showings scheduled for this weekend

-we have kept our house immaculate for 7 days consecutive days now, including all closets (a record, by far)

not house related:

-we celebrated Spencer's 6th birthday, Easter, and our 7th anniversary all on the same day (April 24th) Here is Spencer's party at Chuck e Cheeses:

-we had a pet butterfly for one day

Beavers

2011-04-15T13:45:00.003-04:00

Last night near the end of dinner:

Waimea: "Dad, do I look like a beaver?"

Spencer: "Justin Beaver sings like a girl"

Me: "How do you know who Justin Bieber is?"

S: "He's a boy who sings like a girl."

Evan: "Have you ever heard Justin Bieber?"

S: "No."

E: "Have you ever seen Justin Bieber?"

S: "No, dad, it's BeaVER, NOT BieBER."

E: "No, Spencer, it's Bieber, not Beaver."

S: "No, dad, I know."

Who's Justin BeaVER?

Swimming Lessons

2011-04-10T19:10:00.004-04:00

Years ago, when I was a swim instructor, long before husband and kids, I never thought I'd have to put my kids in swimming lessons. Little did I know back then how unreceptive kids are to their own parents teaching them. (Well, at least that's how my kids are). I've tried teaching them to swim. Believe me, I have. Spencer can float. Kind of. And he claims he can swim, but he won't let me be more than a few yards away from him. Waimea will kick around in a floatie, but won't willingly put her head underwater. It's been frustrating.

Last summer someone told me about the American Red Cross preschool swim lessons at Mercer County Community College. They are super cheap (for this area, anyway), and their focus is on teaching the kids how to survive in water, more than they are concerned with the form. I like their approach. Waimea didn't.

The first thing they did was dunk Waimea under the water. Multiple times. Waimea screamed the entire first lesson. All 45 minutes of it. No joke. But over the course of the week, before her next lesson, I did a lot of prepping, and bribing with ice cream, so she was ready. She still didn't like it, but at least she did it. And then, when it wasn't her turn, she sat in the tube and giggled and kicked around and had a blast.

She's still a long way from real swimming, but at least she'd progressing now. And better yet, she LOVES it.

Caught

2011-04-06T20:36:00.004-04:00

Let me preface today's story with these two key points:

1) We have a rule in our household that a child can chew gum when they reach the age of 5. No real reason--just an arbritrary age I picked when Spencer was 2 or so. Spencer never bothered us about this as he was approaching the age of 5. Waimea, however, needs lots of reminders, and is constantly asking to chew gum.

2) We keep packets of gum in our cars for "emergencies" (ie: fast sundays).

Today when we came home from Waimea's swim lesson, she asked to play in the car. This is pretty normal for her to want to do. And I usually let her. She just likes to fiddle around with the buttons and pretend she's driving. She's usually done after 5-10 minutes, and then comes straight inside. I check on her periodically while she's out there, and today was no different.

Except that when I checked on her, I couldn't see her in the front seat. So I went out and opened the door, calling her name. As I did so, the disctinctive scent of the gum we store in the car came at me full force. She peered up at me over one of the back seats with an obviously guilty look, and I could tell she was trying to hide the fact that she was chewing on something.

"Did you take some gum?," I asked.

Her response cracked me up so much that I just couldn't bring myself to punish her:

"I'm pretending that I'm five!"

Overheard

2011-03-31T21:51:00.003-04:00

In the bath tonight, Waimea was singing the song from Sleeping Beauty. Here's her version:

"I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream.

I know you, I slide with you up upon my belly."

Husbandless

2011-03-30T21:20:00.002-04:00

Evan is in Ireland again on business. He is scheduled to be gone for one month. Yes, 30 full days. Luckily my mom is here for the first two weeks. Here's an overview of what's happened so far:

Day 1: Evan's flight was due to leave at 7:10 PM out of Newark. We were just pulling into the airport at 4:40 PM when Evan realized that he was missing an essential item for international travel---his passport. We had no option but to book it home and try to make it back in time. I drove because Evan is too fuel-efficient-conscious, and because I know back roads (it was rush hour, by this time, after all). We made it back to the airport at around 6:10. Evan didn't have a cell phone, so we had no idea if he made the check-in cut-off time, but we also knew that there was another flight leaving at 9:50 PM, so even if he missed his first flight, he'd just have to wait for the next. Both kids napped in the car, which meant they were going to be up late. And sure enough, they were. Waimea was restless and cranky. And feverish. It turned out to be a rough night. And we found out via email that Evan missed the first flight by 4 minutes.

Day 2: Waimea was still feverish. We decided to the doctor and found out that Waimea had strep for the second time in less than one month. I had already had a cold for over two weeks, and my throat was scratchy, and since it was Friday and my doctor was not open over the weekend, I decided to go to my doctor. No strep, but antibiotics to the rescue.

Day 4: Sunday. Evan and I teach the Sunbeams (3 and 4 year olds) at church. We have about 10 kids on the roster, but usually there are only 4-5 kids. The last time I taught without Evan, there were 7. On this day, there were 9. Yes, NINE. Included in this group were: a girl who spoke no English and likes to wander around the class; another girl with a rare genetic disorder, who although mostly normal, insists on certain things being just so; an investigator's son who was outright hostile; another boy who normally will not respond to anything we do or say to him; a girl who thinks it's okay to wander through all of sharing time; and Waimea, who thinks that because mommy is her teacher she can get away with everything. If my mom had not been there to help, I would've had an anxiety attack.

