Church Tours on Sunday

 We couldn't go to church this Sunday because the closest ward is in Turku which would have been a six hour one way boat trip. After watching some bible videos and talking about them, we went to visit one of the local churches that had a cemetary attached to it. The kids enjoyed looking at different graves and trying to find the oldest ones. 

My favorite part of the day was driving around, listening to Les Mis sound track and talking with Saku and Troy. Aleksi did his share of singing.  Listening to the songs made me really miss mom. Eerika seemed to enjoy her ride with Ukki in the convertible. She even got to sit in the front which has never happened before. 

None of the churches or even the fortress was anything amazing, but the combination of being together, watching the amazing scenery of the island and being outside made it a wonderful day. 

The first church, Geta Church, was built in the 1460s. It was the only church that we were able to visit inside. It was very windy so Aleksi had enough of it after 45 minutes. 

The coat-of-arms on the shields are from the 1690s. 

The pulpit was built in 1842.

Eerika loves mummi.

The pews would make church possibly easier as you could trap the kids into your pew.

Ukki was explaining about the altar paintings. 

After a nap time for everyone, except Saku who doesn't nap unless he is very sick or very jet lagged, everyone was ready for more fun and games and sightseeing. 

  

Our first stop of the afternoon excursion was Saltvik church. It was very windy and we just made one loop around the church to double check that there weren't any open doors and then snapped few pictures with the nice background and hopped back into the car. 

The third church for the day was Sund Church. It had closed two hours before so we weren't able to check it out inside. It is the largest medieval stone church in the region. 

Our last stop and the main reason we set out today was the Bomarsund fortress. It was built under Russian rule and destroyed when Russia battled against England and France.  It was such a perfect place to go with kids because they were able to run around, climb on the ruins, enjoy the beautiful weather and learn about the history. 

First Day in Åland

First day in Aland was spend at the cottage.  We arrived on the boat around 2:30 and after a quick stop at the store, arrived at the cottage 45 minutes later. Along the way, there were so many darling, well kept houses and yards. The locals speak Swedish and everything around us is in Swedish. 

We explored the beach, which is way windy. Eerika was brave enough to get her swim suit on twice and play in the water and sand. I was huddled in my hoodie on the dock. We explored the nearby woods. We grilled some makkara for dinner.  Ukki did some mountain biking. 

Aleksi fell asleep at 6:30 in my arms. That is how tired he was. All of us fell asleep as I was telling a good night story. I don't know in what order people fell asleep but within minutes everyone was snoring. 

We all slept until the morning. No, we didn't sleep all through the night. Eerika had an accident (very atypical), Saku was up twice and looking for the bathroom in his sleepy stupor (kind of typical), Aleksi was up twice BUT went back to sleep until 6:50 which felt like a victory. 

The beds are comfortable, which is huge.

First Day in Finland

Our first day started at 4 am this morning. We tried to keep it quiet for a while, but finally we decided to go for a walk. I didn't think the greenery wouldn't be as shocking since we live in a green place now, but I am still amazed by all the trees everywhere.  Saku was so worried that Aleksi would touch nokkonen. Eerika got a bit cold, but Aleksi enjoyed the walk.

By 8:30 am, Eerika was ready for bed. I followed her and by 11 am everyone was napping. And everyone had a nice deep sleep and it was so hard to wake Aleksi and Saku up. They just kept sleeping no matter where they were. 

We spent the evening on the beach. All of the kids loved playing in the water.  Eerika would actually dip in all the way while the boys stuck to staying only knee deep. Aleksi started signing "car" which means that he was the first one to want to go home. 

The day included eating ruisleipa, eating too much candy, Eerika writing letters and drawing pictures, Saku playing chess with isi and ukki, sauna night.

Saku's last day of 1st grade

Saku's last day of school party was on a cold rainy, windy day. The school had planned water balloon toss and watermelon eating. They still went ahead with the water ballon toss and the kids enjoyed it but fortunately we got to go inside for the water melon eating. Eerika got to sit next to Saku and his friends and she seemed happy to be part of the group.  Saku played with these boys the most; James, Preston and Zachary. Zachary is moving which is too bad since he seemed like a nice boy. And James will be around as he is in our ward and not plans of moving.

Saku had a great year. It is mind blowing to me that just a year ago, we didn't know anyone and anything about this area. Saku loves school. He sometimes struggles to get up to go to school and pretty much each day he would say "today was absolutely awesome/fantastic/great". He loved his teacher  and other than having too many tardies and two "fights" (boys playing rough) at the playground, he didn't get in trouble. Not that I thought that he would get in trouble. 

He has become independent about after school pick up and the other day, he ended up walking to the Stettler's house and wasn't even worried that no one was there to pick him up. Grandma had been wedged between two cars and Saku didn't know to look for Grandma. 

I was able to look at some of the work that his reading enrichment group does and I am very happy how he is being pushed in that aspect. If all of his school work could be like that, it would amazing. But I still think that it is the most important thing that he loves reading and he loves school. Everything else will fall into place. He did make a comment about being "one of the smartest kids in the class". So Troy and I emphasized how we want him to be hard working. 

Favorite thing about school: friends

Favorite lunch: pizza

Least favorite thing about school: missing recess

What are you excited for 2nd grade: new friends