THE FIELDS FOUR

Fourth of July '10

2010-07-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

We celebrated this July 4th with a day trip to the Bay Area. We started in Berkeley and visited the Lawrence Hall of Science before deciding to drive into San Francisco. Once we were across the Bay Bridge we had a change of heart and opted to make our way further South to one of our favorite places, Half Moon Bay. We figured we could take a walk with the boys on the coastal bluffs and have dinner at any one of the wonderful local restaurants overlooking the ocean. It was a good plan in theory ... but ... the traffic was horrible! Luckily I'm married to Rand McNally, errr ... I mean Chris, and we found a clear route. Although longer and twistier - it was still faster than sitting in traffic. As soon as we made it to the coast I called our favorite locals, family friends that live a stone's throw from the ocean with gorgeous views from their living room. They were home and invited us over. Even though I didn't want to drop in so unexpectedly I'm really glad we did. We had a great time visiting and loved that they had museum putty/glue under all their breakables on the toddler-level shelves! Gotta love them California earthquakes - NOT. Anyway, we got a great dinner recommendation from them for a family-friendly, ocean-view restaurant and they even called to make a reservation for us! Good thing too since they were booked solid - except for friends of our Half Moon Bay locals :) Big THANKS to Richard and Toni ♥ We walked into the restaurant and were seated immediately. WOW, we felt very V.I.P. (lol) Dinner was delicious while we gazed out upon the Pacific and listened to the live reggae band playing on the outdoor patio (we were seated inside). The boys were in delightful moods, gobbled up every bit of their grilled cheese sandwich and even earned a compliment from the couple sitting behind us on how well behaved and happy they were! I was a proud momma ♥ Once we finished dinner we headed home with not a moment of traffic and peacefully sleeping babies. We even saw a few fireworks from the car as we drove into town. It was a fun day with my beautiful boys' celebrating our country's Independence Day. Hopefully next year they will be able to enjoy from fireworks with us ...

BERKELEY - LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCE

Lunch in the cafeteria w/ great view!

Build your own rollercoaster - Daddy & his little helpers :)

Outside exhibits

Great view of Berkeley

Happy 4th of July!!

Nick (L), Jack (R)

Plinko!! hehehe

Flow Tunnel exhibit

Thank goodness there were TWO.

Wow, they could really fit right inside the belly, couldn't they!?

DINNER AT SAM'S CHOWDER HOUSE

♥ Ocean view ♥

Nick (L) playing peek-a-boo & Jack (R) showing us the lights

Gorgeous drive home on Hwy 1

Train Town - Sonoma, CA

2010-07-05T23:12:00.003-07:00

All four of us kidnapped Grandma Diane for the day on June 27th and headed to Train Town in Sonoma - which used to be one of my favorite day trips when I was a kid! I was so excited to take the boys there for the first time and it did not disappoint. It was a bit different than I remembered and many new additions have been made over the years. The train cars must have shrunk though because I remember there being a lot more room in the passenger seats when I was six years old :) The boys weren't too sure about the train ride in the beginning and their apprehensions were confirmed once we went through the first tunnel. Eeek. Hopefully it will be more fun for them next year!

Playdate at the Nut Tree - Vacaville, CA

2010-07-05T23:12:00.002-07:00

We met up with Tiffany & her little cutie pie Landon and her mom Donnalee in June for a playdate at the new Nut Tree in Vacaville. It was beautiful outside and the boys had a blast running around the courtyard and riding the train:

June Pictures

2010-07-05T23:12:00.001-07:00

Gosh, I can't believe June is over! I must have blinked ... it's gone! Here are some cute pictures of the boys to sum up the fun we had together:

Picnic in the park

Playing in the swings

Family walk at the Davis Arboretum

Beep Beep

Mom cut our hair - short! (Jack-L, Nick-R)

Can you tell how much fun we had this day!? (Jack-blue, Nick-green)

Bathtime Babies

Jack

Nick

Hanging out in Grandma Diane's pretty garden

Playing in the ball pit at our friend Easton's birthday party (My Gym - Elk Grove, CA)

Happy Father's Day!!

Grandma Diane dragging the babies out of the bar at Chevy's

... I think they heard there were bottles in there!! ;)

Left: The boys watching me fold laundry in the bedroom ...

I would have let them in but I didn't think they'd be willing to help!!

Right: Nick was supposed to be sleeping! lol

The Swedes: Carin & Emmeli came to visit :)

May Pictures

2010-07-05T23:12:00.000-07:00

I will let the pictures do the talking to catch us up with what happened in May :)

May Fair & Mother's Day ~ May 9, 2010

San Francisco Zoo ~ May 16, 2010

Tahoe / Memorial Day Weekend ~ May 30 & 31, 2010

Chris surprised me with concert tickets to see Tim McGraw in S. Lake Tahoe over Memorial Day weekend so we invited Cindy and her crew to come with us to stay overnight (and watch the boys while we were at the concert). Unfortunately Andrew, Scott & Bella weren't feeling well so Cindy and Jake were the only ones to come with us. It was a FUN weekend and we're looking forward to going back!

Lady Antebellum opening for Tim McGraw:

Tim McGraw:

The four of us w/ our hotel in the background - Marriott's Timber Lodge

Chris took Jake up in the Heavenly Gondola to see Lake Tahoe from the top of the mountain:

Other random pictures:

April Pictures

2010-07-05T23:11:00.003-07:00

April was a BIG month for us: First trip to Oregon, First Easter, Baby Dedication, First Birthday, First Haircuts and One Year Photos!! (all in that order too)
Since I've already posted pics in seperate entries of our First trip to Oregon, First Easter and First Birthday, we'll start with the babies' dedication on April 11, 2010 at Discovery Church by our Pastor, JD Pearring. JD was also our Pastor at our wedding in 2005 and we were so excited to have him dedicate our boys too.
A good friend, Ben Finney, introducing Jack and Nick

Chris introducing our family and briefly stating our desire to raise our boys in the Christian faith and our intent to foster a loving relationship with God

JD praying for the boys and dedicating them to the Lord

After church we went to lunch with everyone that was there to support our baby boys on their special dedication day:

FIRST HAIRCUTS

Jack was in the red chair ~ Nick was in the yellow chair (and I might add they were both tired, hungry & quite irritated that we had to wait 45 min for our turn!)

ONE YEAR PHOTOS

We had the boys' one year photos taken at the JC Penney studio in the Galleria Mall, Roseville.

(don't worry - we bought the disc with copyright priviledges!)

Here are some other favorite / random pictures from April '10

These boys love their Daddy!

Num Num - Teething biscuits (Nick-L, Jack-R)

(Jack - Blue / Nick - Green)

Nick

(Nick-L, Jack-R)

(Jack - Blue / Nick - Green Stripes)

Trying to open the door to the garage (Nick-L, Jack-R)

Dad & the boys at Stow Lake in San Francisco

Tourist Attraction: TWINS! (At Stow Lake, SF)

Mommy & the boys with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge, SF

Our First Birthday Party!!

2010-07-05T23:11:00.002-07:00

The boys birthday party was on Saturday April 17, 2010 at Funtastic in Sacramento. The spot was basically a padded room for kids!! Perfect for our boys :) A fun time was had by all ...

ONE YEAR OLD

2010-07-05T23:11:00.001-07:00

We have big boys now!! Jack and Nick had their first birthday on April 14, 2010. We celebrated with Auntie Cindy, Unky Andrew, Scott, Bella and Jacob at Chevy's that evening before the big birthday party on the following Saturday, April 17th. Chris and I just marvel at our boys all the time and are so thankful to have survived the first *hard* year. Every second of celebration was earned :)
LOOK WHAT THE BOYS FOUND IN THE FRONT ROOM WHEN THEY WOKE UP ON THEIR FIRST BIRTHDAY (clearly Mommy was more excited than they were! lol)

CHEVY'S BIRTHDAY DINNER
Cards, Gifts & Cupcakes from The Huerta Family ♥

Bella & Auntie Cindy have a surprise behind the menu!

Yummy Cupcakes!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET BABIES :)

1st Easter: Visiting Granny & Grampy Fields in Oregon

2010-07-05T23:11:00.000-07:00

The boys were born 2 days after Easter last year so this year was their very first Easter - April 4, 2010. We all went to visit Granny & Grampy Fields in Oregon to celebrate over the weekend. Here is the trip in pictures:

Getting comfy and being silly in our hotel room

Spending time with Granny & Grampy ... and the Easter Bunny left treats!

Granny made us these beautiful handcrafted nursery rhyme cloth books

And we got some great family pictures

And of course the boys' first visit with Mr. Bunny

And some other random cuteness ;)

The scenery on our drive home ... Mt. Shasta

SUCH A GREAT TIME ~ BIG HUGS AND THANKS!

March Pictures

2010-07-05T23:10:00.003-07:00

MARCH: The boys had their first cold :*( That was a tough week!! We almost made it to a year without being sick!! The boys also went to the park for the first time and had a great time in the swings. Oooh, and momma got a new couch!! With that short summary, here are a few pictures:

AND OUR NEW (in March lol) COMFY COUCH!!

February Pictures

2010-07-05T23:10:00.002-07:00

Here are other favorite pictures from February:

Playtime

Bathtime

Superbowl Sunday

Random Pics

Jack

Nick

Fun

The boys are holding their own bottles and this was the only way I could get them to sit still to drink their bottle!! (We don't normally have the TV on)

The boys graduated into convertible carseats - these are their Graco MyRide 65 rear-facing carseats!

Starting Over (with the blog!)

