Goodbye Summer

 Summer is almost over now. Schools have started and vacations are many weeks ago. I started new studies last week. More about that another time.

Now it is time to share some Summer pictures from Finland. 

Estonia and Latvia part 2

Now the part 2 of our trip to Estonia and Latvia.

We said goodbye to Riga and started driving towards Tarto, Estonia.

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Some kilometres from the Estonian border, we saw a sign with the text "Valmiermuiza" and decided to go there. We found a stable, brewery and a shop. The reason going there was that we had tasted their beer with pizza in Riga.

Valmiermuiza has a long history, and is worth visiting.

Tarto, Estonia

We have been two times before in Tarto with the kids. Now we took a walk in the city before going to the hotel. There was an event going on there with hammocks and things to do for kids. What I appreciate about Estonia, is that there is always something to do for the kids.

We stayed in Hotel Sophia

It was a easy to stay there, because it has straight access to Lounakeskus.

It was raining a bit, so we stayed inside the rest of the day, eating and shopping, or just looking around.

I went to the Adventure Park at Lounakeskus with the kids, and they liked climbing there.

Driving towards Tallinn

On our way to Tallinn, we had to stop again. While travelling with kids, there is usually a need to find a toilet, very soon. And we found one at Siniallika Trahter.

There was a path, and we followed it. I love these paths in the forest where you go, and actually don't know what you will find. This is one of the tree main sources, with water coming 20-30 liters per second.

Saula Siniallikad

Then we still had time to go to the Atlantis Aquapark. Fun for the kids, and fun for adults as well.

After the waterpark we had great burgers at Burger Kitchen, close to the waterpark.

Thank you, Estonia!

Estonia and Latvia part 1

The original road trip

This Summer we had originally planned to fly to Spain, and drive home with a droptop (which would become our own car) through Europe. Plans changed due to Covid-19. It was not possible to do the trip we had planned. Instead the droptop came to Finland, when brother-in-law and his wife had their flight cancelled in June and drove here by car.

Droptop, here in Finland

The road trip that we did

So this Summer we did a shorter road trip. We took the boat to Tallinn and drove first to Parnu. Stayed one night there, and drove to Riga. After staying two nights in Riga, we drove to Tarto. And the day after that to Tallinn, to take a boat home.

We had a very nice trip, and the kids loved it. There were five days filled with a lot of things to do. Actually we hadn't planned so much what we would do on our trip to Estonia and Latvia. We made up the program while traveling, which worked surprisingly good for us. It always depends so much on the weather what is possible to do.

In Estonia and Latvia there are many places worth visiting. 

Estonia

Driving in Estonia is easy, and the roads are in quite good shape. We drove first from Tallinn to Pärnu.

Before going to the hotel, we visited friends and had the opportunity to swim in Reiu River.

Pärnu

We have visited Pärnu many times. Now we were staying in a hotel close to the park, not far from the beach. The beach is really nice. 

Walking on the breakwater is one thing to do in Pärnu. The weather was a bit windy and the waterline high, so we took of our shoes.

It wasn't safe to walk to all way to the end of the breakwater, because so many stones were slippery and covered with water.

We would have loved to stay longer in Pärnu, but it was time to drive to Riga. And the weather was rainy and windy in the morning. 

It's always fun to find nice places on the road. We stopped at a beach with a bird watching tower. I believe that the best places are actually found by accident.

Riga

Riga is mixture of old and new. The city was friendly and we had only good experiences. This is the view from our hotel window. We stayed at Radisson Blu Daugava, by the river. The room was spacy  and not very expensive. And customer service was excellent.

Here are the places we visited during our stay in Riga:

Shopping

We did our shopping at shopping mall Alfa. There was a good variety of shops.

Shopping mall Alfa

Playgrounds

This playground was a perfect place for climbing running and sliding! It's free, and open all day. We took the tram here.

Center Sport Playground

Museums

Usually on our trips we visit at least one museum. This museum showed the history of fire fighting in Latvia. The entrance fee was very cheap, less than a euro. 

Latvian Fire Fighting Museum

A nice museum with old trains and a possibility to try a dressin, which we did. We found this museum close to our hotel.

Railway History Museum

Food

We found very good pizza here. The place was close to the hotel, so we walked there for dinner.

Picas Meistars

Also a recommendation for Olivers. We were hungry and stopped there to eat.

If you want to eat local food, there is Pipars at Alfa shopping mall, which had good food.

Thank you, Riga! We will come back. There was not time to see all we wanted.

Terassi Siperian lehtikuusesta

Terassilautakuorma saapui juuri sopivasti ennen juhannusaattoa. Se olikin kaksi ja puoli viikkoa myöhässä toimitusvaikeuksien takia. Pohja terassille oli valmiina, joten rakentaminen alkoikin heti. Itse en ole päässyt (tai joutunut) siihen osallistumaan, koska laudat on laitettava yksi kerrallaan paikoilleen. Sen sijaan olen kyllä päässyt tapetoimaan ja tekemään teippauksia.

Juhannusaattona ystäväperhe tuli kylään, ja mies sai terassin valmiiksi ruokailukatoksen alapuolelta. Ehdittiin juuri nostaa kalusteet katoksen alle (tai ainakin melkein).

Terassilaudat ovat Siperian lehtikuusta. Pinta on mukavan tasainen ja näyttää hyvältä. Parin vuoden sisällä puun pinta harmaantuu.

