I have been indeed just on the road. Just back, we are on the road again: this time as a family for visiting Maija & her family in Pori, Eastern Finland. It was a really gorgeous trip.
Back at home. It feels so good. I only realised now how much I missed them. It was really time to go back. The re-union was little delayed, because I arrived late night and and spent the first night sleeping in on the couch. Antonia was already deep in her dreams when I arrived. In the morning, when she woke up next to Tanya, I heard this conversation. Tanya said “Guess who is here? Mama!!” and Antonia answered “Mama weg”. Then again “Mama ist weg!”. Still brings tears in my eyes. Of course I jumped out of my bed immediately and showed that I am really back. She could hardly believe it. Was happy of course, but little reserved at the beginning. She kept touching my face as if she wanted to double check that I am not a dream. But after a while she was already sticking to me, and of course spent a lot of time playing and near her within the next days. The big news: she does not need diapers anymore! Not even at night. Tanya did it, again. Last year, she stopped breast feeding while I was in the field, this year, she is potty-trained. Wow!! :) The weather is rather good, with temperatures up to 25 degrees at the moment in Central Finland. So we decided to visit Maija, Igor and the kids Petja & Tanja in Pori, at the East Coast. It is a 5 hours drive and I combined it also with the purchase of a new car in Pori, which we wanted for a long time: the VW Tiguan (previous car: Audi A3, simply too small now and getting old). It was a beautiful trip, and we had so much fun with feeding the sheep, watching the chickens, searching for animals with Petja, riding the horse, playing with Tanja, and and and. And the weather was good, the children were even swimming in the pond. It was very relaxed with Maija and her family. We also met her parents and got insight into the tranquil and hearty world they are living here on the country side. I have to say this is a beautiful side of Finland. And simply a very nice family, we are glad to call them our friends.
