Friends Come To Visit

Yesterday was a busy day. In order to feel ready for our half marathon and try to mediate, at least mentally, the amount of candy that I have consumed we went for a run in the morning. Aino, dad and I ran and Troy biked next to us. Our pace was pretty slow but it was very enjoyable and I called it a "vacation run". Really anything is better than not going and on my way to the shower I picked three pantteri to munch on. Clearly I don't have any self control while I am here. But I don't even really try to have any. I just tell myself, I will enjoy Finland until I leave. 

Aino had suggested and dad had arranged that Hanne and Iina come for a visit. I hadn't seen Iina since our wedding reception and it had been three years with Hanne; yet with these ladies, I didn't have a moment of anxiety if things would be weird or if there would be awkward silence. That shows something about our friendship.

Hanne and her crew (Matias 7, Emmi 2 and Miio 1 plus Joonatan) came first. Saku whispered to me  "Are these our American friends?" and when the answer was no, he looked at me and said "how will we communicate?" Fortunately, these were board games and plenty of nature so Saku and Matias had a great time.  Troy took the boys on a row boat and Troy told me that Matias had kept talking and Saku would just repeat "En ymmärrä". 

Iina with Netta almost 5, Nanna 3 and Roni almost 1 plus Tomi, her husband who I had never met, came a bit later. Eerika took a bit more coaxing to start playing with the friends and she was emotional again. She tearfully said how Saku called her scaredy cat when she was afraid of heights. But she did her share of running through the woods with friends but ended up taking a nap in the middle of the visit so she would be happy for our last visit for the day.

Hanne, Iina and I chatted and caught up about things without a problem. It is nice to have such easy going friendships that not much is required for a good time. 

When Hanne and Iina were loading their cars, Bridget and Jeremy (and Miriam, Madgalena and Sterling) came. They live in Turku now where Bridget teaches at University of Turku, so we arranged a visit. Bridget's mom was also visiting, but it made the visit very enjoyable. The kids disappeared immediately and laughed and played without a bit of hesitation. Aleksi was charming and seemed to take a liking to Jeremy but the little boys, Sterling and Aleksi were too young to play. It was amazing to use Finnish words in the mids of our English conversation and everyone understood each other. Troy said that the visit sparked his desire to move to Finland again. 

Dad and Paula were so gracious and prepared so much food for both visits. 

Once everyone left, the rest of the crew went to sauna but I happily just laid on the couch because I was just spent with all the talking for nine hours straight. It was amazing to see friends from different parts of our lives, have the kids play with their kids and enjoy it all.