Sofia's 7th Birthday!

Sofia had her friend birthday party at HopLop (an indoor play area) again this year. I love having parties there because there is no planning or cleaning for me! And the kids are entertained and I don't have to worry about speaking Finnish! :) Here is Sofia and her best little friend Siiri and Ella. When the kids have parties there they get a party room and their name is on the door. Niku and Jonttu checking out the candy! Love those boys!

The party room! Sofia, Emil, Siiri, Novish, Ella P and Ella L.
Mommy and Ella playing air hockey. Ella doesn't quite get it, she thinks if it goes in her end SHE gets the point. So she kept trying to take it and push it in her side! I tried and tried to explain it to her but that girl is stubborn! Don't know where she gets that from! :)

Sofia and Novish in the bounce house

Siiri, Sofia, Novish and Ella on the huge slide

On Sunday I decided to take the girls to a town about 2 hours from Helsinki called Tampere. There isn't much there, but they do have an amusement park with an aquarium, planetarium and dolphinarium. The dolphin show was the best part! The girls loved it! I have been to Shedd in Chicago and I have to say that this was a bit better for the kids. The dolphin pool is rock at Shedd and the kids cannot see the dolphins under the water, but here it was clear so they could see the dolphins swim under the water. The show was very similar to the one at Shedd too! Very fun! Sofia now has a new facination with dolphins!

There is a very tall observation tower at the amusement park too. I believe it is the tallest in Finland. So the girls and I took the elevator to the top and it was beautiful.

There was an open-air deck too, but this is the sign on the door. Guess they knew Ella was coming! :) The aquarium. The girls loved it there too. Again a lot like Shedd, but the displays were lower so the kids could see them better. There was only 2 other families there at that time so the girls got to run around and really see a lot of the fish. Sofia asked me to read every sign, only problem was it was in Finnish! :) I told her the names of the fish and that was about all I could do!

We stayed for 2 nights. The first night we just swam and had dinner. Then the second day we went to the amusement park and then shopping a bit and back to the hotel for some swimming! This is a view from our hotel room. Daddy booked us a great room! Thanks!

The girls in the kids pool. It was SOO nice. It was shallow enough that I didn't have to be in the water. I sat in a chair and read my book. They swam for over 2 hours everyday.

The second night we decided we didn't want to go out to dinner, so we went to the grocery store and bought: chicken meatballs, rice pies, and bananas and had a picnic in bed! On Sofia's actual birthday we took her to a bigger indoor play area and it was pretty empty so Pete and I joined in bouncing on the trampolines and climbing the towers and going down the slides. We were all sweaty by the time we got home! :) But I was too busy playing and didn't take any pictures! But after playing we went to subway for dinner and then home for donuts and ice cream. Here is the birthday girl with her donut and ice cream!What does every 7 year old girl want for her birthday???A remote control airplane! :) Love this kid!
Finland has another holiday today.... May 1st. Vappu. They drink and eat and wear funny costumes. Here are the girls before daycare, they have a Vappu party today at school! :) These costumes are MILD. When I dropped the girls off at school it was like a crazy halloween party!
All of the children get these HUGE balloons for Vappu too. I bought them each a dolphin one this year!

Happy 7th Birthday Sofia! We love you!