2010-07-05T23:10:00.001-07:00

I am really not sure how to jump back in to this blog! I’ve been meaning to update. I’ve been meaning to record all the new things the boys are doing. I’ve also been meaning to fold the three (maybe four) baskets of clean clothes in my room! The boys have changed soooo much since 9 months (when I last blogged). They graduated from babies to toddlers and one of the biggest changes is that they are now walking. This is a wonderful and exciting milestone that every parent looks forward to, but it also means they are more active, curious and demanding of my time. By the time they are in bed, I’m wiped out and have no energy – or brain power – to write! I’m getting a handle on our routine and schedule so I’m hoping to be more consistent with the blog. So … Hi, again! Oh, and the boys are, most of the time, sleeping through the night!!! Hallelujah!!! That is probably the biggest difference that is going to allow me time and energy to keep this blog updated :) The only interruption to STTN so far has been teething. Jack has suffered most and is now getting THREE molars at one time. Nick has one molar that has broken through his gums but Jack is drooling everywhere and seems to be in a lot of pain. If that's the case we give him Motrin before bed but occasionally he is woken up with painful "toofies".
I’m really sad that I put the blog on the back burner during these past few months because he boys have been doing, and learning, so much. They are now eating big people food – eating whatever we are eating and favorites include (in order of yummy'ness) blueberries, strawberries, peaches, pears, cheese, graham crackers, lasagna and eggs. They’ll eat veggies but they’re very selective nowadays. It was much easier to get veggies down when they were pureed. It must a texture thing with them. Asparagus, broccoli and zucchini are maybes, depending on the mood. ;) Sweet potatoes and butternut squash are usually accepted. They are walking! They are dancing. They say “Doggy”, “Momma”, “Daddy” (which sounds like Doggy lol), “Balloon” (Baaaou), “Ball” (Baa), “More” (Ma Ma Ma) and “Book” (Booo). We think we’ve heard other words here and there but not consistently. They each know where their nose is and they understand me when I ask them to do something! I was so impressed one day when I asked the boys if they were tired & ready for their nap and they walked to the nursery by themselves! They also do this if I say “let’s go change your diaper”! If one is awake before the other & whoever is awake hears the other crying on the monitor, they walk to the nursery to get their brother up :) It’s the cutest darn thing. They also pick each others’ nose! (picture evidence below) Gross. They love to be tickled. They give me kisses – Jack likes the open mouth, slobbery variety and Nick is more of a sweet, lean in half way peck kind of kid. They give me hugs. They give each other hugs and kisses too ♥ They love to play with my hair. They love when Daddy comes home from work. They love to play with their shoes & undo the Velcro. They love to go on walks in the morning with me, Unky Brian, Grandpa Don and the two doggies – I think they love the doggies most! I’m sure there is a lot more that I’m not thinking about at the moment. I’m tired ... but I promise to be back soon!

Valentine's Weekend (posted in July!!)

2010-07-05T23:10:00.000-07:00

OK, it's July 5, 2010 and this is proof that I meant to update our blog earlier than today! I made a draft/outline of things I wanted to post about. We had a busy weekend in mid-February so I'll leave the list and include pictures below each thing to show what we were up to!!

Jake's 4th birthday party: Jacob turned 4 in February & his party was a gymnastics center. The boys had a great time as they were getting around really well, still crawling, but quick enough to have to watch their every move! It was a lot of fun

Valentine's Day - Church & a picnic in the park **Boys turned 10 months 2/14 :)
On V-Day we started at church and decided to try a picnic in the park since it was so beautiful outside. It wasn't quite ideal because the boys didn't want to stay still (and we didn't end up in the intended part of the park) but it was fun and they boys got to sit on the blanket near a pond in Land Park!

Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito CA & dinner in San Francisco: On Feb. 15th we set out on a trip to the boys' first museum - Auntie Cindy & Bella came with us too! It was a really fun day and we decided to go into San Francisco afterward for dinner at Rainforest Cafe but it was tooo crowded so we went across the street to Boudin's restaurant (the SF Sourdough Bread bakery). It ended up being a late night for all but a fun day nonetheless. Also worth mentioning ... Auntie Cindy had never driven down Lombard Street (unbelieveable) so we did that too! Here are a few pictures of the museum ...

And last but not least, here is a video we captured on Feb. 16th of Jack clapping and Nick waving:

9 Months

2010-01-27T12:05:00.000-08:00

So I've waited to do a 9 month post because, although the boys were 9m on January 14th, their well-baby check up appointment wasn't until yesterday. To be quite honest, a lot has been happening with them too. I should have been better about updating the blog since this is, afterall, about chronicling their growth, progress, milestones, cuteness - you know, their overall development! But, with difficulties at night and the pure busy-ness of our days, now that they are both mobile, I haven't made the time.

So without further adieu, here is a list of things that the boys have been learning:

Weekend of January 16-18 (long weekend due to MLK Jr birthday)
- Nick started crawling
- Jack pulled up to standing at the couch
- Both babies got their two front (top) teeth
- Both started clicking their tongues on the top of their mouths (maybe has something to do w/ those teeth coming in!!)
- Both went to their first birthday party for a friend
- We had our first official sleepover when Bella stayed the night (omg, the boys loved it & cuddled right up to her in the morning!! So cute!)

I spent all of Monday the holiday making lots and lots of babyfood! Five hours worth of babyfood - sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, blueberries and peaches!! There may have been more that I'm forgetting now. And last but not least, Gma Diane came over to visit!! That's always a fun day. xoxoxo

January 20
- Boys ate chicken for the first time (pureed & mixed with sweet potatoes ~ yum!)

Weekend of January 23/24
- Jack started grunting & will have a grunting match with us
- Jack surprised Mommy when she looked over (while changing Nick's diaper) to find him standing in his crib!

- Nick no longer likes to lay on top of the entertainment mat ...

Now that we're all caught up, I'm glad to report that the pediatrician was also very impressed with their new developments! Both boys are right on track with milestones, they're eating well and staying in line with their growth charts :) :) Jack is 18lbs. 14oz. (25th %) and 27-1/2" long (25th %). Nick is 19lbs. 3oz. (35%) and 28-1/2" long (50%). Both boys had the same head circumfrance of 17-5/8" (45%). Nice growth since their 6m appt!

Our instructions between now and their 12m check up is to increase solids and try to get them on a 3 meals/day schedule. Right now they are still eating 4-5 bottles per day because they never drink more than 6oz. at a time. We got the thumbs up to introduce more meat, yogurt, cheese, pasta, bread, a bigger variety of veggies, and finger foods. Mom is excited to try some baby recipes!

Here is a picture of the boys I got yesterday. I was finally able to get these shoes on them! I've been waiting for months to get this picture so I could share it with my friend, Bill, who gave them each a pair with their name and DOB on the bottom! I think they are ah-dorable ;)

Getting Better ... But Still Not Great

2010-01-27T10:34:00.000-08:00

Bedtime that is ... it's getting a little bit better but it's not great by any stretch of the imagination! The boys go to sleep just fine around 7pm but then they're up about an hour later (same as before). Sometimes it's a crazy screaming/crying fest and sometimes it's a twin-only party! If they get up and are content in their room, we can sit in the living room and hear them through the monitor talking to each other or making each other laugh before they fall asleep again around 9pm or 10pm! Maybe we just have night owls ... I hope not but if it will save our sanity, we might be OK with it. Maybe it's just a phase ... I doubt it but I still remain hopeful. In any case, once they are really asleep they usually sleep until 7:30am! That is the good news :) At least we are a little more rested, even though bedtime is exhausting!!

I've desperately asked for help, advice, opinions, ideas and sleep training techniques. It seems as though we've tried everything that is suggested. Feeding, burping, rocking, patting, playing, changing routines, check & soothe, cry-it-out, etc. We're getting a better handle on what works best for us but it's still a work in progress. At the moment, my overall impression is that we're just going to have to wait for the next stage / phase. We are tweaking our bedtime routine and being much more consistent so I hope that helps - soon.

9 Hours. NINE.

2010-01-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

Bedtime hasn't always been the easiest thing for us. Getting one baby to sleep is hard enough. Getting two babies to sleep has been quite a challenge for us the past (almost) nine months. They aren't horrible sleepers by any means but it has taken upwards of 10 trips into the nursery at times to re-insert an Oogie (pacifier) or snuggle/rock a baby to get them to sleep ... and then they'd be up in 3 or 4 hours (maybe 5 if we were really lucky) to eat again. All of this is expected of a newborn and maybe even up until 4 or 5 months - all of us parents know the saying "all babies are different" or "in their own time" or "when they're ready" - but our boys are still having a hard time. We had even hoped that when the boys started solids it would dramatically improve. Not so.
Well, now that the boys are getting older (wow, they'll be 9 months in a week!!!) and bigger (we're guessing they are around 20 lbs., give or take a pound or two) we're doing better at night once they are asleep for the night. The hard part now is getting both of them asleep for the night. Jack and Nick are usually tired and ready for bed anytime between 6 and 7 pm. The problem is that they think this is another nap!!! Ugh. They typically wake up about an hour or hour and a half into bedtime SCREAMING. It's not the kind of screaming cry that a mommy (or a daddy for that matter) can ignore! At first it was an "Oh my god, what's wrong?!?! Get in there as fast as you can" kind of screaming cry - which now, after many many many nights, has turned into a "Here we go again" glance between Mom & Dad as we both stall to see who gets up first (not fastest) to go in and sooth a baby! We even guess which baby it is before going into the nursery! So bad, but this is the nighttime routine in our house with (almost) 9 month old twins and we're exhausted - with a tinge of frustration since this happens every single night!

So ... all of this leads me up to what this post is really about! We had our best night in a long long time last night. It was almost perfect - except for the "bedtime" part. We put the boys to bed and an hour later they were up and screaming! Nothing abnormal there. We actually let them cry for a few minutes to see if they'd go back to sleep on their own (ha!) but, after it was clear they would not, we went in to calm them down - in a united front with the agreement that we would sooth them, put them back in their cribs with an Oogie, still awake, and walk out of the room. The boys let us know immediately that this plan was not going to fly! So, we gave in. We brought the boys to the living room since it was time for them to eat again anyway. We fed them a bottle and put them back in their cribs with a teething ring. They were both awake for about an hour - content in their cribs. Chris and I actually got to watch some TV together! Before we knew it the boys were quiet. They were asleep! YES.

The next part of the story jumps ahead NINE HOURS!!! Our boys were in bed (sleeping) last night from 9:30pm to 8:00am!!!!!! What?!?!? I slept for 9 HOURS!!!! Seriously, that is the best night of sleep I've had in - dare I say - a year!!! It was so awesome! So ... the night was not too bad overall. I'm good w/ them being awake and falling asleep on their own & much prefer the talking/babbling noises to the screaming/crying noises. I'm thinking the uninterrupted sleep last night was a fluke - or maybe just a start of sleeping through the night - but I'll take it! It was soooo nice :-) Yay babies ... major points with this momma!!

On a side note: I am writing this post during our "bedtime" and Jack is still up fussing & fighting going to sleep! Ugh. I wonder what this night will bring .... I pray it's another looooong period of uninterrupted sleep. Well, a tired mom can hope! Goodnight.

