Finland: the testicles of the eurozone

Scott's unrelenting awesomeness (second marathon) giving us an other excuse to travel

"Finland~ where 4 am looks the same as 10 pm, and both are indistinguishable from noon."
~first sentence in my journal from our time in Finland

"Mom!  Finland is a GREAT place!  The power hasn't even gone out today!  We should stay here forever, probably."  ~Kylie

"Internet speed in Finland... over Wifi... while streaming Youtube: 15x faster than the hardwired DSL at my house in Naples.  *sigh*"  ~Scott's status update

"Finland has so many foods!  We had dinner that wasn't pizza OR pasta!!!" ~Avalon

"Your words should be better than your silence.  If they aren't, stay silent." ~Finnish saying

That actually sums up our experience fairly completely.  If you're just here to get Finland's vibe, you can probably close this window now.  If you're more the 'I like pictures & sexual innuendo type', feel free to continue reading :-)

Pictures

Enchanting parks everywhere

I love you guys :-)

A stuffed reindeer carcass!  Let's pat it for an hour!

Quite possibly Kylie's favorite part of the entire vacation

At first we just thought EVERY kid we saw was returning from a fishing trip.  Turns out it rains so often they have an outfit for it, much like the requisite snowsuits I had growing up.

One of many games of tag with Aunt Christy, who is unequivocally the best

Is good you came in summer.  Winter can be verrrrrrry depressing
(Estonia)

Innuendo

This actually isn't innuendo.  What is it?  I'm not sure.  Let's make it a fun multiple choice question!  This is:

a) a map of the eurozone

b) a low resolution picture that was all I could find

c) what happens when you let Europeans design something

d) the best thing to ever happen to Sweden

Admit it: now that you've seen it *without* Norway, you can't un-see it

This isn't really innuendo either.  I should have come up with a better heading.  So what is it?  An awkward family moment.  We took a boat ride to an island zoo (awesome!).

It's a traffic light for boats!

almost there!  also awesome!

...and then this happened:

The girls saw (and became enamored with) this peacock.  Which, unfortunately, Avalon kept calling the "he-cock".  As in, "Momma look at that pretty he-cock!" or

That sure is a big he-cock, huh Kylie?" 

"When I grow up, I'm gonna get a he-cock!" 

"Yay, yay, the pretty he-cock is following us!"

* sigh *

Lastly (but not leastly), we came across this in our "what to do in Finland" brochure:

Finland, it's a bold move presuming I'll *love* having my calf bitten while kneeling on a toilet and leaning out a window