What we did on our vacation: The 2010 Edition

What - summer's over already?! Unfair!

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 ;-)

And to finish with, here's some visual evidence! Click on the picture to see it full-size.

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!

Oops - it's summer again!

Surprise: we’re still here! We really have no excuse for not writing in *nine months*!!! so we will offer none. As for actual reasons – well:

· busy
· harsh and long winter that froze us in place
· work and school
· busy
· advancing middle age; perception of time getting hazy
· constantly exhausted because of too little sleep
· busy.

In Finland, this life period is called The Rush Hour Years, and now we know what that really means. We are very grateful our boys don’t play soccer or hockey or any of those sports that require the parents to do… well, the things that soccer moms and hockey dads seem to do a lot. We’re not made of their stern stuff; we would crack under the pressure… Oh all right, one of us would (and that’s not Annu).

This spring has been exceptionally demanding, especially as it follows a very hard, long winter (with record deep snow). Annu has been working hard. Her job demands a lot and she sometimes feels insufficient – there are limits to one's resources. Or maybe not: somehow she found the stamina and will power to do the Helsinki City Run, an annual half-marathon (about 21.5 km). Turned out 2 days later that she did it with a hairline fracture in her other ankle. Gutsy woman.

Make has found himself getting mixed up in various projects that should take Finland's government web services to a new level. It's exciting but at the same time there are all the risks that go with doing things for the first time. The results will be visible in late October, and since the projects have already been dragging on for a year now, the tolerance for living with constant uncertainty is getting a bit thin in places. But if everything eventually works right, something good will have been accomplished.

Reko played chess and read these huge Lord of the Rings / Harry Potter fantasy novels throughout the school year, and Atte has started with his guitar lessons. That's electric guitar, to be precise, and we're happy to report he hammers out AC/DC, Judas Priest and Metallica riffs very convincingly already. That boy just loves his Stratocaster and would take it to bed with him if it wasn't risky for the instrument. Both boys are doing excellently in school, by the way.

This summer us adults will only have about 1,5 weeks vacation time together, and our summer travels will be in Finland. We also try to save up a bit so we can come to USA and Canada again in summer 2011. We already have the basic plan figured out: drive (Annu drives, that is – she got the hang of American highways last year) the Atlantic coastline north from New York, all the way to Maine and there cross over to Canada where, we hear, will be a special birthday we have promised to attend :) Then to the UP in Michigan, and then around the Great Lakes' western shores in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois (perhaps see Chicago) and then into Michigan from the South.

2013 it'll be Vancouver, BC, and Seattle, WA, and in 2015 the classic NY-LA trek. We've got a huge map of North America in our dining room so we can trace out possible routes and mark the traveled ones. So yeah, we will be around...

August 2009: Cat muffins and jello cats for the cats' birthday -it's a tradition already, and we usually serve something vaguely American for the occasion.

Reko the Vampire at Halloween. Notice grand aunt Ghastly's portait, straight from the Past Tense country store :)

Make recording the drum parts for the new band's demo on Dec. 5. You can listen to the results at http://maihinnousu.net/altidude. The latter is the band's name, duh.

Christmas Eve, the main cemetary in Helsinki. Annu with the boys lightning candles for the ones gone before us. Jack was lovingly remembered, as were Annu's late father and others now absent.

The absurd masses of snow this winter don't really come through in this picture, but otherwise it's so Finnish: snowy trees, cross-country skis, and the mandatory Nokia cell phone. Annu demonstrates the correct style of conversing while not letting the ski poles drop.

February 13, Make's 44th birthday and we're in Stockholm, Sweden. No hurry that day, because the birthday boy managed to hurt his back and we did the day very, very slowly... which was nice, for a change.

Our traditional Easter window, the 2010 model.

The Wonder Woman getting ready to do the half-marathon. Notice the manic gleam in the eyes - everything you've heard about running being addictive is 100% true.

...and spring finally arrived for good in early May. The slightly solemn faces are because the boys were told to put away the pc games and books and go outside 'cause it's wonderful out there and you'll need the oxygen and so on and so on. But they loved it, really.

Almost summer.

Beautiful days flashed by...

...and it was the last days of summer, again. The annual routines and ceremonies are there but it feels a bit different this year, because of the long summer out of the country.