Merry 1st Christmas

2009-12-31T17:08:00.000-08:00

It was a Christmas of firsts. We celebrated our first Christmas with Jack & Nick! They were surrounded by friends and family that love them and even got to see Granny & Grampy Fields on the web cam Christmas Eve :-) I prepared my first holiday dinner - on my own anyway, I've made holiday dinners before with my mom or with my grandma but this was the first one I prepared by myself - for a Christmas Eve celebration with my dad, my uncle (dad's brother) and Cat, my uncle's significant other. The boys were on their best behavior and slept while we ate and opened presents! Cat & Wes brought the boys the Little People Bath Boat. The love it ... especially the Nemo squirty fish that came with it. Granny & Grampy Fields sent the boys adorable blue knitted sweater vests and Grandma & Grandpa Marconi had super fun trucks to play with at their house on Christmas Day. They were also spoiled by Auntie Cindy, Unky Andrew, Scott, Bella, and Jacob who brought new outfits & an interactive/musical/talking doggy toy. Super fun stuff! Here are some pictures of our holiday festivities:

Scott, Bella & Jacob visiting the boys on Christmas Eve

Jacob showing Jack his new toy

Jacob, Bella & Scott opening their gifts from the boys

Christmas Eve dinner with my dad, Uncle Wes, Cat & Chris

Nick (l), Jack (r) in front of our tree on Christmas morning

Nick (l), Jack (r) playing w/ their new trucks from Gma Diane

Playing at Gma Diane's on Christmas Day

Attack of the twins! Just a fav of mine from Christmas Day

We hope your Christmas was merry and that you were surrounded by love!

First Visit With The Big Guy in Red - SANTA!!

2009-12-23T19:33:00.000-08:00

The boys unexpectedly met Santa at the Galleria Mall in Roseville on Saturday, 12/19/09, while they were out Christmas shopping with me, Bella and Auntie Cindy!

I was very pleased that Santa's beard was real - and that we got a picture without the boys throwing a fit or being scared of the jolly Santa. MERRY CHRISTMAS

Picture Post

2009-12-23T19:14:00.000-08:00

The boys have been so cute lately & I have luckily had the camera ready!
Our Gerber (Puffs) Babies - N/J

Ready, Get Set ............GO - J/N

N/J - Ready for shopping

Jack resting his head on Nick :-)

Jack fell asleep drinking his bottle!!

I checked to see if Nick had a tail ;-P

Nick Has A Tooth!

2009-12-23T18:50:00.000-08:00

Younger brother Nicholas got his 1st tooth today - 8months / 8 days old - exactly one week after Jack. Granny Margie called to check in on everyone & asked if Nick had gotten a tooth yet or if Jack was still the only one. I mistakenly said Nick was still toothless but since he was sitting right next to me I stuck a finger in and - voila - there was his bottom left tooth! Same one that Jack got in first. Maybe that is how it happens since they're identicals. I'm not sure - maybe I should look that up - but in any case, it was there!! Thanks for asking Granny Margie :-)

I should have checked sooner because the night before last Nick was up most of the night - which is exactly what Jack did right before his tooth came through. They were happy, just awake & playful at 4am for no good reason! Well, OK, maybe for good reason - depending on how you look at it!! I guess in my exhaused haze I didn't even think to check again today. I just kept giving him his teething rings, teething pacifier, my rubber spatula, Gerber Puffs & teething biscuits to his little heart's content while he sat and watched me in the kitchen today preparing for our Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow. All the while a little tooth was making its debut!

Jack Has A Tooth!

2009-12-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

FINALLY! Jack's first tooth popped through :-) We've been checking and checking and re-checking for months now so I was surprised this morning when I went to give him teething tablets to feel something sharp scrape my finger!! Yay. His first tooth. It's the bottom left (his left) tooth!! Wooo Hoooo Seems right on track since he is 8 months ... and 2 days ;) Now we'll have to watch for Nick's first. They are both fussy enough right now to be getting a full mouth all at once - and drooling a lot! I will try to get a pic soon.

The Sweetest Sound

2009-12-14T21:17:00.001-08:00

This is the sweetest sound to my ears & the cutest faces I might add ;)

Playful Boys

2009-12-14T20:53:00.000-08:00

Jack and Nick today - my gentle, playful boys:

Christmas Memories & Traditions

2009-12-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

This year I’m finding that Christmas celebrations and traditions have a new excitement to them. They’re different than ‘before-babies’ and a little more special to me because I want them to be special to our boys. There are certain traditions from my childhood – and hopefully some from Chris’ too – that I hope to carry over for our children, as well as some new ones I hope we make as a family.

My favorite Christmas memory / tradition was always the candle light Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up in – the church my dad still attends every Sunday! The candle light service began at 11:00 p.m. with a Christmas message, usually a sermon about the birth of Jesus. There was just something so magical and spiritual to me about the service. Following the sermon our entire congregation would make a circle around the pews of the sanctuary. We each held a small white candle in our hands and each person passed the flame to their neighbor’s candle until all were glowing and illuminating the entire room – all while we sang Silent Night! It is always my favorite memory of Christmas. I haven’t been to that service in many years but I will always remember how much I enjoyed it.

Chris’ favorite memory / tradition of Christmas from his childhood also happened on Christmas Eve – opening one gift from under the tree! He also remembers being allowed to drink eggnog during the season – a sweet treat for him that meant Christmas was coming to town!!

Those are the types of memories and traditions I hope to pass along to our children; the type of traditions that evoke heart-warming emotions and happy memories.

I’m looking forward to our family making new and special traditions together in the years to come. I don’t know what they’ll be and that is part of what makes it fun – doing it together and figuring out what is special to our family as we grow!

Christmas Preparations

2009-12-13T18:57:00.000-08:00

I’ve slacked on the blog recently because I’m tired, but also because December is a busy month … Christmas cookies to bake, Christmas cards to send out, Christmas shopping to get done, Christmas decorating to do … it’s usually all about Christmas for me and this year is no different – maybe even more so since I’m not working. Plus, I’m a mom now and I’m looking forward to making Christmas a special, magical, spiritual, tradition-filled time of the year for our boys – even if they won’t remember these early years. I have such good childhood memories of Christmas and the anticipation leading up to it that I want the same for our boys! We have the tree up & decorated, I baked 6 dozen cookies for my best friend’s annual cookie exchange, I made one batch of Gingerbread Biscotti w/ Apricots so far – and plan to bake another batch it was good, and my Christmas cards are signed, sealed and delivered thanks to my friend MJ’s annual Christmas card night! Phew!

Now, I’ve still got some Christmas shopping to do, many Christmas gifts to wrap AND I’m hosting a Christmas Eve dinner for my dad’s side of the family (I’m really looking forward to that actually). Oh, and we still need to get the traditional 1st picture with Santa! Christmas Day we will be at my mom & stepdad’s house with immediate and extended family for a delicious meal and our super fun gift card exchange that has become a new tradition in our family! I just love Christmas – I love family. I love friends. I love the comforts of home. I love giving. I love games and good cheer. Most importantly during this time of the year, I love Christ & celebrating His birth. I just love Christmas!!

Where Does The Time Go?

2009-12-13T18:36:00.000-08:00

I really can’t believe that December is almost half over! Where does the time go? I have been thinking about the blog lately and even jotted down some stuff I want to post but I’ve been sooo tired and foggy-brained lately that I couldn’t even muster the energy to make an update. So now, even though I think I’m getting a cold, and even though I don’t feel like doing anything except sitting on the couch while the boys nap, I figured I could at least sit on the couch w/ a computer in my lap to catch up on the blog. :-)

Jack & Nick are still working on their crawling skills. They mostly just scoot on their hands & knees and then do a face plant. They are starting to pick up their arms and put them in the air but haven’t figured out how to coordinate the hand & knee movements. I’m OK with that. I’m so excited for them to meet their next milestone but I’m not so ready for them to be able to go wherever they want, whenever they want! Chris and I have been talking about – and going back & forth about – baby gates. Do we need them? How many do we need? Where should we put them? Could we do this instead of that? Oye. I didn’t think these would be such debated topics!! I keep thinking that if we decide to go one way we’ll wish we would’ve gone the other way … I know this is vague but my post would be 5 pages if I elaborated on all the things we’ve discussed!! LOL Who knew baby-proofing would be so overwhelming!? It seems like just yesterday we were bringing them home from the hospital. Where does the time go?

The boys are becoming so much more interactive with each other lately. They are kleptomaniacs – no doubt in my mind! It doesn’t matter whether they have 50 different toys around them – all of which they love to play with & many of which we have two of – they HAVE TO HAVE the toy that their brother is playing with! And pacifiers. They steal each other’s pacifiers! They even go as far as plucking the pacifier right out of the other baby’s mouth. Ruthless! I have captured at least three instances on the camera of them stealing toys from each other over and over … and over … and over! It’s so cute but I’m wondering how long it will be until I’m breaking up a fight over who gets to play with the set of keys. Yikes. How soon do I have to teach them to share w/ each other instead of giggling and running to get my camera for pictures? How soon until it’s not so cute anymore? Because right now, it’s so darn cute!!

I’m not the only one laughing these days either. They also make each other laugh. If they are sitting next to each other or somehow roll over and discover their brother is there next to them they will just stare at each other and giggle. They lovingly put a hand on the other’s face or shoulder and just give a smile to the other one. I love it. Another thing they tolerate – maybe because they are twins, maybe because they are brothers, maybe just because they are the same age – is when one grabs the other’s foot and uses it as a teething toy. They both do it so I’m more inclined to think it’s an age thing but it’s another cute thing I’m going to try to remember when they hit the stage of knock-down, drag-out fighting … and the times I think to myself, Where does the time go?

Besides being cute, they also know how to melt a momma’s heart - ♥ - my heart melts every time I hold them and they grab my face with both of their hands, pull their face into mine, sucking on their pacifier and making a cooing sound while smiling! It’s their hug and it’s how they tell me, “I love you momma”. Aw, I love you too Baby – with ALL of my melting heart!

I also love to see Chris play with the boys. That melt’s my heart as a wife, and as a mother. My favorite thing is when Chris gently buries his head into the boys’ chests or tummies and the boys give a big belly laugh. They love it! They laugh so much that they usually get the hiccups! I’ve tried to capture a video of these moments but, it just doesn’t do it justice. My boys LOVE their daddy – and so do I!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T22:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. This is one of my favorite holidays and, following tradition, we spent it with my parents in Sacramento. My mom and I usually spend the day before Thanksgiving in the kitchen together but since I have two 7 month olds she would not let me do anything this year (or last year for that matter since I was pregnant w/ the twins). She wouldn't even let me bring a pumpkin pie!! Can you say spoiled! In all honesty, I've missed our time together preparing the Thanksgiving meal, but, at the same time, I think it would be more of a distraction if I was there w/ the boys! So, when we got to her house we filled our bellies with turkey, green bean casserole - her best to date I might add, sweet potatoes, stuffing, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, and lots and lots of pie! We had enough pie to feed the neighborhood. Pumpkin, Pecan, Cherry and Mixed Berry! Mmmmm In addition to all the food, we enjoyed a movie together - Four Christmases - and took a bagillion pictures of the boys on their first Thanksgiving! It was a great day. We have so much to be thankful for - most of all our wonderful family!

