Vanaema and Vanaisa Visit France

A LOT has been going on lately and I promise to update soon. Lots of big happenings and much business to enjoy.

Toomas parents came to visit us for Toomas birthday. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time with their Estonian grandparents :)

Vanaema is on duty!!

I'm so relieved to have Vanaema here on guard for our trip to the maternity clinic! It is so nice knowing that we can leave whenever we want. What a HUGE luxury! She has been having fun with the kids and Kaitlyn has been keeping her busy. Here's a photo of the arrival night (Friday), by the Christmas tree. It is our LAST photo of the tree. We took down all of the holiday decorations this weekend and now the household is offically back to normal!

Estonia Trip 2008

We are now back and settled after our trip to Estonia. We had a really nice 2 week holiday in Toomas' homeland. The kids SO enjoyed their time at their Grandparent's summer cottage where they were free to run around, eat berries, catch worms, snails, frogs and generally enjoy the Estonian nature. We had some fun outings during our time there...a visit to a nearby castle (Sangaste Loss), a Latvian lake, Tartu (the University town about 1.5 hours away) and a nature trip to Pokumaa where a famous Estonian author has a museum and nature reserve. The kids enjoy really enjoyed seeing their Granparents again and practicing their Estonian language skills. We also had a visit from Onu Jaan (Toomas uncle) which was a great surprise! Overall the trip was a success. It was a long journey though..about 14 hours door to door so it was pretty hard while being pregnant...but we all had fun so it was worth it! We flew from France to Amsterdam..then Amsterdam to Riga, Latvia. From Riga we travelled to Estonia by either bus or train. On the way there we went from Riga by train and when returning from Estonia we travelled by bus from Estonia to Riga. I have LOADS of fun photos to share. I'll share a bit here and there...a few each day! Enjoy the beautiful nature and sights!

Switzerland Trip Photos

So here they are! A few of the promised photos from Toomas' trip to Switzerland with his parents. The visited cities: Geneva, Interlaken, Lausane and Lutzern. They also took a good bit of video coverage-- so along with the video, I felt like I was "almost" there with them! I'm really looking foward to a family trip there sometime soon. Enjoy the scenery!

Vanaema and Vanaisa's Visit to France

On Thursday Vanaema and Vanaisa arrived from Estonia. This is their first visit to our new house and it was really fun giving them the tour and showing them around. They haven't seen Kaitlyn since she was only 3 months old either, so we've had a lot to catch up on!

The weather has been EXCELLENT and sunny, although the first few days they were VERY, VERY hot. Yesterday Toomas took them on a 3 day trip to Switzerland. I talked to Toomas last night and they had a blast in Geneva. He said the weather cooperated so they were able to see everything they wanted to see and of course the mountains were very impressive.

The kids have had a great time with their grandparents. They have enjoyed showing them their new rooms, their schools and have been doing very well speaking Estonian. Krista has been reading every day in Estonian with Vanaema and is doing wonderfully!! On Saturday they all went to the Arlette-Gruss circus. Erik LOVES circuses so it was a very special day for him and Krista.

On a walking update---Kaitlyn continues to learn to walk. She can now take a few steps, stop and stand, and then start up again. She is still "goal-walking" but has been taking more and more steps at a time. She can walk the length of her bedroom carpet now.....although she does so only when SHE feels like practicing!!!! If she doesn't want to practice then she just refuses to stand up and arches her back. I have taken a few videos of her walking, but can't upload them until Toomas gets back from Switzerland with the videocamera.

So, here are a few more pictures from the trip with Vanaema and Vanaisa....