Paula & Iines & Vilma & Otso: October 2008

Shots from the latest happenings

Let's keep things simple. Past few weeks Paula has been really busy studying (exam is tomorrow). I've been busy too... hanging around with Iines and socialising with friends.

There also have been few occasions here worth mentioning. Juha, a friend from Sydney, had spent this summer in Finland and was heading back to new adventures in Asia. He stayed overnight at our place so we decided to organise a small reunion with Tomi and Mirva. Week ago on Sunday we had Iines' baptism ceremony. It took place at our home and was as informal as possible. Close family and 4 godparents were invited so it was about 20 people in our mansion ... warm athmosphere for sure.

One of the biggest tourist attractions in Helsinki

Few familiar faces

It's so cool to spend time with dad.

Reindeer meat and other Finnish delicates

Iines getting ready for the ceremony

Boring speech

She doesn't know what's behind the corner.

Posing with Godparents

Relaxed after the formal part of the show.

Colors

After first two days of my parenting leave I must say that this was just what I needed. Long walks with Iines in the nearby areas are so relaxing. You can expect a lot more scenic photos in the future blog entries.

On the weekend we saw Finland securing the crucial victory at the olympic stadium to keep the train to South Africa on the track.

Few shots from Rapujuhlat

which translates to Crayfish party. Check the link to Wikipedia if you don't know what that means. Last week I went to Sotkamo/Kajaani for work but no stories from there. If I tell you I'd have to kill you ... or then there just isn't much to tell. Kajaani is a great summer town as all other small towns in Finland.

On the weekend our family was honoured to take part Hannu's & Heta's traditional crayfish party at their Veikkola summer house for the first time. This year half of the crayfishes served were caught by the true fishing pros of our group, Beni & Rami. Beni however hasn't caught a single fish this year.

The agenda for the party was fairly traditional - including decorating the place with red things, kicking football, fishing bit more, having sauna and a dip in a lake. Btw Iines had her first sauna and she loved it. Towards the end of the day people started enjoying beverages and the night climaxed with a lovely crayfish dinner complemented with Finnish white wine, delicious fish soup and apple pie for dessert. Noise level increased throughout the night so we can assume that everyone was having a blast ... at least I was, thank you all.

I'm updating this blog from the office so I let the pictures do rest of the talking even if shots weren't great and I really had trouble to find even these shots worth putting here.