Helsinki

Well, I figured it would only be appropriate for me to go ahead and post about Helsinki as we just got back from Strasbourg France tonight.  I did download all my pictures this evening so I should have no excuse but to keep up on my posts.  Well, Kevin had a holiday the first weekend of October so we went to Helsinki for 3 nights.  We had a wonderful time.  The first day we arrived at our Hotel a little after 4pm.  We stayed in the radisson blu plaza hotel.  It was a great location and it was very close to the train station.  We had breakfast included and our room was very nice, very modern.

 So we only had time to walk around for a few hours and find dinner.  It was a long day so we were all tired.  They only really cute shot I got from our first day was a picture of Ivy on this turtle statue in the harbor.

The second day we took a ferry over to the Island where the castle was and toured that for the better part of the day.  Some of my pictures are from the boat and some are on the Island.  

Then we went to The Lutheran Church 

While Kevin and I carried Ivy in the stroller up the many stairs, mine phone fell out of my pocket and fell down on one stair.  The screen is destroyed.  We thought it was ironic as Nokia is made in Helsinki!!!

Then we just walked around the town and found a quick place to eat.  The next day was quite busy.  Next to the hotel was (if I remember correctly as its been a month now) the national theater. I think it was originally the opera house and when they built the new one it became the national theater.  They were closed but some nice gentlemen was very nice and gave us a private tour. The first picture is of Ivy at the hotel before we left.

Then we went to the amazing rock church.  If you ever go to Helsinki you have to see this.  My pictures just don't even come close to how beautiful this church is!!!

Then We went to the Helsinki National Museum and learned a lot about Finland history which we found very interesting!!!  

 We stopped by the current Opera house but there was a show going on so we really couldn't get pictures.

 One of my favorite things we did was visit the Olympic stadium.  I loved the track and field since I did that in highschool.  

These pictures are taken at the top of the tower where the Olympic torch was.

 The Olympic torch 

At the end of the day we went to this fabulous restaurant that served Lappi food , which is a region in the northern part of Finland.  If you ever go to Helsinki its a must.  Send me a message and I will look up the restaurant.  I can't remember the name at this moment but I have the maps and its listed on there. Well, I will try to post in the next few days. I have a lot to get you up to date on!!!!

Just a little cuteness!!!

Well I apologize for not posting in 3 weeks.  Things have been very busy here on my end.  We went to Helsinki and right before our trip I spent 3 days running around getting all the things Ivy needed for daycare.  Here they play outside even when its wet, not raining but yes wet.  So I had to buy her rubber pants, rain boots, and coat.  A few other items we did not already own that the daycare required. Then we went to Helsinki and had a fabulous time.  We got back and she started daycare.  They required that she go a few hours every day to start for 2 weeks until she was comfortable with them and her surroundings , plus they required I come for a few days and sit in a chair and be there for her if she needed me.  Needless to say, this ate up some of my time and any free time was spent running around doing my errands, grocery shopping etc.  In addition to this Ivy got sick at the end of her first week then this week I was sick.  So we have been busy but things should be settling down and I should be able to catch up over the next few days before we take our next small trip this weekend to Strasbourg France.  Kevin has a holiday on Friday so we are going for a nice short relaxing visit to France.  Before Helsinki I had said I was going to do a post on some really cute pictures of Ivy.  Since I haven't even thought about downloading my Helsinki pictures just yet, I will go ahead and start with this post.  In the next day or two you can expect a post on Helsinki followed by a post on what we have been up too.  We have had a lot of fun times and fun activities I am sorry to that I am behind on sharing but I will share and you will not miss out.  I promise!! So I bought a robe for myself when I went shopping a few weeks ago. It was the same time when I bought Ivy her clothes.  Well, she decided she liked my robe a lot and it reminded me that we have a robe for her.  It was a hand me down from a girl at work.  Its almost too small now, but Ivy loves it.  She has to have it on right after her bath and she wears it with her pajama pants until bed time when we put her top on.  She is just the cutest and is so proud of her robe!!!

Kevin and Ivy frequently get on the Nation Geographic site and look at lions.  It is one of her favorite evening activities.  They don't do it every night but she does look forward to looking at lions with her daddy. Here are two really cute pictures of them on the computer watching the Serengeti  lions./

Right before we went to Helsinki, I finally got up the nerve to get a few highlights and a new haircut.  I like the style and the color.  I only had them do a few foils in the top nothing too crazy but I do like how it turned out. 

 Finally, it was a cool day outside, but Kevin was determined to sit outside to do some work. He wore his chef pants from Phillips, his polish slippers, his cardigan in which we refer to as the grandpa sweater, and his Scottish looking hat from LandsEnd.  I just had to share with you his style!!!!

If all goes well tomorrow and Ivy isn't still sick, she isn't eating much, is congested and has a low grade fever, Then I will post either tomorrow or Tuesday about our Helsinki trip!!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I will be in touch soon!!!

Enjoying the nice weather while we still have some!!!!

