Today marks two months on the road for us, and I thought I’d do another quick check-in.

First, the kids want to share their thoughts. Olivia feels neutral about the trip. She says it’s not good but it’s not so bad, either. She likes seeing new things, but she doesn’t like the homeschooling because the math is too hard. She also misses her friends a lot, and the FaceTime phone calls are not enough. She does like it when she makes a new friend, and she met a very nice German girl at the campground here in Helsinki. Unfortunately, the girl left yesterday afternoon. She is happy to spend so much time with all of us.

Hannah really likes the trip so far. She likes seeing new places and swimming in (cold) lakes. She likes being together with her family, but sometimes she gets annoyed by her younger sisters. She has started reading for fun a lot more than at home, and she loves it when I read the Harry Potter books to her and Charlotte. She doesn’t like math for homeschooling but she likes the rest (especially reading in German and English). She is excited to see what is next!

Charlotte likes the trip so far, too. She wasn’t too sure about coming at first, but now it’s good. She misses her friends very much. She says she is tired of all the hiking but really loves how cold these nordic countries are! That is why she started liking the trip awhile ago. She likes most of the campgrounds, especially the ones that have lakes and playgrounds! As for school, she thinks math is too hard but all the other subjects (French, reading, writing, etc) are good. For her the trip is “not super, super, duper, but it is super, super.”

And finally, Luisa says she likes the trip. She likes this campground in Helsinki because it has two playgrounds, and she liked visiting the churches in the city. She misses Opa, Ilse, Tanta Jutta, Onkel Kalle and all her kindergarten friends, but she also does a great job of making friends with any child or dog on at the various campgrounds. It’s hit or miss as to how she’ll behave during school time; sometimes she works on math or reading, sometimes she plays alone quietly and sometimes she drives us crazy by yelling, fighting and creating chaos. She’s our little firecracker and loves to spend time with all of us together.

As for Steffen and I, we are so happy to be doing this! As we were driving south from the North Cape a few weeks ago, we looked at each other and said at the same time, we were so glad not to be heading back to Germany then (it was nearing the end of summer vacation). We are still enjoying the time together, exploring new places, getting to know the girls on a deeper level.

Two months in, this little camper already feels much more like home than our house in Everswinkel ever has. I think there are so many factors:

• it’s small and we don’t have much stuff so it’s so easy to keep organized and not get overwhelmed
• we are always exploring new places but still have something familiar which is a great balance for me
• Steffen and I picked it out together, were able to go in and see how it felt before we bought it so I have some ownership
• this trip is a dream of mine, and I am so happy we were able to take it, so I went in with a positive attitude
• I love having everyone close by but still having the space to do our own thing (reading, playing games, building with legos, working on the computer, etc)

So, long story short, we are excited to continue our adventure!