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.

Making their way across!!  Many meters above ground.

I don't know how they dare...

Big Guy getting a good work out!  He said he was beat after finishing the course!!

At our friends cottage where we had saunas and jumped in the lake!!  Our kids LOVE this activity!

Sauna, lake, sauna, lake....

At our beautiful harbor downtown.

At the downtown beach.  Across the lake is the harbor and sandcastle park.

The greatest part of this beach is the super nice playground that's situated right on it!!

Big Guy and #3 on the obstacle course!!  A bit of a size difference!

Visitors, Birthday and Getting organized

Today our overseas visitors left to head back home.  It's with sad hearts we saw them leave, but with happy memories sharing the space.  We had such a great time together, and got to do many fun things.  Our 2nd oldest and her BFF had a packed schedule, including shopping, swimming in the lake, taking saunas, picking berries, visiting with friends, going through an obstacle course and last but not least, the highlight of the trip, "Horsebackriding!!"  They even got to try galloping a bit!  After a few hours on the horsebacks, they came home with huge smiles on their faces.  I'm so happy everything went so well, and now we wish them a safe trip back home to Michigan!  A special thank you to BFF's aunt who made this trip possible.  It was a pleasure to have you here, and our door will always remain open for you!  Thanks for all the help as well, our Little Guy talked about you this morning!  We will miss you both for a long time!

Our 4th girl turned 8!!!
Happy B-day dear "S"!!  I'm looking back to the day you were born, and I still marvel over the fact that you decided to enter this world 10 days early, and not the same amount of days past due, like your older sisters did!!  This made my pregnancy 3 weeks shorter, and I'm still thankful for that.  My water broke at midnight, after an evening spent with lots of friends over at our house.  I had seen my Dr the same day, and he figured this baby would follow my previous babies patteren, so he was pretty surprised to see me in the hospital hall about 12 hours after my appointment!!  At 6.13 am our 4th little girl was born, weighing 6.13!!  She was born on my older sisters 30th birthday, so we named her after my sister.  This new addition was a quiet and content little soul, and that sure made our lives easier when our 3rd daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, only 3 months after our baby's birth.  Our lives became increadibly busy, it felt like we had twins!!

The 1st year of #4's life is a blur to me, but from all the pictures we have saved, I can see "S" smiling, looking content and happy.  She could sit, or lay, and play with toys for long stretches, this I do remember, since she was our 1st baby to do that!  By 10 months she still didn't show any interest in crawling or walking, so I figured she'd be a bit later than average, but soon I discovered that when this lady puts her mind to something, she gets stuff done!!!  So shortly after her 1st birthday she was walking.
She was the same way when it was time to learn how to talk.  At 21 months she didn't say much, but by 2 years old, she spoke in scentences!!  And that's the way she is.  She's not in a hurry to be 1st, but when she wants to do or learn something, she gets the job done fast!  We love having her as a part of our loud gang, just like all the rest of them, and I wish her a blessed year as an 8 year old!  We all love you so much! xoxo

What else??  Well, this house is getting more and more livable for each day.  My hubby and I have both been busy cleaning and organizing.  Today I'm tackling some windows in the foyer, there are 8 of them, but they are tall and skinny so they go pretty fast.  I WILL get a camera soon.... then I'll post some pictures. Here are a few that our visitor downloaded on our computer....

BFF's in the woods

A beautiful evening spent at our friends cottage.  Swimming, sauna and good food.

Making a birthday cake!

Pink marzipane for the birthday girl!

(Good job big sister who made the cake!)

Obstacle course

This is high up in the air!

Our lovely kitchen (messy as usual...)

Livingroom

Horseback riding!

What a mess!!!

This is the follow up to my last blog.  Last night I went to this little Bed and Breakfast, where they also offer a "mud sauna treatment".  I didn't bring my camera (I forgot) and I don't know how we'd been able to take pictures anyway, since we were deeeep in the dirt! 

