Me Woman: Our town!!

Summer is pretty much done around here. The kids are going back to school on Tuesday after enjoying a summer break that started in early June. It's been busy and the time has most definitely gone in fast forward speed. We have enjoyed a lot of visitors. Our oldest daughter got to try her wings when she went to Sweden by herself for a month in June-July. We moved. We are getting organized. We became catowners of 2 sweet kittens. Our last summer visitor left yesterday, and for the 1st time in a LONG time we sat down for a family dinner consisting of just us!!

I feel a bit "sadish" about saying farewell to our 2nd summer here in Finland. We might still have some warm days, but when school starts, things go back to normal, and hitting the beach won't be as easy. I'm thankful that we took the opportunities to go to the beach as often as we could thou!! We have enjoyed the lakes, saunas, nature, berrypicking, park and harbor visits, and many visits to the "Hiekkalinna" = "Sandcastle". This is an annual tradition that this city is becoming known for. They rebuild the sandsculptures each year, each time showing a different theme. This year it's "Circus" (I feel at home there). There are lots of things to do there; sandsculptures to look at, a huge sandbox for the little ones to play in, a mini town to play in, free rides and little snack and ice-cream booths to go to for refreshments. This year they also had the obstacle course that our 3 oldest went on. Well you have to move forward by your own strength and balance and courage, and they really liked it!! Big Guy went too, and it was funny to see him balancing his way across the obstacles right after our 3rd daughter who's about half his size!!

I'm becoming a big fan of our town. It's a family friendly place, and there are many things to do, for free, in an uncrowded, safe environment. Here are some pictures from this summer that show you some of the fun we have had!

Here's Big Guy balancing his way across the 1st part of the course.

Our oldest is slipping on the barrels!

Sandsculpture

#4 on one of the free rides!!

More sculptures....

Part of the little play town, the little kids have so much fun playing in all these houses. There's coloring stuff, play kitchen toys, and in one there are a bunch of those balls that kids love to roll around in.