The annual blackcurrant day. This year the yield was the best so far, and with Annu such a fast picker, the berryfest continued late into the night with jams and purees and stuff... There's also a few litres of blackcurrant liqueur in the making - now there's a good reason to wait for the xmas holidays :)

With the start of the school year Reko has come to face the fact that the Finnish 3rd grade is a leap forward from the 2nd. Homework must really be worked with, there's no casual "just taking care of it" anymore. And the school days are longer, too, which is not a bad thing - less time to get bored ;-) His first foreign language at school turned out to be English after all. Reko's own choice was French but there were too few kids to get a group started. He was disappointed at first but got over it fast and says he now enjoys English a lot.

Atte still has it easier this year, and plays with other kids a lot. He hasn't touched the drums a lot after we came back but spends time with his synthesizer instead. Atte retraces our American travels in Google Earth and shows his friends pics and videos of the huge American rollercoasters (not that he actually rode them all...).


The first morning of the school year, with the boys modeling T-shirt styles from across the ocean.

















With Annu back at work it's basically full steam ahead for the whole bunch. In Canada we decided to become better people (us adults at least). Consequently, Annu has now promised both to run a half marathon and yell less to the kids, while Make has enrolled in an all-male yoga class; the "yoga for geezers" thing is getting bigger year by year.

The boys will try their sporting selves again, this time with floorball, which is pretty big in Europe. Time will tell if they want to stick with it.

Time flies and we all have lots to do. We have started making more detailed plans for North America 2011, and if everything works out right, we all may be in for a few things worth waiting for... but that's for later.

The cats were so well taken care of by our friends & neighbors during summer that they hardly noticed our return. They are doing great and send a big purr to everyone who helped!






















So yeah, right...













...we all got one of those neo-retro hippie tie dyes. We are so, like, peace and love and everything, anyway, eh ;-)

In America: Epilogue - and all the delayed pics!

So we're home - well, in Finland at least. The drive from Toronto to NYC took about 12 hours with all the stops included, but it didn't feel that long. Actually, we got to New York itself in about 10,5 hrs but it took us more than an hour to do the final few miles from the Washington Bridge to JFK! In any case, the stunning scenery of upstate New York definitely was worth the trouble!

Annu's long-distance driving didn't end there either: she and the boys are now in Kuopio for a few days before she goes to work on Friday. Marko is at home instead of work: a respiratory infection got him just as we were returning to Finland. Quite a flight for him, trying not to cough for 7 hours straight... Btw, it's not H1N1, that's confirmed. We've been both amused and bemused at the level of hysteria that swine flu seems to generate in this tiny country's media. Ho-hum.

The jet lag is really awful when you travel this way; from east to west it's nothing because you save a few hours, but this... oh jeez. Only Reko slept at all on the plane, so Saturday went in a haze. On Sunday Annu was surprisingly perky and got all our many bags unpacked and the contents sorted out (you'd never believe how many books we bought on the trip - we didn't!) but Marko was feeling the full blast of the lung infection. The jet lag and the indoor air on the plane definitely made it worse than it would otherwise have been. The boys are still sleeping long hours but they will recover. They loved seeing their neighborhood friends, and we loved seeing how much the other kids like having them back :)

We had a proper scare when the jack adapter piece for the boys' brand new US-bought Nintendo DSi refused to work here! Thankfully, Sterling's assumption that the device can probably handle different currents by itself proved to be true: we only needed to buy a regular European DS charger and it works without any current conversion adapters or such, just plug it right in and charge.

Because we didn't have a computer with a broadband connection at our place in Toronto, the latter entries of the blog have been, as you've noticed, without pictures. Well, we will fix that problem right away, so here's our Greatest Pix for late June and all of July!

NOTE: Just click on the picture to see it in full size! For some reason the very first picture doesn't seem to work but the others do.

WASHINGTON D.C. (June 20-23)

Annu sets up camp in Adam's Inn, a b&b we heartily recommend if you happen to travel that way :)












Freedom and democracy! Reko decides Lafayette's a pretty good role model to follow.

















"...and that's our new summer home you see in the background. Mowing the lawn does take a few hours but otherwise it's very peaceful."











Our appointment with Mr. Lincoln - we made it!


















Sun sets over the National Mall and the Washington Monument, view from the upper stairs of the Lincoln Memorial.











Little spacemen! Reko and Atte by the real Apollo 11 command module at the National Air and Space Museum.