Can things get any worse?

Day 5: Evan calls me up and teases me with the 1% possibility that he may be able to come home Friday (four days away) because they are having so many problems with the batch they are producing that they may just have to bag it for now and come home and figure out what's wrong.

Day 6: The 1% possibility becomes 100% possibility, pending available flights home for the weekend.

Day 7: Flight is booked for Thursday (the next day). He will be arriving home just before 2 PM, a whole 23 days early. How lucky am I?!?!?!!!

Of course, it means that he'll have to go back later, sometime after Memorial Day, but probably not for a month at a time. And hopefully he'll time it right and I'll be able to go to Finland while he's gone.

I still can't believe how lucky I am.

Desperate Exercise Equations

2011-03-12T22:08:00.004-05:00

The Problem:

Evan out of town + Spencer sick with a fever + No exercise equipment at home = No way to get to the gym = No exercise = Katri going CRAZY

The Solution:

Day One:
14 stairs up + 14 stairs down = 28 stairs x 175 times = 4900 stairs climbed = 45+ minutes of exercise = A lot of sweat generated = One satisfied Katri ( = very sore calf muscles two days later)

Day Two:
Spencer + strep positive = Antibiotics (hooray!) = Katri knows she can go to the gym on day three = Not as concerned about getting a full exercise in = Walking around the little island in the center of our court 100+ times = 1/2 hour of easy exercise = Better than nothing

Day Three
Spencer no longer contagious + Back to normal routine at the gym = A huge sigh of relief

The True Spencer

2011-03-09T17:32:00.002-05:00

I love it when Spencer brings home schoolwork that shows his true character. Grandmas and grandpas--this post is for you!

This is a book that he brought home after they celebrated the 1ooth day of school:

(It says: "I wish I had 100 wells. I wish I had 100 toys. I wish I had 100 legos.")

And this, the last page of the book, is my favorite:

(It says, "But I do NOT want 100 peas")

Spencer is the vegetable king. He loves them, almost all of them. But he will not touch peas. He hates them so much that it's the only thing he could think of that he really doesn't want 100 of.

Don't ask me why he wants 100 wells. I'm still trying to figure that one out. A reference to Finland and my dad's lack of a well at the cabin, perhaps?

And this is another project that was brought home recently:

(It says, "I am unique, just like a snowflake because I love snow.")

He said to me one day after school, in a very surprised, yet confused voice, "Mom, someone at school said they hate snow! How can they hate snow? I LOVE snow!"

I love that he loves snow. Because I love it, too. And I do believe that does make us unique.

Bad Planning

2011-03-08T12:54:00.002-05:00

I love seeing examples of bad architectural planning. But I don't love it in my own house. Do you see the problem here?:Wouldn't be a big problem if there was nothing in that closet, right? Too bad the water shutoff valve to our entire house is in that closet. See the hole in the wall near the hot water heater? That's Evan solution. We even have a cover for it, so it doesn't look so ridiculous.

The most annoying thing about this, though, is that it's a huge amount of wasted space. There are a few water pipes and gas pipes, but they wind all over the place in that closet for absolutely no reason. The rest is wasted space. Talk about a travesty....

The Joys of Home-Ownership

2011-03-05T11:50:00.005-05:00

Always expect the unexpected. That is our new thought on home ownership.

When we bought our townhome 3 1/2 years ago, the furnace and A/C looked fairly new, and the hot water heater was only five years old. We knew we needed to put in a lot of other work everywhere else, but we were counting on those to last the 3 years we had planned on being in the home. But add 3 1/2 years to a 5 year old hot water heater, and you've got 8 1/2 - 9 years. Most last around 10. Taking into consideration the previous owners' lack of taste, we shouldn't have been surprised that the Moore brand hot water heater (who has ever heard of that brand?!) lasted less than nine.

But surprised we were. I walked into our laundry room on Wednesday night to get the clothes out of the dryer and found a nice big puddle of water at my feet. Good thing my in-laws helped us clean that room out at Christmastime, because it was a pain as it was to clean it all up. I'm just glad we caught it when we did, before all 40 gallons leaked out into our neighbor's home and all over our new hardwood flooring.

Thanks to our contractor friend, Dave, and his plumber, Phil, we had this new baby installed in a few hours' time, and hot water back in the house:
Why didn't we install it ourselves? We could have. Evan has done enough soldering of pipes that he'd be able to do that part of it, and if it had been an electric hot water heater, we may have been more willing to try. But Evan and I both don't want anything to do with altering or playing with gas lines. We've also learned that, in this house, and with our luck, we would've encountered many, many problems, and we probably wouldn't have had hot water for weeks. So we didn't even consider doing it.

And we're glad we didn't. It turns out that the first hot water heater that we bought was crushed in one of the corners and had to be taken back to the store. The valve that turns off the water to the heater was shot, as was the gas valve. And then there was the problem of lifting the old water heater up and over the gas lines, and then lifting the new one up and over. Yeah, so glad we didn't do it. There are just some things that are worth paying someone else to do, and this was surely one of them.

Do You See What I See?

2011-02-26T20:58:00.002-05:00

Look closely. It's round and shiny and doesn't belong:

Yes, it is my lost wedding ring!

