Joanna returned early from Newcastle in the beginning of July as she was not well and got permission to appear for her year end exams in mid August. She returned at the beginning of July with Tony and the boys, Samuel and Daniel.
Before Joanna came back she had made me promise that I would be able to spend quality time with the kids so that she could study.
I would wander across to their house every day at around 11 am, when they were finishing breakfast. I would push off with the kids to all sorts of places - the Oulu Traffic Park where they could drive pedal cars, the Oulu Speed Park which has greatly expanded its offerings for children, the Oulu Zoological Museum, the Oulu Botanical Museum, the Oulu Geology Museum, the Oulu Car Museum, the beach, various parks, and take Samuel for his football training and football tournaments.
The photographs give an idea of the varied
things "we kids did this summer".
Samu striding out Kimi-style
Samu on his final drive at the Traffic Park
Daniel fills petrol
Daniel drives
Daniel pedalsAt the Speed Park
Asha driving the motorcycle
Asha and Samu driving the electric vehicles
Samu fires a gun
Daniel shows me he is turning left
Daniel at the car computer game
At the Zoo
Asha and Samu covered in Plastic Balls
Daniel in the Plastic Balls
Asha and Samu trampolining
Asha, Daniel and Samu at the Zoo
At the Market Square
Daniel at the market square
Asha sees how Finnish drunks,
even invalids, are handled
Jogging in the Park
Building an appetite, jogging!
At a football match
Asha watches a football match
We would end our wanderings at some friend's restaurant (Pailin, Goreme, Royal Garden, Nispero) so that the kids could tank up on their goodies.
I always carried chocolates and crisps in the car. Crisps were doled out "one-by-one".
On a few occasions, Samuel would go out with me on the scooter while Annikki minded Daniel.
I would return back to our home in Kampitie when I knew Annikki was rested and she could also spend quality time with the grandkids. She would rustle up some food, usually chicken nuggets and chips or turkey sausages with something else. We had plenty of ice creams of all sorts on offer. We were all spoiled and Samuel put on about 5 kg, Daniel a couple of kg and me - 8 kg!
The kids just loved to play in the Kampitie garden creating a mess in the sand pit. Even as late as 9 pm the kids did not want to return to their home - Kampitie was where they wanted to be!
We were blessed with a great summer, so very few days had to be spent indoors. Samu did spend some time on the computer getting me all sorts of stuff in my Penguin Club Account.
In mid August I drove Joanna to Tampere (5 and half hours) to take the Ryan Air flight to Newcastle via Dublin. I picked up Susanna and family and drove back to Oulu. Susanna gave us a scare en route when she had a bad attack of gastroenteritis. I stopped at a friend's place about a 100 km from Oulu at around 5 in the morning and got his son to call an ambulance to transport Susanna directly to the Oulu University Central Hospital, where they checked her out and after doing all the necessary released her the next day.
We celebrated Asha's 10 year birthday one day early to allow Tony to take the two boys to Newcastle to rejoin Joanna after her exams.
Susanna, Chris and Asha insisted on staying in the Kampitie cellar, although Joanna's house was empty. Asha and I had a great time doing what I had done with the boys earlier, except the Traffic Park, which had closed as soon as schools started in Finland. We did a lot of mileage on the scooter and we had some great experiences.
Asha and I could not also visit the Car Museum due to a shortage of days.
Last Sunday, Chris drove Asha and Susanna in the SAAB to Tampere, where they met up with Kannan. They handed the car over to Tony who drove back on Sunday night so he could get back to work on Monday morning. He did the return trip in less than 5 hours!
Joanna gave us a scare saying that she may have fared badly in her exams. When she did not get a call for a Viva, she was half convinced that she had failed and was even contemplating quitting her medical studies.
Yesterday she got her results.
She got Merits in everything except in one where she missed her Merit classifiucation by just 0.3%. I was hopping mad with her as she certainly gave us a scare.
On the other hand, more fool me. I should have known as Joanna has been an outstanding student right from kindergarten!
We all will get back to our routine now that summer is over and the autumn leaves have started to fall.
Annikki is back in her elements have turned the living room topsy turvey and rearranged it, all by herself. The kids are waiting for the photographs, which I shall endeavour to have in a day or two.
