31 December 2001: New Year's Eve

Michael: This morning we arrived in Turku and dropped in and visited dad's second cousin Risto Ivanoff. He was a quite a successful pole vaulter in the 60's and 70's. (If you're not familiar with pole vaulting you can see an example by clicking on the image below to play a movie. I think this is how Olympic pole vaulters do it.) Then we drove back to Helsinki.

Click to play (File size: 1.46MB)

In the evening all the kids from our area started firing off loads of fireworks. As midnight drew near, the intensity of the fireworks was incredible. It's probably the best fireworks show we have ever seen. When you have hundreds or thousands of kids firing as many rockets as their parents could afford you end up with a lot of rockets distributed all over the horizon. A few kids got injured but it was worth it ;-)

30 December 2001: Back to Finland

Michael: Today Dad, Nick, Elke, Elina and I caught the Silja Line Festival from Stockholm towards Turku. Mum decided to stay in Stockholm with Berit for a few days until Dad and Nick come back.

29 December 2001: Time to leave Björnrike

Michael: This morning we packed up our stuff and left Björnrike. Between Vemdalen and Orsa we saw a large herd of reindeer on the side of the road. After 8 hours we arrived at Berit's place in Stockholm.

28 December 2001: Skidoo safari

Michael: We woke up relatively early today and went to Vemdalen to buy some warm boots. I bought a pair that are so warm that even polar bears use them when it is really cold. I needed new boots because we were going on a skidoo safari. Elke and I on one skidoo and Dad and Nick on another. The guide showed us the way through the forest trails and across the plains. It was pretty cold at -16C but but the guide said it was like a summer's day compared to yesterday when it was -25 to - 30C. It was an amazing place. All of the trees were covered in snow and ice. It was snowing lightly most of the time. Elke and Nick's feet were pretty cold so maybe they should get some polar bear approved boots. Elke drove most of the way because there were hand and feet heaters in the front. Of course Nick couldn't drive because of his broken arm. I was hanging off the back filming with a video camera until my hand started to freeze (that was a good excuse to have another drive). Since Elke was a bit more comfortable with the speed and handling of the skidoo she didn't mind me going a bit faster. So I did. We got airborne over a crest which was pretty cool. I'm not sure the guide would have been too happy with his new Yahama Venturer skidoos leaving the ground but it was too hard to resist. Later we dropped the two frosty ones off to thaw out and have a coffee while we went for another hoon through the trees. I managed to get it up to 80 km/h on a short straight. Later the guide told me that they can go about 120 km/h on a normal road but the speed limit is only 70 km/h for skidoos in Sweden (I guess he could have told me about that earlier).

When we got back to Björnrike the conditions were starting to resemble a blizzard. I decided that it wasn't worth skiing so we took our skis back to the Skid Shop. We took all our empty Fat cans (and the rest) up to the supermarket to get a refund. When Stefan opened the boot of the car, one of the bags of cans and bottles fell out and the blizzard winds blew them across the carpark and down a hill. While Petra was laughing her head off, Stefan and I climbed down the cliffside to collect the bottles and cans. It's not that we needed the money, we risked life and limb for the environment (and to test my new boots).

27 December 2001: A big bog for a little McSquish

Elina: Today Mamma took me for a big bog on my new toboggan. We bogged all the way down the hill and then she swerved for some reason and I toppled off and skidded on my face in the snow *WÄÄÄWÄÄÄWÄÄÄwäääWÄÄÄÄ*. The snow is really cold here. It's even colder than the time Mamma threw a snowball at däddä but hit me instead *wä*. We went to the café at the bottom of the mountain to warm up. On the way back I fell asleep and Mamma pulled me all the way back up the hill.

Michael: Dad and I drove about 10 km to another mountain called Vemdalsskalet which is a bit bigger than Björnrike. I found some challenging ski slopes and some that were ok for dad too .

26 December 2001: Oops

Michael: This evening we went for a short drive to take some photos of the full moon in the forest. When we had finished Elke jumped into the car. We have hired a black Opel Zafira which when covered with a bit of snow could be mistaken for a Volvo. Well that's what Elke did. She jumped into a Volvo which was parked a few spaces away from our car. I guess they were surprised to see Elke and Elke was rather surprised to see them.

25 December 2001: Christmas Day

Michael: This morning at 4 am Mum, Dad, Nick and Berit got up and went to a 5 o'clock Christmas Day church service. It was in a small church in a nearby village called Vemdalen (which literally translates to Who Valley). It looked pretty nice on the photos they took.

