Luukas turns 2!

Happy 2nd birthday Luukas! We started the celebrations last Sunday with his birthday dinner and some friends came over. He opened a couple presents: a basketball hoop, a buzz light year and Harold the helicopter. I'm hoping these toys will encourage him to be a little more manly since he still prefers necklaces and purses. (thanks to Kaija) Then, we took a weekend trip to Seattle to join Teem, who had to go for a dental conference. We didn't get to see him during the days, but we spent the evenings together. The kids and I spent Friday morning (which was Luukas' actual birthday) at the Seattle Aquarium and Saturday at Woodland Park Zoo. The aquarium was nice and not crowded at all. They even got to see "Nemo" and "Dory". There was a big dome fish tank and Kaija kept looking for Ariel since she saw the eels (who she thought were Fletsum and Jetsum). She was convinced that Ariel was hiding behind something and at any moment she would show herself. We had Luukas' birthday with some of Teem's friends at the Old Spaghetti Factory, which was a perfect place to take kids. As a side note, the first night we were there (we got there before Teem...long story...so it was just the kids and me) I didn't feel like searching for a restaurant so we just went to the one at the hotel and it was FANCY-SCHMANCY! They didn't even have ketchup for the hamburger, but luckily they were able to get the kids some noodles. I felt a little out of place with the kids, so we just ate really quick and went swimming. The day at the zoo was great, but a little chillier than I would prefer. They had all the usual animals and even an indoor play place to take a break from the wind. We got lucky with no rain and even a little sunshine, which I hear is rare for Seattle in March. The kids liked the monkeys and giraffes. The scariest animal for me was the peacock because I thought it was going to attack us when we walked by. It was just roaming the sidewalks and shook it's feathers when we got a little close. For sure the highlight of our trip for Kaija was swimming at the hotel pool in the evenings (because that's when she turned into a mermaid). For Luukas, it was pushing the buttons for the elevator. His enthusiasm for the buttons never diminished. Ahhh, if only we could be so easy to please. We stayed at the Marriott on the waterfront and let me tell you, they bend over backwards to accommodate their guests. We brought Luukas' present that my parents gave him so that he had something to open on his birthday. It required a screw driver and one phone call later, we had a screw driver. The last night were were there, Teem really wanted some popcorn, so he asked the front desk if there was a microwave that he could use. They didn't hesitate and said, "oh sure, we'll send one right up." We are usually not such high maintenance guests, but it was nice to be treated well. Sorry for my lengthy travel log, but it's the only record I'm keeping of our lives right now.