Visitors from Finland!!!

While Emily lived in China (a loooong time ago), she got to know a friend, originally from Finland, who was also living there.  Last year, she contacted Emily saying that she wanted to bring her family (including two kids) to the United States.  We were very excited to host them this summer for two weeks.

We did various things in order to make the most of their time here.  We went berry picking and all the kids enjoyed various berries.  It was their first time eating marionberries.

We visited the zoo and all the kids had to get on top of the bronze lion statue.

The kids went to a local donut and ice cream shop.  They got what's called a "donut sundae" which is a cut-up donut along with a scoop of ice cream.  It was definitely a favorite and also such a big portion that the kids were hardly hungry during dinnertime.

We also went to Cottonwood Beach on the Columbia River and played in the sand.

During July 4th, there's always a rodeo that comes to town.  What would be more American than taking our friends to the rodeo?

Part of going to the rodeo means eating all the special carnival-food type treats, such as shave ice and elephant ears.

At the rodeo, the clown in the middle of the ring threw some promotional t-shirts to the crowd.  It turned out that our friends was able to get one.  Here he is sporting his (free) Les Schwab shirt and now somewhere in Finland there is a large Les Schwab shirt.

July 11 is 7/11 day, where you can get a Slurpee free of charge.   The kids made sure that they availed themselves of this special treat.

The second week our friends were here, we headed out to the Oregon coast.  We asked all the kids to pack their own bags, which they enjoy doing.  Gabe wanted to use the orange packing cubes, of course.

We lucked out on the weather at the coast.  Even though it was a bit chilly, the sun was out and the skies were blue.

The boys thought it was a bit chilly.

We brought a soccer ball because Gabriel is really into soccer right now.

What was great was that our friends from Finland also really enjoy playing soccer and we were able to play a fun game on the beach.  The World Cup was also going on at the same time and we watched some games together.

There was a stiff breeze and so up went the kites!

By this time, even though their kids didn't speak English and our kids obviously don't speak Finnish, the kids had found a way to communicate with each other through simple words and hand motions, and played quite well together.

Our tradition in Lincoln City is to go to Dairy Queen after dinner.  Xiao Yu chose which item from the menu he wanted.

And he was quite happy when it arrived!

Check out the size of Karina's cone.  It was "only" a medium!

The next day we headed out to the tide pools.  We parked the car and had to walk about a mile to the tide pools.

The kids obviously had lots of energy to burn!

And finally we arrived!

This was the Finland kids' first time to tide pools.  We checked out the barnacles and sea anemones.

We also saw little fish and found hermit crabs.

There was a little cove where the waves come in.  The kids enjoyed playing in there and running away from the incoming waves as the tide came in.

Xiao Yu was wearing pants and they got SOAKED!

He thought it was pretty funny.

We also played Uno.  It turns out that Uno is well known around the world, and easily crosses over language barriers.

However, in Finland, they have a version called Speed Uno.  It has additional rules such as stand up whenever a one is played and no talking after a nine is played and a few others.  It made for a a long riotous game!

Eliana's birthday happened while we were out in Lincoln City.  She requested an ice cream cake, which we found one at Safeway.

We sang Happy Birthday in English, Portuguese, Chinese, and Finnish!

And then it was time to head home, but not before getting more treats from DQ!

The day after we came back from Lincoln City, we headed off to Mt. Hood.  During the winter, this place is a ski resort, but during the summer they convert it into an adventure park with lots of activities.

One activity is the alpine slide, which is where you sit on a sled that has a single handle for a brake, and which goes down  a long downhill track.  To get up, you ride on a ski lift. 

If you're under a certain height, you have to ride with an adult.  Gabe rode with Daddy and got to control the brake stick.  On the first ride down, he went quite slow.  But by the third ride down, he was going so fast that Daddy had to show him down a bit.

Besides the alpine slide, they had a mini golf area.

There was also some go carts for little kids.  Only little ones were allowed to drive these battery operated cars.

Xiao Yu accidentally ran into the wall and got stuck because of a tight turn.  The worker then went to help him out and then comes Gabriel around the same turn.  And he was having the same issues making the sharp turn and completely blindsided the worker!  Elvin was able to capture the drama on camera, after which he apologized profusely to the worker.  The worker was gracious and waved it off.

They had these giant plastic cylinders in a shallow pool of water.  The kids really had fun doing these.

And the scenery was not so bad as well.

Xiao Yu got to jump on a trampoline and bungee cords.

And also got to ride ponies.

So that was our two week adventure with our friends from Finland.  We had a great time and hope to be able to see them again some time in the future!