Sunnuntaina oli jo vähän lisää terassipintaa tehtynä, ja vähitellen alkaa hahmottua miltä tämä tulee näyttämään.

Kyllä tähän työtunteja kuluu, mutta katse on lopputuloksessa.

Seize the Day

Repost from 24.8.2015 (Sky is the limit)

"The limit is not in the sky. The limit is in the mind."

-Unknown

It’s really hard to change the way we are thinking. We all have our own limits. Many times we limit ourselves more than we should. That results in "playing it safe." Not taking unnecessary risks and only doing things we are comfortable with. Sometimes also spending all your time with people you know well and avoiding to get to know new people. It's easy and nice. You could also call it boring. 

In reality there are many possibilities in life to learn new things and jump outside the comfort zone. Making your dreams come true usually needs some bold steps to be taken. And nobody else can take them instead of you.

Can we really achieve things we dream about? People dream about extraordinary lives and many times end up living ordinary lives. Maybe it's the lack of confidence and fear of taking risks, that stops us from going after our passion. Life should be an adventure, right? 

Sometimes I wish there were more people who would say: "Go after your heart" than those try to make you understand how impossible your ideas are. The voice of doubt is always there. It seems like we are usually encouraged to "play it safe." Every now and then I have to tell myself: "I think it's possible". Every dream come through starts somewhere. Without taking risks you will never find out. If you have a new idea or something you want to achieve, it's always worth trying.

"We can not become what we want to be by remaining what we are"

-Max De Pree

I believe, that you can do more than you think. It's true, that every person has special gifts and can do some things better than others. Still also practicing  is needed. Nobody becomes a skilled musician without practice. Also writing needs practice. How much do you want to learn something new?

When we started renovating our old house together with my husband we had no idea what we were getting into. There were lots of new things to learn and sometimes you learn only by making mistakes. That way of learning takes a lot of time. Always the result is not as good as it could be, which may lead into doing the same thing one more time. While learning wallpapering the walls did not look as they should. Some years later it bothered so much, that we did the walls one more time. Another thing was grinding the walls. Learning to do that took time and patience. The machines are not that hard to use. But getting a smooth wall is challenging. And if you don't take the time needed, the wall will look very bad when it has paint or wallpaper on it.

What do you want to do?

This is my own list for taking steps outside the comfort zone

1. Learn new things
Life is about learning. Be curious and practice new skills. The lifelong practice of learning is what makes us humans and our lives worthwhile.

2. Be ready to make mistakes
Turning thoughts into deeds requires confidence.I guess nobody really wants to make mistakes. Still it's impossible to avoid them if you want to do something new. There is a saying that "Mistakes are the steppingstones to learning."

3. Seize the opportunity
Keep your eyes open. When the opportunity comes, be ready!

Planning is everything

Repost from 21.5.2018 (Well planned is half done)

Plans are nothing; planning is everything. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

There is a difference between having a plan and doing real planning.

Last year when I planted my vegetable garden, I had a plan. My plan was to buy vegetable seeds, and I knew more or less what to buy.

The carrot seeds (and some other seeds too) were so small, that I accidentally planted too many of them. When the carrots (and the other vegetables) started growing I had no idea whether they were weeds or not. This happened because there were not growing in obvious lines. The other challenge was, that they were growing too close to each other and didn't get enough space.

At that point some of the plants should have been removed and the ones remaining could have received more space. Survival of the fittest.

Although I forgot the planning, my vegetable garden was quite alright last year. It could have been better though.

The challenges were:

• I didn't remember what was growing there
• The plants were not growing in clear lines, which made it hard to find the weeds
• Some plants were removed with the weeds
• The carrots became very small
• I forgot to collect some of the vegetables
• I found some surprise vegetables

The strengths were:

• Peas, potatoes and salad was growing well
• We did eat most of the vegetables (that were identified)

This year I did some things differently.

Before planting there was planning. I sketched the whole area on paper. Planned the rows, what would be growing where and made paths in places, that would make it easier to pull weeds.

Planting sticks worked as a reminder of what what planted.

This year I know at least what is growing in my vegetable garden.

Rakentamista ja palautumista

Projekti etenee vähitellen. Terassin rakentaminen on meneillään ja puutarhatöitäkin olisi. Sunnuntaina ehdin tehdä maalaushommia ja kitkemään kukkapenkkiä.

Kun kotona tuntuu rakennushommia riittävän loputtomiin, pitää välillä lähteä vaikka pienelle retkelle.

Terassin pohjalaudoitusta


Onneksi kivoja retkikohteita löytyy ihan lähiseudultakin. Lähdin lasten kanssa käymään Pienellä kotieläintilalla Tuuusulassa, vain 12 minuutin ajomatkan päästä kotoa.

Ohjatulla eläinkierroksella pääsi silittämään eläimiä niiden aitauksiin.

Parasta vierailussa olikin, että eläimiin pääsee tutustumaan lähietäisyydeltä.

 

Kanoja kävimme katsomassa useampaan kertaan.

Kotiin tullessa jaksoi taas jatkaa pihatöiden parissa. Ja lapsille on hyvä keksiä mukavaa tekemistä, kun nyt kesälläkin ollaan paljon kotona.

Instagramista löytyy muutamia lisäkuvia.