Annu and the boys get cooler after a very hot day. The beautiful fountain is by the National Archives main building.











Adam's Inn from the outside.












Been there, done that :)














MICHIGAN (June 23 - July 1)

Back at the screenhouse...













...and back on Jack's fourwheeler. But would you trust a guy looking like that doing the driving?












A Michigan breakfast pancake - Reko is in heaven!












Watching Allison doing great in her softball game, Annu and Reko realize they like this sport! Atte is busy figuring out the score...
















TORONTO (July 1-13)

Hello Toronto - it's great to be back!


















An appropriate outfit for celebrating Canada Day...


















No, it's not Shanghai or Beijing. That's Spadina Avenue, just a couple of blocks from out T.O. home.











Far from the madding crowd, even if the crowd is a metre away. Give Reko a superhero comic book and he's gone...













"Hey, that's our house!" Yes, you could see it from the CN Tower: just a little to the left of the big buildings with a big chimney (that's West Toronto Hospital, actually) in the center of the picture.








Ontario Place had great water slides and Annu and Reko wasted no time to go splashing about!












Casa Loma's annual Renaissance Fair was great fun! Our family was under protection of noble Sir Alan so we didn't need to worry about highwaymen or other villains :)










Marko on steps that look somehow familiar to some people. Hint: there was a picture-moving operation going on this very spot back in 1981. The location is old Ontario Parliament at Queen's Park.









Annu created an artwork on one of the Toronto Beaches...












...which happens to be one of the places we could gladly live in!












But we would not mind the Peace and Love neighborhood of Kensington either, we stayed close by to this area too! Incidentally, you can see the Toronto garbage strike in this picture: notice the overflowing blue trash can!









Well, ok, Cabbagetown would be ideal, too! Annu thought about setting up our own b&b here - now there's a thought...











Splash! After a long hesitation, Atte conquered himself and braved a water slide in Brampton's Wild Water Kingdom. Hooray!












OTTAWA (July 14-17)

The boys admiring the view from Parliament Hill. That's Quebec on the left and Ontario on the right of the bridges across the Ottawa river.











Annu took a photo of the Government building complex while Marko was actually in there meeting his Canadian colleagues.











One of the views from the Ottawa River cruise: lodgings of the rich and well-off by the river. Just hop on your own boat and off to work...











Ottawa Locks at the end of the Rideau Canal; Alexandra Bridge and Gatineau in the background.











...and Annu decidely agrees!













Who's afraid of giant spiders? Not Reko - that's him under "Maman", a landmark sculpture by the National Art Gallery.











Annu and the boys doing some time travel window shopping: Canada's past times are alive in the Museum of Civilization.










MONTREAL (July 17-19)

"Explorez le Quebec"? OK, we'll try :)













A beautiful park somewhere in Central Eur... no, sorry, that's Montreal. Hard to realize you're in North America.











On weekend the major shopping street was closed from traffic and turned into a miles-long outdoor market.











Taking a time-out from walking by the Bonsecours Market.












Wind, finally! The crowd of people on the street are waiting to enter the Bell Centre for a Green Day concert.











Spotting nature wonders in the Montreal Biodome.












Sunset on King's Highway 401, driving from Montreal back to Toronto.












LONDON & SURROUNDINGS (July 21-23)


Look who's riding in the back! We got a surprise treat when our new friends Donna and Andy took us to see how the London, Ontario fire department works.









Camping days: Andy took us fishing on a beautiful little river near the campground.












Annu and Atte at the camper with Chester the dog, the second big and friendly dog we met on the trip.












TORONTO and farewell (July 24-31)

Who's into baseball now?! Our former "Definite NO to spectator sports" Annu had a change of heart with the American national sport, and Atte was into it all the way...










...not to mention Reko, of course :)













Yeah, the Jays' home ground is no mere sandlot. The roof of the Rogers Centre was opened after the ealier thunderstorm turned into a nice night.











Canada's Wonderland! (photo taken before everyone was too dizzy from the rides to take any pictures)











The boys got new haircuts on our last full day in T.O.












Our T.O. home, in the morning light just before we took off on the road.












The car is packed and ready, and so are the boys. Strange how the luggage just multiplied on the road...











Annu at the wheel, with the last of Lake Ontario in the morning sun.












In the US side of Niagara Falls, saying goodbye to Canada.












Last glimpse of the Manhattan skyline. Until next time, America...