We were busy today working on the house, and just before dusk, I decided I needed to get the kids out for a bit. So we went out, and Mea was playing with the little bit of snow that we have left in our front yard. I started inspecting my planting bed just outside my front door (it's been covered in snow for months now), and lo and behold, there was my ring. I almost didn't believe it at first. But there it was, nestled in some pine needles. I still have no idea how it got there. But now I don't care; I'm just happy to have my ring back!

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

2011-02-15T23:28:00.002-05:00

We love how she lifts her leg when she hugs him.

Celebrating Valentines Day

2011-02-15T23:02:00.004-05:00

We began our festivities a week before the big day, with an FHE lesson on love. For dessert we had these:
Then, every morning after that, the kids came down to breakfast and found a mini mailbox ($1 at Target) with goodies inside, ranging from chocolate, hot chocolate, smarties, chocolate gold coins, socks, and a new cars (the die-cast ones from the movie "Cars"--they've both taken a renewed interest in the movie recently, for some odd reason). Thanks for the idea, Kristy!

On Friday, Waimea had a Valentine party with some other people from church. These are the goodies I made--chocolate no-bakes with sprinkles:
Then came the big day. Spencer came home with a bunch of loot:
It's funny how I remember feeling lucky when I got a few conversation hearts along with a card. Now it seems as if even candy is not enough. Pencils, erasers, goodie bags, bubbles. Come on...really?

Anyway, Evan came home from work loaded with donuts, ice cream, and Martinelli's, not knowing that I had bought the exact same thing earlier that day. Ha ha. He also gave Spencer a mylar balloon, and Waimea and I flowers. We put Mea's in a small vase, and she has been carrying them all over the house ever since. Super cute.

For dinner the kids had begged for a barbeque, so this is what we had (followed, of course, by the double loot of desserts):
It was a great day for us all, and a fun week leading up to it.

January Overview

2011-02-01T13:33:00.014-05:00

January is usually the month I dread the most. Christmas is over, the kids are stuck inside (there usually isn't snow on the ground to play in), we battle with sickness, no vacation plans to look forward to, nothing. January just drags on.

This January, though still long, was at least eventful. Here are some of what's happened:

*On 1/11/11, I lost my wedding ring. It's funny to look at this picture now because both of those rings are lost (Evan lost his in the ocean within weeks after getting married):
I have no idea where I lost it. I did not lose it in the pool, and I did not take it off and leave it somewhere. Sometime during the course of the day it slipped off my finger unnoticed, and although we've looked and looked, we still haven't found it. Evan even offered the kids a $50 reward. For awhile they were crawling under beds looking for it, but got bored with that pretty quickly. I'm still waiting for it to show up somewhere. In the meantime, I bought this fake ring for $22:*We've had snow storm after snow storm. No complaints here. Everywhere I go people are complaining, and I'm sure they'd be cursing me if they knew I was inwardly reveling at all the snow. But this is how winter should be; it's the type if winter I've always dreamed of having. Bring on the snow! *We've had a surprising lack of sickness this year. Usually January is spent taking weekly trips to the doctor. But this year, January was sick-free. Just a bit of sniffles for the kids for a few days, but nothing more. It's been great (knock on wood, please!).

*Waimea started attending a one hour a week preschool at the community center. She is LOVING it. We do art for about a half hour, and then gym for a half hour. It's been fun to see her get so excited about something.

*This past Sunday I got a new calling (yet again!). I was the primary pianist for one year and one month. Best calling ever! So sad I was released!! Now I get to be a sunbeam teacher. With Evan. Teaching Waimea. Fun. Now I get to have her crawling all over me for ALL of church, instead of just sacrament meeting. But hey--it's better than teaching older kids and much, much, much better than teaching adults! We get to teach lessons like "I have a body," "I am thankful for birds and insects," and "Music makes me happy."

*We've started working on our house again. We took a pretty long break from it. Our current plan is to put the house on the market in May. That means a LOT of work to do before then. Nothing major--just all the finishing touches. I've been making myself do something everyday, even if it's just to caulk a doorframe.

We recently (as in the last 6 months) have had to re-do parts of our master bath. Specifically the floor. The grout was cracking everywhere, so we had to rip it up and reinforce the subfloor, and then re-tile. The big problem was that they had discontinued the tile that we had used, so we had to find a substitute--one that complimented the shower tile, but didn't look like we were trying too hard to match it. I cannot tell you how long that took--many, many, MANY trips to the store and back, buying and returning tile. Ironically, the tile that we ended up using, we bought on-line, sight-unseen (except for the tiny little picture). But it was far better than anything we found in the stores. We also re-painted. The muted green was really getting to me, so I found a taupish-grey that I love, and it blends everything in wonderfully. If you'd like to see the originals and before pictures, click here. Here is the after: I finally finished the doorway into this bathroom, too. It has been sitting for a few years, unpainted, uncaulked, and even unprimed in a few places. But it's done. Glad to have one room entirely complete!

This is another one of our long-standing projects:
We tore out the old, 80's oak banister, extended the wall to the ceiling in the corner (to avoid the cage-feeling that was there before), and put in a more contemporary-looking banister. We also tore out the carpet on the stairs and put bamboo over the current treads. It still has some work that needs to be done (painting of risers and mouldings), but my parents have been bugging me for awhile to post pictures of what it looks like. So here it is!