After church they took Nick to a hospital in Sveg to find out what was wrong with his arm. An X-Ray (or Röntgen) showed that he had broken his left arm near the wrist.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I went to the Skid Shop (Swedish for ski shop) and hired some skis and bought a lift ticket. Since I've wanted to try snowboarding for years I paid a bit extra for my ski hire so I could change to a snowboard after I finish exploring the mountain on skis. The problem is that I had forgotten how much fun skiing can be and I soon realised that I'd prefer to ski than spend then next few days struggling to stay on my feet. Maybe I'll try snowboarding next time.

The weather was overcast but otherwise ok. I only skied for a couple of hours before skiing home for lunch. My right foot was a bit cold and my ski-boot seemed a bit wet so I decided to hang up my hat for the day and put my boots in the drying cabinet. The others turned up in the afternoon and Nick was sporting a half cast.

24 December 2001: Christmas Eve

Michael: The day we've all been waiting for... Christmas Eve. Unlike a lot of other cultures it is tradition for us northern Europeans to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. In the morning Mum, Dad, Berit and Pernilla went for a drive and saw a single herd of several hundred reindeer. Apparently you can encounter herds of more than a thousand from time to time. Unfortunately they didn't have camera so we have to take their word for it.

For some reason Swedes have an odd tradition that has been very popular for around forty years: at 3pm every Christmas Eve the whole of Sweden switches on their TVs to watch some Disney cartoons. After their dose of cartoons they serve Christmas dinner and drink a lot. We found a beer that was pretty good: it's called Fat.

At some point after dinner, Janne decided that it was time to go out and buy a newspaper. While he was out looking for a newsagency that is open on Christmas Eve there was a knock at the door: Santa Claus was looking for a house with children who had been good this year. We almost had to turn him away but then we found a few good kids hiding somewhere. Since 70% of you said Elina should get a Sony PlayStation 2 for Christmas (FYI the other 30% voted for the Microsoft XBox and there was absolutely no support for the Nintendo GAMECUBE), I was pretty confident there should be at least one in his huge sack of presents. There were lots of great presents which Elina, Sanna and Glenn loved but alas there was no PlayStation 2. That just goes to show that Santa doesn't believe in using your children to get cool toys for yourself...(but it was worth trying).

Since we missed out on the PS2 it was time to go outside for some stupidity. Mum and Berit wanted to relive their childhood and slide down the road on their bottoms. Nick didn't think they were going fast enough so he decided to give them a helping hand by pushing them. The problem is: running full speed down a steep icy hill, half full of Fat is a recipe for disaster... and that's what we got. Nick slipped and landed on his arm. "I think my wrist is gonna be pretty sore tomorrow." he said. Within a few minutes his arm had become quite swollen and a bit lumpy. He was still able to move his fingers and bend his wrist. We bandaged it up and decided to see how it was in the morning...

23 December 2001: The search for glue etc

Michael: Since Elke's as blind as a blind drunk without glasses, and there are no optometrists open on Sundays, we had to find some glue to restore Elke's vision. We drove down to the nearest town but due to the Christmas shopping rush and lack of parking (and our desire to go for a nice drive on a perfect day) we decided to drive the 60 km to Sveg. There were hundreds of reindeer along the way so there were nearly as many photos taken. Eventually we got to the supermarket, found some glue and other bits and pieces (like candles) and headed back home. The sun was starting to set when we left Sveg at around 2:30, which is a bit wierd because it seemed like it was rising when we left for Sveg. When we got home we glued Elke's glasses back together and after dinner we went outside with some deathdiscs (a.k.a. a piece of plastic you sit on and slide down a hill with). The road outside our cottage is a nice hill for sliding down. It's steep enough to go fast if you want (or even if you don't) but not too dangerous unless your stupid (tune in next time for some stupidity).

22 December 2001: Driving, driving, driving...

Michael: We arrived in Stockholm about an hour late (7:40), and then they couldn't open the bow door of the ferry so we had to wait while they turned around and then we drove out through the stern. We took a bit of a sightseeing drive around Stockholm and then headed off towards the mountains. It was a pretty smooth trip up to Uppsala where we found a bank. Leaving Uppsala was very slow because we were stuck in a traffic jam caused by snow plows clearing the road. The temperature had dropped to -13C, and it was snowing quite heavily. The traffic was crawling along at between 15 and 50km for most of the way. We stopped for lunch in a roadside restaurant called Björklinge Wärdshus for some typical Swedish food: sausages and potatoes (kind of like the typical Finnish food).

After lunch we rejoined the traffic jam a few cars down and continued to Gävle. I needed to buy a skiing jacket so we stopped at Åhlens. They had about 5 jackets for sale and none of them looked too good so after mum asked a local we headed down to the sports store Stadium. They had heaps to choose from and Elke found one that seemed pretty good. It's not Goretex, but it claims to have the same properties for half the price. I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be warm enough because it's quite thin but it seems that the more you pay the thinner they get.

