Week 33 - Rain, sun and a birthday picnic

When we came from Stockholm we stayed one night at my friend's house before going back to my parents. I have no photos of the next two day because it was raining and I had to finish some work. On Wednesday we went riding and it rained a lot. On Thursday we baked blueberry white chocolate muffins because we were going to have a picnic the next day. Carlotta remembered her birthday picnic from last year and wanted one also this year, but the weather hadn't been so good or we had other things to do. Now it had stopped raining and we went to a new park in Karhula by the river. It's very nice. There are many beautiful parks here now and I love picnics! In the afternoon we went to Laajakoski to have a little swim, but it was so windy and cool so I didn't swim. The girls did.
On Sunday we went to visit my brother and his family. When we go there Carlotta always wants to play a board game called "The star of Africa", so after dinner and coffee we spent some time playing it. This is one of the best board games I know. Simple enough for quite small children to understand, but amusing for adults, too.

Week 32 - Summer cottage and Stockholm

This was the week when we had four lovely days at the summer cottage we had rented with my parents. Back home we went on a picnic to Kumparepuisto, a nice park a couple of km from my parents' house. Carlotta was able to go there by bike and it was so nice to go on a little bicycle trip together with her. In Finland the bicycle roads are so good and it's safe to go by bike also for small children. Unfortunately it's not like that in Rome, although we live in quite a green area.
Then we went on a trip Stockholm where we visited our friends and spent two nights on the Viking Line ferry.

Week 31 - Sofia's summer camp

In the end of July Sofia went to a horse summer camp to the same place where she went last year. The only problem was that it was all in Finnish and Sofia only speaks Swedish and Italian, of course. As long as they did something with the horses or went swimming I think everything went quite well and Sofia also learnt to understand lots of things they said to her in Finnish, but then in the evening as the girls went to bed and of course chatted a lot in Finnish, she felt quite lonely. On Thursday they organized a a little competition that we were invited to watch and when it was time for us to leave and come back to fetch her the next day she said that she wanted to come home with us. So she stayed 4 days instead of 5.
On the second photo Carlotta is choosing books from the library. We often go there to borrow books and films. The libraries here in Finland are so nice.
On Wednesday evening we decided to go to The Maritime Centre Vellamo. They have free entrance every Wednesday evening. It's a museum telling about the maritime life in Finland and as the sea is very present in Kotka, its position by the sea is very good. Daniele was in Lovisa at his friend's house, so it was only me and my parents with Carlotta. She only liked the interactive part of the museum and didn't find the rest of it too interesting.
On Friday we went to the summer theatre in Lovisa and saw My Fair Lady. The actors are really good and we had a nice evening. My husband came to Finland for a few days. His mother has been staying at our house since June since she isn't well and can't live alone anymore, but she stayed at a relative's house for a few days so Armando could get a few days off to spend with us. We had a nice lunch at Kalastuskievari, a little restaurant by the rapids of Korkeakoski.

Trip to Stockholm

We did a small trip to Stockholm last week. One night at the ferry, spent a day in Stockholm with our friends who live there and again a night at the ferry and back to Helsinki. From there we went to my friend's house where we spent one night before taking the bus back to my parents' house. So it was a nice couple of days meeting friends.

My friend met us at the ferry terminal in Stockholm and we first went to their house for a coffee and cakes and then walked around in the Gamla stan, which is a very nice part of Stockholm. We have got to know each other quite a few years ago on the internet at a site for Swedish mums abroad when our children were small and Carlotta still wasn't born and have kept in touch since that. That's really nice! Now all our children are so big.

Stockholm is a beautiful city and it's nice to visit it together with friends. The weather was better than expected, warm and sunny when we came there and only a couple of showers in the afternoon, when we went inside a caffee to have something to eat.

On our way to Stockholm we had a good dinner at the buffet and when we came home we bought perfumes and sweets from the tax free shop. It's kind of a tradition when you take the ferry to Sweden where the selection of sweets is huge, so it was a paradise for the children. I also bought some swedish books for me and the girls in Stockholm, so I had something nice to read in the bus on our way back home while the rain poured down. Schools started in Finland and it has been very rainy and cool, autumn in the air already.

To do list for the summer cottage

Before going to the summer cottage the girls made a list of things they wanted to do there. I think we did them all.
Go fishing. They did, or at least Armando and Daniele did. This year we didn't find any worms for the fishing rod, but they put out a net and a fish trap and got a few small perches and one bream and although they were quite small they grilled them and made a small fish soup and said they tasted delicious. The fishermen were just a little bit afraid of killing the fish they had fished.

Pick blueberries and mushrooms. It had been too dry for mushrooms and most of the blueberries also were very small, but we got enough for a blueberry pie, which also was on the list.

Grill marshmallows. We had a barbeque night one evening grilling sausages, fish and marshmallows.

Go out with the boat. There's a little rowing boat and we sure used it every day.

Swim and go to the sauna. Yes, every day! Carlotta also learnt to jump from the jetty into the water.

Drink hot chocolate with marshellows in the evening. The girls did it.

Play cards. Yes, we did it every day and we also played Yatzy.

Make cinnamon rolls. Sofia had learnt how to make them at the summer camp and we made some one evening. They were yummy!

I could add to the list beautiful sunsets, reading books and magazines and time without internet and I got it!

Happy memories from the summer cottage

We spent a few lovely days at the summer cottage in Virolahti where we went for the third time now with my parents. Also my husband joined us from Rome. I came home with about one thousand photos, but here's a little collage of a few of the happy moments there. The weather couldn't have been better and the sunsets over the sea were beautiful. Lots of swimming, sauna every evening, rowing, barbeque, fishing, playing cards and picking blueberries just enough for a little pie.

Week 30 - Meeting friends and relatives

So many nice things this week that 7 photos actually aren't enough.

In the beginning of the week the water was quite cold, but it didn't scare Carlotta who wanted to go for an evening swim. We watched her swimming and enjoyed the evening sun. It was an important week for Carlotta because she finally learnt to ride the bike without the side wheels! I bought a used Sigma lens on the internet and it arrived this week. I needed a lens to bring along when we travel and I don't want to carry many lenses. I think this Sigma 28-70 2.8 could be the one. On Friday we went to the beach with my friend and her children. The weather and also the water had become much warmer.
This week there was the annual sea festival in Kotka which transforms Kotka into a place full of people and happenings. We went there on Saturday and my friend from Helsinki came there with her daughter. We had lunch together, visited an ice breaker and then went to Santalahti camping site where you can swim and play mini golf. Daniele spent a few nights at his friend's house in Lovisa and then they came here for the sea festival. On Sunday we had a meeting with cousins and relatives at my sister's house out in the country side. We had a really nice day and a mountain of yummie pancakes.
I didn't sleep too much this week as I stayed awake working every night till very late, but at least there was enought time left to do lots of nice things.