Essi's graduation

Seppo, Essi, Maarit, Jaakko and Satu

The day after we arrived, Essi graduated! It was fun to be there for her big day.

Her class of 13... and she even drove to the next town for school.
Aren't their graduation caps cute? Cuter than ours...

We were surprised at what a big party they had- it was more like a wedding! All the relatives and family friends came in suits and dressed up. And Maarit and her friends served food ALL. DAY. LONG to everyone who came. Adam was trying to tell Uncle Seppo something about thanks for letting us stay in his house... that somehow got lost in translation, and Seppo came out with a selection of ties for Adam to choose from... he chose the red leather skinny tie. Haha!

Smoked salmon bought from the fisherman down the road.

Maarit's homemade meatballs- my kids had like 20 each.

I loved all the details of this beautiful party!

My mom's contribution to the lunch- a fruit bouquet.

Delectable cakes and goodies.

Flowers from their yard/forest.

lingonberry juice

My Mom's cousin who lives just down the road.

The cookies Aunt Marketta made were delicious! One looks just like the graduation cap.

My two cute pregnant cousins, Maija and Anu drove in for a few days. So fun to see them!

Aunt Marketta and little Samuel. She's such a good Mummi (grandma.)

Linc and Samuel (Maija's baby) are only about a week apart!

I had to wake Elliott from a really loooong nap so he could
sleep at night and he was not very happy... dang jet lag!

This field had the biggest dandelions we'd ever seen! And it was so fun blowing them- since usually when we see them in our yard I don't let the boys spread the seeds, but this field already had so many.

Climbing up the water tower- Linc thinks he's as big as his brothers.

My mom on the road in front of the house... I love thinking of her as a little girl on this same dirt road!

Anu, Maija and Essi

Later we went to check the fish trap at the river down the road. We only got two tiny ones, so the boys looked at them and then let them go.

Ollie, Elliott, Adam and Ari watching from the bridge.

I made Ollie come out with me to take a pic of the light night...

And these pics make it look darker than it was!

The pic from my phone showed the light how it really was.