There was a large straw goat in the centre of Gävle which gets burnt by vandals every year before Christmas. It's been impregnated with fire retardant to try and prevent the yearly burning. In the past, if the attempt to burn it fails, they come back and finish it off. [UPDATE (23/12/2001): The vandals burnt it on the night that we saw it.] After some missed turns and subsequent sightseeing we were on our way again. The coldest place on our trip was Älvros where it was -28 C at 19:40. The road looked quite slippery but the car seems to handle quite well even at 70-90 km/h. Most cars were passing us at about 100-110 km/h. After seeing a few reindeer on the road so we slowed down a bit. On the road between Sveg and Björnrike a BMW passed us fast. A few corners later it hit a reindeer and spun off the road. The people were ok but the reindeer was badly injured. It crawled into the forest. The driver of the car called the police and they said they would come out and take care of it. While we were out of the car we realised that the road really was pretty icy. We nearly slipped over a couple of times.

Eventually we arrived at our cottage in the mountains at 21:45 after a long day of driving. It was a bit warmer here: only -19.5. We were greeted by Berit (mum's sister), Pernilla and Petra (my cousins), Stefan (Petra' s fiancé), Sanna (4) and Glenn (2) and Janne and Kristina (Stefan's parents). Little Elina doesn't really like glasses too much so *whack* ... Elke's glasses hit the floor and snapped into pieces. Time for some sleep...

21 December 2001: Going to Sweden

Michael: We are going to spend Christmas in a Swedish ski resort called Björnrike. It is a mountain near the Norwegean border. We have some cottages booked for a week. This evening we drove from Helsinki to Turku to catch the overnight ferry, Viking Line Rosella to Stockholm. The weather near Helsinki was quite bad: nearly -10C, heavy snowfall and slippery roads. We heard radio reports that there were more than 100 traffic accidents in the Helsinki area today. Amazingly we arrived in Turku about 45 minutes early so we went to Seppo and Eeva's for coffee and glöggi. When we got onto the ferry we had a buffet dinner. Not too much night life on the ferry though. We had a few and went to sleep.

19 December 2001: Viking Line Isabella runs aground

This morning the ferry we were going to catch to Stockholm ran aground outside Långnäs due to strong winds. There were no casualties and there was not too much damage but Isabella will be out of action for at least two weeks while repairs are made in Turku. The ferry Rosella will replace Isabella during this time.

18 December 2001: That's gotta hurt

Elke: Mikie slipped on the ice tonight when going down a hill and landed on his hip. Now he's got a huge bruise about 10cm across.

15 December 2001: Porvoo

Michael: Today we went to Porvoo, which is where dad and his family had their summer place in the 1950's.

14 December 2001: It's been a while

Elke: We moved from Melbourne almost 4 months ago and it's been a while since we've had the chance to go out on our own without the little squish. We went out for a nice dinner and afterwards went out and had fun. That's all you need to know.

13 December 2001: Sankta Lucia

Elke: Piiiiiia and Emilia came 'round for a coffee and some apple cake. After dat we cort da twain into da sitty and met mikie. we went to da big white tschurtsch to see da lucia parade. We were freezing our nuts off and Elina was marvin so we had to sod pretty quick and get some chews. Mum, dad and Nick stayed longer and wotched the parade.

11 December 2001: Huh?

Elina: Geez it was loud last night. I think the snowplows must have been busy. They were so loud it sounded like they were in the living room. I couldn't sleep anymore and then däddä came and took me into their bed. It was pretty dark and I couldn't see the snowplows, but I sure could hear them. I eventually got back to sleep. When I woke up in the morning there was a familiar face smiling at me. I haven't seen it in a while, 'cos it's Farmor . Next thing I knew, Farfar and uncle Nick walked in. Now I know why it was so loud last night. Anyway, it's good to have them here even though they sleep really loudly.

10 December 2001: Mum, dad and Nick arrived

At around 10pm mum, dad and Nick arrived at our place. The sauna was warm and fresh blueberry cheesecake and coffee were ready. They arrived in Copenhagen a couple of days ago and hired a car. They drove across Øresundsbron which is one of the longest bridges in the world. It connects Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmö (Sweden). Then they drove to Stockholm and stayed at Berit's overnight before catching the morning ferry to Turku (Finland). The ferry arrived in the evening and then it was a couple of hours driving to finally get to our place.

6 December 2001: Finnish Independence Day

Today is Finnish Independence Day. Finland became independent on the 6th of December 1917.

3 December 2001: Däddä is back at work today

Elina: Now that däddä's not around anymore I can get up to more mischief, but it's not so much fun when you're not about to get caught...

2 December 2001: Nossi lifts a new personal record: 100kg x 8

Michael: Today Nossi reached his long time goal of bench pressing 100kg 8 times.