Beach Baby

"Beach baby, beach baby,
Give me your hand...

Just like before,
We could walk by the shore.

Beach baby, beach baby,
There on the sand,
From July to the end of September."
- First Class

I have and always will be a sun lover. I always dreamed of one day living by the ocean, or at least within walking distance. But never was it the Baltic Sea in Helsinki, Finland?!? With temperatures reaching 78 degrees yesterday, my dream came true. We spent all morning and part of the afternoon at Hietaniemi beach, only a mile from our home. The boys played in the ocean despite the frigid water temperature. After numerous applications of sunscreen and hearing American 80's music over the beach radio, we headed home for a 3 hour nap.

I was quite impressed how quickly Finns shed their clothes. This weekend they still had their children in hats and jackets, winter boots on the stroller, scarves around most peoples neck (even though they were wearing short-sleeves). But today babies were running naked on the beach and the smallest bikinis and speedos gave "some" coverage to others. This will be a great summer...one to remember!