At home!!!

We have been at home, Playa Hermosa, for a week now!

The flight over was a long one, but went surprisingly well. No major set backs, except for Jaakko spraining his thumb at Frankfurt airport. It was swollen for a couple of days, but hasn't really slowed him down from fighting with his brothers. He's a real terrier, fighting bigger ones and not giving up. All three have been arguing a lot, which is understandable (but extremely annoying). It has been a huge change for the whole family.

The house is nice, the pool excellent. Jaakko can now swim unaided. We've had some reparations done in the house, but nothing major.

Pura Vida!

Six days

The boys' bunk bed was sold today. Even though Jaakko helped carrying the pieces out of the house he was surprised that the bed was gone from his room. Poor boy, he has an ear infection. He described the pain as "I can feel my heartbeat in my ear". Painkillers before going to the doctor, antibiotics, still in pain, more painkillers, throwing up.... Finally fell asleep in our bed.
Oops, almost midnight, we're still moving stuff around in the house, vacuum cleaning spiders and dust.
Six days and about this time we're hopefully landing in Houston, Texas.
Almost exactly a year ago I came home late at night from a week long business trip in Switzerland. I was "attacked" by my husband immediately after walking into the house "I have this great idea for our next trip!!!!". And I wasn't excited. I wanted to stay at home, use the money for re-decorating the house, what about Risto's school, and I'd need to take extra vacation and I've travelled so much, I'd rather stay at home and besides I'm afraid of flying over the Atlantic. He kept whining about going to Costa Rica and actually ended up threatening to go with just Risto and I could stay at home and use my share of the money for re-decorating! Finally I gave in (and DH bought the tickets immediately!). And here we are now, moving to Costa Rica!

Saying goodbye

We have 9 full days left. That's not much. We've been packing, selling stuff, organizing, making phone calls. Saying goodbye.
We've caught up with friends we haven't seen for years, made new friends in the last minute, we have really felt the love and support of our friends! Thank you so much!
We've said goodbye to the teachers at day-care. Cried. Tuomas was heartbroken the last time we picked him up from there. But the day after we had invited all the day-care teachers who had taught our boys over for a small celebration party. We had a wonderful evening.
Risto has 4 days of school and then it's over. He has his birthday party with a friend next Saturday, saying goodbye that way makes it probably easier.
The boys are anxious, arguing a lot. We are tired. I feel a panic bubbling underneath, but I try to suppress that feeling. Luckily I'm so busy that I don't think about the flight; I'm scared of flying over the Atlantic.
I'm surprised that I have absolutely no feelings towards this house. Maybe I'm suppressing that feeling too.
It's 10:30 PM, we've promised to work for one more hour and then call it a day.

Moving

Sorry for the long radio silence, but life has been quite hectic.

We are moving in 20 days and need to empty the house before that. On December 14 we start a new life by stepping on the plane. The winter scene of Finland changes into Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica!

If you happen to be in the neighborhood next Saturday, November 27, you're most welcome to our garage sale from noon to 4 PM. We're selling most of our stuff since we'll travel light, with just our suitcases and not shipping anything over.

Hasta luego!

Dinner

I bought chicken breast on Monday, eight juicy bits. This morning I put them in a pot with some chopped garlic, fresh basil and sundried tomatoes. I put the pot into the fridge, and showed Risto how to put the oven on at 175C and asked him to put the pot into the oven when he comes home from school. He called when school finished and asked if he could go to a friend. I let him go, but told him to be home early to put the chicken into the oven so we could have a nice, home-cooked dinner.
At 4:30PM he calls and says he's home. I ask him to put the chicken into the oven. "Oh, Mom, it's already in there!". Darn, the chicken's been at room temperature for 8 hours..... I guess we can eat it anyway. "Ok, dear, just turn the oven on." Risto:"It's on already. I put it on when I left for school!"
If you ever wondered what chicken breast cooked for EIGHT hours looks like, then have a peek. It was hours beyond crispy-on-the-outside-juicy-inside, believe me. I couldn't even poke a fork through it! When I finally got a piece cut off , by stretching my imagination I could find a tender part.

We're having frozen pizza tonight.