I'm sure there will be many more house updates in the next few months as we continue to finish rooms. Wish us luck, please. We need the motivation!

Offend someone today. Check.

2011-02-01T12:58:00.004-05:00

Today a woman at the gym tried to engage me in conversation in the locker room as we were getting ready:
"So I tried to get my daughter to get a facial with me today, and she just didn't want to come!"

Me: (A long pause as I look around, trying to find who she is talking to, then realize it's me because there's no one else around). "Okay."

Sorry, but what am I supposed to say to that?! I really have no idea what a facial is, what it entails, or what the appeal of them are. But I know they cost a lot of money. And that you just sit there while someone pampers you. The last thing I'd do is spend money and time on a facial, so I don't blame her daughter for not wanting to get one. And I just can't fake being aghast at something so trivial. I don't even want to try.

Then she says to me: "You know, because I have a few hours with nothing to do--so why not get a facial."

Me: (I'm SURE I'm giving her one of my looks by this point). "Mmmm--hmmm......?"

Yeah, still can't fake it. A few hours with nothing to do? Even when my kids are off my hands, I still never say that. There's always something I can find to do. Always. A facial would not be one of them.

Luckily I was ready to go by this point, and she turned around for a second, so I just took off. I'm sure I've offended her. She probably cursed me after I left. (This IS New Jersey, after all).

Do I care? Not a bit. Should I care? You tell me.

Tongue Twister

2011-01-30T21:32:00.002-05:00

Spencer loves Rice Crispies. This morning I tried to teach him the little jingle they used to have--"Snap, Crackle, Pop--Rice Crispies!"

It kept coming out as "Snackle, rapple, pop, Rice Crispies!"

The funniest part is that he thought he was saying it correctly.

The #1 Sign That I Don't Fit-In With The Rest

2011-01-25T14:51:00.002-05:00

The other day, when the highs were in the low 20's and the lows were in the single digits, someone said to me, "I bet you wish you were in Hawaii right now."

After a moment of trying to figure out why they'd say that at that particular moment, and then another moment to think about it, I honestly replied, "No, actually I don't. I'd prefer to be here in the cold and snow."

How to get through Winter

2011-01-09T09:43:00.008-05:00

1. Purchase enough snow clothes for EVERYONE, including mom and dad.
2. DON'T sit inside and watch the snow pile up. GET OUTSIDE!
3.Get some exercise--shoveling snow is a great way to do it:
4. Build snow forts with the snow you are shoveling. The kids love running inside, even if there's no roof:

5. Make snow sculptures:

6. Draw family portraits in the snow:

Mommy:

Spencer:

Daddy:

Her self-portrait:

7: (Not pictured)--Make snow angels. And snowmen. What child doesn't love this?
This snow girl sure does:
8. Combine any of the above. IE: Build a snowman near your snow fort, and then have a snowball fight with it. No one gets hurt, no one gets snow in their face, and your kids always win.

If it's going to be cold, there may as well be snow. And lots of it.

1st Day of Primary

2011-01-02T19:31:00.003-05:00

Waimea LOVES church nursery. Always has. As soon as Sacrament meeting is over she is jumping for joy and begging for us to take her to nursery.

Because of the new year, we have switched the time that we attend church, and switched the order of our meetings. So now we start with primary and end with Sacrament meeting.

Today was her first day of primary. Evan is her teacher. As the primary pianist, I was able to watch her entrance into primary via sharing time. She sat down, looked around, then saw me. "It's Katri!!" (Not mommy?) Then, after looking around some more, she saw Spencer sitting at the back and said, "Pentcer, I see you!" Cute, but then everything went downhill from there. She was rolling, literally, all over Evan's lap, and he could not get her to sit at all, let alone sit still. All the other kids were sitting there, overwhelmed at what was going on, but not Mea. She was everywhere, leaning over her chair and looking at the kids behind her from under the seat, rolling on the floor, and just treating Evan like a jungle gym. Then she wandered over to me and bugged me for awhile while I wasn't playing the piano. Fun times.

Then we had Sacrament Meeting last. And the whole time she driving me nuts. So it was with relief that I told her during the closing song that we just had to say a prayer and then we could go home. Little did I know that when we actually tried to leave she'd start bawling because she didn't get to go to nursery. She did NOT want to go home. She didn't care that she'd already been to three hours of church, and had been cranky for almost all of it. All she knew was that she hadn't been to nursery yet, so church was not complete for her. We carried her, literally kicking and screaming to the car.

Fun times. I don't think I'm going to be liking this transition. I thought the hard transition was supposed to be the one INTO nursery, not out of it. It doesn't help that one of her best friends, C, still has another year of nursery. I wish we could opt to hold her back another year, like you can with kindergartners. Any advice? (And yes, we've been prepping her verbally for this for weeks.)

Christmas 2010

2011-01-01T13:32:00.005-05:00

Our Christmas festivities began weeks before the big day. Uncle Eh-eh came out for a week-long visit. We had oodles of fun with him, staying at home and playing, and doing other activities outdoors. We went rock-climbing with him and the kids (Waimea even tried it for the first time ever), and Erik snuck out to the front desk and bought us gift certificates to the climbing gym for Christmas. And we went ice-skating with the kids--a new experience for both of them. Spencer was loving it, and he and Evan have even gone back. Waimea, however, did not last long at all. We'll give her a few more years before we try it again.