I'm just now realizing as I add photos to this post that I didn't take any pictures of our delicious meal. Sorry Mom! It was really good and very much appreciated. We missed many of the "regulars" - friends and family that weren't able to make it this year - but it was great to spend a calm and relaxing day with our family. Happy Thanksgiving.

Jack Crawled!

2009-11-20T21:06:00.000-08:00

Jack crawled tonight while Chris and I were playing with him on the floor before bedtime! It was one single little crawl. Half crawl really. But he was up on his hands & knees and we both saw him move his knee forward. And then I squealed and he dropped to the floor. DOH. Mom has to learn to contain her excitement! :-) I'm sure there will be much more to come about crawling but I had to document Jack's first "crawl" ... half crawl ... or whatever it was! Yay Jack.

LETTER TO SANTA

2009-11-17T14:59:00.000-08:00

I've always worried about our boys keeping up with the standard developmental curve since they were born five weeks early, however, I was really surprised - and quite proud, I must say - when I found a LETTER TO SANTA CLAUS, beautifully written in blue & green crayons!! ;) I think Santa would agree with me about how brilliant they are! Here is their letter I found - right by the exersaucer:

Dear SANTA:

We are so excited about our 1st Christmas! We are growing, playing, babbling, sitting up, eating real people food (pureed of course, and Mom doesn't let us have any of the yummy seasonings yet!), and we're working really hard on crawling. I bet if we were awake when you visited our house this year you could see us crawling around the tree (and making Mommy chase us in different directions). We are really good boys, we're awfully cute & we're hoping some of the stuff on our wishlist below makes it under the tree this year :)

What's Inside? Toy Box

Silly Sounds Hammer

Learning Hands ASL Flash Cards

Rainforest Stacker

We will continue to be on our best behavior and take naps when Mom says that we need them. We know you are watching, making lists & checking them twice. We decided to keep our list short since you're very busy during this time of year. I hope you're looking forward to stopping by our house. Mom said that she is going to leave some yummy cookies out for you!

Merry Christmas Santa. Please give our best to Mrs. Claus & the Reindeer too.

Love, Jackson & Nicholas Fields

Amazing boys! I just think they're adorable - but that's a mother's biased opinion :)

THE BOYS ARE 7 MONTHS OLD!!

2009-11-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

We had a very busy weekend! Granny & Grampy Fields were here visiting, we made a trip up to Apple Hill, I learned a little bit more about sewing from my Mother-In-Law, Chris and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary ... and ... the boys turned 7 months old! I'm going to make this a short post as far as words go because I think the pictures will take up enough room:

THE BOYS:

Jack (L), Nick (R)

Nick (L), Jack (R)

Nick

Jack

Jack (L), Nick (R)

Nick

At seven months old, the boys are babbling a lot more and we think we hear a few babbles that sound like words (specifically "yeah", "hey", "daddy") but I'm not convinced that they aren't just that - sounds - because I know for sure that their first word will be "mama"! They are sitting up unassisted a little bit longer each time, grabbing & picking up their toys, transferring said toys between hands and trying really hard to get their knees up under them to crawl. I'm predicting that I will be chasing after them (in different directions!) by Christmas :-) Nick is our little gabby boy; he is very vocal and talks up a storm - and cries very easily right now with loud noises, loud laughter and loud appliances. Jack is a little quieter, more observant & a little flirt! They are both sweethearts & we love them with all our hearts - oh, and they are totally worth the sleep deprivation!

WE BE DROOLIN'

2009-11-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share some of the cute teething pics I've gathered of the boys! They are droolin' babies these days :)

YUMMIES FOR THE TUMMIES

2009-11-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

I celebrated my first Mother's Day this year! My gift from my mom, my mother-in-law and Chris was a Beaba Babycook (all in one steamer/blender) with a wonderful baby food cookbook, silicone freezing trays and baby spoons. I was so excited when I tore off the Williams-Sonoma wrapping and immediately wanted to try it out! OH, WAIT! Our babies were only a month old!! So, I put it on the shelf and patiently waited until it was time to introduce our boys to solid (pureed, really) foods. Well, the time has come & I've been workin' that Beaba and making big batches of fruit & veggie purees for the boys. I now know that it takes three steam cycles to cook an entire butternut squash, baby carrots cook just fine when put in whole & the entire unit is a breeze to clean. I love it! It's much easier for me to do a few steam cycles and have easy clean up than to break out a big water pot, steam basket, lid, spoon, blender w/ food processor attachments, etc. and clean it all once I'm done. Plus, it uses MUCH less water.

The boys have liked everything they've tried so far: rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, avocado, butternut squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, green beans, sweet peas, carrots, prunes, pears, bananas and today we're trying peaches! I've been feeding them two or three times a day, usually every other feeding time during the day. So they get just a bottle in the morning and then the next feeding is a bottle and solids - then just a bottle, and so on. Soon we'll introduce apples and we're going to practice with water in sippy cups.

Here is what the process looks like with the Beaba:

Butternut Squash

Sweet Potatoes (since I baked these & had four to puree at once I used my larger food processor)

Four sweet potatoes makes A LOT

A whole lot!!

Avocados (my favorite!)

Pears (this might be worth buying at the store! this is FOUR pears!!)

And then it goes in the freezer so we can have ready to go meals in just the time it takes to defrost (in the steamer of the Beaba!!)

Once frozen, the cubes go into plastic baggies so I can easily take as much as I need at a time out to thaw.

Besides the fact that I love to cook, and therefore really enjoy making these yummies for the boys, it really saves a lot of money when you think about how many servings you get for the cost of your fruits & veggies! I haven't done the math (I failed geometry & didn't enjoy other math classes that I barely passed!!) but just one Gerber or Earth's Best serving is around .70 cents (a little higher for organic) and I'm guessing our servings are about .30 cents or less! Awesome. Thanks you three for such a great gift & useful tool.

HALLOWEEN FUN

2009-11-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was Halloween. Chris, the boys & I started out early on Saturday (Halloween) to visit Bishop's Pumpkin Farm with Grandma Diane & Great Grandma Norma - our third (and last) pumpkin patch of the season! We originally wanted to visit Apple Hill but decided the crowds would be too much of a hinderance with Great Grandma & babies! Bishop's was highly recommended as a pumpkin patch and more. We decided to leave early in an effort to beat the crowds of people we were warned about. We arrived at Bishop's just after they opened and decided that everyone was at home making costumes on Halloween instead of visiting the farm. We had a front row parking space and They had things for all ages: pumpkins (of course), a Cider Mill, a cute & festive store full of holiday knick-knacks, a petting zoo, animals galore, a wooden train, rocking horses, a real (miniature) train & pumpkin tunnel, corn maze, gold panning, antique tractors, food pavillion, fudge store, and much more! It was the best pumpkin patch I've ever been to! We'll definitley be taking the boys back as they get older, hopefully next year. Thank you Grandma for a wonderful day with our punkins :) Here are quite a few pictures of our day:

Me & Jack, Chris & Nick

Grandma Diane

Me, G'Gma Norma, Chris

Grandma Diane, Me & the boys

The adorable wooden (stationary) train

The real miniature train that goes around the patch

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm Line - Choo Choo!

Thanks Mom, Dad, Gma & G'Gma - we had a BLAST! :)

OUR PUNKINS AT THE PUMPKIN PATCH

2009-10-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

The boys have a lot of "Firsts" coming up! We took them to the pumpkin patch for the first time yesterday with our best friends, Cindy & Andrew and their kiddos. We all had a great time and enjoyed a beautiful fall day. The boys love watching the trees rustle around in the wind and while they napped in the stroller we boarded a 2.5 mile train ride through the (empty) fields at the Kirtlan's Silverbend Pumpkin Patch in Clarksburg, CA. As far as pumpkin patches go, I was pretty disappointed in this one as far as kids' activities but it was gorgeous outside, they had country music playing, live blacksmiths (working on iron crafts) and employees dressed in western wear. The best part of this pumpkin patch was their real, full sized, functioning train that circled one of the farm's fields which was included with the $7/person admission fee. With that said, everything else still cost money: pumpkins, balloon clown creations and drinks. I think everyone had a nice time overall though and afterwards we all went to a delicious chinese restaurant for an early dinner. YUM.

Here are the boys' first pumpkin patch pictures ...

What are all of these orange things?!

The Fields Four

Our cute 1st Halloween onsies from Granny Margie

Me and Nick, waiting for the train

Here is the Silverbend train .. Choo Choo

The train as it passed by us (before our ride)

Bella with the balloon clown ... she got a ladybug bracelet

Jake with his "tiger on a leash" balloon

Bella and Auntie Jen on the train ... Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

WHO'S WHO??

2009-10-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

We didn't know whether the boys were identical or fraternal throughout my pregnancy ~ we had been told either was possible (they were in seperate sacs but the doctors weren't sure if I had one placenta or two that had grown together). After they were born, the doctors still didn't have any answers and no one offered a DNA test. We had debates back and forth about whether they were identical or not. I saw differences and could tell them apart, most of the time. Chris was better at it than I was. Many times I'd have to ask him who was who in pictures!! LOL As they grew a little more I could tell them apart almost immediately and thought they must be fraternal since they had very suble differences ... everyone else thought they were identical :) I was hoping that, as the MOM, I was right. In August '09, the results of an at-home DNA cheek swab test kit proved me wrong! They're identical. At least the test said there was greater than a 99% chance they're identical. That's a high enough percentage for me to believe it.

Well, yesterday I had one of those "who's who" moments:
Both boys were on the floor playing, Jack in the boppy & Nick on the floor. It was time for Nick to eat so Chris took him in to the nursery to change his diaper. When he was done, both boys were on the floor again and when I was ready to feed Nick I picked him up from the floor, took him to the table and put a bib on. Chris asked from the other room "aren't you feeding Nick?" I looked at him like "Uh, YAH, what do you think I'm doing?" and then he said "Then why do you have Jack?" OOPS!! Well, whether Chris was trying to play a joke or not, he put Jack on the floor where Nick was and placed Nick in the boppy where Jack had been playing and I got them confused!! What a goof. It was just one of those moments. And right then and there I knew that they were going to be able to trick their teachers (and maybe their friends, grandparents, and God forbid, their parents!!) when they're older! Yikes.

