Lahti

When we weren't out exploring we were enjoying our fabulous Airbnb.  The home felt like it was straight out of an Ikea catalogue, and smelled like it too!  The boys shared a bedrooms normally used by a 10 year old boy, and the girls shared a room normally used by his little four-year-old sister.  I kind of loved this small peek into their lives.  The boys loved the back garden.  It had a trampoline and a sand pit where they spent a lot of time playing.  

The adults loved the sauna! Every good Finnish house has a sauna, and if you don't, they find a public one to enjoy.  I think I could get used to a good sauna session in the evenings or after a workout!  

The sky was so pretty.  We had a lot of time lakeside and sunrises & sunsets are just prettier over the water.  

Family pic on the Lahti sign!  After years of planning, we finally made it, and it was totally worth it!

Kalmarinranta beach

As we worked our way back to Lahti we stopped for some beach time in Vaaksy.  But first we stumbled across an old antique shoppe where Cambrie found a pack of slides from 1960 Russia!  She bought the slides and a viewer and we thought those were fascinating.  

We were the only ones at Kalmarinranta Beach.  It could have been because it was a school day, it could have been because it was only slightly warm, but we didn't mind having the place to ourselves.  The girls waded with Jeremy and we enjoyed watching a sea plane take off an land.  The boys stayed mainly on the shore and played in the sand.  I was cold, so I stayed wrapped in my jacket and enjoyed watching my kids smile.  

We were next to a frisbee golf course and at one point Jeremy and some of the kids went exploring around the banks.  They found a frisbee that we fully intended on using later in the week.  I guess we have a bonus souvenir!  Those Finns must have skin of steel, because it was chilly at the beach.  I'm glad my kids didn't seem to mind!

Aurinkovuori Hill

We needed some lunch after exploring the eskers, and I thought I found the perfect picnic spot, Aurinkovuori Hill.  It required climbing 239 stairs, and at first the kids were not supportive of this idea. (After all, there was a perfectly good fire ring at the bottom of the stairs).  But once we made it to the top they changed their minds.  

Everywhere in Finland there were public fire pits stocked with woods, strikers, and even hatchets if you need more wood.  The kids spent a lot of time splitting wood, baking apples, and generally playing with fire.  

There was also an observation platform where we could over look lakes Paijanne and Vesijarvi.  I've seen a lot of lakes but this one really was pretty special.  

This used to be the site of an old ski jumping hill.  As I looked down the slope I couldn't help but admire the ridiculous bravery any athlete had back before safety was a thing!

We spent over an hour on top of that hill and it reaffirmed all of our feelings of why we love Finland so much. It is so green, so peaceful, so quiet, and so willing to share its beauty with everyone.  Favorite group pic of the trip right here!

Pulkkilanharju Nature Trail

When I was doing research about what to do in Finland, a picture like this one always popped up: gorgeous lakes, bridges, and trees.  I knew I wanted to go there and see that.  

It wasn't too far of a drive up north, and it was so pretty along the way we didn't mind the time in the car.  We arrived at a trailhead, parked the car, and went exploring.  It was a different experience on the ground than from the air, but seeing water on either side of you was still really cool.  We also learned a little geological history of Finland and the eskers formed here.  

We followed a trail that went down to the water, under the bridge, and up the other side of the esker.  Skipping rocks.

The kids really wanted walking sticks, which were simple to find but of course there was still some discussion about which stick belonged to who.  Cambrie thought the simplest solution was to throw the walking sticks into the water.  Well, that stopped some of the arguments!  But we still needed the sticks so she had to fish them out again.  

The nature trail was relatively flat and enjoyable.  Daxton kept finding secret trails that veered off then joined back up with us again.  We also found more mushrooms and thought the trees in this particular forest were striking.

Adventure Runs

The kids love coming home from our races with their own hardware.  This year they are big enough that Kelton, McKenzie and my mom did the adventure 5k while Daxton did the Ironkids 1 mile run.  We had misread the ferry time table from Enonsaari and it suddenly became a race to the races.  The boys could run in what they were wearing, but McKenzie was in jeans and sandals.  One benefit to having teenage daughters is that we can fit into each other's clothes.  So in the back of a swerving vehicle McKenzie and I swapped shorts and shoes.  We didn't even have time to find a parking spot, so we threw out the runners near the start line and Jeremy and I drove to meet them mid-race.  We had to run through the forest from a completely different direction to hopefully intersect them somewhere on the maze of ski trails that surround the sports center.  We were extremely lucky and found them!  McKenzie was in the lead looking red faced but comfortable and so proud of herself.  

Kelton gave us a smile but was determined to beat Grandma so he didn't stick around for pleasantries.  

My mom took the time to swap out new shoes I brought for her and then started chasing Kelton.  Jeremy and I drove back to the finish line as quickly as possible and arrived just as McKenzie was coming down the track.  She looked so happy to be running.  Kelton showed up next, proud that Grandma never caught him.  And my mom came through last but grateful to be running.  

Apparently their course had very steep hills and wasn't an easy run at all.  Daxton got to go next with the younger kids.  His course was a lot flatter and he was able to finish on the track just like the rest of the adventure runners.  

Look at these amazing athletes!

Enonsaari

This was probably one of our favorite experiences while in Finland, Enonsaari.  A ferry took us from Lahti to the island where we planned on spending most of the day.  We didn't know what to expect on the island, it just looked like a place people enjoyed spending time so we hoped we would have a good time too.  I was a little worried as we waited on the pier and a gnarled old sea captain who didn't speak English motioned for us to board a rickety old ferry.  We didn't know we could sit up top so we sat down below on mustard, velvet cushions next to peeling veneer tables.  I felt like we were in an old fishing boat from the stories.  

The ferry didn't run very frequently which meant that we were literally the only ones on the island.  There was a small play area, a fire pit, a few cabins, an unopened sauna, a small beach, a cafe, and a trail that wound around the island.  It became a choose your own adventure type of day for our family.  

Cambrie went up into the forest to have her own quiet time where she listened to her music and sketched.  

The other kids and Jeremy played on the shoreline.  

My mom and I went hiking on the trail.  There were so, so many mushrooms!  It was a simple single loop but after we had been walking for quite awhile we realized that we literally walking in circles.  It was that classic movie moment when you look up at think, "That tree looks familiar."  

We finally found the side trail that took us back to the shore and saw McKenzie leaping through the forest.  

Cambrie and Daxton looked like they were communicating with the rocks trolls from Frozen.  

Kelton was climbing a large rock wall.  Everyone looked so happy.  Back down on the shoreline we had a picnic lunch while waiting for our return ferry to arrive.  

There was something really special about being the only ones on the island.  It spoke to the quiet part of our souls.  Both Cambrie and Daxton have decided that their dream home is now a cabin on one of these remote islands. 

On the return trip we opted to sit up top in the open air.  It was much more pleasant up there.  It wasn't just the ferry ride though, spending time on that island just felt right.  I'm glad we went even though we had no idea what to expect.