Moving into town

 As un-fun as it is, the numbers of covid cases are increasing in this country. This past week, Kai and I had a cold and Kai stayed home from school a couple of days. We were pretty sure this was just a cold, but you can't be sure without testing. So this was a good reminder that kids can and will bring home all sorts of things. So with perfect timing we moved to a new furnished place much closer to town on Saturday. We have been settling in and unpacking, and learning where all the light switches are. It's very nice, and stylish, and Petra has completely fallen in love with the minimal, clean, nordic aesthetic of clean whites, greys, blacks, and a splash of color. The house itself is of a very typical post-war design with a basement (with sauna), living spaces, and bedrooms upstairs. Nearly identical versions of this house are found all over the country, with varying degrees of upgrades. 

Petra wanted her own space very badly, so she chose to bunk in the basement next to the sauna. Kai got a spot in the kids room and I enjoy a spacious bedroom. 






Speaking of color, leafy trees are now just about near their peak color. Birches go gold, maples all kinds of fiery colors. We've had a decent bit of rain, but most of this weekend has been wonderfully sunny. 

We met up with Isla and Elina and took a nice trip out to the sea side at Ruissalo island. Easy to get to, and not far, but with beautiful terracotta toned granite rocks and a wide view of the water. Kids climbed, splashed in puddles and explored, and we had a grand lunch outside, enjoying an almost warm rock surface in the sun. Elina and I improvised a thermos flask with a clean pasta sauce jar and a woolly sock, so we had warm coffee also along with the sunshine. By the end of the afternoon Kai needed dry pants and Isla needed dry gloves, so it was all in all a success. 



Petra was commenting how there are so many nature preserves and how quick it is to get to such places. I really cannot complain. This place was a real hidden gem - there were a lot of people in Ruissalo today, but only a handful of them came to this place. Lucky for us. 

This coming week is Autumn Break in school, which means we'll be finding fun things to do in the day. On Tuesday, Petra gets to decide what we do, and on Wednesday it's Kai's turn to call the shots. We'll let you know what we did and how it went! 

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