So we had the chance to go to Finland this summer! Well, at least Reina and I got to...Paul was busy at our chiropractic office. He probably would not have enjoyed having seven women in one house though. Infact, he could only watch about 15 seconds of some videos I took of the family because it was all in Finnish! I plan on putting together a little picture album for Reina to look through this week so that she may remember at least some of her relatives who live in Finland which include Reina's great-grandmother Isoaiti (this is not her name; it means big mom), Reina's great-aunt Marjatta, and her 2nd cousin Simo and his dog Pimu. She LOVED Pimu! She's a little white Ceasar dog (you know the one from the Ceasar brand dog food) who is playful, obedient, and never bites...perfect for a 19 month old who likes to grab her face. It was funny to see how Reina would watch Simo and his girlfriend Mervi give commands to Pimu, then imitate orders to Pimu.
I have already written details about our trip for our family memoirs, so I will give all of you who read this the pleasure of just seeing pictures of our trip and avoid the boring details. Enjoy! One thing I have to point out is that Reina really enjoyed the sauna. Finland is where saunas originated from. While people are building their homes, they build the sauna first so that they can use that while they are still in the process of building their homes. They go to sauna year-round, and even jump into the lakes when there is a couple or eight feet of snow! This type of attitude is where Finns live the phrase "SISU"....look it up.
