Tall Ship's Race

We had such fun on saturday, We went to see Tall Ships Race 2011. The whole river was loaded with sailships. It was beautiful! If you ask the kids, what's the best part of the day, maybe was sitting on the grass eating ice cream and watching capoera show would be their choice though :D. 

My beautiful crew on board.
Mun kaunis miehistö Mir-laivan kannella

The weather was perfect too! Maybe it was the last day of summer, because we're in September soon, and usually the weather gets dramatically colder in the autumn.

Oli tosi hauska päivä lauantaina. Oltiin katsomassa joella Tall Ship's Racea. Oli hienon näköistä, kun koko joki oli täynnä purjelaivoja. 

Jos lapsilta kysytään, oli paras hetki kuitenkin varmaan se, kun istuttiin nurmikolla syömässä jäätelöä ja katsottiin capoera showta.. Ilmakin oli tosi kaunis ja lämmin. Mahtoikohan olla viimeinen kesäpäivä, kun syyskuussa usein viilenee nopeasti.

summer is over? - kesä meni jo?

Time goes so fast these days.. I feel like summer just started and now autumn is coming already. Summers are so short in Finland.. First we wait for Spring to come for half year in the cold and snow, then when Summer comes, half of it is bad weather, the other half is good, and before we know it, it's gone.

The weather has got cooler day by day since August started, and last night we had some heavy rain too. I know many people are actually happy about this, because it's Ramadan, and we have to fast soooo long days, 18½ hours, so it's maybe a bit easier at least when it's not too hot. Unfortunately I haven't been able to fast, because of medication and some health conditions. May Allah make is easy for those, who can! Ameen

Today I took the kids to the adventure park and it was too cold to play with the water. Well, they enjoyed their day anyway, there's plenty of other things to do. I wonder if there will be warmer days anymore. I don't want to give up on the summer yet!

Next week the school starts again. Donjana is going on the third grade inshaAllah and I can't believe that Deena is starting the first grade too. I'm gonna stand on the school yard next Tuesday with tears in my eyes again. This will be my fifth time, when I take my child to school on the first day, but I still get all emotional of the idea.. ♥ 

Aika kuluu niin nopeaan..Ihan kuin kesä ois just alkanut, ja nyt on taas jo syksy tulossa. Suomen kesät on niin lyhyitä. Ensin odotetaan puoli vuotta kylmän ja lumen keskellä kevään tuloa, sit kun kesä tulee puolet on sateista, puolet hyvää, ja ennen kuin huomataan, se on ohi.

Heti kun elokuu alkoi, sää viileni ja tuli syksyn tuntua ilmaan. Moni on siitä iloinen, koska on Ramadan ja paastopäivät on hirvittävän pitkiä. viileämpi sää tekee sen edes vähän helpommaksi. Mulle pitkät päivät on ihan mahdottomia paastota, kun on otettava lääkkeet ja muutenkaan terveys ei tykkää näin pitkistä paastopäivistä. Tehköön Allah paaston helpoksi niille, jotka paastoavat! Ameen.

Tänään vein lapset seikkailupuistoon. Oli ihan liian viileää vesileikkeihin, mut onneksi siellä on paljon muutakin tekemistä, eikä aika tule pitkäksi. Saa nähdä, tuleeko enää lämpimämpiä päiviä. En haluaisi antaa vielä periksi syksylle!

Ensi viikolla alkaa koulut. Donjana menee kolmannelle luokalle, ja tuntuu uskomattomalta, että pikku-Deena aloittaa ekaluokan. Siellä sitä sit taas seistään koulun pihalla vetistelemässä. Siis mä seison. Kummaa, vaikka oon jo viides kerta kun vien lapseni kouluun ekan, edelleenkin vaan tunteet nousee pintaan. ♥

Happy end of summer yall!

Hyvää loppukesää kaikille!

HOLIDAY!

Hello folks! School's out for summer and the holiday started today. It's not exactly a holiday to me though :P but at least no early morning alarm-buzz alhamdulilah!

 Donjana hugging her teacher the one, last time. She will not be teaching them the next semester.

Donjana got a good report card alhamdulilah. I'm so proud of her! Next year will be more challenging for her. She will be on the third class and they start a few new subjects too, English, geography and biology. InshaAllah she will keep up the good work. She already speaks English quite well. We just had an English visitor and I was surprised, how well Donjana got along with her.

Deena finished pre-school on tuesday, and will go to the first grade in the autumn. And yesterday she learned how to read! It's so wonderful moment to see! And mashaAllah, now she loves it so much! She asks me to write her new words all the time. If this progress keeps going on like this, she can read small books in a few days inshaAllah! And I'm so proud again :D !

Deena received a rose and a diploma in her pre-school graduation party.

Nader even forgot about playing football for a while, when he saw Deena reading. I gave him Deena's old Moomins ABC workbook, so he can practice letters. He doesn't know how to spell almost anything yet, but now he wants to learn to read too.. He started practicing S. He made a few beautifully shaped s-letters exactly on the line.. I left him for a while and when I came back I saw that he wrote MESSI in the middle of the line, then went back to making s s s.. :D. It was hilarious :P .

My grandkids have been here a lot these days, because their parents are working. Last night they slept over. Today we spent the whole day out. The weather was perfect, nice and sunny. We made soap bubbles, played shop and home, read and wrote, and we had some kind of larva-farm lol, the kids were looking for them in the bushes.. :D . And I had to help them :D . Anyway, it was a good day.. Not as busy as you could think with five kids.. They were all very nicely (which is really not always the case : ) alhamdulilah. And the kids room that we cleaned up totally yesterday, is still clean and tidy alhamdulilah!