Sadly, the only picture we took of Erik's visit is this one where he's being the flying chicken on the Wii Fit Plus game:
Thanks for your visit, Eh-eh!! And thanks for the great gifts!

Then grandma and grandpa arrived for another week of fun.

Decorating cookies:

Waimea helping me make Pulla, the Finnish bread that we delivered to neighbors and friends:

My clean laundry room. To most of you this means nothing. But to anyone who saw the before, you would know this is a big accomplishment:

I really, really, really wish I had taken a before picture of this. During Erik's visit he was laughing at me while I did laundry--I had to stand on paint cans and lean over piles and piles of tools and clutter to just reach ANYTHING in here. Half of my clean laundry got lost in the clutter as I tried to remove it from the dryer, with the dryer door only being able to be opened about 6 inches. Most of the time we couldn't even close the door to the laundry room, were practically throwing our recycling goods into their bins in the back of the room, and stuff was constantly overflowing into our hallway. But thanks to grandma and grandpa's motivating us and helping us, we decluttered and cleaned it. And I still can't get over how clean it is. Thanks grandma and grandpa--helping us with this was one of the best gifts this year!

Because grandma and grandpa had to leave to go home Christmas morning, we spent Christmas Eve celebrating. During the day, everyone but Mea and I went bowling (I was busy cooking and Mea just didn't want to go). While they were gone, Santa came and dropped off the goods on the front porch, and the elves filled the stockings. Then we read the Christmas story and sang some carols. Here are the kids emptying their stockings:

Christmas dinner (Ham and Karelian pies):

Getting ready to do some major unwrapping:

Grandma excited about her Fiskars cheese slicer:

Grandpa excited about his new fishing knives:

Spencer in heaven with his new star wars loot:

Waimea not really sure why there's a picture of a bike on a big box:

Not shown : Daddy ecstatic over his Fiskars hatchet, guitar, and GPS, and Mommy not really believing that she got a Juki serger. But she did.

It was a great Christmas. Thanks to everyone who helped make it so!

We need a garage

2010-12-17T16:38:00.003-05:00

Only those who know how much remodeling we've done on our house will find this funny. But earlier today my brother asked us, in all seriousness, "Do you have a saw?"

Hmm, let's see how many we have:

1. circular saw
2. miter saw
3. another miter saw
4. hack saw
5. coping saw
6. miter block saw
7. basic wood saw
8. drywall saw
9. saw that we use to cut the bottoms off of christmas trees (I forget the name)
10. dremel tool attachment saws
11. jig saw

What's missing? Let's see: a table saw, radial arm saw, tile saw (but we have a the diamond blade for one that we attach to our circular saw to cut tile), ....???? Can you think of any others?

I think we've got the saws covered, Erik. Take your pick. :)

A Little Mix-up

2010-12-15T15:20:00.001-05:00

A common phrase from Waimea:

"My chapstick hurts. I need some lips!"

First Real Haircut

2010-12-09T14:44:00.004-05:00

I have never officially cut Waimea's hair. The bangs have been trimmed, and a few straggly ends snipped here and there, but never cut. Until today. I'm done with the bangs thing, and with her not letting me do ANYTHING with her hair, including comb it, I'm done with the long hair thing, too. It doesn't help that the humidity is gone in the winter, and with it, her curls. She has been looking pretty scruffy recently, and I am tired of it. Luckily she was willing, practically begging to get it cut. So we had a few minutes today, and that's really all it took. A straight cut across the bottom, slightly angled up in the back, with a few attempts at some layers. I really had no idea what I was doing, but I don't think it turned out too bad. What do you think?

Here is the before:

And the after:

Loving these car conversations...

2010-12-02T23:14:00.002-05:00

Today Waimea had a friend come over for a visit. They were chatting it up in the car on the way to our house. Here are a few snippets of conversation that I overheard:

W: "I don't eat boogers anymore because I'm a big girl. Big girls don't eat boogers."

*****

C: "If I jump over a car, then you have to jump over a watermelon."

He really likes to use the resurrection card

2010-11-28T22:58:00.003-05:00

In the car yesterday:

Spencer: "I want a pet fish."

Evan: "Well, when you earn enough money, you can buy a fish. But then you have to take care of it and feed it or else it will die."

S: "And then we can eat it!!"

E: "No, we can't eat a pet fish!"

S: "But it's okay. Really, dad, it is. The fish will be resurrected."

Weird it is

2010-11-25T22:54:00.002-05:00

In the car today:

Spencer: "Look! They already have their Christmas lights up and it isn't even December yet! They're weird!!

Evan or I (can't remember who): "Well, we're going to go get a Christmas tree on Saturday, and it won't be December yet. Does that make us weird?"

S: "Yes!"

K: "Or we could wait until next week to get a tree."

S: "No, I want to be weird."

Wedding thoughts already

2010-11-21T21:27:00.002-05:00

Apparently Spencer's attachment to his friend at school is stronger than I thought.

Tonight, in all seriousness, he asked, "Mom, where are you going to be when Katie and I get married?"

How do you respond to that type of inquiry? This is coming from a kid who, until now, has been declaring that he's going to live with us FOREVER. And not just in the eternal realm of things, he literally meant he was not going to move out ever. Not to go to college, not to get a job, not to get married, nothing. (Believe me, I've asked).

His biggest attraction to her -- she hates princesses.

What a silly kid.