BEDTIME FROWNS & MORNING SMILES

2009-10-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks, bedtime has not been nice to us. The boys are having a very difficult time w/ settling down for bed. They are generally in their cribs by 6pm or 6:30pm, go to sleep within 10 min or so but then they are stirring, crying, screaming, etc. on and off until about 8:30pm or 9pm - and then they sleep until anywhere from 5am to 7am. We have tried letting them cry, but usually we go in and give them their pacifiers and leave the room ... sometimes we have to pick them up to burp them because of their reflux issues (but then we put them back down in their cribs) and we've also started giving them the teething tablets just in case it's those pesky, painful toofers. It's also hard to let them "cry it out" because it wakes the other baby and they're very persistant if they want/need something. By the time they are asleep for good we're both exhausted by the 2-3 hour bedtime drama. I am somewhat at a loss for the cause because they do great at naptime ~ they go down easy & sleep for an hour or two. I'm praying that this is a temporary problem ~ momma needs some down time!!

The best thing after bedtime is morning time and the big, glowing smiles I get when they wake up! I wish I had a video camera built into my eyes because I don't think a picture can capture that love ♥

SIX MONTH APPT.

2009-10-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Jack & Nick had their 6m appt with the pediatrician yesterday! The exciting stuff first - Jack weighs 15lbs. 13oz and Nick is 16lbs. 8oz. (but in all fairness, he had a 5oz bottle just before he was weighed, so maybe more like 16lbs. 3oz.) They are both following their growth charts and the doctor was happy with their progress. The not-so-exciting stuff in one word S-H-O-T-S. I hate having to hold them and I can only imagine how much worse it gets as they get older :( Today they are running low fevers, they're fussy & sleeping a lot. This is really the first time they have had any "reaction" to their immunizations. They acted as if nothing happened after the 2m and 4m appointments! Well, I'm taking advantage of the long naps today but I hope their fevers go away soon. (OK, seriously, as I was typing the last sentence, Jack woke up! The good news is that his fever went down!)

One of the problems we discussed with the pediatrician yesterday was the boys having trouble, um, pooping. I said I thought it was because of the rice cereal & oatmeal and told her they hadn't had any yesterday - and still haven't had any more today. She suggested giving them pears. So today the boys had pears for the first time! YUM. They both gobbled it up and I'm happy to report that things are moving along. Chris and I were joking the other day about how much we talk about poop. We never thought we'd talk about it as much as we do ... or smell diapers as much as we do ... or save the diaper to show the other what came out!! Ew, right? OK ... moving on; I think that's enough talk about it.

Another thing I've noticed the boys doing is kind of hard to explain, but I'll try. They have both been trying to figure out how to get their legs under them ... they are laying on their tummies, pull their knees up toward their chests on each side and push with their toes. It's like they are trying to get into a crawling position but they end up pushing themselves up into a V - on their elbows and toes - and toppling over. So, we'll keep watching to see how long it takes them to get into the position they are trying to get in :) I thought babies sat up by themselves before crawling but my boys might be trying to do things backwards! Or, maybe they are developing the muscles they need to sit up by doing this weird little move.

Tomorrow we are hoping to go to the pumpkin patch with Cindy & her family! Hopefully we're able to get some good pictures of the boys' first autumn adventure. My goal this afternoon is to flip through my cookbooks and magazines for some dinner inspirations. I'm stuck in a cooking rut at the moment ... I think mainly because we've been having a hard time getting the boys to bed at night (they are so so tired at 6pm but don't really go to sleep for good until about 8pm or 9pm ... the whole time we are taking turns going in to fetch a binky or burp a baby) so I've been looking for really quick and easy meals. I'm hoping to start using my slow cooker a lot more in the months to come for warm, hearty, comforting meals.

Hoping for beautiful fall weather tomorrow! Have a great weekend.

It's Been a LONG While Away

2009-10-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hello again everyone! I'm back to blogging. Some of you may remember that I started in September 2007 when Chris and I traveled to Scandinavia so that I could share our photos with friends and family while we were away for three weeks. It was a lot of fun but once we got home I really didn't have anything to blog about! Well, in the two years since then A LOT has changed and I've recently been inspired by some friends that are blogging to start my own back up.

In short, the past two (exciting) years have been busy & life changing. Most notibly, as most everyone reading this probably already knows, Chris and I became parents of identical twin boys, Jackson & Nicholas, on April 14, 2009. They are the loves of our lives - and the main inspiration for this blog! They are changing everyday, learning new (and cute) things all the time and I'm finding that I need a journaling outlet just to remember who did what, when ... who smiled first? ... who rolled over first? ... who laughed first? ... who blew raspberries first? ... and so on! I'm already struggling to remember these precious moments and, before it's completely jumbled in my memory, I want to write it down and keep track of their milestones. I'm also hoping to use blogging as an opportunity for this momma to use her noggin once in a while when the babies are sleeping! I might just throw something in that is not baby related ... I know, I know ... "like what?" you ask!? hehehehe We'll have to see what comes up!

Anyway, in the meantime, we also traveled to New England for two weeks in October 2008 and drove through Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachussetts, New York and Conneticut to see the colorful fall landscapes (It's my absolute favorite season). As luck would have it, two days after we booked our road trip (with non-refundable airfare) I found out I was pregnant ... and low and behold a week or so before we actually left, we found out I was carrying TWINS! I ended up sleeping most of the time in between destinations to keep from getting sick in the car, but overall it was wonderful and we actually want to go back someday to see more of the beautiful scenery! Here is one of my favorite pictures of the trip, chosen from the thousands (literally) of pictures we took along the way:

After our trip, the holidays quickly came and went, my belly kept growing (rapidly) & after the New Year we patiently waited for the boys!

34 weeks (One week before they arrived!)

And then the best - and scariest - day of our lives came on April 14, 2009 when my doctor confirmed I was developing toxemia & decided the boys would be delivered via c-section that evening at 35w1d gestational age. Both Jack & Nick weighed 4lbs. 9oz. and measured 17" at birth.

Both boys had to spend time in the NICU. Nick came home after 2 weeks and Jack came home just shy of 3 weeks:

As of this post, our boys are six month old. They are both healthy, happy babies that have stolen our hearts! We have their 6m appointment with the pediatrician this Thursday and I will be sure to post their progress and current measurements ~ our "guess" is that they are both around 16 or 17 lbs. now :) We aren't looking forward to their shots but we've promised to get them ice cream treats on their 3rd birthdays so hopefully that will help! Here are the boys at six months:

Both boys have rolling over down pat - Nick mastered that first and Jack followed about a week after; they are smiling, laughing, cooing, blowing raspberries, playing w/ toys and they just started eating solid foods a few weeks ago. So far they have had rice cereal, oatmeal, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, avocado and prunes. Tomorrow we will be trying either bananas or peaches! Yum. We haven't found anything they don't like yet. We are currently working on sitting up and I just realized today, while I watched them playing on the floor, that they may figure out how to get up on their hands and knees before they even seem interested in sitting up! They both seem eager to learn how to get where they want to be but could care less about sitting up to play. When I prop them up on a pillow they just arch their backs and scoot down to lay flat! Silly kids.

2009-08-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

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Norway: Oslo-Flam-Bergen (Fjords, 9/18/07)

2007-09-21T09:59:00.001-07:00

We were off early on Sept. 18th for a full day of traveling to Bergen / touring the Fjords. We took a train from Oslo to Mydral, switched to another train in Myrdal to take us to Flam and then took a boat to Bergen. We got into Bergen around 9pm, found our hotel and rested up for a busy day ...

Chris boarding the train to Bergen

These were sights along the way on the train. We had a mix between clear and cloudy skies the entire way. It was beautiful!

In Flam we transferred from the train to a speedboat that would take us through the Fjords to Bergen ...

On the way the train stopped at a magnificent water fall ...

It was quite surreal that we were on a boat
going through the Norwegian Fjords!!

The boat stopped a number of times to let off / pick up
passengers and we got to see many of the rural, coastal towns

Another magnificent waterfall.

The city was glowing as we entered Bergen.

Norway: Oslo (9/17/07)

2007-09-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

We got into Oslo on the morning of Sept. 17th and were ready to see the city. We were only going to be in Oslo for one day before our 2 day Fjord tour. We took the tram around the city and tried to see as much as we could. We were also scoping out what sites to see when we got back to Oslo after our Fjord tour ... we'll be back to see more on the 20th.

Welcome to Oslo ... now where do we go?!?

The is the square in front of Central Station, Oslo

Chris checking into our hotel - right above the train station again, just like Gothenburg.

Our room ...

We took a tram up to the highest point we could find, then we climbed a little higher ... they even have forests in the city!

The view made the climb worth it ... WOW

This is another pic from our bird's eye view - notice the ski jump in the background? Just almost at the top of the hill a little to the left of the middle ... ?? You can bet we'll be going there when we come back after the Fjord tour! :)

Cheeeeeese - our self portrait from way up high

We also visited a park that was designed by and full of sculptures done by Gustav Vigeland ... he made statues, mostly stone, of people - men, women & children. It was very interesting, we have many pictures of naked stone statues!

Chris and I at Vigeland Park

After our busy day walking around and seeing the sights we headed back to grab dinner and get ready for our early start the next day - we were heading out for the Fjord tour from Oslo, through Myrdal and Flam before getting to Bergen on the Eastern coast of Norway. We'll stay two nights there before flying back to Oslo for our final two days of vacation. Stay tuned for magnificent pictures of the fjords and Bergen ...

Sweden: Gothenburg (9/16/07)

2007-09-19T12:47:00.001-07:00

Gothenburg was a "transfer" city for us ... Chris and I were taking a train out of Gothenburg to Oslo the morning of Sept. 17th and it would have been too early to leave from Vaxjo ... but it turned out to be a great city and we really enjoyed walking around with Carin & Emily. Here are pictures from our day there:

Our Hotel - First Hotel G, directly on top of the central train station in Gothenburg

Lobby of the hotel

Our posh room ... I loved the decor :)

Once we were checked in we caught a tram and headed to the old town for lunch

Picture in the cafe where we had lunch

Oooooo ... the desserts at the cafe were ... soooo delicious and worth every calorie!!

Window shopping

No explanation needed :) Carin is my Swedish sister!

The beautiful buildings in Gothenburg

Another beautiful scene - I just love the old buildings :)

Carin and Emily took a train back to Vaxjo once they had shown us the sights of Gothenburg and Chris and I got ready for our EARLY train to Oslo ... more adventures were waiting for us in Norway ... Goodbye Sweden!

Sweden: Vaxjo (9/14/07 & 9/15/07)

2007-09-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

We had a great time with Carin & Emily in Vaxjo (pronounced Va-quaw). They have a spacious apartment near the center of town and were excellent hosts :)

A view of the courtyard in front of their apartment complex.

The living room

The bedroom

The kitchen

Hanging out before dinner ...

This is a Swedish BBQ ... the chicken was pretty good!! I would have never thought that you could make chicken for 5 people on one of these tiny grills!

