The things we do for love...

We spent last night in Takalan laavu and this is what it looks like:


Picture from patikka.net

Add a foot or two snow and you get what it looks like now. Also add -5C temperature. Why would you sleep in "laavu" in the middle of the winter, one might ask. Yes, why indeed? I'll tell you why.

It all begins with Erno and Adiel building a snow cave close to near-by ice-skating rink. Erno kept telling us that he wants to spend a night in that snow-cave because his cousins have done it in their snow cave. However, we were quite reluctant letting him sleep in a cave which is not located at our own yard like his cousins' snow cave is. Also snow caves freak me out a bit. I'm always worried that it'll collapse while I'm inside.

So, Erno realised he will not be sleeping in the snow cave. However he kept on insisting that he wants to sleep outside in winter. I thought Teemu might take him one night, but then I thought that why not join them. After all, I've never slept outside in the winter either so why not try it and see what it's like. It was cold. But other than that it was OK. Although walking in deep snow part wasn't my favourite thing either. We even got lost a lttle on our way there since it was really dark. We had headlamps but it was still really dark. We got up a really big hill only to discover that it was the wrong hill.

We managed to find the place anyway and cooked some makkara (sausages) by the fire. We kept the fire on the wholw night but it didn't do much keeping me warm. I had my socks and my woolly socks on and my toes were still freezing. I wrapped my toes around my woolly cardigan and they were okay for a while but in the morning they were freezing again. Thank heaven for my norwegian sweater, though. It was a lifesaver! I probably would have died of hypothermia without it. The boys were snoring as soon as they laid down and Teemu quickly followed, but I didn't get much sleep. I loved the food we had, though. In the morning Teemu made some pancakes for breakfast and they were delicious.

If I'm ever gonna do this again, I'll definitely need a sleeping bag stuffed with feathers. The kids' sleeping bags weren't any better than mine but they say they didn't freeze. Boys!