Hot Air Balloons

Aunt Emma gave us a great book called Make These Toys and this was our first attempt. It has been fantastic! They have spent more time than I ever would have guessed, just pulling it up and down and up and down and giving little animals rides up and down. 

Color Me Proud

After narrowly avoiding several breakdowns to get the border around the heart, I suggested Laura stitch an "L" in the middle; it sounded easy-ish and straight forward and I could always draw the "L" on first so she could follow the pattern. She insisted on a horse and I thought "Oh no, here we go. One of us is going to end up crying." But no, she kept it together very well and I think it really looks like a horse! What do you think?

Busy weekend!

Busy busy!
Raspberry picking at Sam's farm Saturday morning with the whole family. Left when it started raining and we realized there weren't many berries anyway. Then Laura had a pool birthday party in the afternoon.
Today we went to church, then went for a hike at Lebanon hills and found some wild berries to nibble on. This afternoon, the kids and i took the bus to the MOA just for fun (it was!). Jim met us there. We shoe shopped for Laura (this is a terrible time to find extra wide girls sandals if your kid doesn't like flip flops). Then dinner and home for bed.

YMCA camp

Laura has grown up a lot this week. She has been attending an all day Y camp, doing campy things like canoeing, archery, macaroni necklaces, swimming, and singing songs like "Black Socks" and "Hi, My Name is Joe". Its a bit strange when your kid learns silly songs that you sang as a kid. You have an urge to say "I know that one!" and steal her thunder.

The bus ride was the toughest challenge for her. I take her to a nearby middle school, where she gets on a bus with about 30 other kids, all ages up to 5th grade. Wow, 5th graders are big and my 5 year old is tiny! She (and I) cried the first two days because of the craziness and hugeness of elementary school kids, but she came home thrilled with the day, so we kept it up. Kim pointed out that she will be in the same situation when she comes home on the bus from kindergarten in a couple months. I guess now she's ready! The last couple days have been slightly better and the fun she has once she arrives at the camp seems to be worth it. No one has been mean to her or each other, as far as I can see. They are just big, loud, comfortable with each other and she feels alone, small, and confused. She's with a group of 4-5 year olds once she reaches the camp and likes to tell me about her new friends there.

The day is long. I drop her off at 8:30 and pick her up at 4 and she's outside the entire time. She's never done any group activity that long, and she's pretty exhausted and filthy when she comes home. That's part of summer camp, right?

So tomorrow is the last day and I will miss my quiet alone time during Adam's nap, but I'm glad to get my girl back too. It reminded me that our seemingly endless time together really will come to an end and there will be large chunks of her day that I won't know who she's talking to, what she's learning, where she's going. That's a big change for a stay at home mom! I guess that's life! She is so brave and strong, I think she'll do just fine.

Ducklings!

Playing on the driveway and mama duck led her babies right in front of us.

Child Labor

Mwahhh hah hah hah!

Pictures that didn't make it on the blog during the trip. Helsinki and Estonia

We arrived back in Helsinki in the late afternoon. We were staying in a hotel up near the airport, which is about 20 miles and an expensive cab ride from downtown. Also, it was Midsummer's Eve, a holiday that most Finns spend at their cabins in their saunas and all museums, zoos, restaurants are closed. Great planning, Jenny and Jim! But we took a very nice walk through a residential neighborhood that I liked very much.

No, we didn't go to the OK restaurant, but I wanted too!

Maybe you can't tell from here, but this is the biggest rabbit I have ever seen - EVER. It was huge. 

Jack-alope size

What to do in Helsinki on Midsummer's Eve? Take a big yellow ferry to Tallinn, Estonia!

"fartyget" ha ha

Hello History!

Now THIS is what I'm talking about. This is what I imagined European tourism to be. Finland primarily uses wood construction and was basically destroyed in WWII, so there just aren't 800 year old stone buildings there. 

This courtyard was my other highlight for the whole trip. Outdoor cafe. String trio playing wonderful music. Shops surrounding it selling handmade wood, pottery, woolen knit, and glass items. And an old dog just traveling from table to table begging pets. I could have melted with happiness.

I love cities with walls!!!

Texas Honky Tonk. In Old Town Tallinn, Estonia.

Loved walking into the shops that you have to duck through the doorways. Just think of the people that have walked through that door in the last 800 years. Sigh.

Longest running pharmacy in the world (since 1422)

Back at the lovely courtyard for a beer (Jim) and a coffee (Jenny)

Then, blah blah blah, we took a plane to Amsterdam, then back home. And look what was waiting for us! Yum!

Pictures that didn't make it on the blog during the trip. Rovaniemi

We couldn't go to Finland and pass up the chance to go to the Arctic Circle! Rovaniemi is 5 miles south of the actual line, but there was bus that runs regularly to a touristy area near there. If we had more time, it would have been fun to do more hiking, but at this point, the trip became a whirlwind tour.

Every house has a permanent ladder to the roof and a platform across the top. To clean the chimney? To clear snow off the roof?

We followed the rain from town to town, but it wasn't ever bad enough to slow us down.

Shouldn't Smurf Juice be blue?

Requisite picture

This was also Santa's headquarters.

Nose to nose with a polar bear (just a video of one)

This particular bear was a highlight of my trip. We bonded.

Lots of logging going on up there in Lapland.

Quinoa beer!

Jenkki gum

11:02pm. Sun is up

3:41am. Sun is still up

Their maps have a slightly different focus than ours!

The Official Airport of Santa Claus

We got to the airport early and stumbled on a nice spot for some impromptu hiking (after dropping off our luggage!)

So you can get oriented.

See ya, Lapland!

Pictures that didn't make it on the blog during the trip. Helsinki to Tampere

 Helsinki train station

On the train to Tampere. It broke down for an hour or so. Thankfully, we had some helpful Finns that translated the Finnish conductor's information for us.

Castle?

View from our hotel

Bridge

Lost mittens fence

There's a bridge with lots of engraved locks on it. You throw away the key in the river to show your true wuv. I liked this one with 1963 and 2011 dates on it. 

We basically just followed the lilacs. They were done blooming in Minnesota, but were at their peak in Tampere. Then when we went north 5 days later, they were at their peak in Rovaniemi. I was in heaven.

I got lost in a beautiful park looking for an elusive observation tower.

Found it! 

Also enjoyed a cup of coffee and a fantastic homemade donut in the tiny shop downstairs.

Still not home.
I am currently sitting in the sink area of a hotel room in Osceola, IA quietly listening to Adam whisper himself to sleep and Laura give deep sighs of irritation every once in a while.
Since returning to the states last Saturday, I flew down to Wichita, got the kids at the airport from one grandma and brought them down to oklahoma to visit the other grandma. We stayed four days and were lucky enough to time it all to overlap with my brother's once a year visit from New York and my sister's extended visit that included painting the house(Kim, not me)! It has been busy, and not always super cheery, but totally worth it and full of fantastic memories.
Now, we are on our way home to stay, an Laura is about to burst with excitement about seeing her dad again, finally!
Kids are still awake and not acting too sleepy. Might be an interesting night.