Third Christmas in Canada

This was already our third Christmas in Canada. Also this year we went to the farm to spend it with Kevin's family. We did make our own ham and Finnish traditional dishes the days before Christmas, since we went already up to the farm on the 24th. We had dinner on Christmas eve according to the Polish Catholic tradition, where you are supposed to fast and eat your meals as simple as possible without eggs and milk. On Christmas day we had turkey and a lot of Lara's baking. The pond in front of the house had such smooth, thick ice that the guys decided to set up a hockey game after dinner. During the night it had snowed quite a bit and the next morning we woke up to a white winter wonderland. Now we are back home for a few days, until we go up to Collingwood for New Year's.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Ohio-Pennsylvania road trip

At the end of the summer Juha's brother, Juuso came to visit us. At the end of his two week trip, we made a road trip to the States together with Kevin and Eileen. First, we had THE Buffalo wings at the Anchor bar in Buffalo (although to us St. Louis has still the best wings). From Buffalo we drove the interstate to Cleveland and spent the night in a cheap motel somewhere in Dunkirk Fredonia... 

The next day we continued to Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland has an old town with a farmer's market, where we hung out the whole afternoon. After the old town, we went to see the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame and the Baseball stadium. We decided to stay the night in a fancy hotel and party a bit that night. However I had a really bad flu and stayed in after dinner. The others continued to explore the night life of Cleveland (which disappointed everyone a bit). 

The next morning we continued our road trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On our way we made a pit stop at a fashion outlet, where everyone found something. It was late in the afternoon when we arrived in Pittsburgh and we decided to go up the Duquesne incline. On top we had some amazing views over the city and its rivers. We were really surprised to see how quiet down town was on a Sunday evening. We took some great pics at sunset near the river and after we went to look for a nice place to have dinner. There was this little square with restaurants, but all of them were full. In the end we had some pub food and decided down town Pittsburgh was no fun. We decided to already drive a bit back to Toronto that night, so the next day we would make it on time to the airport for Juuso's flight back home. 

After again a hotel night somewhere in the middle of nowhere we accidentally decided to drive back some smaller roads, however with beautiful scenery. It did slow us down a bit and so a quick stop in Buffalo for lunch and no time for duty free shopping at the border. 

We had a lot of fun and it was great to see again some different states in the USA. 

Finland

Our trip to Finland was nice and we got to see a lot of family and friends. We traveled a lot around the country so we could see as many people as possible. We visited Juha's hometown, went to my parent's summer cottage, saw friends in Helsinki and family at the west coast. We were gone for almost a month and it was nice to relax and just enjoy Finland. Of course it was sad to leave all the people we love behind, but we must confess it's good to be back in Toronto as well. At the moment, this does feel like home.

Finland is full with wooden buildings

Family reunion at the west coast

beautiful sunset

family

coffee time

Can't get enough of these

strawberry picking with mom

parent's summer cottage

Tuomiokirkko in Helsinki

Russian Orthodox church in Helsinki

So red and so sweet

At the cottage

Finnish vegetable "makkara" ;) - sausage

sunny morning walk in Helsinki

My beautiful girlfriends

Cousin's cottage near Helsinki

Godson running hurdles :)

"shortcut" through the woods

With my lovely girlfriend Anne

captains Juha and Lasse