Friday 22 July 2016

Summer time

Do you remember when I said few posts back (here) that we have to enjoy the summer weather when we have it as you never know when it ends? It was three warm days and after that raining and more raining, couple clear days and then some more rains. It has been raining whole July, no kidding! Couple sunny days when you can say it is actually warm and couple mornings when you think it is going to be summer - and then it starts raining. A real rain season when it should have been the warmest month of the year! If it is, then we have a problem. A problem called not having proper summer! I haven't been swimming once, the kids only couple times, no need for a beach bag... But we have tried to enjoy the holiday anyway.

One morning when it wasn't raining  we went to pick blueberries to a forest that is next to our back yard. Soon we found out that we were followed by our cat.




Last week we took a trip to visit my friend who lives in South Finland. The dry erase book and toy bag were in great use as it was another 3 hours drive. I also made something else that will be introduced later, travelling with kids - part 3.


You never know when you need a pair of scissors and when you have to think out of the box, like when you are on a highway driving 120 km/h and the bumper almost falls of. Luckily we had visited Ikea and had an Ikea bag, problem solved!




It was safe enough to continue driving and luckily with the help of my friends, it was fixed with something better before driving back home!

We visited medieval castle in Hämeenlinna and the view from there is quite something - even with those rain clouds!




On our way back home we visited Särkänniemi amusement park in Tampere and it has own small park dedicated to Koiramäki - books (books telling how people lived in old times, characters being dogs). There is also Angry Birds play ground and we visited them both. Koiramäki is an actual park with buildings from the books, some animals etc., Angry Birds is mainly huge climbing jungle and after these two the kids were so exhausted that only our son asked halfheartedly why we didn't go to any rides and was asleep about 15 minutes after that.

In Koiramäki-park the kids found a huge colouring picture, at least enough to colour for a while!



If you have liked my Facebook page, you might have seen these clothes. They are the result of my smart idea to cut plenty of them at one go, then sew them at one go. More about these too later.

Some characters from the books:









Yes, that WAS a sunny day! Not a cloud visible anywhere, temperatures 25-30 celsius and we had to buy sun lotion on our way to the park. I had forgotten to pack it, no wonder seeing how little we have needed it.

And the weather next day? You will never guess it; raining. 

Then something I haven't done but definitely has to be included here. Our small summer cottage needed new railing and my brother found new ones that someone had thrown away, took them, painted them and the cottage had new, upcycled railing!


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The old one definitely needed a change, the new one looks much better!

So much to blog about, so many ideas! I have been collecting pictures what I have used or saved from clothes, then there are the travelling with kids part 3 coming up, as well as something more about the kids' clothes I made and also about making these:



So many upcycled things! Old kids clothes, old buttons, old zips, only filling is new. 

I wish people would more actively join their own areas second hand store groups in Facebook, to sell, give or to buy. These fabrics and zips were in great condition and I wasn't going to throw them away but the clothes had stains in them, I know many people would have trashed them without second thought. And the railing for our summer cottage, lucky my brother found it! Of course the second hand groups in Facebook (or anywhere else) won't work without buyers or people who need that stuff so that's why I hope people would be more active. There is so much good stuff  going to the landfills now. If you don't think environment, think at least money! Emptying your trash bin costs money, the more often it is done, the more it costs. And if you take extra load to landfill? Not free either. But imagine someone picking up those things you don't need and actually pay for it? I call that win-win. Do you belong to any groups like that or just go to yard sales?

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