Mid Summer

The mid summer has come and gone. Some of you know that it is a big celebration here in Finland. One could say that I spent quite normal mid summer with bbq. The most annoying thing was that my sister said the whole time that this mid summer sucks as we are not doing anything. Then she continued to play on her phone... So instead of doing something about it, she did nothing. Then complained about doing nothing. So my mid summer was also ruined. I actually quite enjoyed the free time, but since I had to listen to constant complaining, my mood went from up to down. 

Also instead of calling dad herself she kept asking me of his agenda. Really... She is older than me and acts the way she complains others behave. Grr. Anyway, we planned a bit about the next trip with my nephew. We were wondering what the best time would be as this would be his first trip without mom and dad. So to us it was basically a normal weekend with a bit crappy bbq (some food was cooked way before the rest of the food...). Have not found an apartment or a job yet. Wondering what the best time to move would be. Agh, this sucks!

Picture update part 2

At Sand Castle in Lappeenranta. The theme this year is music.

Quite entertaining visit, although there was no music

My favourite! You can see the Linnoitus i.e. fortress in the background.

At Tykkimäki a water slide. I did not go as I had the important part of taking care of the stuff.

My niece went on this upside down ride...

Look what we found! It was almost impossible to find big enough tea pot. Well the difficulty was on finding a tea pot... All were white (3 found) or glass (2 found). 

Juhannusruusu i.e. Mid summer rose.

Pretty flower.. lily I guess.

My very first parking ticket. The car was parked on an allowed spot, but my tiers were on the greenery. It is such a big car, that I did not even think twice that I need to park it differently. (It was a narrow road.) Can you guess that it was raining on that day :)

Summer trip 1 part 4

Saturday morning my niece was still feeling a bit sick so I popped in a store to buy something that she could eat. The chips my dad bought helped with getting my niece to eat. She watched Youtube videos and accidentally ate half can of chips. From there it was just waiting few minutes (10-15 mins) and then pushing something else for her to eat. In few hours she was quite all right. My dad came around and we decided to go to the harbor as the weather was great. There was a sand castle there, but unfortunately it opened on Sunday. So we ventured to a playground next to the harbor. We did not stay too long as my niece was still a bit out of power. 

Sunday started with very energetic child and very sleepy aunt. Once we got moving, we went to the sand castle with a friend of mine and her family. The rides were free, as it was the opening day (there was only two rides for the kids). After a quick lunch we went to visit my aunt and see if the farm was still up. One of the least favorite things of the trip. Due to some miscommunication or rather discommunication between my grandpa and aunt, he did not know that we were coming. All I had to hear from my aunt was that my grandpa is a drunk and no good. I did not enjoy the stay. My niece luckily did not hear this and had better time. We ended the day at my friends place in Koria.

Monday was a busy day. My niece and friend's child spent the morning together and then we went to Tykkimäki. I was warned that he might not like the rides, but it would be good for him to go. I knew that my niece would like to have company on the rides so I took the bracelet for the rides for him anyway. The gamble payed off as he went on 12 rides and she went on 18 rides. My niece did have a little accident when she ran towards a vertical pole (she thought she was shorter and could run underneath it) and hit her nose. She got a drip of blood from the nose which actually was the most terrifying thing for her. Luckily it all was forgotten quickly. We got some BBQ in the evening to end the perfect day. My friend was happily surprised by how his son had enjoyed the day.

On Tuesday we went shopping to Lahti before ending the day in Orimattila where my brother lives. The day ended with BBQ as well. As other niece was in her summer travels there were only other nephew at home to play with my niece. (My brother and sister in law were there as well.) On Wednesday we spent a home day and went around playgrounds with my niece and other nephew. It was really nice to take a day easier, and not have to run around everywhere. On Thursday morning we left Orimattila and headed to Riihimäki. There we did a pit stop at my cousins place and I collected a parking ticket. Everyone else were more concerned about it than me. It was my first ever parking ticket :) Also it was 40 euros so it was not that bad. Then we went to see my other aunt and spent the night in Tervakoski.

