No hockey games for us today. We spent the morning hanging around the apartment, then went out to check out the Tempeeliaukio Church.
All cozy ready to go out
The church is built right into a rock, so the walls are granite and the ceiling is copper with skylight windows running around the edges.
Inside the stone church
It was definitely the most unique church we've ever seen.
View from the church balcony.
Back at the apartment, Jasper has been crawling up a storm. It's funny to watch the last crawling video that was only taken just over a week ago. He has definitely improved leaps and bounds since then. He will be getting into everything once we get home and don't have 4 adults constantly watching him.
There was only one hockey game today, so we had a chance to explore the city some more. We grabbed a ferry from downtown and went over the the fortress of Suomenlinna. The weather was bright and clear again today, and it was a bit colder, about -3 degrees.
On the ferry to Suomenlinna
Finnish history is a bit hard to keep track of. They've been back and forth between the Swedes and Russians and have only been independent for about 100 years. We learned a bit more about the history of the country through the signposts at the fortress.
By the Finnish submarine
The fortress is a collection of islands with museums, cafes, restaurants, a grocery store and even a hostel. There are 800 residents of the islands that live at the fortress full time. Many of the fortress' amenities were closed for the winter, but it wasn't too busy (other than other Canadian hockey fans).
On the fortress of Suomenlinna
We walked to the King's Gate at the edge of the islands and explored around some munitions bunkers built into the hills.
Sun starting to set at 2:30 pm.
The landscape is very rocky and barren, kind of like the Canadian shield. The rocks had a thin layer of ice, so we had to be quite careful walking around.
A hobbit's home (munitions bunker)
The sun didn't get very high in the sky all day, and set for good just after 3:00 pm on our ferry ride home.
Sunset on the ferry ride home.
After a dinner break at the apartment, and some playtime and a nap for Jasper, it was back to the arena for team Canada vs. Switzerland.
Hockey pucks taste good.
What should have been an easy win for Canada ended up being a nail biter. Jasper was pretty fussy the whole game and he wouldn't go to sleep.
Very concerned that Canada is losing to Switzerland
Canada ended up winning in shootouts, and we found a hilariously tiny toilet in the family washroom, so in the end it was a good game.
Today we finally got our luggage back from KLM! It was great to have a change of clothes and more diapers for Jasper. Once we got the luggage sorted out, we were able to leave the apartment to explore downtown Helsinki.
Waiting for the #4 tram.
We took the tram downtown and walked around. It was a nice sunny day, but the sun started to set around 3:00 pm.
In downtown Helsinki.
We saw the major sights, the two big cathedrals and the harbour and then stopped at a cafe for a coffee and a snack. The cafe was well equipped for babies and kids, with many high chairs and a play area for little ones.
The Lutheran Cathedral
The Orthodox cathedral
At the harbour
We went back to the Ice Hall for the first game of the day, Sweden vs. USA at 4 pm. There were tons of Sweden fans there, and most Canadians seemed to be cheering for Sweden too. Sweden won, so everyone was happy except for a few Americans in the stands.
Shoulder ride...watch out for flying pucks!
Our seats were pretty close to the ice today, about six rows up behind one of the benches. There was one close call when a stray puck landed right in the row behind us.
Canada vs. Denmark
After a break for a sushi dinner, we were back at the arena for Canada vs. Denmark at 8 pm. Denmark surprised everyone by scoring the first goal, but Canada ended up winning 6-1. The Danish goalie took quite the beating, and he was named player of the game for the Danes.
No team Canada hockey games today, and we were all pretty jet lagged, so we spent most of the day hanging out here at our apartment. We did some laundry and groceries. No sign of our two lost luggage pieces yet. I got an e-mail from the airline that they were left behind in Toronto.
Great room for exploring.
Jasper loves ripping around on the carpet in the living room. He and his Grandma were having crawling races this evening and he thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world.
Concentrating really hard.
Most of Jasper's clothes are in the lost suitcase, so we've been trying to keep the few outfits we have clean by hanging out in his diaper.
Piggy back with Dad.
Jasper has also been very chatty the last couple of days. He seems to talk the most when Pat is holding him.
Jim and Pat decided to go to the Switzerland vs. Denmark game tonight. Dawne and I stayed home, I think we'll have enough hockey by the end of the week.
We arrived in Helsinki about 1:00 pm, but two of our pieces of luggage did not. After filling out all the missing bags paperwork and taking transit to our Airbnb apartment, we didn't have much time before the first hockey game. We decided to skip the first Denmark vs. Sweden game to eat dinner, rest a bit and head to the Canada vs. USA game at 8:00.
Walking to the arena.
While we rested, it snowed a couple cm, It is definitely a lot colder here than it was in Toronto, but it is still unseasonably warm, with temperatures around freezing. The Helsinki Ice Hall is about a 25 minute walk or 15 minute tram ride from our apartment. The tram was 10 minutes away, so we decided to walk. Unfortunately, Jasper's boots are in one of the lost suitcases along with two of our Team Canada jerseys.
Outside the Helsinki Ice Hall.
The game was pretty exciting, but Canada lost 4-2 to the USA in the end. More than half the stands were full of Canadian fans. It's surprising how many people made the trip over to Finland. Our seats were in the top row of the lower bowl right behind one of the nets.
Not sure about the headphones.
No more headphones for me.
