We got a new baby!

We just got a new baby in our home, thats right. He is a cute baby boy, and quite hairy one. His name is KIMI. His is a retreiver, smart and obedient little fellow. Few weeks ago we were in Stavanger and visited our friends, their dog had gotten 7 puppies and of course we had to get one, Marianne had been lobbying for dog and when I saw these little cuties I had no heart to say no.

Vacation in England 17.04-24.04.2008

Our family has a tradition to travelt to England once a year . We simply cannot get enough of this mangnificent country, it attracts us with its fantastic culture, architecture, history and not least shopping :) We spent 4 days in London: this time we visited The British Museum, London Zoo and the Imperial War Museum. I am very impressed of our kids because they are as exited about museums as their parents, they enjoy culture which is not very common with children at their age. We were visiting Londons attractions by buss and subway. We also shopped til we almost dropped, the prices in England are so cheap compared to Norway! After 4 days in London we rented a car and headed to Stonehenge which was fantastic...there is spooky silence in area it felt almost as past generations wanted to tell us their story. From Stonehenge we drove to Cheltenham in central England, Mariannes best friend lives there, she is married to englishman. Lowater family is awesome: friendly and hospitable, Ben (the husband) is a busy man, he works for secret service and is also a stake president of a Cheltenham stake, Ingerbrit is home with kids and also studies to became a writer or a poet. They have 4 kids about the same age than ours, , mother Ingerbrit was baptized about the same time as Marianne in the beginning of 90's. We stayed at their place fo 3 days, it was a great way to learn more about english lifestile and to get to know some of countrys traditions. We had a great trip and will be back in England next year.

Circus is coming to town...

Circus visited Haugesund and the we had an opportunity to attend the event as a family. The program was 1st class and especially kids enjoyed alot, Johannes was eager to see his favourite elefants: they were the stars of the evening and impressed the publicum with an awesome show. This was the first time in circus for Marianne and Ismo. The whole family were enjoying the show in the first row seats and the atmosphere was quite electric only couple of meters from performers. It was a great evening that everybody in Hiltunen family will remember.

Back in Finland...again! Ismos dad's 80 years birthday

I had an opportunity to fly to Finland to my fathers 80 years birthday on easter, I fly alone without Marianne and kids, they were in Espevær with the grandparents.
We had a fantastic family party to honor our fathers 80 th birthday. He was moved to tears to see all his kids and most of grandkids at the sametime. The program was very entertaining, first we had a Powerpoint presentation about my fathers magnificent and ritch life, all the children had a chance to have a speech and to remember dear father and chidhood memories with him. After this, we heard a choir of grandchildren to sing, kids too had nice musical number: we sang one of his favourite songs from his childhood, he was moved to tears. My 2 sisters and my neece are all professional musicians and of course we got to enjoy the fruits of their expertice.
Ther was also a feast, tons of good food and company: I have always been so happy that all the siblings have always been so good frieds, there was a spirit of love and unity among us. I am sure that our dear mother was there too, she was such an extraordinary person.

Back in Finland, together with Toivo-father

Together with dad, my sister Mervi and Ismo

Bigbrother Vesa

Siblings and dad: Kirsi, Virpi, Ismo, Pasi Mervi & Vesa

"Be true yourself" maybe not... grazy Hiltunen's

The song about old sailorman...

Grandkids singing...only Norways kids missing.

The whole family together...

Snowscooter safari on Lake Kallavesi

The speedmachines, all have more than 140 hp, average

top speed ca. 180km/h.

In the evening my brothers and I to a tour to our cabine and had snowscooter-safari on frozen lake Kallavesi. The nature was so beatyful and snowscooters awesomely fast, we had so much fun! Thanks to my brother Vesa, who owns these machines. Weather was nice everyday on the trip, when I came home in Haugesund there had been a snowstorm and a plane had some difficulties to land, that is very unusual here, we get rarely snow and now we got 15cm in the end of march! Grazy grazy...

Finland Vacation Photos

Winter Vacation in Finland

Our family had a wonderful vacation in Finland 17-23 february. The trip was a success. The kids had a lot of fun playing in snow with their cousins, Ismo got to meet his friends and family, and Marianne was just enjoying the ride ;) We drove more than 4000 km, mostly on slippery winter roads, which was quite demanding... Everything went well though, and we were protected from accidents. Our new family-car (AudiA6 Avant) managed her baptism of fire very well ...at Skansen, after which we went shopping in the center of the city. We slept on the ferry from Sweden to Finland. In the morning we visited my brothers (Pasi) family in Turku, and afterwards we drove to Helsinki to visit my sister Kirsi and her family.

Next day I had a chance to visit my best friends in Lappeenranta (by the Russian border) Marianne and the kids stayed at my sisters place, Solveig is the best friends with her cousin Elisa, our families really get along, we travel to Denmark with them next summer after which they spend few days at our place. In Lappeenranta my friends had arranged a shoot out in the shooting range, I took my rifle with me, it was great to do some shooting after many years, I had forgotten what a markman I used to be in military, it was nice to notice that the skill was still there ;)

On tuesday we headed to Kuopio to my dad, we visited my sister Mervi on the way. My dad was superhappy when we arrived, he looked much better and was sharper than in the summer when I saw him last time, he suffered a bloodcloth in brain few years ago and have suffered of bad eyesight and memory loss. I took my dad everywhere we went, we had great few days together. In thursday we went to our summerplace by ski, kids we exited to ski and to make snowmen. My brother Vesa was also there with his 2 snowscooters. I took all our kids to snowmobile drive on frozen lake, they really enjoyed the speed. In the evening we visited my sister Virpi and her family.

The day we left, I went to visit my mothers grave with kids and my dad, it was very emotional.

You get used to not to have your mother around but you will never stop missing her, I miss my mom dearly. I am glad that we have a gospel which puts things into perspective and gives hope.

Return trip went well exept the road over Haukeli was closed(mountain pass)because of bad weather, we had to take detour through coastal E18, which meant 4 hours extra. We came home 1.00 in the night, we had sat 18 hours in the car almost nonstop. I am gratefull to our kids that they were so patient on the trip, and that Marianne did not complain much either ;)

Juleferie!

I år gikk turen til Hønefoss, for å feire jul med min bror og hans familie. Vi hadde fantastisk vitervær på vei over fjellet, og måtte selvsagt stoppe og ta noen bilder...

This year we traveled to Hønefoss in eastern Norway to spend Christmas with Mariannes brother and his family.

to cross the mountains this time og year, can be quite a streneous journey, but we were delighted to find the mountains at its very best, with sparkling snow, blue skies and a radiant sun!

This picture shows Matias taking a break at Haukeli, wich is approximately 1000 metres above sealevel.

The picture at the left was taken from the car, just as the sun was about to set. It was beautiful, as the moon rose above that mountain top.

As we arrived at Hønefoss, it was quite cold there, and all the trees were covered in frost. Beautiful!!!