PART 1- After a long flight we finally arrived in Helsiniki. Maddox did great on the two planes- he slept most of the time and didn't cry other than for 5 minutes on the descent into Helsinki.

When we got to the airport in SFO and had dinner before our flight we met a British couple traveling with their two toddlers. Just my luck- I thought- I'll bet they are on the plane near us. Low and behold we get on the plane and in our cozy row of four is not just the three of us but also the four of them/ 4 seats, 3 lap children- yay! You've got to be kidding me. I immediately starting working on getting us upgraded based on Brett's sprained ankle. While they were not able to upgrade us, the steward offered Brett his own row in the back which I fanagaled into getting the British family moved to instead of Brett. Perfect. 4 seats, 3 of us. If that wouldn't have worked I had a back-up plan- Ambien, ear plugs and red wine. Sure, the rest of the plane would be miserable listening to 3 screaming babies but at least we could sleep, right?

Yesterday we really jam packed it all in over here. We got lucky with the weather and instead of rain it was pleasant out. We woke up at 5am (we aren't morning people but this is one of the benefits of jet lag), ate a delicious breakfast and set out to start our day. We ended up walking around for 3 hours before anything we wanted to see opened. We wanted to experience Finnish culture and the the Finns we had met thus far had been just like I read about- reserved, quite, like talking to a wall, etc... and we wanted to experience their culture anyways so we decided to stop to get coffee 4 times before 10am. Why you might ask? The statistics differ but the Finns drink between 5 and 10 cups of coffee a day/ I wish I could verify that information but considering these people won't talk to you more than is absolutely necessary it's been rough. I've even tested them out by small talking several Finns in various circumstances, just to see what I get.

At 10am, fully caffinated and feeling a little more Finnish we went into the Kiasma, the modern art museum here. We were in for a real treat. I love modern art museums, especially because you never know what you're going to get and this museum was no exception. In fact, considering the Finns are as quirky as they come, this museum was especially bizzare. We went from an exhibit where we were made to feel we were inside a giant Valentine's Day Card with a sign that read "Magic Unicorn! We kidnap you and you give us the key to happiness!" Dang- is this what happens when these people drink that much coffee- their brains go bizerk?? Next we moved on to a cool comic book exhibit and then an "installation" as they are called in the modern art world, of boarding students getting into a pillow fight. Maddox quite enjoyed that one. Finally we get to the last room and there is some video playing of a plumber dancing and singing "let's get some more water. let's get some more water." REALLY? WHY? Because you drank so much coffee and you are super dehydrated? I don't get it. I really don't. Then the video went from strange to stranger- the man hopped into a coffin with a dead person and started going off about how dead people are art and something about their sexuality. What is the point of this exhibit? To make me question my sanity or to make me question my parental judgement- is this appropriate for my 9 month old son who is soaking everything up like a sponge?