Happy Birthday, Tanja!

Tanja is 18. Happy birthday, and have a safe trip from now on. Looking excellent so far!

God Jul och Gott Nytt År

Hyvää Joulua ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta

Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein glückliches Neues Jahr

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année

Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo

Vesowe Boze Narodzenie Wesolych Swiat i Szczesliwego Nowego Roku

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Susanna

Having your best friend fly 7000 km to see you makes you humble and touches you to tears. Well, she came, and I'm beyond words. We had a great time both at home and in Chicago. Look at http://picasaweb.google.com/Sandelowskyalbum/Chicago45122007

//Hanna

Thanksgiving - late report

Forgot to write a few lines about Thanksgiving Day which was a week ago, Thursday Nov. 22. For those who don't know, it's an American holiday celebrated in honor of the early European pilgrims, their first time in the New World, and their contact with the native Americans from whom they learned a few very useful hints about surviving in the new surroundings. People get together with their families to have a traditional dinner. Simply a nice, peaceful time with your folks - hopefully, at least.



Living in an apartment complex, our neighborhood was extremely quiet and empty. It was just us foreigners and a couple of other families here. We decided to get together with our Brazilian and German friends, and made the whole kit with turkey, mashed potatoes and apple pie. Plus some South American flavors as well as an European touch. Not to forget a respectable amount of wine and beer and groovy Brazilian music, of course. It was also Elisa's 1st birthday! Happy first one, Cutie!!

Oh yes, early in the morning I took part in the 98th Annual Thanksgiving Day Race in downtown Cinci. More than 12.000 runners on a 10 km, beautiful path over the bridges of Ohio River. Fun but cold. I finished 8th in my category.

//Hanna

Don't Walk!

It ain't easy being a pedestrian. Today, at noon, Maja and I went for a walk in the neighborhood. Crossing the street is a close-to-death experience, and some streets you just don't cross. Now, in the medium sized intersection close to our house there are traffic lights for both wheels and legs, which is a very good thing, although not very common. The very bad thing is that these lights are coordinated after the intensity of the car traffic; that is, if the traffic is heavy the pedestrians get to wait. And wait . And wait. I've done it a couple of times. (Dad, you know what I mean!) Maja and I did just that for almost 20 minutes today. Freezing our butts off. After some curious looks from the car drivers, one friendly soul even asking if we were ok, having seen Benke with his boss driving by (they were on their lunch), and having turned down his boss' nice offer to give us a ride, I finally gave up. Called Benke to pick me up at the intersection. After 5 minutes he was there - and it still said "Don't Walk" on the pole.

I mean, if you can't walk when the traffic is heavy, why bother having a traffic light at all? When there aren't any cars you will be able to cross the street anyway. Unbelievbly insane, in my pedestrian brain.

//Hanna

Fall Update 2: Hole In One in Cincinnati?

Just heard that it's snow in Sweden and Finland already. Well, check out these pictures, and start to plan a trip to visit us next fall, maybe?!
This is one of the few reasons why I wait for the snow. The golf cart paths open up for pedestrians as they close the golf course. There will be a whole new wonderful park for non-golfers like me!
Nice... "Are you an Annika fan?" I get the question quite often.
Just yesterday it was +20 C and a T-shirt day. Have a great fall over there!

Happy birthday to Marc, 15 years! (It was nice talking to you on the phone:)


//Hanna

Ford 1937 Rat Rod

Here is the link to pictures from the project:














http://picasaweb.google.com/Sandelowskyalbum/Ford1937RatRodTheWayToGetRiding

Looking forward to your comments! (It is possible to leave them at each picture).

//Benke

Halloween and Visitors from Finland!

We've now had the pleasure of hosting our first overseas and overnight visitors! My parents Inga and Oiva came to see us on the Halloween week. This was an exciting time for all of us, with a lot of new things to see.
Carving the pumpkins.











The kids went trick-or-treating like everyone else in the neighborhood - and now we have candy for the next 10 years, I think!
Meet Gabriella, Beatriz, Catherine, Robert, Johanna, Ella, Jonatan, Maja and Sommer.











Which one of the babies has a totally normal psychological reaction?











