Visit to Lufolkan

Last week we were very happy to visit with Kristina's cousins Mia and Hassi, who are the proud, hardworking couple that have been working on remodelling Lufolkan for the past couple of years. Take the time to check out their blog.

Here we are discussing good Lutheran theology:

The exterior of Lufolkan with newly laid paths and landscaping. Mia works for a florist in Jakobstad, so we imagine it will be beautiful:

On the left is what will be an outside sauna, with a storage shed on the right:

Here is the remodeled kitchen with a fireplace and woodburning over. There is a "modern" oven as well…they're not that hardcore.

They've started laying beautiful spruce throughout.

Homemade "saft"

Making black current juice is a yearly tradition in this part of Finland, and probably all over the country. The first order of business is to pick fresh black currents from the backyard:

Next you sort of steam the currents and drain off the juice:

The resulting product is a little bitter, but really great and is packed with vitamins to help you survive the hars Finnish winters:

A big tree, a big rock, and an old building.

The other evening, the Sundströms took the Odoms on a very nice drive around the Pedersöre countryside. One destination was an old, massive pine tree:

The next destination was a HUGE boulder. This is the very pretty hicking trail that led to the boulder:

The white puffy stuff is called "lava". It's a staple in the diet of reindeer:

Close up:

Kristina in awe of the boulder:

Some very unique forest surrounding the boulder:

This picture doesn't really do the size of the boulder justice:

The final stop was a sort of summer grazing farm for cows that's been around since 1825. Notice the traditional fence in the foreground:

An old kitchen:

Two stables:

One of the rooms was plastered with newspapers that were decades old. Here is a clipping from Jakobstads Tidning announcing Kennedy's assassination:

Bellycheck

Sorry this is a couple of weeks late. This was Kristina at 23 weeks; she's bigger now, but we don't have a picture.

Ridlektion

Ellen provar sina nya ridkläder.

En dag på stranden

I måndags hade vi en "tjejdag" och tog Ellen, Hannah o Nadja till stranden i Hästöskata, och hade en trevlig eftermiddag med simning, lek och picknick.

The other day we took three of our nieces, Ellen, Hannah and Nadja, out to the beach for a picnic and some swimming. It was a fun afternoon with the girls.

Kamerareparation

Elis hade förstört Keas o Pattens kamera, så Weslie gjorde ett försök att fixa den. Det gick inte så bra...