Summer's out, school's in

Well, here we go with our very first blog in English! We started this so that we can share our everyday doings (and undoings) with all our friends abroad, post pictures and links right on the page. We will keep emailing everyone personally, of course, but the general diary-like things we will post in this blog. Do write your comments here, too - maybe we all can end up having some interesting discussions :)

So - hello everyone in different parts of the world, wherever you are!

Our vacation season is well and truly over. Marko's been back to work for three weeks, and the boys' school started last week. Atte is now an eager first-grader, and Reko enjoyed joining his classmates for his second grade year.






Atte's first school morning








Reko's 1st morning on 2nd grade









Annu has been working shifts at a group home for young people, and evidently she has made an impression: the owners offered her a full-time job for a year that she promptly accepted. She will begin her new job on Sept. 1.

The summer vacation itself was fun. We did a bit of travelling around Southern Finland, visiting friends, relatives - and theme parks.





Atte and the Skywheel







Close to the end of our holidays old friends (hi Suvi, hi Ingo!) celebrated their marriage, so we had the chance to catch up with both them and a mutual friend, Lorraine, whom we got to know during Suvi's early days in Singapore.

Lorraine flew here from her current home in Melbourne, Australia, and spent a whopping three weeks all over Finland, plus a trip to St Petersburg, Russia. We were lucky to host her twice during her Finnish journey. She left only yesterday, and we're still smarting - it was ten years we'd last seen her (seems we've specialized in overlong periods of separation). Reko said that she brought extra joy to our home, so Lorraine, we do hope and believe we'll meet you again in about 330 days time, in Toronto, corner of Dundas (it was not Spadina after all!) and Bloor. Ok?





Annu and Lorraine, farewells at Helsinki Airport







Our next summer's plans have evolved a bit again. We have found a very nice apartment hotel in Toronto. We plan to stay there for four weeks and spend another four weeks in Virginia and Michigan. (Sterling & Kathy, Jack & Jeannette: we'll ask about your schedules for next year over email very soon) This means us staying in N. America from about June 7 to the beginning of August.

Even if this summer's fun and games are now the stuff of memories, one has to have fun, too. The Living Thing, Marko's Electric Light Orchestra tribute band, played their second concert on the 17th, and at least we got a picture of the stage, if not the band:





10 minutes before going on stage...




Neat, eh? We'll try and get some pics of the band too, next time ;-)