2018 :: week 34

August 12

Sunday evening we went for a walk after dinner and before bed. We ended up at the school playground so Lauren could work on the monkey bars for a few minutes. While we were there a man that was watching his son's soccer practice told the kids they could take a ride in his toy electric car. Our neighbor Blaise was also at the park and so the two of them took a ride around the blacktop together. Elliott was a surprisingly good driver and he and Blaise seemed to really enjoy their joyride. They just needed a little help--strength--the turn the wheel.

August 13

Monday night we finished FHE with a round of UNO. It was the kid's first full day of school and everyone was a little bit tired.

August 14

I took Elliott to his 3-year check up Tuesday morning. He's still our small little guy--almost 35" tall and 28 pounds. We read our Daniel Tiger Goes to the Doctor book before we went to his check up, and then again a few times in the afternoon.  I spent the rest of the day packing, cleaning and otherwise getting ready for our big trip!

August 15

Wednesday Anthony and I got up before the sun to head to the airport. We flew to Boston to meet up with his parents and then together flew to Finland together! Ever since he returned home from his mission Anthony has wanted to go back. Last year, his parents invited us to go with them and we--mostly Anthony and his mom--have spent the past year planning. It was a long day of traveling. We left KC at 7am Central Time Wednesday morning and didn't arrive in Helsinki until 4pm Thursday afternoon (we lost 8 hours).

August 16

Anthony got right to business when we arrived at our Airbnb in Helsinki Thursday evening. After grocery shopping and dinner he turned the sauna as hot as he could stand and got in. I was exhausted and went to bed. None of us got much sleep on the red eye flight, and then we got delayed a few hours in Amsterdam so I was ready to lay my head down. We all went to sleep relatively early, and were all up and ready to go for the day around 4am. Jet lag is a funny thing.

August 17

We spent our first day as tourists in Tallin, Estonia. We took the two hour ferry ride from Helsinki to Tallin early Friday morning, and after a brisk walk from the port to the old city made it in time for the free guided tour. The tour was excellent and I learned a lot about the history of a country I previously knew very little about. The old city is a fairly well preserved medieval city, I felt like we were walking through the world of a fairy tale. The cobblestone streets and old building, churches and castles were what I would envision the world of Cinderella to look like. We logged a lot of steps this day and I slept great that night.

August 18

Saturday we woke up, packed our bags and picked up a rental car. We drove from Helsinki to Turku. Anthony spent 13 months of his mission in the wards in Turku and visiting was a must. On our way we stopped at the temple in Espoo. When he was on his mission the temple had been announced, but not yet built. It was dedicated shortly after we got married in 2006. While we were on the temple grounds Anthony ran into a few people he knew and ended up visiting with them for close to an hour. We then drove for approximately two hours. I had planned on watching the beautiful countryside, but was so tired I slept most of the drive. In the afternoon we toured the Turku Castle. While we were trying to find a place to park so we could eat dinner and get groceries the bishop of the Turku ward saw Tony and yelled hello!