Day 13: Rainstorms, then glorious sunshine!

Keith, Anna and Olivia enjoy the hot-tub.

As we went to bed last night, it had already been raining heavily for a few hours and I woke up a couple of times in the night and simply lay and listened to what seemed like utterly torrential rain. I got up for a look finally at around 6am and what I saw confirmed that it had indeed been awful rain all throughout the night. I could hardly even see the lake at that point, for lashings of rain that were coming down relentlessly. A quick check of the forecast suggested it would stop by 11am and be sunny by 1pm, so I finally fell asleep again around 7am, having spent some time catching up with news from Turkey and establishing that several friends and teachers who I know through eTwinning were ok.

Waking up late, after 10am, it was still lashing down. Anna and I had breakfast then drove along to Vaajakoski to the supermarket where we ran in and out quickly and bought what we needed. Back home around 11am, it was indeed beginning to lessen, and before long, the clouds were suddenly melting away and the sun came out, transforming the morning into a truly fabulous afternoon of hot temperatures and glorious sunshine!

I just love this view from the sauna!

The wood-burning stove's chimney, heating the hot-tub.

So, we did all we always do in such situations - relaxed in the sun, swam, repeatedly used the sauna right through the afternoon and evening, ate outside in the lovely conditions, as well as used the hot-tub for the first time this holiday. It takes a while to fill it up, directly with a hose pumping water up from the lake, and the wee wood-burning stove then sets up a circular motion of pumping in hot water and drawing out the cooler water until the whole hot-tub is wonderfully hot. We all enjoyed it for several hours too! Just before dinner, Sandy and Olivia walked the kilometre up to the zoo at the main road to retrieve a Pokemon stop (like millions of others across the world each day right now!) and as soon as they returned, they were back in the lake, the sauna and the hot-tub right through until the sun dipped behind the trees just before 10.30pm.

Heaven!

Together in the hot-tub 

Keith looks happy!

Gorgeous sunshine and heat!

On the doorstep in the evening sun.

Another session in the tub!

Meanwhile, Keith relaxes!

Looking skywards!

Time for music!

This little beauty in the sauna was well worked today!

Time for another swim!

And for me, time for a beer!

Late evening sun on the tree tops.

This cottage is away on the other side of the lake - maybe a km away.

Family of swans out on a late evening journey!

So, lots of photos today from what has been simply a brilliant day!