Lapland - Day 2

On the second day we had to get up early to get ready for our first adventure!!!

They don't have much daylight here at this time of year, so it was dark when we left the hotel, but the lights looked so pretty!

I made sure to leave a bit early because I knew the boys would want to play in ALL of the snow piles on the way down.

As we were heading down there were workers building an ice wall.

I am so glad my boys humor me!!!  Don't they look so cute!!

Yep, another snow pile, I think they were playing king of the mountain on this one.  LOL

We made it, just waiting for the rest of the group to show up so we can get suited up for our adventures!!!

And we are off - the boys are ready for their adventure!

And David and I are ready too!!  I have looked forward to this for a couple of years!!

Our first stop was a reindeer farm.  The boys barely got off the bus and they were already playing in the snow!!!  I don't fault them at all!

My boys all suited up!!!  It is interesting because you can tell which safari you are on by which snowsuit you are walking around in.  LOL  They give you everything from socks, boots, snow suits, gloves, and hats!!  Good thing too because it is cold there!

We started off in the cabin with a wonderful fire and story!

She told us about the four winds hat - men's hat in Lapland.  Nobody lived in Lapland because it was too windy.  Shaman came and could conquer the winds.  The magic man was lonely so he made a big fire, took his magic drums and called the winds.  They came into his house, sitting around the fire while he was drumming.  All four winds fell asleep.  He took the his hat and tied each wind into its own corner.  Winds woke up and didn't know where they were.  He said he would let them out, but you must promise  you will never blow all at the same time. So only one wind blew at a time, winter to the North wind, Summer to the  South wind, Spring to West wind, and Autumn to East wind.

The boys are fully engaged in the story - I LOVE it!!!!

Then she talked about being stressed.  If you are stressed you have bad spirits inside you in Lapland.  The mark of the reindeer will keep bad spirits away.

All three boys making sure the bad spirits stay away!

After the story, we decided to hit the hill and try some "sledding."  It wasn't working because the snow was a little deep.

So being the wonderful father he is, he went down to pack the snow for the boys!

It worked much better after he did that!!  The boys were getting adventurous.

The boys getting ready for their reindeer sleigh ride.  All packed in and ready to go.  Thankfully they had a hide underneath them to keep them a little warmer. 

It is so beautiful out here!!  I love the snow on the trees and everywhere!!! 

Now it was David and my turn for our ride! 

David and this reindeer became really great friends!

It was kind of funny because the antlers kept trying to stab David!  Thankfully David didn't get stabbed.  :-)

We were doing a little bit of communicating!  I am not sure if he understood what I was talking about.  LOL

One thing that was neat, we were able to have a one on one conversation with "Santa!"  I think this is the first time we have had one as a family!

Santa and Michael were having a deep discussion.  They were talking about how good Michael has been this year.  Michael said he has been really good!  Santa had the same talk with AJ.

That was the cabin we had our story in - isn't it great!

Michael decided it was time for more sliding! 

AJ was thinking a little rest would be good.  Though I am thinking that it might have been a little cold.

It was so pretty up there!

The boys asked for some backup building a snow fort and Daddy to the rescue!

David and I were walking around the property and he was being silly!!  I LOVE this man!!  He cracks me up!  

They had some baby reindeer there too!!  Aren't they cute?!?  Interesting facts about reindeer, in Finland everybody can own a reindeer.  But in Sweden and Norway only natives can own them.  They are about 11 pounds when they are born.  They are already walking the same day.  The reindeer are all owned, but they live in the wild, free in the forest.  In June they collect the new born cows and mark them.  Whoever owns the mother, owns the newborn.  They have no feeling in their ears, so that is where they are marked.  The release them until Autumn.  Herders cooperate with each other, count them and checking the condition of the reindeer.  Autumn is mating season and it is twenty females to one male.  After mating season the antlers fall off. 

After some great activity - we headed into the lodge for some yummy lunch!!  Michael and David ready to eat!!!

AJ and I were ready as well!!!  We were going to have some yummy Lapland food!

I think I could get used to this view!  I miss the snow.

Check out the smile on Michael's face - that is because he is drinking THE BEST hot chocolate EVER!!!!

David was enjoying his hot chocolate as well!!

My little reindeer!

We are all suited up and ready for our next adventure, snowmobiling!!!  It was so cold out here, into the negatives Celsius.

You can tell AJ wasn't very happy, I thought they would be able to ride with us on the snowmobile, but they had to ride in a sled behind one with all the kids.  He didn't want to do that.

So beautiful!!!  Getting the last rays of sunlight.

The boys having a little fun in the snow!!!

Love when we get family pictures together!!!   The boys were having a little hard time with their glasses fogging up.

Michael "driving" the snowmobile.

Ready for the second half of our ride!

We make such a cute couple!

This is the boys' ride!

The sun is setting - the sky is turning beautiful colors!

After that we headed to Santa's village.

It was a cute little town!

So I felt a little bad that they couldn't ride the snowmobile, so they had a smaller one they could drive.  Michael took the first turn.

AJ's turn next!  They both did a great job driving!

Look at my handsome men!

Look at that HUGE snowman!!!!  I love it!

We are on the line of the artic circle.  The boys jumped from one side to the other!

It was only -6 Celsius that evening.  They said that was warm for this time of year, 

AJ was a little hungry so he decided to try reindeer.  I told him he was eating Rudolph.  LOL  He said it tasted good!

As we waited for the bus to take us back to the hotel, where were the boys?  Of course, on another snow pile!  We had a great day, even with the disappointment on the snowmobile ride.