Finland : Living the good life

Most of us ate breakfast inside, but Helena and Iso showed the right spirit and ate on the patio.

Henry was picking strawberries in the yard when he spotted a frog and tried to catch it. He chased the frog to the wall of the house where he captured it in a flowerpot. After everyone admired him, the frog was released.

Helena helped mix up some cake batter.

In the afternoon Mimmu took the kids to the city museum. They had coffee (and juice boxes!) there and were given free chocolates because the museum was going to be closed for a while.
Sauna and sausage roast that evening.

Finland : Relaxing

The next day we breakfasted at the cabin.

A typical breakfast is a selection of breads and deli meats, cheese, tomato and cucumber slices, served with coffee.

Everyone makes their own open-faced sandwich. Helena likes tomato and cheese on rye, Henry's favorite is tomato on rye.

After breakfast the kids swam and we took the boat out to drop the pump for the sauna in the lake.

That afternoon Anja and I and Dad went to the new shopping mall that is near the old house. We had coffee to fortify ourselves at Sinuhe and then went shopping.

We picked up some groceries while we were there and I found my favorite stripey summer dress. Here's Anja checking out the rye bread display.

An evening lettu party and mölkky game finished off the day.

Finland : Muumimaailma

We dithered a little on whether or not to take the kids to Muumimaailma, a theme park about the Moomins, but I am so glad we did. It was a long, fun, day. We left my parents to get some rest and help take care of the baby and Mark, Anja, the four bigger kids, and I piled into Quatchi and hit the road. Helena felt queasy again on the winding highway and did get sick this time, even though we tried all the tricks we could think of. It's almost three hours to get to Naantali. We parked and boarded the shuttle that dropped us off close to the bridge that leads to the island that houses Moomin World. The first attraction is the theater where we watched part of a little play while eating our packed lunch.

The park is filled with places and characters from the books by Tove Jansson. It is really low-key, but charming and perfect for kids. We wandered around their house, posed for pictures with the Moomins, and the kids went swimming.

Stinky is one of our favorite characters.

Penny loved giving them hugs.

The day started out a little cool, but ended up being quite pleasant. We left the park about closing time and picked up some food at the grocery store near our car. After a little food we headed back home.

Finland : Sleepers

Millie sleeps in the sauna washroom. Both Helena and Nora used this same cot on their first trip.

Penny sleeps in my great-aunt Liisa's bed.

I think Helena's toes are peeking out from under that duvet.

Finland : Road trip to Iittala

Is it optimistic to think we might be over the jet lag? Millie woke up about midnight, but didn't seem happy so I put her back in bed and she fussed herself to sleep. The others slept reasonably well and woke around 7. We had breakfast and then packed a lunch to take on our day trip. After loading up the cars we were only about 45 minutes behind schedule. Really impressive considering how difficult it is to get going here. We drove to Iittala and Helena felt a little sick on the ride over. We pulled over to change where she was sitting and Anja magically produced child-sized Sea-Bands from her purse.

We had our picnic in a shady spot near the parking lot. Afterward, we went to see the glass blowing and the guys there let everyone take one of the imperfect glass birds as a souvenir. Then he asked if we wanted to try glass blowing. Yes. Yes, we did.

Anja went first, then Helena, Nora, Henry, and me.

It was so fun. The guys are training to be glass blowing masters and they were so nice to all of us. Then we went to the outlet to shop for dishes and silverware while the kids played in a little park.
It was warm so we stopped at the grocery store for ice cream cones and water.

The baby loves ice cream cones.

Then Lulu and Raija took Millie back home and the rest of us went to Hämeenlinna to see the castle. Is there a name for the strange feeling that comes from replicating trips you took as a kid with your own children?

We got home about six and the kids played in the water before and after dinner. Anja and I saunaed. The weather started to change. It was calm and warm when we started our sauna and windy and cooler when we were done.

Finland : A day at the cabin

Millie slept a little better. She woke at 2.30 but was back in bed by 4 after having some milk. The other kids had cereal and yogurt and cream crackers with marmalade when they woke up. I slept until 7.30. We put the extensions to the dock in place and the kids played in the water.

Anja and I swam before lunch. We ate stir fry outside at the cabin. We put Millie down for a nap in the cabin and the kids swam again.
Helvi and Osmo came in a cab and we tried getting the pump ready to put in the lake.

It is so sweet to see these people with my children.

 We were missing a part so that had to wait, but we did get the stand and most of the pipe ready.

I translated for the men. And while I speak Finnish and English, I do not speak Handyman.

