Let the summer vacations begin

We are leaving town tomorrow, first to Portland for my brother-in-law, Paul's graduation from Chiropractic School. Then Monday we fly out to Dallas to stay with my parents for a few weeks. While I'm there, Teem and I are flying to Finland for 10 days while my mom watches the kiddos. I'm pretty excited. So I might be missing in action from my blog, but somehow I know you will all get along just fine without me. Happy summer.

Going above and beyond

So for anyone that knows my husband, Teem, knows that when he does something (i.e. the igloo this past winter) he does it with passion. (or something like that). Needless to say, it keeps our lives interesting. For memorial weekend, we went down to Portland to be with his family. He told me ahead of time he already planned a Sunday dinner, so nobody had to worry it. Well, little did I know, he planned the largest Cajun-style feast north of Louisiana. It was quite the occasion, or should I say, "O-Cajun". (Sorry, I couldn't help myself). I didn't realize the extent of the planning until a fed-ex box arrived at his mom's house on Saturday afternoon. There was about 20 pounds of shrimp, crawdads and alligator meat. I tried one of everything and I must say, the alligator was actually tasty. I'm not a shrimp-lover, but all those who like shrimp said it was the best they'd had. (there's pictures of the dinner in the slide show above).
We had a great time over the weekend. We spent a day at a small lake that had a nice park. We also hiked Multnomah Falls (very pretty), and thanks to my brother-in-law Paul who carried Kaija about half way after her legs were 'so very tired'. We even had a thunderstorm one night which hardly ever happens in that area. It's almost always the annoying drizzle that lasts all day long, so that was fun. After noticing that the street around the corner had flooded, Teem and his two brothers-in-law decided to jump in his dad's canoe (a metal canoe) shortly after the thunderstorm. Not the brightest bunch, but they are still around to talk about their adventure.
For my birthday, again Teem went above and beyond. He came home with a giant box and I knew the minute I held it (it was quite light) what he had done. Eight boxes later I got my present which was a stunning pair of earrings. Thanks Teem, you're the best. Kaija and Luukas really enjoyed the opening process and the aftermath. Overall, the last couple of weeks have been wonderful. We are still working on a name for our little baby, but stay tuned b/c I might post a poll to get people's opinions.