Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Countdown to a European Family Vacation


Now that our trip to Finland is less than a month away, I feel the need to blog about it. The trip participants include me, my husband, Geister, Boo, Grandma G. and Grandpa G. The reason we are going to Finland is because I know a family there; the reason we are going this year is because Boo will fly for (almost) free (there are some taxes on overseas flights, as it turns out, and tax calculated on a $0 fare turns out to be about $300. Who knew?).

Our itinerary includes:



  • Seeing Helsinki

  • Spending time at a summer cottage (I use the modifier “summer” deliberately, as this is the phrase the Finnish always use. “You have a cottage?” you might say, only to be told in reply, “Yes, we have a summer cottage.”)

  • Driving to the Arctic Circle

  • Hitting a Swedish border town, and crossing over, just to say we did it

  • Going to Russia, if I remember to get the required visa

  • Spending a day at the Moomin amusement park for the kids. Geister already has his own Moomin plate, and cutlery set.

  • Seeing Helsinki again

  • Crossing over the Gulf of Finland by ferry to see Estonia

  • Having a sauna everyday

It will be a great experiment to see:



  • Whether Geister and Boo can get over jet lag

  • If they can sleep with that much constant daylight

  • If the mosquitoes are worse in the Finnish north, or ours

  • How cozy it really feels to travel and camp with my in-laws in the 24ft camper we’re renting

  • Whether or not our host family will go nude in the sauna when we’re there, and what they expect us to do (This brings to mind the one rule I have for the trip: Do not see father-in-law naked. I'm trying not to be glib here--I really really mean this.)

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Also, this is my blogiversary, or birthday or something: in one year, I’ve managed to post 25 entries!! That’s an average of one every two weeks. Honestly, that’s better than I thought I was doing.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Recalls

I have just gathered up five wooden Thomas & Friends toys as per the RC2 Wooden Vehicle Recall. For more information, go to http://www.recalls.rc2.com/ where you can get complete information on what is recalled and how to send in your pieces.

Geister asked me what I was doing as I hunted for the red James, his coal car, and a few of the other Friends. “What are you doing, Mommy?” he asked, concerned.
I explained that there was some bad paint on the toys, but we could send them back to the store and get new ones.
He absorbed this explanation, and then asked, “Can we get a new Mommy, too?”