We had coffee on the cabin porch because it was raining.

The kids went up in the cabin loft for the first time. Anja and I went to Vääksy to stock up on ice cream cones. We cooked sausages and marshmallows by the lake and saunaed.

Finland : We go to Lahti

Millie and Penny were up at 4 for yogurt and cereal with Mark. Millie went back to bed, but Penny might make it through the morning.

Anja, Liisa, and I made this shirt for Lulu a million years ago.

After breakfast we went to town. We bought karjalanpiirkoita and ate them at the park together and then Mark, Anja, Eila, and Raija went to the hardware store and Iittala outlet. The kids played in the splash park for a while and then in the little bike village.

We took pictures on the same wooden ponies we saw last time.

We picked up our rental car in the afternoon. My parents are coming and we won't fit into two cars once they arrive. It seats 7 and is quite tiny. With all the seats up an umbrella stroller barely fits in the back. There wouldn't be any room for groceries. It's fine for a vacation car, but would be completely impractical if you actually had a family of seven. We named it Quatchi.

We stopped at the supermarket/department store on the way home for groceries and to look at everything else. The housewares and clothes are so fun to see. The kids went to play in the water while Lulu and I made fajitas for dinner and we ate out on the veranda.

Two swans came to our shore!

After getting the kids ready for bed Anja and I went to move a small boulder we had unearthed the day before while digging the trenches. We took at late swim and went back to the house for dessert.While we were eating our ice cream cones on the porch the neighboring farmer was cutting his hay. At 10:30pm.

Finland : Settling in

Our bags arrived! At about 1 in the morning, 48 hours after we did. The delivery guy said that he still had quite a few left to distribute, I pity the people that were awakened in the wee hours to get their stuff. The supermoon was shining on the lake when we brought in our suitcases.

Millie was up at 3:30 or so and Penny joined us not much later. It's so hard to know how much to trying to manage their sleep helps the recovery from jet lag. It seems that it is harder for the younger kids. Millie went back to sleep about 7 and I took a power nap while Anja took the other kids out for a nature walk.

Some of our imports.

We had our usual open-faced sandwich breakfast with everyone. Anja and I tried making the coffee and were successful. The kids played in the lake after breakfast and Mark, Anja, and I did some digging on a trench. They are going to add lights along the path for fall evenings and the electric cable will be put in this summer. Anja and I swam before lunch, the water seemed colder than the day before.
We had lunch (smoked fish, chicken, potatoes, Greek salad) outside on the house veranda.

Naps for almost everyone after lunch and then some more water play for the kids and work for the adults. We came across a large rock in the path of our trench and Mark and Anja got it up and out.
We heated the sauna and had lettuja while we were waiting for it to be ready. The children ate an impressive amount. They are always delicious, but the melted cheese ones we made this evening seemed especially good.

The evening was still and the lake was calm.
The kids were in bed about 9 (dressed in their own pajamas) and I followed soon after. Henry woke up disoriented and kept demanding to know where we were while not being satisfied with any answer provided.

Finland : Jet Lag

Millie woke at midnight and had a banana and some milk and played until 1.30 or so when she seemed tired and went back to bed. The kids were a little more restless in the night and everyone felt the effects of jet lag a bit, now that we weren't quite so exhausted. Helena and Penny were up at 6 and then Penny went back to bed but Helena and Nora spent some time coloring pictures while everyone else slept. We had breakfast inside since it was a little windy and then went to Vaaksy to see the canal and locks.

A boat came just after we arrived and we saw the lock fill up and then got to see it empty as a boat came from the other direction as well. We walked down to where the canal meets the lake and the kids got to throw rocks into the water. When we walked back to the car we stopped at a playground for a bit and Anja and I went to the little gift shop there.

We headed home for lunch and then almost everyone had a least a short nap.

Baby with rye bread. We brought this seat over for Nora in 2005.

Penny fell asleep before lunch in an armchair. After lunch we made some calls to try to track down our suitcases. It was frustrating since everyone we talked to had a slightly different take on the situation and no one seemed to know exactly where the bags were and when we might get them. Mark took the kids to the lake for swimming and splashing. We had coffee late at the house and then Anja and I went for a swim before we moved some logs from a tree that had been chopped down. 

Nora came over with the good news that our bags might be on their way.
Lulu made smoked fish for dinner that everyone liked except Penny who didn't try any. We had our second round of ice cream cones (toffee, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate). The kids got to bed around 9 and Anja and I swam again at about 10pm. The lake was beautiful and still and the sun was shining.