Vappu 2017

This was the second year in a row that I arranged the Vappurieha for the Finnish School. It all started last year because I wanted to introduce my kids to the traditional May Day celebration. Most of the time, we don't really recognize that holiday here in the US, and my attempts at celebrating Vappu were always quite feeble. There is usually a Finnish picnic in Central Park around Vappu, but I've been too lazy to get there from Long Island. So last year I decided that it was time to show the kids what it was all about: Sima, munkit, ilmapallot, serpentiinit, vappuhuiskut, etc. And as a bonus, the celebration functioned as a fund raiser to the school. This year the fund raising aspect of the event was even more important because our school budget is on deficit. I didn't have the "munkkimestari" or my cousin from London as helpers this year, so we focused on pannukakku instead (it was a big hit). We made some munkki too, but they were nowhere near as good as last year. This year I manned the candy fishing activity. The kids were so cute fishing little prizes in the bucket through the curtain. I made sure to tug on the bucket a little before filling it with goodies. It is a lot of fun to work together with the great team of Finnish parents to put on these events, but it's also tiring. I was so exhausted after the day that I went to bed at 9:30 p.m. As much fun as this was, I think we have to do something else next year...