The fates were against us

2010-11-06T08:47:00.003-04:00

We had it all planned out. Evan and the kids were to leave on the 7:10AM flight out of Philadelphia, heading to Salt Lake where Evan is presenting at a conference, and where the kids will spend a week with their grandma and grandpa. It takes us normally just over an hour to get to Philly, and with check-in 1 1/2 hours before takeoff, we figured if we left by 4:30AM, we'd get there in plenty of time.

Yeah. Right.

We were in the car, all packed and ready by 4:35. The car had been on for about 5 minutes, heating up. But as we were pulling away, we noticed that the defrost wasn't working, and we couldn't see a thing. After driving a few streets away, with the air still coming out cold, despite the car being warm enough, we decided we'd better take the Honda instead. So back home we go. Take out luggage, sleepy kids, car seats. Squish everything into the Civic. And we're off. 4:50AM.

We get to the airport just fine. But when we pull into the place to get a ticket to park, we get a ticket, but the guard thing doesn't go up. So we try again. Evan gets out to try and lift it. Meanwhile a car has pulled up behind us. We signal him to back up. We follow him to the next parking entrance. He gets through. We pull up and push the button for a ticket. Lo and behold, for us it is out of order. We back up once again and pull into the next parking entrance, even further from our terminal. We finally get through and park. Just after 6 AM. But by then we are so far away that we get lost trying to find the right terminal.

We finally get to our terminal and get in line. We get to the front, the computer isn't registering Evan's flight. We realize we're at the Southwest ticket counter and not Delta. We get in the Delta line. A few minutes later we are told that we have to get in another line for the self-check-in. We try to check in. We get Evan's ticket, but we can't find the kids tickets. We get help. She is slow. Finally we get that taken care. Off to another line to get our bags checked. We find out we are too late to check in our bags and must go to yet another line to talk to the supervisor.

10 minutes later we are helped, but told that the only thing we can do is rebook our flights for later, costing $50 a ticket. We finally get that sorted (and thankfully she only charged us for one ticket instead of 3), with them leaving on the 7:45 AM flight. But now they have a layover in Atlanta (the original flight was non-stop). And it took so long for her to arrange all that that by the time she was done and our tickets were in hand, it was already 7AM. So we book it to security. I say a quick goodbye, and then sit there bawling as I watch them walk away, knowing that they are in a rush, security takes forever, the kids are tired and hungry, and all I can do is watch from a distance with glass between us.

And then I watch as it really does take forever to unload all the crap that needs to be out to get through security, with the kids moving all over, people cutting in front, and Evan distracted with all he has to do, as the minutes are ticking by in my head. I'm about to have an anxiety attack. Sitting there watching it all, not being able to do anything, hoping the kids stay near their daddy, and hoping they get to their plane on time and can arrange to have them all sit together. I'm having an anxiety attack. But then they are gone, and I can do nothing but walk to my car. Oh wait, where IS my car? Somehow I find it and drive home and here I am, venting. Thanks for listening.

All I know is that I always thought it was stressful to be the one flying. Now I think I stress more when I'm watching my family walk away from me.

And this is supposed to be my week of freedom. I sure hope it turns around and becomes so.

If pictures of snot gross you out...

2010-11-04T22:40:00.004-04:00

then do not look closely at this post.

Waimea recently got a hold of our camera and took some not-very-flattering close-ups of herself. Take a look:

She kind of looks like a piggy. My favorite is the 4th one.

Halloween

2010-11-01T22:30:00.006-04:00

We celebrated Halloween backwards this year. Normally we get our pumpkins in early October. This year we got them a few days before Halloween. Normally I do my very best to wait as long as possible to buy Halloween candy. This year I bought it too soon, and we went through two Sam's Club bags before the month was half over. Oh well.

We finally got around to carving the pumpkins Friday afternoon. Here is what Spencer wanted his pumpkin face to look like:

(The pumpkin is supposed to me mad)

Here's how they turned out:

Spencer "helped", but wouldn't touch anything with his hands:

More Halloween festivities:

Spencer's school parade:

He refused to acknowledge me, just like the first day of school.

(Am I really that embarrassing?!)

Trunk or Treat at the church:

Matching jedi's

Waimea as Cinderella (who thinks she still needs to be carried):

Neighborhood trick-or-treating:

Waimea decided she wanted to be Snow White instead of Cinderella.

When she got home she stripped out of Snow White and put on this lovely arrangement:

Yum

2010-10-29T12:50:00.002-04:00

Yesterday:

Spencer (while doing homework): "I hate lowercase letters. They're boring! I only like uppercase letters."

Waimea: "I eat boogers."

Me: Waimea, that's gross. Please don't eat your boogers!"

W: "No, boogers are YUMMY!"

Lovely. Just lovely.

Spencer's Solution

2010-10-26T21:33:00.005-04:00

He wanted to pull a wagon AND be pulled on one. It just couldn't be one or the other.

(So guess who did all the work?)

A Productive Day

2010-10-25T23:36:00.004-04:00

Saturday was a day of accomplishments. Some small, some not so small.

Here's the big:

(Sorry about the sideways viewing--if you know how to fix this, let me know)

The best part about it was that it required almost nothing from us. We filled his tires with air, he hopped on, and after a few wobbly starts, he was off.

