CELEBRATION!

On Friday we got the best news ever: Marko will be part of a 4-year sociological research study that will be fully funded by the Finnish Academy. Not only will he be able to work with super great people, he will also be able to do really important work on immigration of Somalis in Minnesota and Finland. Congratulations!!! Here is to the whole team!

THE END

of the semester gives us a little (but only a little) more time to enjoy ourselves and each other.

Samu has some new favorite games, like this one.

He also loves to come on all our outings.

We attended Matt's and Emily's wedding.

The two men enjoyed some heavy thunderstorms.

We finally got some things around the house done. Please admire our new curtains!

Samu's new thing: Index finger games. He does that to fall asleep or to calm himself down. :)

We also finally caved and installed an AC. (Don't judge us unless you have suffered through the Minnesotan mugginess.)

And we enjoy an occasional beer. (That's a joke, people, we are NOT giving our son alcohol.)

MOTHER'S DAY-CELEBRATIONS PART 3

To all the mothers who read our blog, especially our own ones: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! We spent it at Lake Johanna. So beautiful! 

MARKO'S BIRTHDAY-CELEBRATIONS PART 2

Marko spent most of his birthday at Chris' bachelor party, which he loved! There was a Twins game, a lot of beer and a party. There was not a lot of enthusiasm for picture taking though. Here are some. Happy birthday, dear Marko! And get ready, because another celebration is coming up, when we are spending some days in Door County in your honor.

CELEBRATIONS PART 1

Friday was the day Hanna did well in her oral exam.

Saturday was Marko's birthday.

Sunday is mother's day.

This weekend marks the beginning of our summer holiday!

So many reasons to celebrate! And celebrate we did.

The hungry and happy family after the exam. Hanna owes a large part of her success to Samu and Marko. So here is to these two wonderful men!

Looking for a fun way to celebrate with 15 friends? We highly recommend pedal pubbing! Hanna's advisor Martha, who hosted this tour, sure knows how to party.

It was also Jenna's introduction to SLC. Welcome, Jenna!

Kathleen and Martina bartending

First stop: A bar of greenies and pinkies, enjoyed by advisor Martha, advisee Hanna and Dave+headlamp.

No pedal pubbing without Beth, who not only brewed her own beer (with Adam of course!) but also organized the logistics of this event.

Feeling free.

The gang.

But the evening didn't end there ;-)

NEW GAMES AND OLD FAVORITES

Samu has some new favorite pastimes. One is to talk to himself in the mirror. Great fun, especially for the bystanders.

The puppetshow is mostly fun for the mother. But the son watches at least and smiles politely. 

Every now and then throughout the day, Samu will stop and go into this position. Whoever is closeby has to look between his legs and say "hello". He loves it!
 

Crawling through his "tunnel" is also exciting.

Some old favorites: Samu has learned that certain actions trigger certain consequences. For example, when he knocks the tower down, we will shout "boom". He loves it, or at least he did for a while. Lately, he has been more into building towers. (Please also note that Samu is wearing Marko's old baby clothes.)

Has been a hit since the beginning: Eating. Yay!