Well, as I have stated in the previous posts we were having some nice weather.  So last weekend we did our best to enjoy it.  The weather is slowly changing here and soon , very soon it will get cold and rainy.  Yesterday, a friend of Kevin's took us to the hardware store so we could stock up on some small bundles of wood until we can figure out how to get it delivered here.  Last Sunday we decided to bike into town and take Ivy to one of the bigger parks before heading to lunch.  She has recently been very good at wearing her sunglasses when she is on the bike or when the sun is directly in her eyes. So a lot of these pics she will be wearing sunglasses. She is so cute in her snazzy , grocery store shades.  The first picture was at the beginning of our trip when we got to the park.  She was so excited to go for a bike ride and be at the park.

Isn't she just cute!!  

 Next we have  2 videos of her playing!! Grandmommy don't have a hard attack.  She has been doing this for months and is very good.  Yes, she slips a little but this is after playing for a while and she is getting tired by now.  As you she we are there to keep her safe.

Ivy climbing the rope ladder to go down the slide

Ivy climbing the ladder

As usual, Ivy was sad to leave the park.  We had been there over an hour and she was getting tired and we needed to head to lunch.  We sat outside and had a very nice lunch at an Irish place. Then we decided to enjoy some ice cream after lunch.  Here are some cute pics of Ivy enjoying her kinder waffle cone.  She doesn't get this often.  This is only her second time. She gets them as treats when she is really well behaved and it had been a while she we treated her to her last one.  I think the last one was in July or August not really sure.  

Then we headed home on our  bikes and as you can see when we got home Ivy was pretty pooped.  She actually made it almost all the way but the last 5 min.  I just thought this was a funny picture of her.

She was out like a light!! She slept for 3 hours if I am not mistaken.

She completely destroyed her shirt with her ice cream so when she got up I had a tee shirt ready for her but Ivy having her own mind and knowing what she wants to wear decided to create her own fashion statement and this is what she chose to wear and yes the sunglasses she wore inside for a while as well. 

 Later she switched out her sunglasses for her cupcake hat!!! This girl cracks me up some days!!!!

I have a lot to share but will end this post here.  I will likely post in the next day or two.  As we will be leaving for a long weekend to Helsinki Finland.  A lot of people ask why we are going when its cold there.  Flights are cheap and while Ivy is still free we need to get as many places in as possible.  I look forward to sharing more of what is going on with you very shortly.  I think I am doing pretty well keeping up with posts and I hope to continue to do so.  Have a great Sunday !!!

Shop until you drop!! ( Or at least until Ivy drops)

Well last Friday Ivy and I went to town mid morning until early afternoon.  She needed some more Pjs and a few other things.  I have some stuff and Mom Sours's house that is 2T that my sister has given me.  Ivy is just not quite in 2T.  She should be right around 2 years old I would think.  I have a few items that are 12-18 months being pants that is that just fit her and will not go much further.  So I decided to go to this store here that is called Primark.  It has very in expensive clothing as is great for this type of thing.  People from France and England come here to get clothes since they are so cheap.  They have a small section of 18-24 months or 24-36 months.  I really don't understand what 24-36 months are but why wouldn't you just by 2T?  Any way, they had some great prices and well I came back with a little more then I was planning on. Mamma even got herself a robe, a skirt, and a wrap sweater.  We had a great time and I found some great items for Ivy to wear.  Here a some of the items I got for her.

The first picture are two pairs of cute pjs.  Yes the one pair is Christmas which I liked them even though its not Christmas.  They really don't look Christmas like so I figured she could get buy wearing them. Each set was 6€. Which I thought was pretty cheap.

 I got 2 pairs of pants.  1 pair of Jeans and 1 pair of cords. They were 6 €a piece.Then I got her some shirts.  2 turtlenecks for 5 € and 3 long sleeve tees for 2€ each.  I think these were a great deal.  Also in the picture are a pack of 5 pair of socks, and a pack of 3 pair of knitted tights.  The style here is for girls to wear these heavy knitted tights in the cold weather with either shorts or skirts.  Some have their kids just wear them with a very long shirt.  Everyone at dance  class last week was wearing these tights except Ivy who was wearing some red sparkly stylish cords.  I joke with Kevin they we apparently didn't get the memo that tights were the in thing to wear and Ivy should have some.  So now she does, and I honestly like the style.  Its also like that for adults.  I may be able to get use to wearing shorts with crazy colored tights and boots who knows!!!

 Then I got her three really cute outfits.  The one is just a sweater dress with some matching tights.  I thought this would be a comfortable outfit for daycare.  Then you will see a long sleeve tee-shirt paired with pink corduroy shorts and matching tights.  Finally you will see a red long sleeve with snowflakes, a foe-fur sleeveless vest (yes normally I am not a fan but it was cute normally I wouldn't buy any type of fur.) Paired with denim shorts.  I think she is going to be mighty stylish.  If I do say so myself.

I did not take any pictures of Ivy passed out in the stroller.  She made it all but 3 minutes form home and crashed.  We missed our bus so I knew it would happen, but she did very well.  I am trying to post more when I can. I should have more time once Ivy is settled in daycare but we shall see.  We are going to Helsinki on the 3rd and the temperatures will be a bit coolers so I will try to get some pics of her in her new outfits.  I got some great pictures of her this weekend.  Should make you smile and laugh.  I just hope I can remind Kevin to download them tonight.  I forgot my phone so we took them on his.  Hope everyone is having a great week.