Camp out

To kick off the 4-day weekend ahead, Matias's school had organised an evening of softball, camping and campfires. We joined the evening of - how could I describe it best - the evening of freedom.

We weren't planning to camp out for the night, but we took our beach-tent and some blankets along and set up temporary camp under one of the big african trees on the school grounds.

The days are still hot/warm, but the evenings have become cooler and there are some brown leaves on the ground. It seems that autumn is in the air. After the sun went down, the cool night felt kind of like Finnish summer nights minus the mosquitoes.

It felt wonderful. It was like the dark evenings of my childhood, when we run around in the woods with our torches.

When we moved to England I felt guilty about the fact that I had taken the kids to a place where they were never really able to run around freely - a place where the kids can't even walk home from school by themselves. The kids' movements are even more restricted here, so even short moments of freedom are important.

When Matias was little, he came up with a term to describe days in Finland, the days when you can just jump out of bed, say Bye to Mum and Dad as you run out of the door, and wonder outside by yourself for hours to an end. They are the out-days (ulkopäivät). I can't wait for him to experience more of these days in Finland, and to introduce India to out-days as she grows up.