Internet is a Godsend

I know in my blogging of days before, I've probably mentioned a whole lot about the internet and us not having it. As most of you know already, WE HAVE INTERNET!!!! The simple things in life that can make a person so happy. It's just so great to have the access of communication that we have now. We've been able to talk to our families back home and have been able to email those of you that we love so much and miss tremendously. Since Friday, August 12th when the internet did finally come on. We've been pretty busy catching up and getting all in order. Friday afternoon, Chloe, Troy Jr and I got on a bus and then the metro to meet Troy & JP at the local mall so that we could purchase some phones to hook up for our Vonage, that way we could contact our families back home. We walked around the mall and then finally after 4 stores, found what we were looking for. It was nice to just get out and explore again. We find something new every time we do get out so it's nice to be able to learn all new things together. We then walked over to JP's house where we used his Vonage to call my parents to see if we could get started on hooking up to the internet to be able to get American t.v. It's something we found out about while being here because apparently the Finnish t.v. here has only two English speaking channels, so Troy & I decided it wasn't worth paying for cable if that's all we'd get. Of course we've missed all of our American t.v. programs and the children don't get to see any cartoons except for the constant playing of Clifford or one of several DVDs we've seen hundreds of times in the past month. It was so refreshing to hear Chloe holler out, very loudly I might add, "Mickey Mouse" whenever she saw it on JP's t.v. I couldn't wait for us to get home so that she could watch the Disney channel. My poor spoiled rotten baby. She had her Paw Paw, MiMi & Daddy to thank for the hook up that she enjoyed so much once we did get back home. She's been glued to it ever since. You know I took pictures of it too, can't wait to post them. So now that our Friday was done, it was time for some much needed rest. We all went to bed and were looking forward to another exciting day in Finland.
Saturday, it came pretty quickly but it's because we had just gone to bed or so it felt that way when a particular 4 yr old decided to wake me up so, so early. I guess I slept enough, it didn't matter she was raring to go. We went downstairs to the kitchen to get some breakfast, I put my coffee on and CoCo and I just hung out for a little before we knew the second little munchkin would be waking up soon after. We had about an hour and then the call from upstairs was a lot of chatter coming from such a sweet boy that was ready to get out of his bed. He and I came down and got his milk. We just hung out until Troy got up, then it was time for house chores. Troy and Chloe went outside, cleaned up the yard and Troy Jr and I stayed inside and did some laundry and cleaned up the kitchen. We had no definite plans for our day but we knew that Chloe wanted to go back to the jump house place. We figured we'd go later on in the afternoon after all was done around the house. Then we Troy was done he lit the pit and got supper ready. We had steaks and sausage and it was delicious. We called Troy's parents to do a webcam, and we were only able to make contact with him mom because his dad wasn't home. We got on the computer and at least she got to see her grandbabies and then Troy was able to do a tour inside & outside of the house so that she could see our new place. It was nice conversation and then we had to get off to bring our princess to her new favorite place.
Unfortunately, when checking online to see the times, we find out that they closed in a couple of hours so that gave us no time to catch a bus and get into the city before it would close. It was a very difficult task of disappointing a little girl that was looking so forward to going. It took us sometime but we finally convinced her to go bowling instead. I had seen the bowling advertised on a billboard, had no idea where it was, but had wanted to go check it out one day. It's underground too and it looked awesome from the pictures so we looked it up online and got all the info we needed and headed out. We got there late but we had to wait for a lane anyway so it worked out good. We watched a game going on next door at the arena similar to ice hockey but of course it was on concrete. It looked like so much fun and a very good workout as well.
It was time for us to go and bowl, so Troy & Chloe went to the register to get our lane. Troy Jr started crying loudly because he was ready for bed. I rocked the stroller back and forth for a little while and he started to calm down but that wasn't helping much. He really wasn't happy while we were there, so I just strolled him around while Chloe & Troy bowled. They had so much fun and I'm so happy she enjoyed it. We were kind of worried about the different place but she was fine.
We finished up and walked our way to the metro station. We got on the metro and got off at the stop where we'd catch the bus back home. Got on the bus and was home within 15 mins. We went upstairs to bathe the children, and then put Troy Jr to bed. Chloe, Troy & I went back downstairs to call my parents. We gave the phone to Chloe and she got her MiMi on the other line and her face lit up. She was so excited to talk to her and they had a small but sweet conversation. Then she wanted to talk to her Paw Paw, so MiMi got Paw Paw and she got to talk to him too. It was awesome and great to hear their voices. It sounds as if they are right next door. I LOVE VONAGE!! It's so nice to have a phone that doesn't cost so much and you can talk to your loved ones as often as you'd like too. We talked to them awhile and then it was way past time to put a little munchkin to bed besides myself. Troy & my dad continued to talk about the computer hook up and fix a glitch they had in the system. All was well, and Saturday for us was a great day, very long, but really good.
Today, Sunday the 14th, nothing too exciting yet. We woke up had breakfast, fixed coffee and started more laundry. Nothing much more than that right now. Troy had to go into the Embassy for a little while because they have visitors coming in today, so he and JP wanted to make sure they were taken care of. Then he's suppose to be coming home soon, so we can finally bring our princess to the bounce house place that she's been wanting to go back to. Troy Jr is napping right now so by the time his daddy gets home, he'll probably be up and I'll have us all ready to go. Until then, may you all have a wonderful Sunday. Lots of love!!