And the not-quite-as-big:

We made a dent in the wood pile in our living room by:

-finishing the trim work around our windows (only a good year after they were installed).
-installing the baseboards in two of our bathrooms. (One bath had been over a year without them, and the other about 6 months).

If only all Saturdays could be so productive.

Happy Birthday, Waimea!

2010-10-16T23:44:00.005-04:00

If you ask her, she'll tell you she's six now. Only once has she admitted that she's three.

Yesterday we threw her a princess party. She invited her good friends: C, A, and J, who all dressed up with her. We had lunch, decorated foam crowns and wands, and danced to princess music. And, of course, there were cupcakes. Who'd have ever thought I'd have such a girly daughter?Three Cinderella's and one Aurora:

Today we had a more low-key family party. Opening presents (lots and lots of princess things):

And more cupcakes:

They sure grow up fast:

We love you, Mea! Happy Birthday!

Camping at Voorhees State Park

2010-10-16T23:16:00.003-04:00

This last weekend (the 8-10th) we decided we needed to get one last camping trip in before all the state parks closed for the winter, and before it got too cold. We decided on Voorhees State Park because it was just about an hour away from us, and because they had these "shelters":
We weren't sure how cold it was going to be, and we didn't want to risk it, so we rented one of them. They have four bunks, a picnic table, and a wood-burning stove inside, and another picnic table and a fire ring outside. They charge by the bunk, so for a family of four, it was almost as expensive as a cheap hotel room, but much more fun.

Here are some pictures:

Enjoying the scenery from the front porch:

Going on some "hikes":

Attacking daddy in his bunk first thing in the morning:

Evan using his birthday present for the first time:

I love this picture:

Not pictured, but probably the highlight of our trip: visiting the Astronomical Association's observatory which was located in the park. We went at night and were able to look through some telescopes, including their 26-inch Newtonian reflector scope. We saw Jupiter and three of its moons, the Andromeda Galaxy (supposedly the furthest thing that can be seen with the naked eye), and a nebula (an exploded star). Pretty neat stuff.

What we didn't like were the stink bugs. They were all over the shelter when we arrived. We had to go on a bug-killing spree the first night before we could sleep soundly. (It reminded me a little too much of the mosquito-killing hunts we had to do in Finland, June 2009). And somehow they kept finding their way inside the next day, though there were a lot less to kill that night. Harmless creatures, but VERY annoying.

All in all, though, we had a great weekend, much of it spent outdoors, which I love. With Winter fast approaching we've got to get as much outside-time in as possible.

October Happenings

2010-10-16T23:02:00.002-04:00

Evan and I have never been able to get much out of General Conference with the kids around. Thinking about it now, it's probably because we've never prepped the kids for it. Of course they're not going to be happy about us hogging the tv for hours on a Saturday, telling them to be quiet, not going anywhere, and not paying much attention to them.

But this year, thanks to the suggestions in the Friend magazine, we had a Family Home Evening dedicated to talking about conference and why we listen to it, using the example of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon. And to make things fun for the kids, we decided to pitch our tent with the opening facing the tv:
We had a picnic lunch in the living room. We played Conference Bingo with the kids as we listened to the speakers, and we had special treats for them to eat. And between sessions we made sure we got out of the house and let them run free.

And when the kids got tired of staying in the living room, we just explained to them that we needed to listen the prophet and apostles, and if they wanted to make noise, they needed to go upstairs and play by themselves. And they did. All in all, it was a great Conference experience.

What do you do to make Conference time special?

Also this month we went apple picking with the play group. I don't know if Waimea actually picked any apples, but she sure had a blast climbing up and down the ladder:

My Little Helper

2010-10-16T23:00:00.000-04:00

Dressed up. Of course.

Happy Birthday, Evan

2010-10-15T23:55:00.008-04:00

Yeah, that was a month ago. September 12.

We can't remember what I made him for dinner, but according to him, "whatever it was, it was really good."

Instead of a cake, he wanted a giant cookie-cake. Not a cookie-sheet-like cookie, but a cake-type cookie--thick, crusty outside with a warm, gooey inside. I found a recipe here, but instead of spreading it out in a cookie sheet, I put it in a 9 x 13 pan and cooked it for an hour. SO good right out of the oven, with ice cream melting on it.

What did we give him? You're going to laugh. But he claims it's the best birthday gift ever. That evening he sat on the internet looking up reviews and videos on YouTube. He was so excited to receive it, but he had no way to actually use it...yet. Here is what he got:

It's the Fiskars 28-Inch Pro-Splitting Axe.

While camping in Maine this summer, using our crappy Walmart hatchet to chop wood, I decided that for his birthday I'd give him a good axe. When I started doing research online for axes, I found that Fiskars makes them. Fiskars is a Finnish brand. (And for those of you who know me well, you know that I like to claim that "everything Finnish is better"). Fiskars has been making "the world's finest cutting instruments" since 1649. If you've ever owned a really really good pair of scissors, chances are they are Fiskars brand. Evan can tell you all about why the design of this particular axe is so good. All I know is that it's Fiskars, so of course it's good.

Anyway, enough plugs about Fiskars and Finland. Happy Birthday, again, Evan!

(Check out the Fiskars website: www.Fiskars.com).

Yawn

2010-10-06T13:17:00.004-04:00

Yesterday may as well have been Christmas with how excited Evan was with what came in the mail. Here they are: (Operations Management: Processes and Value Chains)

And his favorite:

He ordered these with his birthday money.

