I thought this turned out to be an interesting shot from Gatorland in Florida. I had lived in Florida for 25 years and never made it to this popular attraction until right before we moved to Finland. My family and I had a lot of fun!
Four scary prehistoric looking gators piled on top of each other with this beautiful white crane just taking a nice leisurely stroll in the water right behind them…
A beautiful white crane taking a leisurely stroll behind four scary gators!
Mia and I in front of the relaxing koi pond at my parent’s house.
It’s 2014 and my family and I just returned to Finland a few days ago after spending three weeks back at home in Florida for the holidays. We have gone nonstop for the past year with the move and my husband’s busy job, so we really needed some time to recharge, thaw out, and just turn everything off for a couple of days. We were successfully able to do so mostly because my dad decided to put in this amazing koi pond for my mom a little over a year ago. My mom is from Okinawa, Japan, and one of her dreams has always been to have a koi pond in her backyard. Well, my dad jokes that he has heard her say that she has wanted one the whole time they have been married (40 years this year). So, if he was going to finally put one in for her, he was “going to make damn sure it was a really nice one, so he wouldn’t have to hear about one for the rest of his life!”
Well, he successfully did so after finding a company that installs koi ponds in the Central Florida area and to our surprise, construction finally began on my mom’s koi pond and was finished in only a couple of days! This corner of their backyard has turned into an amazing sanctuary where you can sit on one of the benches and listen to the sounds of the waterfall and truly feel yourself completely relax. My daughter Mia has spent hours upon hours playing and catching little minnows and frogs at the pond. There is even something so tranquil about feeding the koi (nishikigoi) and watching them come to the surface and swim around each other while they eat.
There is a lot involved in the pond such as the pump, waterfall feature, bubblers, UV lighting to control the algae, the filter, and testing the water. But, overall there is not much upkeep to it other than feeding the koi everyday and cleaning out the filter. There are about 30 koi total in the pond as well as minnows and frogs. The plants have really grown in since the install and although the lily pads that were originally put in looked really nice, they have all been eaten by the koi. Here are a few photos of the koi pond in my parent’s backyard:
A backyard koi pond: The ultimate in relaxation!
A few of the koi coming up to the surface to eat.
Mia enjoys spending a lot of time with this little net catching some of the minnows in the pond. She puts them in a bucket and then returns them back to the pond.
Ahhhhh…its ‘s so tranquil watching the beautiful koi peacefully swimming around the pond. You could easily want to spend all day here!
A koi pond is loads of fun for kids… Mia was so happy to finally catch one of the frogs in the pond!
My mom and Mia enjoy spending lots of time relaxing at her backyard koi pond.
Mia’s first time trying to make a snow angel!
It’s been a little while again since my last post…. and now the craziest year of our lives is almost coming to an end! We finally had a nice snowfall today which was enough for Mia and her friends to play in after school today. We had so much fun running around laughing and throwing snowballs! We had zero snow in Florida, so it was an exciting afternoon for us!
We did make it to Florida a few weeks ago. The strike did not happen and we were very happy to go home even if it was only for a few days. We felt right at “home” as soon as we saw this Mickey in the photo below at the airport in Orlando. Mia had so much fun visiting her school that she attended for 3 years in Florida and it was nice to spend some time with our family. Mia and her dog Audrey were so happy to be reunited! She has been talking about Audrey since we moved. They were just like two peas in a pod again!
Mia and her BFF Audrey, reunited in Florida!
Mickey and Mia at the airport in Orlando!
Mia also had her first piano concert at school this week. I think we were more nervous than her. She went right on stage and played her song with such confidence. We were so proud!
Mia playing the piano at her first piano concert.
Our next stop is to visit with Santa Claus in Rovaniemi, Finland! We leave very early in the morning and we are super excited to meet the real Santa in the Arctic Circle. Mia has her letter to Santa all ready to give to him. We are also looking forward to being in Lapland and to hopefully experience a dog sled ride with huskies!
Here is a link to where we will meet Santa Claus:
Mia and her best friend having fun (she calls Audrey her BFF)! This photo was taken right before we left for Finland.
Happy Friday! It is hard to imagine that it has already been one year since I started this blog. What a year it has been!! My husband moved to Finland this month last year while Mia and I stayed behind in Florida so that Mia could finish Kindergarten. It was a rough time for our family while we were apart and we now joke that deciding to be apart for 7 months was the dumbest decision my husband and I have ever made as a couple in the 17 years that we have been together!
Well, we have been back together for almost 6 months and are enjoying our family living in the same place again! However, we had to leave Mia’s dog Audrey and our dog Ollie behind at my parent’s house in Florida. Ollie is very old at 13 and Audrey is very big at almost 70 pounds and we were not too sure about bringing them here as we would be renting an apartment and would have to travel. We also plan to spend a couple of months each year back in Florida. Audrey was originally my parent’s dog, but Mia and her became like two peas in a pod so she became Mia’s dog… A day hasn’t gone by since the move that Mia has not talked about her best friend, Audrey. It has been really tough, but Mia has been super excited that she will get to go home to see her dog tomorrow (well, maybe). We just found out yesterday that some employees at the airline that Mia and I have tickets with (FinnAir) may be going on strike. We really do not want to let Mia down so we will do our best to find a way to get her home to her best friend. So far, our flight is not one of the ones cancelled!
It’s really cold and dark (sunsets at 3 something now) in Finland, so I am hopeful to be back home in sunny Florida tomorrow!
I also wanted to thank all of my friends, family and fellow bloggers for following along this past year on my blog! When I started this blog, I had no idea what I was doing. I still have a lot of work to do and a lot to learn about blogging, but I am so grateful for the experience so far! A great big thanks to all of the people who have viewed my blog from the following countries this past year:
Thank you all from the above 47 countries for viewing my blog this past year!
Mia is enjoying this beautiful day here in Florida! We had several days of rain, so it was so nice to finally wake up to a beautiful sunny day! She decided to splash around in my mom’s koi pond to cool off… and always seems to know how to have fun! Love our little free spirit! ♥
Mia having fun on this beautiful Sunday in Florida!
Red Pin Adventures 