Friday was our driving back day, and that what I did the whole day. I drove and drove and drove. We did have a few stops, but the last 3,5 hours we drove straight home (my niece wished it so). This was the end of the summer trip 1. Oh boy was I tired after this 12 day vaycay.

Summer travel part 2

I am in middle of describing the summer trip with my niece but I need to update the summer travel plan list on the next travel. As I mentioned I am unemployed at the moment (have applied, have not received any invitation to be interviewed yet,) so I do have a bit of free time on my hands. I promised my sister to take my niece which I have and my nephew if it is possible. We have planned a little trip to see a few relatives and then come back here. The time is not quite clear as my niece and nephew are going to visit their granny up north, and we are not sure it is going to happen or not (she is not the most reliable person). 

So the second trip I am going to make is with my nephew to south to Lappeenranta at least and maybe somewhere else if he does not get home sick. We will see. The original plan is to travel by train at least some leg of the journey, it all still depends on many many things. (Not really, but we finalized all plans very last minute as my dad arrived at a perfect time.)

Summer trip 1 part 3

On Friday 6th of June I picked up my other niece first before heading to the camp site to pick up my niece. We had a nice little ride (under an hour) there. As we had arrived a bit too early, we had time to take my nieces bags to the car. Once we were coming back, I saw a familiar figure throwing up... All I could think of was "great! I really hope she is not sick because my sister in law will not like this". Luckily the situation seemed to be over fast, and after drinking a bit of Fanta my niece seemed to be okey. We were rushed out from there, but as everything seemed to be fine I decided to drive back to Pieksämäki. 

The girls were fine in the back although it was really hot outside and inside of the car (no a/c). I might have driven a bit faster than usually, but knowing the car I was not speeding. We made a small stop at my granny's and granddad's grave, where my niece looked really red. From this I knew I had to get to my friends place as soon as possible, so I can re-hydrate my niece. It seems that the okey she was when we left was not all okey but a temporary okey and the hot car made it all go wrong again. We stayed at my friends place for few hours. My niece slept most of the time (and threw up a bit) and other niece ate and rested. 

Then we continued to the other niece's granny. It took less than an hour to get there, but it was done in a hot car and my niece was getting worse. She would not drink but only wanted to rest. As I had a timetable to keep I knew I had to go go go. Had I known my niece would be like this I would not have picked up the other niece first but waited that she would be more okey. Alas,  I had given a few days less and I had to promise to do things before hand. At the granny's the same thing continued. My niece slept most of the three hours I was there. The other niece had arrived to her destination we took all her things inside. To our surprise my sister in law came earlier (than rest of the family) to surprise and see us. The day was the hottest day of the summer (so far). 

After we left there it started to get a bit cooler, but I still worried what was ahead of me. My niece had started to throw up a bit more frequent (Still about once an hour so it was not sickness but something else). I sent a text to my dad to pick us something (it was red light when I sent it). He called to ask what we needed and I was able to explain the situation that I think my niece has sun stroke or something like that or at least she is dehydrated and I hadn't forced her to drink before driving (so she did not need to throw up that much in the car). He promised to buy something and go check if he can get our cottage key for us (in case I do not make it). I have to admit that I did do some speeding while driving to Lappeenranta and I did see the police, luckily I did not get any ticket. 

We made it, and I received extra bags for throwing up from the reception. We stayed at Huhtiniemi Camping area in a cottage which was one of my niece's wishes (the cottage not the camping area). My dad brought us something to drink and some salt snacks to eat. My niece went almost straight to bed (once I had made it) and laid there drinking sip by sip some Jaffa. I can wrap things up a bit by saying that she continued the sip by sip technique till wee hours of the night. We had the conversation of drinking some fluids, where she said she had just drunk a sip to which I had replied that a sip is not enough but it should be the whole (small) mug as her stomach is empty. She drank it and some more, then slept till morning.