lapeenranta & savonlinna

 Goodbye Maarit and Seppo! 

These are the speed limit signs... they change with the weather conditions so they are electronic. 

 It felt really weird going 110! (Kilometers, but still.)

 Seppo and Maarit led us to her hometown of Lapeenranta. It was beautiful. 

 We drove past this sand exhibit that wasn't quite open yet. The boys wanted to get out!

 The big boys played by the docks while the rest of us looked 

through a little market and bought some old Finnish children's books.

 Next we stopped by what we thought was a beautiful lake....

 ... but it turned out to be a lock system. And we got to watch a boat come in- you can see just the top in the above pic. Then the gates closed, the water filled up and the boat rose up along with the boat of course. Then it just went along on it's way. The boys thought it was the coolest thing ever. So did I.

 We said our goodbyes to Seppo and Maarit, and carried along for a few hours to Savonlinna. This is what the roads looked like- they were gorgeous. And I loved the little road trips amongst the beauty. The boys were watching a video in the back of the car (our little family got to use my aunt's car...) and Adam and I could just talk in the front. Trees and lakes and trees and lakes and really cool bridges. I loved it.

 We finally arrived at Eero and Ilmi's house. Let's just say I was a little nervous to be there with my rowdy boys. Everything was so nice and compact. They had all this fruit laid out with little knives to start the peels... I had to put the knives up pretty quick! 

 Ilmi cooked an amazing meatloaf, mashed potatoes and salad. This salad was so delicious that I took a picture so I could remember the ingredients. Just the regular stuff-- cucumbers, carrots, celery and tomatoes--but it was cut up really small and then the oranges tasted so good in it! No dressing required.

 This lake is right in their backyard- pretty cool. 

 I guess in the winter it freezes over and they can walk and ski on it.

We tried to stay outside so we wouldn't break anything inside. It almost worked...