Did I really marry such a brainiac?

Have you ever wondered...

2010-09-30T16:24:00.003-04:00

..how you'd look dressed as a penguin?

Because, apparently I have.

Merry (early) Christmas, Jokke! Hope you enjoy it.

First Day of School

2010-09-08T23:26:00.006-04:00

Spencer has been ready to start Kindergarten for a long time. He insisted on taking the bus, despite my best efforts at trying to get him to let me drive him on his first day. He went about the morning in a business-like fashion, ready to take on the rest of his life. He said his short good-byes long before the bus came so that he wouldn't have to do it in front of everyone. He tolerated mine and Pappa's photo shoot with annoyed patience. And when the bus came, he made a bee-line for the line forming at the bus door, without even a glance back at me.

Being the paranoid mother than I am at times, I followed the bus to school to make sure he'd make it to his classroom. When I arrived, Spencer was in the line heading for the kindergarten wing of the school. He refused to acknowledge that I was there, though the smile on his face gave him away. And when he found his classroom, he walked in like he owned it. No looking back for him--watch out, world, here he comes!

Here are some of my favorites from the photo shoot:

The must-have in-front-of-home shot:

The backpack/lunchbag combo I found for him--the lunchbag attaches and detaches for convenience and ease of carrying (thanks, Gap Outlet!):

Waiting for the bus (it had the audacity to be late):

In line to board the bus:

Refusing to acknowledge me (not looking at me when I called his name, and turning his head away whenever I tried to take a picture):

Still hasn't looked at me or Pappa:

In his classroom, with his teacher:

The end of the day--deboarding the bus:

Congratulations, Spencer! Thanks for making this transition easy!

My Birthday

2010-09-03T17:15:00.004-04:00

It was my 31st birthday last Sunday, the 29th. Evan made it a great week for me, complete with flowers, back rubs, breaks from dishes and dinner prep, and finishing it up with a new lego house. Also, this great ice cream sandwich cake: I know it doesn't look like much, but it is good. And easy. Here's how you make it:

1. Layer ice cream sandwiches on a flat surface.
2. Spread a layer of partially frozen cool whip.
3. Add another layer of ice cream sandwiches.
4. Spread another layer of the partially frozen cool whip over the top and sides.
5. Sprinkle toppings on top.
6. Return to freezer until ready to serve.

It's a great summer treat. And you can make it as big or as small as you want it, depending on how many ice cream sandwiches you put in it.
Here we all are, enjoying our yummy desert:

Bowling

2010-09-03T17:01:00.004-04:00

Spencer has been begging to go bowling for awhile. So last week we decided to go.

Spencer did it by himself. And was pretty good, all things considered. All that Wii practicing must be paying off. We didn't think Waimea would actually do it, but she was insistent that she wear the shoes and have her own ball. She was so excited. Evan helped her roll the ball down, and then she jumped up and down and did a little dance each time. It was pretty cute:

The White Mountains in New Hampshire

2010-09-03T11:36:00.005-04:00

Evan claims I'm a spoiled camper. Maybe I am. But so what. I know I'm picky. The way I see it, if I'm going to go camping, I want it to be just so or it's not worth the effort.

The White Mountains in New Hampshire are worth the effort. We had initially talked about spending a night in the White Mountains. Then it was extended to two, then three. I would've stayed even longer if we didn't have to be back in NJ when we did.

We didn't get there until dusk, having spent the day driving from Acadia. But as we approached, I had to ask Evan, "Are those mountains or clouds?" Mountains. Who'd have thought there were real mountains on the east coast?

We picked our campground based on its name, and we lucked out--there were two spots left, and it was beautiful. My ideal kind of camping--lots and lots of trees, not overlooking your neighbor, no showers (campgrounds with showers attract the wrong kinds of campers). In fact, it had pit toilets and the old-fashioned water pump. It was great. Even the fact that we were right next to the 200 year old graveyard of the previous owners of the land didn't detract from our camping experience (and graveyards usually creep me out). This was the camping experience I had hoped to get in Acadia and didn't.

Here are some pictures of our stay:

The Swift River (again, what a creative name) that we were within walking distance to:

I couldn't resist taking this one:

The covered bridge that our campground was named for:

Hiking to the Sabbaday Brook Falls:

Two of the many tiers of the Sabbaday Falls

Our view from the top of the Boulder Loop Trail (yes, you are seeing that correctly--Brookie is on her dog's leash):

The sunset at the top of the Boulder Loop Trail (yes, we walked back in the dark. Thanks to Evan for thinking of bringing flashlights):

Day trip into Conway to celebrate Brooke and Will's anniversary:

Playing with Jake:

At the Conway Scenic Railway museum

Playing at the Conway playground:

We thought about riding the Conway Scenic Railway, but thought it was too expensive. But then we read that the Hobo Railway in Lincoln was cheaper, so we surprised the kids the next day by going (it ended up being only $2 cheaper):
The kids' favorite part of the ride (they were bored after a few minutes) was the balloons animals they got on the way back: Spencer asked for a cow (that ended up looking like a dog), and Waimea got a poodle:

Brookie thought that the punishment for spitting was a bit too severe:

Back in the mountains we went on more hikes and picked more berries. And back at the campsite we make cobbler in the dutch oven over the campfire.

If you ever get to NH, the White Mountains are a must-see.