Lapland Day 2 - Activities Day

Day 2 in Lapland and no lay in after the long day travelling yesterday. Today was an early start to get dressed and breakfast ready for an activities day which included reindeer, huskies, snow mobiles and sledges. We opened our door in the morning and again it was about -10 Deg C, again it was still snowing, and again the scenery looked just beautiful.

 

The children's park was a little dangerous and out of bounds given it was covered in thick snow.

However everyone knows me and my extreme ideas. When did a little snow ever stop me from doing anything. So I came up with an extreme sledging event for the boys where they took their sledges to the top of the slide and then pushed off for a fast decent into the snow. Rest assured I tested the plan myself to make sure it was safe for the boys and amazingly another family saw us doing it and brought their sledges over to join in! 

Joshie hits the bottom of the slide ready to zoom off into the snow.

Action shot, as you can see the slide generates good speed over a little distance.

Brandon's light body weight seemed to make him go even further and faster. He is just a blur of motion.

Whilst the kiddies were passing a bit of time in the extreme park I decided it would be rude to not imitate that cheesy Van Damme commercial and make my own snow angel. 

I always thought of myself as an angel.

Once our coach was ready we headed off about 20-30 mins South into the deep woods where the activity centre was. En route all the kiddies were encouraged to continue their search for Santa by shouting out "ho,ho,ho", "sparkle, sparkle" or "Elfalert" if they saw lanterns, magic dust or Elves. Initial thoughts as we pulled into the area was just breath taking. The snow covered lap huts and Xmas tree's looked just stunning. Not even the photo's do these scenes justice and capture the true beauty of the area. 

Snow covered Lap hut with a warming fire burning outside.

As you can see the snow was pretty deep in places coming up over the windows.

Just look at that..........stunning.

Joshua admiring a real Xmas tree.

After taking in the scenery we did a little bit of sledging again before heading off for our reindeer ride. Each reindeer had its own sleigh which could take a couple of people. So I rode with Joshua and Tina took Brandon. 

This was the beautiful looking beast that pulled be and Joshua around the woods.

Me and Joshua all snuggled up in our sleigh ready to experience Santa's mode of transport. Unfortunately the reindeer had not eaten their magic cookies today so they could not fly.

Now tell me that isn't exactly what you imagine one of Santa's reindeer's to look like.

Tina and Brandon all loaded up in their sleigh ready for the ride through the woods.

And they are off.........

This reindeer was taking a mid morning nap on the snow and seemed quite comfortable with us getting up close to take a picture and have a little chat about Xmas!

Brandon getting ready for his reindeer ride. Or maybe he is just hoping that reindeer hasn't got wind today given where he is sat!

The boys would not get close enough to the reindeer for a photo so instead I took up the opportunity.

Tina, Joshua and Brandon. Notice Tina has grown some proper reindeer horns!

Remember yesterdays blog, "ho, ho, ho" has to be shouted every time you see a lantern.

After our reindeer ride we were invited into a Lap hut for our Arctic circle ceremony. Apparently this is given to every tourist that crosses over into the arctic circle. Inside the Lap hut was very dark and there was a blazing fire burning with a local Finish guy all dressed up in animal fur chanting some sort of tribal sounding song. Everyone sat around the fire and one at a time you was called up to get on your knees, make your best reindeer noise and then get your face marked with black ash. Its all a bit of fun but the two boys were pretty scared and just sat over to the side and watched the ceremony. For me I was told that in my next life I will be reborn as a reindeer where I will have 25 females to myself, wow, afterlife is going to be good! 

The Arctic Ceremony Lap hut.

We four Kings about to enter for our initiation into the Arctic circle.

Inside was very dark even with the fire blazing.

This was our first whole day spent out in the Arctic conditions and despite the boys having one thick pair of socks on, then a pair of knee high ski socks over the top, then their ski boots on top of that, they were both suffering badly with cold feet. Unfortunately they had to grin and bare it today, but we learnt our lesson and the rest of the holiday was 3 pairs of socks which seemed to resolve the problem just fine. 

Outside fires to try and keep you warm throughout the day.

Next on the agenda was one of the highlights of the holiday for us all. A family huskie ride through the woods. These Alaskan Huskies are just awesome animals and so friendly. The power to weight ratio is incredible when you think we had 8 little dogs pulling us 4 plus they sleigh. That must be well over 30 stone and they managed to pull us through the woods at an incredible speed which would have you holding on tightly around the bends.

All loaded into our sleigh ready for the huskie ride.

And then our 8 huskies are off.

Very keen to get going and they seem to really enjoy the work which is nice to see.

The woodland that the dogs took us through was breathtaking as always.

The final part of the activity day was probably the bit I was looking forward to the most. The snow mobiles!!!! Tina and the boys sat in the red trailer and I drove the snowmobile around the short track. For me it was an absolute blast and the snow mobiles are just awesome to drive. Unfortunately Tina and the boys did not share my enthusiasm as every time I accelerated hard they got blasted with fumes and I wasn't really being very subtle going over the bumps resulting in some sore bums!!!

The snow mobile with family trailer attached.

Tina and the boys in the trailer. Not sure why they all look so scared. Is my driving that bad?

Me on the machine. It is a legal requirement to wear crash helmets.

So that ended our activity morning and then it was back to the hotel to get some more socks, warm up and have some lunch. After lunch we decided to take the cable car up to the top of the ski mountain to have a look at the town from the highest point.

Joshua and Brandon getting onto the cable car ready to head up to the top of the mountain.

Despite the snow and the darkness the view from the top of the mountain was still amazing. It was also good watching the skiers make their decent.

The cable cars at the top of the mountain,

And then we were off back down the mountain back to the hotel (after a bit more sledging first).

 

In the afternoon we tried out the Spa Well Being Centre which has got just the most amazing swimming pool I have ever seen. But I will write more about that and the weird Finish swimwear guidelines later in the blog!!!! Check back for Say 3 as we search for Santa, have another snow mobile ride and then head off bowling in the evening.