Halloween is now out of the agenda, the decorations were like vanished both in the neighborhood and the stores already the day after. Well, the Christmas stuff is already there, so they don't waste any time here!

Bye bye, grandma & grandpa! Thanks for visiting us!











//Hanna

Check this one out, Ola

This is my new project! A Ford Rat Rod from 1937. Art deèco at it's best.



It's at the Hot Rod shop now to get a Chevy 350 small block with a 350 Turbo automatic transmission installed. The frame is sand blasted and primed. Front axel is from a Mustang -77 and the back from Mustang -68. The roof is shopped 7" and it's dropped over the frame 8". Oboy, are we going to ride low?

And yes, It's going to look like this on the outer. At least in the start. It's a Rat Rod folks !!

Ola, schedule a ride !

//Benke living his dreams

A new bike in the family !

Now it's ready for some cruising. Our Schwinn "Heavy Duti" was made 1980 in Chicago.
It got new wheels, front lamp (Lucifer) from Schwitzerland, back light from Sweden and licence plate from Ohio and it really rides beautifully!

//Benke

Fall Update 1: The Weather Change

Finally! Dropping temperatures, higher sky, amazing colors in the nature, a fresh autumn breeze - and some stuffy noses and a little tornado here and there - the fall is here! I am so happy I could dance all day long! We are spending a lot of time outside now, enjoying wearing long pants and fleece jackets.

Johanna's soccer season has grown into something unexpected; they are now facing the Play Offs for the State Champion. A really fun, exciting experience. Benke and I are turning into true Soccer Parents (see the movie below). Jonte is not that amused and we get into fight with him every single time we're off for his sister's game. Boring, he thinks, and brings his basket ball with him to shoot some in the mean time. Fine with me - both kids are going to play basket ball starting in Nov.

There have been some requests on pictures of Maja who's reached a few milestones in her life. She is crawling and is fast! She also has a sharp bite with her two new teeth, and every nursing session is a nerv tickling (or damaging) experience.









My life? I'm good.









Keeping busy,
//Hanna

Johannas Soccer Team

Check out the video now

Now seen by people from:

//Sandelowsky in Cinci

Birthday Stars

Happy birthday Nooa, 4 years today!
Happy birthday Kati, 42 years tomorrow!

10 year anniversary

Today it is 10 years since we got married in Helsinge kyrka in Helsinki. I love you Hanna!

//Benke

Monkey Business in the Gorilla World

Life is not only everyday tasks and a lot of home work. We've done some fun things while Benke's been gone:












Jonte joined the Boys Scouts (Cub Scouts are the youngest ones who always attend the meetings with a parent). They've just learned the Cub Scout salute and their motto, "Do Your Best". The kids play a lot, so Jonte is like a fish in the water!





Johanna's soccer team is doing the best season ever, and they're leading their series. Coach Sippola is, by the way, the only Finn I've met here so far. Not a word of Finnish, though.






We've been to the Discovery Garden to see what an Ohioan vegetable and flower garden looks like in the fall. The pumpkin season is here, this is what they sell outside of our gorcery store. Well, not him.





There are fund raising happenings through schools all the time, somewhat desperate kids trying to sell magazines, cookies, candy, coupon books, walking door to door. The Fall Festival was held in Johanna's school, a great fun for both kids and adults - we rode the school bus to the festival (first time ever for me too!).








Florian, Diana and Elisa of Bajer Munchen! Our one and only Fabulous Foreignors Club of Huntington Circle (read: we and our neighbors from Germany and Brazil) went to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. We've also enjoyed some of the famous German liquid food as there is an Oktober Fest in almost every village in this very German area.

Still 25-35 Celsius here. Have a great fall, everyone!

//Hanna

Greetings from Sweden

Being back in Sweden for the weekend I had the possibility to visit our beautiful surroundings. Together with my parents Laila and Holger we visited the archipelago that is located 20 minutes from our home. It's approx 60 fahrenheit and the fall is here. The air is "high" and it´s really fresh. This is my favorite time of the year in Sweden.

Finally the European tour is coming to an end and after a trip to England next week it´s time to head back to US. I miss my wife and kids.

//Benke