A fountain we walked past on the way to the city center - apparently the students in this college town were bored the night before because -as you can see - there were bubbles in the water and the water had been turned off. (lol)

Downtown Vaxjo

After touring the town we took a 30 min drive to the Kosta Boda glass-blowing factory and outlet stores. The factory was closed to visitors/tourists but the shops were open and we were able to see many of the glass bowls, glasses, vases, etc. that Kosta Boda produces.

After the Kosta Boda factory we went back to Vaxjo and had dinner with Carin, Emily, Ingeborg, and Malin at a cute restaurant in the center of town called Deluxe, or Cafe Deluxe ... or something like that :) It was delicious!

In the morning it was time to continue our trip ... all four of us (Carin, Emily, Chris and me) took a train to Gothenburg. Carin and Emily came with us to show us around and make sure we were settled into the hotel before heading home that same day ...

On to Gothenburg ...

Sweden: Atvidaberg (9/13/07)

2007-09-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

When our stay in Stockholm was over, we took a train to Atvidaberg where Carin's parents live. She and Emily drove up that evening after work from Vaxjo for a short visit and to take us back to Vaxjo the next day. Our visit in Atvidaberg was really great. We enjoyed the small, historical town and a gourmet dinner at Lisa & Valle's home. Here are pictures of our stay in Atvidaberg:

ALL ABOARD!

Carin's Parent's House - Atvidaberg, Sweden

Our three course, gourmet dinner included a delicious salad with prosciutto and capers and a main meal of pork, deer (courtesy of Valle's hunting skills), and home grown potatoes. Dessert was ice cream and cloudberry jam!
YUMM-O

Carin & Emily

Valle & Lisa

Chris & me

The bar is open: We all gathered after dinner for drinks and talked until around 2am!

The next morning we took a walk around the city center and passed by this area of the old town.

This is the old church in Atvidaberg ... beautiful landscaping and very well kept.

Inside the church - WOW

Cheeeeeese!

We had a wonderful visit with Valle & Lisa and around 4pm we were off to see where Carin & Emily live in Vaxjo, about 2 1/2 hrs. from Advitaberg ...

Sweden: Stockholm (9/12/07)

2007-09-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

Well ... as you can see, it's now the 17th and I am just now posting the blog for the 12th. :( Chris and I have been so busy that we're ready to pass out once we get back to the room! So ... I have decided that I will just post pictures with short captions for the rest of the trip. Pictures are what everyone wants to see anyway, right?!

Here are our pictures from Stockholm on 9/12/07

This is the city view from a street near our hotel, The Rival Hotel. Chris loves to find the highest point he can for a picture of the skyline and this was a lucky find because it wasn't on one of our tourist maps and it was a little off the beaten path. Stockholm is a very pretty city and as you can see the weather was beautiful - even though rain was in the forecast!!

Another city view from Nybroplan - the harbor area of Stockholm
at the water level near the sightseeing tourboat docks.

This was the subway station near our hotel in Stockholm ... it was the longest escalator EVER!

The Vasa Museum

SKANSEN

Chris and I in front of Skansen - a "theme park" of sorts that has exhibits demonstrating the old, traditional Swedish homes, villages, and animals. We were lucky to have Carin's suggestion for this because the tourist brochure doesn't do a very good job at explaining what all is included. This was a HUGE place and with the limited time we had to see everything we walked through very quickly ... it was practically deserted except for a few youngsters on a school fieldtrip.

Demonstration of the traditional way hay was stacked
in fields way way way back when (in Skansen)

Demonstration of old traditional Sami camp/village

REINDEER :)
Demonstration of the old traditional town square

The Royal Palace
(from afar, we didn't go until the next day)

OLD TOWN (Gamla Stan)

Old town square (the Nobel Peace Prize Museum is to the right)
Dinner at Koh Phangan, a Thai restaurant Carin suggested we visit while in Stockholm ... Mmmm, Mmmmm Good! I think the atmosphere actually made the food taste better!!

Goodnight Stockholm!

Finland - Aland - Stockholm (9/10/07 & 9/11/07)

2007-09-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

Sept 10^th We woke up early on our last morning in Finland so that we weren't late for our boat out of Turku to Aland (an island between Finland and Sweden that belongs to Finland). Kassu loaded up our bags and dropped us off – curbside service – at the boat terminal in Turku. The boats that cruise between Finland and Sweden are miniature versions of cruise ships – like Royal Caribbean or Carnival and the like. Since we were getting off the boat at the half way mark we only paid for the “deck class” and did not have a cabin. We stored our big bags in the luggage room and spent most of the 5 hour trip in the Panarama Bar – it is a dance club on one of the upper decks in the ship that is closed during the day but the doors remain open and passengers can sit in the booths that face outward toward the sea. They also make great resting places because it's quiet and has cushioned seats, making for a comfy lounge area. Chris and I were able to take a nap and wake up to beautiful scenery just outside the window. Chris could even walk out onto the outside deck of the ship and take pictures of the archipelagos as we sailed by.

We arrived in Aland around 5:30pm and took a cab to the hotel. The skies were gray and there was an intermittent drizzle of rain so we checked into our hotel and headed out for dinner. Luckily we found a cafe in the main shopping area of “downtown” Mariehamn (one of the main towns in Aland) that was open. Most of the little shops were closed already and so we decided to eat there before everything closed and we ran out of options.

Once we were full we bundled up and walked around town and along the harbor. We didn't stay out long though because everything was closed and it was cold! We went back to our warm hotel room and watched a couple movies on our laptop before heading into dream land.

Sept 11^th

When we woke up this morning the skies were still gloomy but it did not seem to be raining so we had breakfast and headed out on the town. We were only in Mariehamn until early afternoon so we wanted to see as much as we could before we headed out to Stockholm. We walked over to the shopping mall and peeked in the stores as we passed by. We wandered around the streets of Mariehamn but without a bike or moped there wasn't a lot to do. A lot of the stores or tourist attractions are seasonal and have closed up shop already – most close in mid August until May or June of the following year as there are not many people visiting in the Winter. We walked around taking pictures until our ship arrived to take us to Stockholm.

The boat ride to Stockholm was just like the one to Aland – relaxing and quiet. We found the same seats and took advantage of the time to catch up on the blog and take naps.

Coming into Stockholm by boat is an unforgettable experience. Like many other coastal cities we've visited, many of the larger buildings and church steeples are visible and Stockholm's skyline was a beautiful sight. We were very excited to get off the ship and head to the hotel so that we could start exploring the city and planning our route for the next day – our only full day in Stockholm.

From the ship we took a taxi to the Hotel Rival, which is owned by a former member of the popular Swedish group ABBA.

Once we were settled into the room we went out to walk around Soder, the area of town we were staying in. We walked around for about 30 minutes trying to find a good restaurant for dinner and eventually ended up back at the first one we had passed, The Viking Restaurant. We weren't exactly thrilled when we first walked in but they were the only restaurant with an English menu! We were pleasantly surprised when our food arrived and Chris definitely won for best meal. He ordered the Chicken & Curry Pasta which I'm hoping to recreate at home :) We returned to the hotel and set our alarm. We had a busy day planned for Stockholm on Wednesday!

Finland, Paimio (9/9/07)

2007-09-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

Today was an easy, laid back day to enjoy our last day in Finland. We took our time waking up, getting ready and eating breakfast. When we were ready for the day Mette took us to see a few final things in Paimio. First we went to see the indoor (cross-country) skiing rink ... burrrrr, it was cold. We decided that we didn't want to rent equipment and ski since it was quite expensive.
Instead Mette drove us to the ski jumping competition – the same place that Chris and I went with Lassi and climbed the stairs to the top a couple days before. This time of course, there were people actually flying down the ski jump and landing on the plastic “ground” beneath them. We saw crazy people of all ages – men and women – jumping for the longest distance prize. Girls and boys as young as 11 & women and men into their later years were competing and Chris, Mette & I watched in amazement. We all agreed that we could not (rather, would not) ever attempt that sport!

Later that afternoon we returned to the house and waited for some of my friends to come over. Mette arranged for Leena & Rosa – two – of my good friends during my exchange year – to visit that afternoon. Once they both got to the house we had tea and coffee and just talked a lot about how our lifes were going now and what had happened in the last 12 years. A lot had changed. Each one is now living outside of Paimio and doing really well. Neither one had changed much (they said the same about me, I guess 12 years isn't really all that long in the grand scheme of things) and I was really glad that we had the opportunity to see one another again. It was a sad goodbye – again – but our visit felt just like the old times when we would sit around gabbing and drinking coffee. Hopefully we'll be able to see each other again.

Shortly after Leena & Rosa left the house Mette told us that she too would head home soon. Her house was about an 1.5 hrs away and as everyone knows, Monday mornings come early! It was hard to say goodbye because we had such a great time during our visit but hopefully we will see each other again before too long. Chris and I headed off to our last sauna in Finland and then packed our bags for the next part of our journey. Kassu and Sari would take us to the boat dock in the morning and we would be heading out to Sweden. Our sincerest thanks to Mette and The Gronlunds for their hospitality ~ we really hope to be able to return the favor someday when you visit us in Sacramento.

OH ... here are some pictures of Chris tasting the jarred herring with potatoes that is a traditional Finnish food, mostly eaten at Christmas time. Considering that he doesn't like fish in general, he got major points for trying it out :)

Finland, Turku (9/8/07)

2007-09-11T23:16:00.000-07:00

Heading to Turku

Today we went to Turku with our fingers crossed that it would not rain. We started out at the river walk area. It was so amazing to me that there were barely any people out on the streets. Mette had to remind us a number of times that there are only 5 ½ million people in all of Finland and it was the start of their fall – she was right because it was cold and started raining shortly after we began to walk around Turku.

While we were walking along the river we saw many of the stationary ships that are restaurants as well as the Finnish Swan “Suomen Joutsen” that is now a museum. We were hoping to take a peek inside but it was closed :( We did get a preview of the Pharmacy (Apteekki) museum that is also along the river walk. The inside was a replica of the way the pharmacies looked a long long long long time ago ... it was really dark but there were hundreds of bottles of herbs and medicines lining the shelves along the walls. We also saw the old measuring and weighing tools. The women behind the counter were also dressed in the traditional clothes from (way back when, I don't know the dates).

