Helsinki Baby!

We flew to Finland for the weekend.

On Easy Jet, a no-frills airline.

We left behind cold and rainy London and arrived to a slightly colder and wetter climate.

Went to visit our Finnish Family. Not the kind you are born into but the kind you make.

It started with a 17-year old girl who came to live with us as a foreign exchange student in the 90’s. Years later we met her charming mother while vacationing in their ‘land of a thousand lakes’. Almost three years ago we danced at her wedding and toasted her handsome husband.

In October we got the news that their ‘Wonderful Boy’ had arrived.

This weekend we had the pleasure of meeting him.

Two whole days of baby watching, holding, burping,

strollering, and being amused by his every expression.

Last week at his naming ceremony (a Finnish custom), his name was revealed and it represents a lovely melding of his Father and Mother and Uncle and Grandfather.

But to us, he is also Wonderful Boy.

Long, lean and active.

Made from hearty Finnish stock - he wasn’t bothered by rain on his face when he met us at the airport. And he slept OUTSIDE (temperatures were in the 40’s) on the porch Saturday night while we ate dinner inside.

Baby sleeping soundly on ‘open air’ porch.

So now our Finnish Family has expanded by one and our hearts have grown exponentially.

Kiitos (thank you) for a lovely visit,

Your American Family