Åland Island begins

There has been a lack of blogging lately as well as just time spent on the Internet in general. Us girls have made it to Åland Island, a group of islands, way up north between Sweden and Finland. This group of rocks in the middle of the ocean is where our Farfar's family is from! 

We arrived via a cruise ship on Wednesday the 18th of September. Neither of us had ever been on a cruise ship before and the Viking Grace was a Nordic haven! We scored the best seats on board, sitting in comfy swivel seats with massive windows around us. We were exhausted from only a couple hours of sleep, but determind to keep our eyes open to watch the amazing views between Sweden and Finland...so many little islands to see!

We arrived 5 hours later to the land of our history. Cousin Bo picked us up and, at that point, we had no idea what we were in for. We quickly became attached to each family member and the land itself. 

Bo gave us a short tour of the main town (very small boat town) and then took us to his amazing country/water-side house. We had fika (coffee and snack...a daily tradition) while we chatted. Berit (his wife) came home from her job as a midwife and instantly started to whip up the most scrumshis dinner (I swear we never have time to get hungry in Sweden). Berit allowed us follow her out into her huge garden and pick many fresh veritables for dinner! How great it felt to be in the beautiful country, eating fresh food and meeting family! After dinner, We were shown old photos of when our parents visited Åland and told old stories. Neither of us can explain the connection we feel with our family here! It truly is an amazing place! 

Later that night, berit took us in a real Finish sauna. She heated the little hut by the sea with a wood stove, before we stepped in (the way our mothers made us - birthday suits). After sweating perfusly for 15 minutes berit taught us to run down the dock and jump into the freezing cold Baltic Sea! 

It was a beautiful experience with berit as she told us old Finish sauna ways. In the old days women used to have their children in the sauna during winter, because it was the easiest place to keep warm and clean! It is also called "The Holy Place".

Our sauna obsession continued on in the first two days of being on Åland as we took 4 saunas! Each one offering a new experience and memory! 

We finished our night with a late night intensive Swedish lesson from Bo! As we shut our eyes to fall into dream land, we reveled in how blessed and thankful we felt to be a part of such an amazing family!!!