My lovely common lilac!

The garden is starting to bloom too, and I have a lot to do there.. Well, it doesn't look like I've done anything though :D , but honestly, I have.. My white fence and bushes in the front were blooming already, and so was the mini apple tree. now it's time for the lilacs, and soon there will be roses inshaAllah!

Have a nice, sunny summer everyone!

So, tomorrow it starts! Deena's pre school! I have some mixed emotions.. My baby girl is growing up! Donjana will start the second grade tomorrow, so her holiday is over as well. Also it feels like the summer is over even if the weather is still very warm.

I was there this evening at a parents meeting. Kinda boring lol, because I've been there sooo many times, but it's important for Deena that I go lol.. It was nice to get to know her teachers better anyway. I have met them when I got Laila from the day care, but they haven't been teaching my kids before.

Deena's group seems to be multicultural.. At least 5 muslim kids, and the teachers have experience about muslims and our needs alhamdulilah. Still Iwrote my own wishes down though, just to be sure.

It was funny to see a mother of Nenna's best school friend from 7th grade there.. She also has a daughter Deena's age..

Also Laila is in the same group alhamdulilah. They have 18 pre'schoolers and 7 kids who are 5 this year and go to pre-school next year. Laila is one of those. So it's a big group. The pre-schoolers and the younger kids have some of the activities together, but the 'lessons' are always in smaller groups, usually half of the pre-schoolers at once, so 9 kids. They have lessons two days a week, but the rest of the days are educational as well.

I came out with a bunch of papers.. Lol I don't know if I'll ever read them all.. This is my fifth kid in the pre-school mashaAllah.. I don't know how much new stuff there can be for me .

Donjana is excited about going on the second grade. It's a big deal to not be one of the youngest in the school! She says she will study well and work hard this year, because she wants to have a good diploma. She needs it to go to the university some day, to become a doctor! I don't know from where she got that idea now.. Before she wanted to be a vet, a nurse, a horse-back-rider and I don't remember what else..

So from now and on it will be just me and Nader habibi in the day time. He is excited about that, but I'm pretty sure he'll be bored of my company soon .

InshaAllah my girls will have a lovely first day and a successful school year!

it's been a summer of adventure :P

This summer has really been the summer of adventure for us - at least when it comes to going to the adventure park lol :D. We'been there like twice a week.. Or more even. The weather has been good and it can be relaxing for a mother too, so why not? The kids usually don't get bored thee and they don't come and bug you every second minute.. Last time i felt some boredness though.. None of the kids felt like playing with water - the thing they mostly expected when we went there the first few times.. Here's some of the action we've had during the summer in the Adventure park of Turku:



the largest playground in town

with so mant activities

something for everyone.. slides, swings, climbing thingies, and rocking boats etcetc
rocking car and a big stone castle


a huge spider web

rope swing ride
a cool shower and pool

police horses
pony riding

bbq


indian adventure

the different outside games guided by a kids club leader..

feeding goats

and ducks, swans, geese, chicken..

circus school


mashaAllah this has been a fun summer! Alhamdulilah not only for the kiddos ;)

Now I have more net time? :D

Football World Cup is over, so maybe now I will have more time online, when my evenings are free again :D . Congratulations for Spain. They were better this time.. I feel sorry for Holland though, My long time favorite.

What else is new? Lol.. It's still been hot in Finland, today it was +31○C (88○F), which is unusual. Alhamdulilah I got two shalwar kameez-suits from a sweet pakistani sister, they're so comfy in this weather and I don't feel too hot!

One of the shalwar kameez-suits I got from my dear friend.

This weekend my grandkids Laila and Ali were here, because their parents were working on both days and the day care is closed for weekends. Yesterday we went to the adventure park again, and today we were just chillin' here.. I put the small pool for the kids in the back yard and they played with water for more than two hours. The rest of the day they played football! I don't know how they can run in this heat! I love hot days, but I wouldn't want to do any sport! I prefer to sit under my tree having a good book and a cold drink in my hands :P .


The river Aura in the center of my town.

Ohhhh.. I forgot to tell about the medieval Marked in my last post! It's an annual festival here in my town, they make it by the river. People dress up old style, and they sell a lot of medieval time-related stuff. There's some shows too, like jousting, which my kids love! And they show how many things were done years ago, when there was no electricity or machines, for example turning wood, making soap, brewing beer, spinning wool to yarn and colouring it etc.

Jousting show.

They also have old style wooden toys, like big domino's, a huge horse with wheels, a carrousel where the kids sit in four big baskets and someone's spinning it from the middle... There was also a leather football (it was kinda triangle shape :D )which was filled with dry peas. Nader loved it lol! And the kids printed pictures there with real ink and then coloured them with water colours!


Medieval 'court'

They also show what they used to do to criminals like thiefs lol.. they put their heads and arms in this wooden thingy.. My kids got to try one.. Hehe, would be cool to have one on my back yard for naughty kids :P . My kids love that festival. It's different from other festivals here.. The only one that does not include people getting drunk..


The kids and I picked up these flowers ♥. I love summer!

Ok.. Enough for today. Tomorrow my dh is taking Nader with him on an over night trip to the archipelago, to visit his cousins in-laws. The girls and I will have some girly fun. Lol.. If the weather is like this it will mean going to the beach I think. :P InshaAllah!