If you haven’t heard by now, we recently experienced Reima Kidventure in Lapland and what an adventure it was!

To spend the week in Finland with other people from around the world was a dream come true and we are so grateful to Reima and everyone else that made this trip possible.

Prior to day one, we had flown from Manchester as it was a direct flight to Helsinki. The kids were so excited (obviously) and you can read my little boy’s thoughts here. It makes for a great read!

I can remember opening my eyes on the morning of day one to pure silence. It was amazing. In the UK, we hear birds singing, cars travelling and there’s generally an industrial humming noise of some kind in the distance.

After breakfast in the Colorado Restaurant, we joined the briefing and then got the bus to Iisakki Village. Once the kids left the bus, we had a mad few minutes of everyone climbing and jumping in the snow. It was so much fun to watch and there were happy faces all round. Even when I got stuck in the snow and no-one would help me out, haha!

We split off into smaller groups and headed through the woods to a nearby lake. We were going ice fishing and this was one of the activities I was really looking forward to – even if we didn’t catch a fish! I realised at this point that I needed to be conscious about how I split up my time. I wanted to capture as many photographs and videos as possible, while still experiencing everything with my family. I thankfully managed to do this!

After ice fishing we had a quick cup of hot juice and a biscuit in a nearby hut. Then we were off to do ice sculpting and we decided as a group to attempt a Gooey. This is the Reima mascot! After this we went kick sledging and Emma and I nearly ran someone over, haha!

It was now dinner time and my tummy was rumbling. I turn into the Incredible Hulk if I don’t eat regularly. We were taken to a nearby cart where we were served chicken soup and bread with cheese. It was delicious! We sat in a wooden teepee and the fire was roaring! Harri (the Reima photographer) captured this beautiful family photograph…

It was to be used in a local Finnish newspaper for an article about what activities different families do around the world. It was now our turn to go snowmobiling and I must admit I was excited and nervous about this. Nervous because my friend had messaged me the night before to tell me how his Mrs had flipped theirs over into a tree and wrote it off!

The kids would sit in a sleigh at the front and Amy and I were on our own snowmobile further down the line. It was amazing! They really did move quite fast even though I didn’t give it full throttle – my friend’s message was still stuck in my head!

The kids really enjoyed it too and they got the opportunity to go on their own smaller snowmobile, which they loved.

Image captured by Harri Tarvainen.

Right next to this was an area with a snow wheel. There was a little platform for 2/3 kids to sit on and this was attached to a pole that you pushed. All the kids loved this, as you can see from the photograph above. There was a language barrier but we still have kids together having fun. It was a beautiful moment.

Finishing off with a nice meal at Piste restaurant and a sauna when we got back to our room, what an opening day it was! I made the following video, which I hope captures our day as I have described it above.

Thanks for reading,