May 29, 2017
We just returned from a week long cruise in the Western Caribbean, all 10 in the Jaakkimainen family. For my mother's 80th birthday, she invited Timo's family of four and Timo's sister's family of five to all cruise together. We had an awesome experience, traveling from Fort Lauderdale on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, which holds 5500 passengers and 2100 crew. We stopped on a private beach at Labadee, Hait. We then stopped at Falmouth, Jamaica, where my family swam with dolphins. Finally, we docked at the Mexican island of Cozumel, where Timo joined his sister's family to do some snorkeling while Leah and the kids stayed back on the ship. Overall, it was a great time. (pictures still to come)

October 15, 2016
We just returned from a week in Orlando, Florida. Our family went down to visit Disney World. We rented an apartment about a 5-10 minute drive away from the park, which was very cheap and included 2 rooms so the girls could go to bed in the evening and the parents could stay up in the livingroom or go to their own bedroom. We visited Magic Kingdom twice, Epcot Center once and Disney Hollywood Studios once. In the middle, we had to contend with Hurrican Matthew, strong enough that Disney actually closed its theme parks for 1.5 days. Having booked so late, we didn't manage to Fast Pass some of the better attractions/rides, but we still have a great time. We even managed to have a Royal Banquet with Cinderella in the iconic Magic Kingdom palace. (pictures still to come)

July 16, 2012
Sarah started learning to walk on Canada Day (July 1) and a couple of weeks later, she's happily walking around everywhere, especially following her big sister, wanting to do what Isabel does. Yesterday, Isabel celebrated her 6th birthday; she was so excited that she was up 1.5 hours earlier than usual. She had a party with lots of friends, lots of presents and cake too. Our gift to her was a betta fish, the first step in having a pet and taking care of it. It's wonderful to see both of our girls growing, developed and maturing, and expanding their world of knowledge and experience.

June 9, 2012
Sarah has some developmental delays, but she's a happy and energetic kid. She's very close to walking. Isabel is very caring toward her baby sister and likes to help out with Sarah's care. Isabel finished her second year of Music for Young Children program, and has started to really know how to play the piano. Leah is back to work part-time, and so there's much more sharing of parenting tasks these days.

October 11, 2011
Sarah was baptised on Sunday morning at church. Annette and her husband Scott stood with us as godparents. After the ceremony, Isabel sang two songs as special music (she did a great job). The grandparents were able to attend and so were able witness both the baptism and Isabel's songs. It was a very special day.

Sept 22, 2011
Lots of new pictures and videos on the website. Sarah is now about 8 months old and progressing well. She was diagnosed with Torticollis on her left side, which means that a neck muscle on her left side was tight and she favoured only her right side (rarely looking to the left). She's been taking her to CHEO for sessions and we've been doing exercises at home to help her. Yesterday, she "graduated" from the CHEO clinic as they now consider her back on track with regular development. She rolls over and can balance herself in sitting position, but still hasn't started crawling (it'll happen soon enough). Isabel is back at school, in Senior Kindergarten, and is learning French in the immersion program. Life is busy, but good.

August 5, 2011
We've been able to spend a few weekends in July at the cottage. Isabel is again swimming with a life jacket. Even more so, she's now brave enough to jump off the dock into the water (usually with a bit of encouragement). We've even had Sarah in the water a couple of times, in the ladybug floater. There' also a new play structure up underneath the treehouse; both Sarah and Isabel happily make use of the swings.

July 17, 2011
Isabel had her 5th birthday party here at our house, with 8 invited guests (plus some parents and a couple of older siblings of guests who helped out behind the scenes. Hot day, so we ended up dropping some of the activities and just opening both wading pools to the kids. It was a giant hit. I got very wet, being attacked by the videos (there's video but on the camcorder so not readily accessible for the web yet). I think Isabel had a great time, and boy did she get a lot of presents.

May 10, 2011
We went down to Owen Sound last week to introduce baby Sarah to John (Michelle saw her while she was up here helping out for three weeks right after the birth. Since I'm on parental leave, it's a great time to get away for a bit. Of course, we have to bring all the baby stuff, diapers, bottles and formula, etc. The car was really filled up.

April 24, 2011
We celebrated the family Easter dinner at our house. With a new baby, it didn't make sense to trek out to Black Lake like we usually do. The Kaisers joined us (as usual) and we had a large Easter Egg Hunt in our backyard (there's a picture of the hunters in the "picture" section). Lots of fun.