This experience might sound a bit "different" to anyone who did not grow up with a traditional sauna culture.
We were a group of 5 ladies, I knew one of them from before.  This was not held at some posh resort type of SPA, but in a house that consisted of a big room with a few couches (changing room), a bathroom, shower room and a woodburning sauna.  On the coffee table there were pitchers of water and a little jar with seasalt (we all took a few pieces and let them dissolve under our tounges to help get fluids out of our systems), then we drank a lot of water.  Before entering the sauna, everybody only in their birthdaysuits of course, we poured seawater all over ourselves, and then went in to the sauna to get warmed up.  After about 5 minutes, we went back into the shower room where we all had our own bowl with mud.  This we smeared allover ourselves (except the eyes, nose and mouth), even in the hair!  When we were done we all went back in the sauna and let the mud do its trick.  It's supposed to help cleans your body and get rid of extra fluids, and it smoothens your skin.

We spent about 20 minutes in there, before showering it all off.  I still have some stuck under my nails and my hair feels a bit funny.  We didn't use any shampoo or soap at all.  After sitting with only towles wrapped around us, cooling off on the couches, we got dressed and went to the main house for a nice evening snack, consisting of herbal tea, steamed veggies, rye and spelt breadrolls (made at the BnB), covered in garlicspread.... Yummmm....
No entertainment, no loud anything.  Just the 5 of us quietly visiting, in this old loghouse.... Very laidback very relaxing.  I don't really care what the mud did or did not do, I just truly enjoyed this evening out!  And yes, I did feel very rejuvenated and very very tired....  Coming home I laid down on the couch, and Little Guy joined me and fell asleep on my stomach.... mmmmm..... Life is good.

A messy reward

The last week, month, year has been a true whirlwind of events.  A year ago I was neck deep in moving boxes, and what seemed like a thousand things that needed to get done in time for the move.  Our house was technically sold, but we were waiting for all the nitty gritty details to get ironed out, before we could put that magic "SOLD" sign in front of the house.  I was still asking myself at times "what in the world are we doing?".
But as you know we made it here, and now it's been almost 11 months since we touched down in Helsinki.  Our house is at the last stages of construction before we can move in.  So, soon I have to pack up this apartment (piece of cake compared to last years move), and the circle will come to an end for now...

I have been at the house as often as possible, I really enjoy helping out there.  It's the perfect date for me and Big Guy.  We get stuff done together, on something that benefits the whole family, it doesn't cost anything (well, the house isn't free, but no "dating" costs) and we can talk uninterrupted with no audience.  The big girls have been of great help, and they are keeping a tally on hours worked, smiling about the upcoming reward.  Speaking of which.  I'm getting a reward too!!

I have felt that I have been running on spare for a while now.  When I leave the house it's to pick up kids from school, go to the groceriestore, or to K-Rauta (Home Depot), w. Big Guy for yet more house stuff.  That can be fun, but at times it's nothing too exhilirating.  (plumbling and balconyposts is not THAT exciting, while picking out the tile and flooring is of course fun).  Other than that I rarely venture out for any "me" time.  So on Tuesday evening when I was helping hubby to clean out a bunch of garbage in the garage and breezeway at the house (we are hoping the get the floor poured there soon), I got a call from one of my local friends!  She carefully explained how she is looking for someone who might be interested in going for a mudpack-sauna-spa this Friday.  (she tried to make it sound less messy than it is, in case I would get a bit grossed out), when I practically yelled "Sandy" I LOVE playing in mud!"  That made my day!  I hadn't had a very good one, but the thought of that Northern Finnish muddy stuff, generously spread out all over me, sounded like a perfect thing to brighten up my day!  (no added anything to that stuff, the real thing only, so I guess I'll go a few skin shades darker for a while after...)  When the treatment is over, we'll enjoy some healthy tea and goodies.  I can hardly wait!

Sandy asked me to do a cleansing before the mudpack to help me get the full effect from the mess.  So I'm doing a 1 ½ day cleansing, meaning I'm ONLY eating frutis and veggies.  And some mineralsalt spiked water.  I'm aiming to get the pipes cleaned as well as my skin rejuvenated from all that mud!  I'll let you know how it goes... If I'm daring enough I might bring my camera for some action shots.........   I feel that I need and deserve this night out.  In a woodburning sauna, all covered in mud, somewhere in Finland... very close to the Russian border :)  Sounds like the perfect night out.