Estonia!

We are here in Estonia. We must be getting settled because I just made our first batch of cookies. It has been a bumpy start...moving internationally with two kids under 3 has been hard (and on top of it all Simon has had the stomach flu, fever, cough and runny nose all in a week). 

Brad is loving his new school and has started new teacher orientation this week. The kids and I had our first day at home without daddy and so far we are having fun (made cookies, skyped with friends and played in the playground behind our house). Change is hard on us all, for prayers that we keep our sanity until we develop a new normal would be appreciated! Here we go a short update on our transition and some pictures of our house (it is still a bit barren and a work in progress since our shipment isn't here).

The good

-Our apartment is huge with tons of storage (especially when compared to Hong Kong). We have three bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. I even have a real oven! The apartment was furnished and most of the all furnishings are great. The kids are loving the huge bathtub!

-We are only a 10 minute walk from school, which is fantastic since I'll be walking twice a day to take Joy to and from school. We are so glad that we bought a double stroller as we have been walking everywhere.

-The weather has been amazing. Beautiful blue skies, light breeze....long days of light. We are glad that we have been able to enjoy the last bit of summer before fall hits hard.

-So much cheap dairy and bread! We have loved all the food options here. We even bought a bunch of strawberries and blueberries (as they are in season now) to stock up for winter.

The bad

• The grocery store is all in Estonian. Which makes the whole grocery shopping in a new store (a task I find overwhelming in English) that much harder when you have to use Google translate for many items.
• Our washer is pretty small and no dryer yet (so I feel like I'm constantly doing laundry).
• No internet (have to just use the data on our phone) until our residency paperwork comes through in two weeks.

The ugly

-Simon being sick!

-Most of the toys/books are in the shipment so the kids are bouncing off the walls when we are home. Also after a long summer of having grandparents and aunties to play with NON-STOP Joy and Simon have forgotten how to entertain themselves (although I must stay Joy has never been very good at that skill!).