We remembered to bring Jasper's ear protection, but he has now figured out how to pull them off himself. It wasn't too loud in there tonight, but I'm not sure how we're going to get him to keep the headphones on when it does get loud.
Not exciting enough for Jasper.
Jasper fell asleep after the first period and didn't wake up until we were ready to leave. I'm not sure how he is going to react to the 7 hour time difference. At least he can pretty much sleep anywhere and anytime he wants (I am kind of jealous).
Since we're back "on the road", I'll try to update the blog daily for the rest of the trip. After a bit of Christmas traffic and some confusion with Jasper's boarding pass, we made it to our gate with lots of time to spare for our 6:10 pm flight/
Watching the planes go by.
We got some drinks while we waited, and Jasper explored the floor of the terminal, trying to grab anything he could.
Crawling around the terminal.
He got a hold of our neighbour's backpack, pulled it over and shoved it in his mouth. Luckily, they didn't seem to mind and were happy to smile at Jasper.
So proud of himself (for chewing a stranger's backpack)
The first leg of the flight to Amsterdam was fairly uneventful. Jasper slept most of the time, and we watched some movies. When we landed it was 7:00 am local time, so we missed a night's sleep. It is going to be a long day!
Despite celebrating Christmas early, we had plenty more family to visit the week of Christmas. I also had lots of packing to do to get ready for our trip to Finland.
Icy beach in Kincardine.
My parents stayed in Kincardine for a couple extra days to help watch Jasper while I got everything ready for the trip. Pat's parents came over on Monday night for dinner, a hot tub and for Jasper to open some presents from the Beaton and Love families.
Opening presents with Grandpa.
Jasper has started to get the hang of opening gifts, but mostly he just likes to eat the wrapping paper.
A book from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Love.
Jasper's Great Aunt Dorcas got him a pair of jail bird pajamas from Alcatraz in San Francisco. They look very similar to the ones his Dad and aunt and uncle wore 20 years ago.
Alcatraz pajamas from Great Aunt Dorcas.
Pat, Kathryn and Scott in similar outfits.
The grandparents all tried out the hot tub before we had to drain it the next morning.
Grandparents in the hot tub.
Pat took the day off Wednesday, so we drove down to Whitby to visit the Loves and Hoyles. Great Grandpa Love seems to be doing really well in the Whitby Rehab Hospital and I think he was pretty happy to see Jasper. Jasper wasn't too keen on the Santa that came around to visit the patients. I think he didn't want the competition for attention!
Not sure about Santa.
It was great to see Grandpa smiling and playing with Jasper!
Much better just with Great Grandpa
We had a nice dinner at the Hoyles on Wednesday night and then got into our new board game, Ticket to Ride. The rules were really complicated, but the game was quite easy and fun to play.
Playing with Great Grandma's walker.
On Christmas eve, after breakfast and a quick visit with Christopher, we drove back to Toronto to see Grandma Beaton.
In Whitby with cousin Christopher.
Jasper enjoyed crawling around her apartment and trying to eat her magazines and newspapers. Great Grandma Beaton thinks that Jasper is very advanced for his age.
Sitting with Great Grandma Beaton.
After burritos at Chipolte, it was back to Milton for a low key Christmas eve and morning. I took advantage of the amazing weather to go for a run and we played some more board games. Of course there was laundry and packing to do as well to get ready for our 6 pm flight.
Since we're flying to Helsinki on Christmas day, we celebrated Christmas early this year. The whole week was full of Christmas activities. Aunt Kate was visiting Kincardine and it was great to hang out with her during the week. She just got her Visa approved to move to Texas to get married, so we wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.
Aunt Heather hosted a birthday dinner for Grandma Dawne on Wednesday night. Jasper got to torment the kitty and we ate some delicious food.
Thursday I took Jasper to the doctor and found out that he has pneumonia. He had been coughing and had a fever, but I thought it was just a cold. He didn't take well to the first antibiotic he was prescribed, but the doctor gave him another one and now he's on the mend.
Baby Santa with Grandpa.
On Friday, the McIlroys and Parrs arrived at our house to get ready for the weekend's Christmas celebrations. Jasper was still a bit under the weather, but he was pretty excited to see his family.
Dad dressed up in red too.
Grandad found Jasper a Santa suit that is really cute, but the Santa hat is too small for his big head.
Monkeying around
We had a fun weekend of eating lots of food, opening some presents, going for chilly walks around town, hot tub soaks and playing games.
Hard to catch him staying still now.
Jasper and his new growth chart.
On Sunday, Nathan came over to hang out too. Nathan is definitely one of Jasper's favourite people, he always stares at him whenever Nathan is around.
With his bed bud Nathan
We won a one week hot tub rental as a door prize in a dodge ball tournament about 5 years ago. The pool company honoured the certificate so we had a hot tub on the back deck for the weekend.
The hot tub rental we won playing dodge ball
A tradition in our family is to make graham cracker gingerbread houses. This year the houses were Star Wars themed.
Star wars gingerbread creation.
Jasper is still doing his funny eye squint face, especially for the cameras. Jasper got lots of cool presents from his family, including a great hand knit stegosaurus hat.
Hat made by Aunt Katie, sweater from other Aunt Kate and books from Regan
Jasper also crawled forwards for the first time this weekend and had his 8 month "birthday". It was a busy, tiring and exciting week for all of us!