Our next stop was Turku Castle “Turun Linna”. We were lucky that the majority of our morning in Turku was inside the castle because there was a heavy drizzle going by that time. Turku Castle was beautiful inside. Mette read to us from the English tour guide book as we walked from room to room which made it easier for us to take pictures and get a sense of how the castle was laid out and how it was used. The most amusing part of the tour for me was when we walked from the “prisoner” room to the guest room. Apparently they were right next to each other ... awkward!! LOL There were so many fascinating rooms and I just loved the furniture throughout the tour. I thought our furniture nowadays was big ... this stuff was enormous!! It was a great tour, although very long; we were all ready for lunch and so our next stop would be food ... :) OH, another cool thing we saw at the castle ... a wedding! The chapel in the castle was beautiful and we saw the preparations for a wedding later in the day. I was so curious to know where the couple was from because the photographer was giving them directions in English ... I didn't have the courage though to ask while they were posing for a picture in the corridor where they were from!! In any case, it looked like a beautiful place to get married ... hmmm, had I only known that was an option! j/k mom :)

As we were on our way to the car Mette asked what we wanted to eat. I requested “traditional” food since we had already eaten Hesburger three times! She headed out to find the Viking restaurant in downtown Turku but we ended up at a different restaurant because we weren't able to find parking near the Viking restaurant ... still it was pretty good. Mette and I both had Salmon and Chris opted for the garlic chicken. Everything was good and Chris even got everyone a soft serve afterwards :) YUM!

After lunch we walked around Turku's market square and saw a nice church just across the street. We walked over to take pictures and saw the priests were just walking out of the sanctuary and locking the doors. Mette asked a few questions in Finnish and the next thing I know the priest let us come in to take pictures. They had just finished their services and we could still smell the extinguished candles (and maybe some kind of incense).

As we walked across the market square Mette saw the Market Hall (the way shopping for groceries used to be it seemed). There were many traditional items for sale at each of the inside booths. Mette bought us reindeer jerky and musta-makkaara (black sausage – which we later found out has only blood and rice in it. Blah! As you can probably guess, Chris was the only one brave enough to take more than one bite!) When we tried the reindeer jerky later Chris said it smelled and tasted like dog food! LOL At least he tried it :)

After the market hall we walked over and picked Noora up from work and headed home. Sari was waiting for us and when we drove up we also saw that Henri was there with his son, Kimi, who is 3 yrs old. It was great to see Henri again and Kimi is definitely a popular little boy around the Gronlund house and he really enjoyed the fire truck that Chris and I brought for him.
That night Sari made one of my favorite dishes for dinner ... Spaghetti. Sari's spaghetti is very different from our spaghetti because the ground beef also has diced onions and shredded carrots in it. You put that over the noodles and top with ketsup. I know many of you are turning your nose up right now but I'm telling you ... it's delicious! I ate up until I thought I would pop, it was just like I remembered. When I thanked Sari and told her that it was very good, she said, “I know, you do not have to tell me that”. LOL It is her signature dish that everyone enjoys!

Finland, Paimio (9/6/07 & 9/7/07)

2007-09-11T22:51:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!! Yay :)

Chris and I prepared and saved for this trip for at least a year and in the few months before we left, the planning went into high gear ... so much so that I didn't have my normal birthday countdown. Add to this equation the 9 hr. time difference between the States & Finland. With all things considered, I woke up on the 6th – my birthday – thinking it was the 5th. As did Chris!! LOL We had been going non-stop since we arrived on the 2nd – we had already seen Hameenlinna, Tampere, Helsinki, and spent two nights at the summer cottage – we did not have any concept of what day it was. We had a good laugh once we figured out that it was indeed my birthday and Chris made up for not remembering (not knowing) with a really good back rub – my #1 favorite thing!!

We did not have any plans for the 6th so we woke up, ate breakfast and lounged around for the morning. Mette called from work and asked us to have lunch with her since we weren't off sight-seeing that day. We picked her up from work (since we had her car) and we all headed to the local gas station / Hesburger (Finland's equivalent to McD's)/ Mini Market that was right across the street from her office. After lunch we visited some shops in Karkkila before heading back home. Once back at Mette's place Chris passed out (asleep) because he wasn't feeling well, he got a cold on the way over, and I packed up our bags and got ready to head to Paimio for the second half of our stay in Finland.

When we arrived in Paimio the house was empty – everyone was still at work. Mette gave us a tour of the house and most things were the same. Appliances were upgraded since I had been there 12 yrs ago and some rooms switched around after the kids moved out but overall it still felt like my Finnish home :)

Mette, Chris and I were out in the backyard when the parents (Kassu & Sari) arrived so we hid on the side of the house until they were inside and then we rang the doorbell for a proper greeting. We were welcomed with open arms and big hugs!

Later that evening Noora and her boyfriend, Lassi, came over to say hello. We had to re-introduce ourselves since Noora was so young the last time I was here. It was really neat (and very different than last time) because we are both adults now and the conversation was no longer about Barbies and Pochahontas LOL. She is coming into her own and is a responsible and talented 19 yr old. She is an art student and hopes to design clothes professionally once she graduates. She has already made a number of dresses that were proudly on display in her old room and the sewing room at Kassu & Sari's house.

Before dinner was ready the entire family was called into the kitchen and Chris and I were told to stay put! A minute later they all came into the living room singing “Hyvaa Syntymapaivaa”, which is “Happy Birthday”. They gave me two beautiful pieces of Kalevala jewelry – a silver necklace chain with a heart pendant and a bronze/gold round link bracelet. I didn't even think they knew it was my birthday so it was a pleasant surprise for me!

Once we had dinner everyone turned in for the night and Chris and I decided that the next day we'd walk into Paimio's city center (which could be compared to Dixon's city center – LOL). I was excited to show him the high school I went to and the little shops on the main street.

September 7th, 2007

This morning we were woken up by my cell phone ringing ... Lassi (Noora's boyfriend) was going to go to work at the shipyard in Turku and wanted us to come along – he is a foreman at a steel mill. This was quite a privilege because visitors are not usually permitted into the shipyard – especially now since they are in the process of building the world's largest cruise liner for Royal Caribbean, The Independence of the Seas. Chris and I jumped out of bed, got dressed and were just stuffing breakfast down when Lassi rang the bell and ... off we went!

The shipyard was HUGE and there were workers everywhere. We were required to wear hard hats and safety goggles so I was thanking God that cameras/pictures were not allowed! Hehehehe The Independence was gigantic and it was really neat to walk around while the ship was still in the building stages. The Hull of the ship was assembled but the back end had yet to be completed. Lassi took us up and down stairs, showed us where the theater would be, where the swimming areas would be and where the biggest of the ship's restaurants would be. It was massive, and it wasn't even a completed ship yet! While we were there – the sole reason that Lassi had to go to work that day – Lassi's crew tested the life boat hoists with weights that were 9900 kilos each (I believe that is equivalent to 10 tons). The test was to “lose the brakes” and try to stop the weights from falling. It was incredible to witness this being done and to be on the world's largest cruise liner as it was being built :) We felt very fortunate. (The only bummer was that we weren't allowed to take pictures of the site - understandably so.)

After Lassi was done at work he drove us all around Paimio – we walked through the school I used to go to and the new library, it was really neat to see that again and it was just like I remembered it. Once we walked through the school Lassi took us to the ski jump for Paimio. Ski jumping is a huge sport in Finland – whether there is snow or not! We got to see the “summer” version of the jump which is hard, slippery plastic that allows the skis to slide, just like snow would. All three of us climbed the stairs up to the top of the tower for the highest jump there ... phew! What a tiring climb but the amazing views were well worth it. Once we were done being chauffeured around town Chris and I hung out at the house until everyone got home from work. Kassu & Sari packed up a picnic dinner and we headed out for a hike at a nature path in Paimio that led us through a forest which demonstrated many types of trees and landscapes in the Finnish wilderness – swamps, leafy trees, needle trees, and others. When we reached the highest point of the path we unpacked the sausages, breads, cheese, etc. for dinner and built a fire to grill the sausages. The community of Paimio maintains the nature path and provides wood for bonfires – so it is not hard to build the fire or gather wood. While eating dinner we could see the town of Paimio below and all of the surrounding nature areas. Once we packed up dinner we completed the nature walk and headed home. As soon as we got home Chris was in bed – still nursing his cold and the walk took every ounce of energy he had! The rest of us enjoyed sauna before hitting the hay and planned on visiting Turku the next day.

Finland: Helsinki (9/5/07)

2007-09-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

well ... now we can pick up from where we left off ....

On Wednesday, September 5th, we returned to Mette's place from the summer cottage and on Mette's way to work she dropped me and Chris off at the bus station and we headed to Helsinki.

Helsinki is a beautiful coastal city. Chris and I made our way from the bus station, past the railway station, through the park, into the harbor area and climbed onto a boat that took us out into the eastern archipaelgos of Helsinki. We saw many of the island homes and the neatest thing for me was to see the saunas perched right at sea level with stairs leading down to the water. It is Finnish custom to go to sauna for a few minutes and then go outside for a couple minutes, back to sauna again and then outside again. So, when you have a sauna that close to the sea you can go to sauna for a few minutes and then dip into the sea for a couple of minutes, and so on. It may sound crazy to us but it is really refreshing!

After the water tour Chris and I walked the city and visited Senate Square. The Cathedral in the center of the square is magnificent inside and out. We climbed the steps and went inside (we had to be silent while there - at the request of the church) to see the beautiful podeum, pews and decorative dome. It was really quiet and all you could hear was the clicks of the cameras and a few whispers here and there.

After that we walked back down to the shopping area, grabbed a bite to eat at Carrol's (the Finnish equivelant to McD's) and hopped on a sightseeing tram. Chris and I had an interesting experience on the tram ... since we are not familiar with the Finnish "rules" on public transportation we hopped on and grabbed the nearest pole since there was only standing room available. At the next stop many people got off the tram and Chris and I naturally took a seat. At the next stop Chris got a nudge on the shoulder from an older woman but didn't realize that she was asking us to move. Finally she glared at us and said "Are you an invalid?" and pointed up to a sign clearly demonstrating that those seats were to be given to pregnant, elderly or invalid people. Ooops. We apologized and hopped up out of the seats. The rest of our tram ride was smooth sailing and we didn't upset anyone else. I wonder if it would have sounded so snappy had she been able to talk to us in Finnish ... but, then-again, she wouldn't have had to point out the obvious if we were Finns! OK, so lessons learned :)

The tram was helpful in getting around to some of the tourist attractions that were a bit too far to walk to. Our first stop was the Church in the Rock. The church is built into a rock (duh) and the round dome is all you can see if you are looking at the church from a higher perch. When you walk into the church you can see the surrounding walls are rock and there are beautiful windows that allow sunshine in (when it's not raining or snowing ... but that would be beautiful too!) and casts amazing shadows inside. People were again respectful of the request for quiet viewing and we were able to climb the stairs into the balcony seating for a panoramic view of the main sanctuary. I wish that we would have been able to attend a service in the church because it was a beautiful, serene atmosphere.
Our next stop on the tram was Olympic Stadium. The 1952 Olympic games were hosted in Helsinki and the stadium remains in quite good shape. For a small fee (2,00 EUR) you can take a (not so comforting) ride in the one elevator to the top of the observation tower. The elevator ride was worth the views from atop the tower. We saw all of Helsinki and the entire Olympic sport complexes.
While we were in the observation tower Mette called to let us know she was in Helsinki and ready to see some sights with us -- although she has lived here her entire life, there were some places she had never been. Our last tourist attraction for the day was the Jean Sibelius Monument. Sibelius was a famous Finnish composer that the Finns are very proud of. Here is the shiny monument for all to see .... the silver pipes don't play music but are representative of Jean Sibelius' love of music.
Once we were done with the "touristy" stuff Mette took us to a park in Helsinki with great walking paths that follow along the water and have really good views of the city across the harbor ... the areas that we were not able to visit. :)

Since we still had sunlight left Mette took us to an old city outside of Helsinki called Porvoo. Many people come to see the old part of the city that looks similar to how it did years and years ... and years ago. The old city center and the neighborhoods surrounding it are connected with cobblestone roads and there is a very large church atop one of the hills. Unfortunately the church was burned down by a couple teenagers last year and so they are now rebuilding it. Church services and functions have been relocated to other places in Porvoo.
Our day was complete and we headed back to Karkkila. That night we grilled sausages and packed our bags because we were off to Paimio the next day.

