Last day in Finland

So today on our last day in Finland I was rudely awoken by my sweet, loving, and LOUD niece and nephew... and their equally LOUD father!! They seemed to think that I needed to be awake...  i respectfully disagreed!

so after waking up we had lunch and then family came... and not just family, but FAMILY.

Two brothers, their wires, and 5 children total came to join the Frantti's two kids and their 3 kids total!  in case anyone is counting that would be 21 people in one house... it was really not bad though.  Everyone was so nice and we had a little cake and some coffee and all sorts of sweets in honor of everyone being there and Tessa's birthday, that was just a few days ago!

the cake was homemade by Aila's sister, just for Tessa (though I'm not totally sure on the Aila spelling)

For the better part of the day everyone just hung out, and when everyone left, we had dinner... rain deer stew over mashed potatoes... it was actually quite good, though I still have a hard time wrapping my head around eating Santa'a helpers!! 

Hopefully I won't get coal this year!

We also had salad (though this time there were two, one with a sort of curry chicken on it... also good) and the usual assortment of breads!

After dinner, it was sauna time again.  I'm told that people here usually only sauna every couple of days, but our presence seems to have amped up that number!  Tonight tough there was a twist... a bet!

Kimmo has a daughter named Mia, who is 14.  She and Moo Moo and I agreed that we would all jump in the river after going in the Sauna (though contrary to tradition, we opted for bathingsuits).  Mia and I used the big Sauna house outside and Moo Moo and Ali took their kids in the one inside.  After becoming so hot we were dripping with seat, Mia and I went to get Moo Moo and we made our way down to the river...

That water was freaking COLD!  As per the agreement we all got totally soaked in the 2 meter deep river water... Everyone agreed that I have earned the right to call myself a true Fin!

After Sauna came more food and cards... my team won frequently, and I learned a few choice Finnish swear words!

Tomorrow we head for Stockholm! 

Some pictures..... 

The back yard of the Frantii's house

The front of the house... the yard is SO much bigger than can be seen here... doesn't it look like it belongs is a painting! The sauna house is in the background to the left... yes, the sauna gets its own house

The river in in the back yard! Across it is Sweden (though not the land seen here... that is an island! Sweden can be seen a little bit left of what is visible in this picture)

Just found this funny: "Good Finnish Weekday Cheese"  I imagine that it tastes on the weekends as it does on the weekdays, but it is definitely good