Finland is lovely!

Here are some pictures from our trip to Finland. The boys and I had such a great time! It was so good to see my sister again! Finland was so much more than I'd expected it to be. It was so very beautiful. Like a winter wonderland. It reminded me of how I see Narnia in my mind when I read the book. The snow was like sugar powder. We did so much while we were there that it would take days to describe it all so I'll just hit the highlights. We went to Santa's Village and perused around while the kids slid down the ice slide. I even joined in the fun and slid down too! Later, we went snowmobiling. That was a first for me and I pulled the kids behind me in a sledge. It made me so nervous to drive that thing towing them behind because it was so dark outside! We were on a trail and it had lots of bumps and turns so I drove slowly just to be cautious. I totally want a snowmobile! At the reindeer farm, Kai (my oldest son) got to try his hand at snowmobiling on a mini snowmobile. He loved it! We got pulled in a sled by reindeer and they are much faster than I thought. Did you know they run faster than horses? I got to walk a reindeer as well. They are really lovely animals and their history with the Sami people is very interesting. The Sami are the only indigenous peoples of Europe and learning about them was fascinating. I was so inspired by their dress and customs for many designs. We also got to go to the husky ranch and get pulled by a team of sled dogs. Now they are fast!!! It was just like in the movies! The dogs were jumping and barking desperate to get going to pull the sled. You could see that they enjoyed what they did. We did and saw so many things that were so once in a lifetime. The only thing I didn't see was the Northern Lights because it was never clear or cold enough to do that. I know that I'm surely missing some big bits and pieces of our experience but there really was just so much. Thanks to my sister for inviting us! If you get the chance to go to Finland, I highly recommend Rovaniemi and Safartica tours. You should plan some time outside of the tours too because the tours really are full day affairs. It was a great time and I'd definitely do it again! Here's some photos from our time there.