It’s Never All Gonna Be Smooth Sailing, Is It?! Finndian Update Part 2

We had another fun filled day today, after a very restless night.

Trying to sleep as a family in one bedroom in a hotel is ever easy, but when one member comes in slightly sozzled from a great night out, the ensuing bumping around, and settling down is guaranteed to wake the little people up!

There I was requesting Hubby Dearest to be quiet, and Lil Man woke up, worried we were arguing, and getting divorced! After reassuring him, we settled down, to hear a little ‘poot’ and Lil Princess giggling and saying ” It was only me!”

All this at 3am!

It had been planned that we would visit the Helsinki Zoo today that requires a ferry trip, as the zoo is on an island. We went, but all like zombies!

The whole family crew was tired, as even my nephew had decided it would be a great idea to wake at 6am, instead of 8am.

But the trip was fun, and the zoo was great, even though a nesting Canadian goose decided to attack me, as I rummaged in my bag to get a camera out! It pecked the top of my head, and I was in a little shock for a while!

But we saw lions, tigers, leopards, monkeys, reindeer, emus and wallabies, bears and all other animals! The kids were tired, but they had fun. It was another hot day reaching over 23 degrees celsius today!

After we had eaten a quiet family dinner, Lil Princess was sick. Wonderful!

Not sure if it was something she ate, a bug, or heat stroke!

But we came back to the hotel and settled down for an early night. Then she was quietly sick again, in her bed! It was lucky I woke, what if she’d choked on her own vomit?!

The Hotel staff were great and changed all the bedlinen. But it means that I was wide awake again, so here I am, on my 3rd post of the night! Oh well, at least I caught up on my challenges!

We are meant to be going on a speedboat ride tomorrow… but it may not be all of us going, with my Lil girl feeling how she is. And I need to be up at 5am to check in online for our return flight!

I can already feel the yawns….

 

 

Finndian Update!

Moi all!

That’s ‘Hello’, for those of you that aren’t familiar with Finnish, or you could say ‘Hey’!

So far we have had a fantastic time!

The journey to the airport could have been a bit better, we got stuck in traffic… thank you M25! But we got there in time, checked in, and had a few rushed moments to get to duty-free, then on to the flight.

It is not fun travelling with two kids at that “I HATE my brother/sister” stage, and that is exactly what we were dealing with here!

But we managed to land without bloodshed and the promise that Hubby Dearest sit in between them on the way home!

In the taxi, Lil Man was practising his Finnish, or the one word he knows… Moi. If said twice, Moi Moi, it means bye.  He asked the driver if, because we say Moi for ‘hello’, and Moi Moi for ‘bye’, is ‘bye-bye’ Moi Moi Moi Moi? That got a few giggles!

We arrived, and the hotel was great, though the room really HOT!  We had been upgraded from a family room to a superior room, though I struggled to tell the difference… still, we got a balcony and a sea view!

My brother snuck out without letting Pops know and popped over to see us, to make plans for the forthcoming surprise then left, so we could get unpacked.

The next day was the surprise photo shoot.

As we were eating breakfast, I got the following message from my Pops…

Sat Siri Akal everyone.
Just had breakfast.
Talking to your brother, I told him it was always in my mind, I wish we had a whole family photo so that I can see the whole family as I get up in the morning, rather than loooking at individual pics.
He says when they come to the UK in July we will do something.
May Guruji make his idea and our wish true.
Wish you were here today.
Don’t get upset, I love my whole clan dearly.

That’s it, he knows. We were convinced. The surprise has got leaked…

We were convinced. The surprise has got leaked…

The surprise has got leaked…

My brother came to get us. And he reassured me that no, Pops has no idea, but he was just very emotional this morning, wishing we could have all been together.

Mum, my sis in law, nephew, and Pops were at the studio and we arrived 5 minutes after them.

It was a good thing Pops was sitting down when we came in.

His face just dropped in shock, then he gave me the biggest hug, and said, ” I have no words…”

There were tears, many hugs, and lots of love flying around, as he came to terms with the fact that his wish was going to come true!

The photo shoot went swimmingly, with whole family shots, individual family shots, all the combinations you could imagine, and some individual shots too… My brother thought it could be a good shot for when I finally get that book out there, and can say I am officially a ‘Writer’!

