KIDS IN AMERICA: TWO WEEKS

Finally! After two weeks in our new life, we finally have exactly that: a life. The past two weeks have not been easy, especially with Marko gone for a few days - but we are proud of him for presenting at the ASA conference in San Francisco. When we look back, we are not sure how we managed, but we got quite a few things done. Let's start from where we left off. First of all, I added some pictures that had been missing from Sofia's first birthday celebration in Hüttau (see BUSY) and the Hüttau family vacation in general (see AUSTRIA). Thank you to Irene for the pictures! Then, there was Mama's/Oma's big birthday party. This is what happened:

A lot of people came to beautiful Haindorf.

Papa gave a very insightful presentation of Mama's life.

Some other people had something to say and sing too ...

And everyone just enjoyed this beautiful, festive summer day to honor a woman who is easy to honor. Happy birthday again, Mama!

Some continued to party in the backyard ... ;-)

After that, everything had to happen very quickly. We packed our things and left. First stop: Helsinki (only for one night) to catch our flight to Amsterdam.

From there we made it to Boston - jet lagged, dirty, and exhausted but eager to see our new home.

We went there the next day, after a night in a hotel, and a few minutes after us, the moving truck arrived.

Welcome, step inside!

While we played, the movers unloaded everything in a couple of hours and put together most of the furniture. There were still a lot of boxes left for us to unpack, but it was a good start.

We discovered the nearby park and love it! It's a little paradise next to the Charles River and literally a 30 second walk from our door.

Let the crazy unpacking begin. Every box emptied felt like a success, but with two curious children around, it was a real challenge.

First lunch in our new home!

Day 2: Our car is coming home! A special huge THANK YOU to Ben and Ingrid for taking care of if over the summer.

After two days we saw a glimmer of hope for the first time: It's starting to feel homey!

While Marko was in San Francisco, home improvement had to be put on hold for a while, but Hanna and the kids had a very good time, mostly exploring the backyard and park.

Arts projects, water games, cooking fun - stuff that keeps them busy and makes them tired.

Climbing, hiding, running ...

And the new favorite game: Running around with towels on. Only towels, that is.

Good sleeping company is important.

New furniture = new caves.

Welcome back, Marko! We missed you so much. PS: Can you fix up our living room?

While we were still busy settling in, Samu and Sofia also started daycare. The first visit was just for an hour, then they stayed three/four hours a day for one week. Although the first day was good, quite some tears were shed. We loved the pictures the teachers texted us on our phones. It seemed that after we left, both kids calmed down soon and had decent if not great days. Samu even went on a boatride, although all he told us was that he went on a tramway. The boat seemed very secondary to him in comparison to that.