In America, Episode 2: Adventures and Sunburns

We arrived in Virginia on Sunday 7. Sterling was kind enough to meet us at the station in Richmond and drive us to their place. Kathy, Sterling, Rachel and John have been incredibly good to us, putting up with us Finns for the whole of two weeks. And not only that but also coming up with such surprises for us!The first days here we got well acquainted with the community pool as members' guests. The boys loved to get themselves wet after the sweaty time in NYC and on the train. They can really swim now, too :)

Water creatures in their natural habitat

What we did not expect at all was that our boys got to go to Rachel and John's school for the last school day and ride with them on an American school bus! Rachel received recognitions for several things and accepted the #1 trophy in Advanced Reading.

Finnish boys and an American school bus

When school was finally out for summer on Wednesday, we all set off for North Carolina's Outer Banks where Kathy had arranged a beach house for a few days. We didn't know what to expect but the place just blew us away when we got there! And the town of Duck turned out to be a lovely little beach resort with wonderful scenery, laid back people, bike lanes and nice shops (special kudos to The Island Books for an impressive selection). The weather was incredible and the two thunderstorms we got were both impressive and had the good grace of appearing only in the evening hours. It was... well, near perfection in every way.

International water creatures in the house pool of the Duck house

Annu found the hot tub!














Annu and Atte facing the high tide waves













Sunset on the soundfront













Beach Bum!


















As a huge and unexpected bonus we got to visit the Wright Brothers Memorial near Kitty Hawk, only about 15 miles from Duck. The memorial is built on the very grounds where man first took off free flight in 1903 - wonderful!

Reko appreciates history...













...while Atte lives history and takes off: that rail on the ground is the very same the Wright Flyer used when picking up speed!

Leaving Duck was kind of sad, but now it's time to look forward to new adventures waiting for us this week!

The farewell sunset over the row of beach houses