Since then, we have walked lots, been to many of the numerous parks for children littered around the inner city of Helsinki, And Lil Man got to go to the Team Finland cricket stadium, which he loved! We’ve been to the Cathedral, markets, the Wooden Church, and the kids saw the giant Weeing Man too!

It was soooo hot today too, 23 degrees celsius, which , though pleasant, I wasn’t prepared for!

Still, walking lots, in slightly warm clothes, may do wonders for my weight loss!

Tomorrow we head out, on the ferry to the zoo! It’s on an island!

It’s been wonderful, building special memories for us all, with Pops and Mum, and my brother and sis-in-law, my own little family, and most importantly, my lil nephew. We don’t get to see him enough, so these few days are even more precious so that his little 18 months self can remember us all too. Those little giggles, the cheeky monkey faces and hugs are so amazing!

I will post photos when I am back at home, but it has been wonderful so far!

 

 

Finally, I Can Tell You All!

Sorry, for the build up to this, but it is a pretty big event in my life!

I told you it was something personal, family-based.

Well, as you read this, I am now sitting, not in the UK but on holiday!

Not any usual holiday, but a special surprise treat for my Pops!

It was his 70th as you know last week, and I was unable to physically be with him on that day. But he’s been busy celebrating! Two family functions on his actual birthday where he was honoured, and a surprise birthday party on Tuesday from some more family!

Then my mum booked tickets for them to go to Finland, to see my Finndian family. He was so happy, but a little gutted that we weren’t able to be together…

But that’s where he was wrong!

Hubby Dearest and I, along with the munchkins, secretly booked to be there too!

It has been his dearest wish that his whole little family be together, and able to spend a proper holiday at least once, so we all thought this would be the best present for him!

As this publishes, we should be going for a photo shoot. Another surprise! He knows that they are having a generational portrait taken, with Pops, his son, and grandson, but we are going to make an appearance at the studio, to totally surprise him! I hope he likes the plan!

It had been so hard to keep this a secret from him, but the kids have also been great at not saying anything too. There have been Whatsapp group messages pinging to and fro, phone calls, shopping trips and all sorts, and finally, we are here!

So, forgive me if I am not too active the next few days, but I promise to be back with lots of updates!

We haven’t been on a family holiday abroad for 4 years, so the break is long overdue for us too!

Have a wonderful few days Peeps!

I can’t say I won’t be around, the hotel has free WiFi, but I probably shan’t be posting too much!!!!! And I will catch up on my return! 🙂

#SoCS May 28/16 – Press

Linda’s SoCS Prompt this week…

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “Press.” Find a word that starts with press-, ends with -press, or use “press” as a word all by itself. Have fun!

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I have a pressing need to write this post as soon as I can. After all, I shall be rather busy on Saturday. No time to be pressing keys on my Surface, or tapping my iPad screen.
It is going to be hard to express myself clearly today, as I am still keeping a BIG secret, and aside from a chosen few, no one knows.  I am able to keep secrets pretty well you know!
When Lil Princess was growing in my womb, pressing upon my bladder, we had the scan done, to see what sex our baby was. Knowing a little girl was coming to make our family complete was a dream come true, but we decided not to tell anyone…. That was HARD!
I love to talk, and am generally pretty open about everything, so when people were asking if we knew, my lips were pressed tightly shut. I wasn’t going to be the one to blab, not me! I was going to prove to my Hubby Dearest that I could keep secrets!
When she arrived, it was the most wonderful gift for everyone, and when I was finally able to confess that we knew, my mum called me a ‘little rascal’! A mother of 2 being called a little rascal at her maternity bedside! And by her mother! They were all actually impressed that I did manage to keep a secret for so long! And honestly, apart from Hubby Dearest, no one else but me knew! And the sonographer obviously!
Coming back to today, I am not actually being pressed to keep a secret from everybody, but I have to be careful not to let one person know something, hence the secrecy on here… because if I was to write something and they decided that it would be a good idea to read my blog that day, I’ll be buggered!
(Don’t worry, I have a scheduled post tomorrow which will reveal all! It may mot be a big deal for some, but it’s HUGE for me! Can’t wait to see the expression on someone’s face!!!)

There! That was some Stream of Consciousness there! and I managed to get Press into every paragraph somehow or another!!!!

The #BloggersBash Agenda and Who’s Who

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