Well, weatherwise summer still very much hangs around. It's been a record-shattering heatwave summer - Virginia heat last year was mild compared to what we've had - and tonight the Helsinki region got a cosmic whopper of a thunderstorm (it's a miracle we didn't lose the electricity). The was even something like a tornado that ripped a big branch off a tree in our yard - and threw it precisely on our car! Because this happened only about 45 minutes ago and it's still storming and very dark outside, the actual damage will become clear tomorrow :( This is very, very unusual for Finland, kind of creepy, really.
Anyway, Make's returning to work tomorrow, Annu has already been working for a few shifts, and the boys go back to school on Tuesday (Reko eagerly, Atte... less so). It will take a while to settle into the routine, because our summer has been a good mix of travel and plain lazing about (in the heat it was sometimes the only thing to do, too). During summer, this has happened:
- Travelled around in southwestern and central Finland, including a visit to Make's childhood and teenage years' summer regions in the islands, where Sterling visited in '86. The house is still there and someone seems to take care of it. *sigh*
- Got ourselves lost on a nature trail on said islands; Reko proved to have a bird's sense of direction and saved the day!
- Spent two days in amusement parks (Atte and Make: rides, Reko and Annu: general support, reading and relaxation).
- Spent time on beaches, with boys now swimming truly like fish. Reko likes to dive from a 3-meter board while Atte is more into distance swimming. We keep an eye on him, of course...
- Atte has been practicing his guitar a lot and very much looks forward to returning to his lessons.
- Annu was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid, which fully explained her often exhausted state, hideous heart rate and mood changes. She's been taking thyroid pills and beta blockers for about 2 months now, and they seem to be working nicely (the mood changes are not entirely gone, but that's life, eh?). They say it's not necessarily a for-life condition and it may actually go away for good with the medication, but we shall have to wait and see. Strangely enough, long distance driving seems to work as a therapy as well! In any case, by this time she's improved enough to plan running the 10 km Helsinki Midnight Run about a month from now.
- Make has been working with his current band and they're trying to get live gigs for the autumn.
- The whole family has watched the James Bond movies, in chronological order. We just arrived in the Timothy Dalton films and us adults wonder what we should do when we get to the latest, the Craig/Bond movies... The boys are immense 007 fans and they seem to know all about that stuff. We found a pile of Finnish 007 fan magazines for them and they've studied them as if they were sacred scriptures. It's just amazing how much useless information a young brain can process and hold ;-)
Love,
The Latvanen Gang
The boys in the beginning of summer.
All us guys in Särkänniemi, an amusement park in the city of Tampere.
Midsummer's picnic in the lakeside park in our home town of Järvenpää.
Annu and the boys reach a high point in the islands...
... and so does Make.
Reko saves the family from the depths of the forest! Hooray! (Notice the humble "I just did my duty" smile on his face)
Safely back home, Annu found a farm selling organic "U Pick" strawberries.
Return of the North Carolina Beach Bum!
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