"Hei boo boo, let's have a pic-a-nic in the National Park"

Hei (Hi, in Finnish),

Today we had one of the most memorable meals and hikes through one of Finland's National Parks.  We started our adventure at 10:00 and finished around 2:30PM (sunrise to sunset- ha!)

It felt as though we were in an enchanted forest . . . unbelievable how green the forest is in the winter . . . beautiful evergreen trees, birch, aspen and moss carpeting areas that weren't ice covered.

Aaro showing his strength

This was a real education in walking on ice up a hill, across rocks, bridges and through frozen, muddy wheat fields.  We should be certified in ice walking by the time we leave.  We hate to brag, but neither of us fell!

To be clear, this was a preemptive ice crab walk, not a fall :)

In all seriousness though, this forest and hike were absolutely incredible.  Just a beautiful landscape and it was so cool to see so many other hikers out in the snow covered park.  On top of it all, one of Pia and Haarri's neighbors who works for the Park Service came as our guide!

After a few hours of hiking we stopped for a luxurious picnic on a fallen pine tree (Yogi would have been jealous). Our Finnish friends brought seat warmers, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, salmon dip with garlic rye crisps, sandwiches, and Finnish candies for dessert.

Aaro clearly doesn't feel the cold, although he probably went 5 times as far after climbing over boulders.

Ice, mud holes or the creek?  hmmnnn 

Off to a KHL hockey game tonight! Sarah is the only one excited, but she's excited enough for everyone.