Finland: Hämeenlinna, Tampere & Summer Cottage (9/3 & 9/4)

2007-09-06T05:57:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

Chris and I have had an amazing 3 days since I last posted an update. I'm going to try to make this short & sweet with more visuals (pictures) than before since I'm not sure how much time I have before we're off to Paimio, my Finnish "hometown". I am really excited to see my host-parents, Kassu and Sari, and other host-siblings, Noora and Henri. I have been staying with one of my host-sisters, Mette who is my age, and she now lives about an hour from Paimio so we have not yet seen the other family. Noora was 7 when I was here 12 yrs ago, making her 19 now!! I am going to feel soooooooo old when I see her!! LOL. Henri was older and had already moved out of the parent's house when I was there on exchange but we did see him regularly too. I am sure I will have pictures of them soon but for now there is a lot to tell everyone about our first days here.

Our first full day here was Monday, September 3rd. Mette & Pete had to work that day so Mette left us her car and we headed out to Hämeenlinna and Tampere.

Hämeenlinna is a small town with a lot of historical background. The main attraction there is the castle which dates back to xxx:

Chris and I walked around the main rooms of the castle and both agreed that we would not have survived long during those days. There were interesting deep pits (for lack of a better word, well-like holes might be a better description) and small, dark hallways (not good if your a little clausterphobic, like me!) and cold, echo-y rooms. We were both happy to be on the outside!

After visiting Hämeenlinna we continued to Tampere which is the third largest city in Finland. We started off by visiting one of Chris' favorite things ... a high tower that gives you a birds-eye view of the city. If the city we're visiting has a tower you can bet that Chris will find it and climb it! The picture to the right is Tampere and, as we later learned, it has quite an industrial history. The Finlayson cotton factory was the bread and butter for most of the residents. The visitor's guide that we had explained that the factory was a city within a city. There were material shops, doctors, etc. available for all employees - sounds a lot like the logging industry and industrial towns in the States! The Finlayson has since become a museum with shops and restaurants - again, a lot like our industrial cities too! Here are a few more pictures from Tampere:

Once we were back at Mette's place after seeing the sights at Hämeenlinna and Tampere, we immediately got in the car and headed to Pete's family's summer cottage (seen here)

Needless to say, the cottage was more like a summer house - much bigger than I expected. We stayed at the cottage Monday evening and all of Tuesday. Since we arrived later in the evening on Monday we were up very late and Mette & Pete were nice enough to build a fire in the sauna so that Chris could experience sauna for the first time! He wouldn't let me take a picture though!! LOL After sauna we ate dinner and drank beer, Mette even had us try the Finnish licorice vodka! Mmmm ... we slept very good that night!

After sleeping in until 10am on Tuesday we three (Pete had gone to work) launched the boat into the lake and went fishing. To Mette's disappointment we weren't getting any bites :( The lake was beautiful though - still, clear waters and we were the ONLY people on the lake! Both Chris and I enjoyed the Finnish fishing expedition. :)

After fishing Mette drove us to a horse stable to show us the "Finnish" horse, Finn Horse. They have recently passed the one-hundred year mark for having been pure-bred in Finland and were designed to be a sturdy, strong and brave horse. The picture here is of a male Finn Horse that reminded me of Tina Turner because of it's hair! hehehehe

Once we were done visiting the horses Mette drove us into town to shop for grocery. We then returned to the cottage and walked through the forest to gather birch tree leaves in order to make "vasta". It is a bunch of birch leaves that you use to "hit" yourself in the sauna and it stimulates circulation ... and smells great! That evening (still Tuesday) we went to sauna again and grilled steaks to go along with more beer! I loved the cottage life ... everything was great ... all except for the toilets! LOL I know some of you have been worrying about me since I thought that there was no running water in the cottage. Well, I was right. Sort of. There is a kitchen sink (regular faucet and all)that has cold water coming into it from a well and you can mix it with water heated on the stove or in an electric tea kettle - no problems there. The only difference was that the bathroom was an outhouse ... if you know me, you know I don't do outhouses. It is a "phobia" of mine, just as it would be if a clausterphobic person had to use an elevator! I am glad to report though that I got along just fine and essentially I conquered my dislike/fear of the outhouse! :) Here is a picture of it ... probably the nicest outhouse I've ever seen ...

We left the cottage on Wednesday morning so that Mette could make it into work and Chris and I caught the bus into Helsinki for some sight-seeing. I have more to tell about that but it is now 12:36 a.m. here and we have an early start. I will continue my "journal" sometime tomorrow and we will pick up at our visit to Helsinki :)

Jenn

PS. Thank you for all of the birthday wishes (either as a comment here or through email)! I had a wonderful day and will tell you all about it in my next post.

We're heeeerrreeeee ...

2007-09-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

A very quick note\update to let you all know that we arrived safe and sound ... and tired. I believe that it is now 12pm on Sunday afternoon at home. It is 9pm on Sunday for us and we've only had little naps since we woke up at 6am Saturday!! Needless to say, we're off to bed very soon. All of our flights were GREAT, very little turbulance and wonderful customer service. We even arrived early at both Amsterdam and Helsinki. When we landed for our transfer in Amsterdam we had time to take a train from the airport to the city center - we walked around for about 10 min, took quick pics and headed back to the airport. We were so confused when trying to buy tickets from the kiosk that we just got on the train and the "ticketman" let us ride to the city for free. We did buy tickets back into the airport but no one checked - so if ever you're in Amsterdam, just get on and ride until someone asks you for a ticket :) Mette picked us up at the airport right on time and brought us back to her home. It was so great to see the Finnish countryside and foreign language signs again. A little bit came back to me as we were driving but most of it looks like jumblings. Mette had cooked dinner for us and everything. I had forgotten how good the food was here and now I'm going to bring the recipes home with me! Tomorrow we will visit Tampere and Hameenlinna in Finland before heading off to the summer cottage. We probably won't be able to update you on our excursions until after returning to civilization (power outlets) on Wednesday or Thursday :) Hope all is well, enjoy the holiday Monday! The Fields

On the Way

2007-09-01T07:54:00.000-07:00

Chris and I are on the way, ready to go!! We're praying the traffic into SF is good since the Bay Bridge is closed :( I'm SUPER tired, so hopefully I'll be able to sleep on the plane ... I'm not the best flyer and drive Chris bonkers with my worrying. I read an article in our church newsletter a couple days ago that really helped me calm any fears and remembered that it's all in God's hands. OK ... more to come soon. We are on our way to my mom and Richard's house since they're taking us to the airport (awsome parents that they are!) and I'll write once we get to Finland! We'll miss you guys! (sorta) ;) Jenn

Getting ready to go ....

2007-08-30T22:22:00.000-07:00

Hello all ... Chris and I are taking off Saturday for our long awaited, three week vacation to Finland, Sweden & Norway! This is going to be our journal while we're traveling so stay tuned for updates on where we are and what we're doing abroad.

For those of you wondering "why Finland, Sweden & Norway?" ... here is a little summary of why we are so excited to go: I was an exchange student in Finland my junior year of high school. It was a wonderful year and I have wanted to go back ever since the day I left! The country is beautiful and everyone I met was so friendly and welcomed me with open arms. I loved my exchange year. I'm so excited to see my host family again - Kassu, Sari and their kids - Henri, Mette & Noora. I have kept in touch with Mette through emails for 12 years and most (ok, all) of my communication to the rest of the family has gone through her since I don't remember most of what I learned of the Finnish language (apparently one of the hardest to learn). Every time I try to think of a Finnish word or phrase, I get it mixed up with the Spanish word or phrase and can't decifer which is which; it's quite frustrating. I'm interested to see if I'm still able to understand any of the Finnish conversation. I doubt it. (sorry mom - it was still money well spent!)

Sweden will be the second stop on the trip. The first few days we'll be in Stockholm before heading South to visit our friend Carin. Many of you know Carin, or have at least heard me mention Carin because ever since my senior year of high school she has been one of my best friends and, actually, I consider her family - my sister :) Carin was an exchange student to the States in 1996/1997. She was paired up with my friend's family and It became apparent early on during her stay that things weren't going to work out with that family. We had met in classes at Dixon High School, became good friends and so it was decided that she would come to live with me, my mom & my brother, Brian. The rest is history! We were inseperable and did almost everything together until the very sad day that she had to go home. Fortunately, she has been able to come back 3 or 4 times to visit since leaving in '97 and now it's our turn to endure the long flight to visit her home. Of course I had been to Sweden during my year in Finland but I was never able to go further than Stockholm and was only there for a few hours at most before we all got back on the boat to head back to Finland. Now that Chris has met Carin a few times, it's a great feeling to share the excitment of visiting her during our trip.

Norway will be our last stop and ... well ... we don't know anyone there so we don't have any other reason to visit besides 'why not, we're so close that we might as well go there too!' Chris loves different landscapes and to be able to visit the fjords of Norway will be icing on the cake!

We'll be traveling by every kind of transportation I can think of ... planes, trains, automobiles, boats and buses ... can't wait to tell you all about it in the next few weeks! Please send up some prayers for us on Saturday that our flights are on time and uneventful. LOL Smooth skies and alert pilots :)

'til next post,
Jenn & Chris

(please feel free to comment or say hi to us while we're away. our email is candjfields@gmail.com)