NEW BLOG!

Dear readers, dear families and friends! It's time to move, not only for us, but also for our blog. Please visit our new blog at kidsinfinland.wordpress.com. (We had to make this change due to technical difficulties with the blogspot site, but we also found it quite appropriate to start something new at this point in our lives.) KidsinAmerica will of course stay online for those of us who like to browse in our past, but we invite you to keep following us on KidsinFinland. Please bear with us while we are learning to navigate the new site. It might look funny/new/different for a while, but we promise to make it just as interesting.
Thank you, once again, for your faithfulness and interest! Please always feel free to leave comments - it's encouraging for us to know that you are there.
Love,
Hanna, Marko, Samuel and Sofia

TAKE A TOUR!

OUR NEW HOME

This is the story of how we bought our dream house and moved in. 

First trip to Mikkeli

First, Hanna and Marko took a trip to Mikkeli to get Hanna registered and visit the house. Mikkeli people were very kind and welcoming.

Then, FINALLY, it was time for the highlight of the trip: Hanna's first and long-awaited visit at the house. Clean and empty it looked even better than in all the pictures and videos - almost too good to be true!

Back in Lieksa
Back at Mummi and Ukki's place, we enjoyed our last days in Lieksa. Although our Lieksa vacation was short this summer, we look forward to many visits in the near future.

Lieksa has everything our kids love: family sauna, ...

a lot of opportunities for outside play, ...

many, many toys, ...

a great library, ...

and most importantly, time with Mummi and Ukki.

For large stretches of each day, Samu and Sofia played really nicely together. It was heart-warming.

the "baby-carrier"

This gave the parents time to pack up the car and get ready for the big move. Blankets, pillows, and champagne: the necessities for the first night.

A last trip to the playground before we had to say good-bye to Lieksa.

The move 
And early the next morning, we took off! See you soon Lieksa, hello Mikkeli!

In this room, in the presence of our children, a bank advisor, two home owners, and a real estate agent, we signed a LOT of papers while the kids were drawing and watching videos.

And suddenly we were home owners!!! YAY!!!

And not just of any home, but this one, our dream home.

 

One thing we noticed right away: The beautiful view from the huge kitchen window.

Time to celebrate!

The kids got moving-in toys. These small gifts were easier to grasp for them than the big house. Everybody was happy!

After a celebratory drink, it was time to build some furniture.

Then we started to explore the backyard. Look, there is space to run!

Our first furniture delivery came later that same day: Our dining room table, an old door from a 1925 school (!) building recycled into a table. 100% handmade without machines. We love it!

The precious piece didn't fit through our front door, so we used the kitchen window instead. 

We received detailed instructions from the maker about how to take care of our first antique.

We also love our sauna! The oven creates perfectly gentle and even warmth, and the steam dances in the tiny spot lights. 

Guess who loves the double shower.

More furniture building and backyard games were the program of the next day, our first full day in the house.

Anneli and Antero, our first visitors, came and brought a lot of suff that did not fit into our car. We look forward to many more visits!

Look at all these pretty details!

The balcony needs insulation and a floor. It will be a great space to hang out.

In the evening, we took our first stroll through our new neighborhood.

And only 5 minutes from our home we found ...

... a playground! Yay!!

Hopping home in the evening sun. (Picture taken around 10 pm.)

When the kids were asleep, Marko set up the sound system ...

and we had sauna.

Day 3 began with games. 

And like every day, we enjoyed our kitchen ware and gear.

A litte bit of work had to be done from the backyard office.

Then we took one of many trips to the city center to do some shopping. We have not seen much of Mikkeli yet, but what we saw, we liked. The center has many wide open spaces with lots of restaurants and people sitting outside.

Local and organic food is easy to come by. A big plus!

Looks like we live in a biking city!

Shopping mall

Train station

A lot of decisions have to be made these days. Sometimes they are easy, sometimes surprisingly difficult. This is Marko, trying to decide on a couch.

One easy decision was to take down a tree in the yard. It was getting too big and blocking a lot of sunlight. So we bought a saw and got to work.

Later that day, we enjoyed the midnight sun in our front yard.

Cleaning was the theme of day 4.

And putting up lamps and lights.

Sofia has learned to get on the toilet by herself - always a big step.

We got our washer and dryer.

And because we have Midsummer coming up and visitors coming in, we decided to build a terrace.

As usual, Samu absolutely loved to help. He told us he prefers working to playing.

The kids also enjoyed the books Oma sent. Danke!!

Some more lamps...

and that's where we are now.

Samu and Sofia have adjusted really well to the big move. Samu missed his bed for a while, and they both miss their toys a lot (all they have right now is legos), but we hope for our stuff to arrive next week. We also really hope to get our beds delivered next week. 

In the wake of the Orlando shooting and lots of other terrible things going on in the world, we are very aware how lucky and fortunate we are to live a life like this. We are grateful every day. Welcome to our home, please do come visit!