Short week

Bye Bye Vision of the Seas

Island chain outside Stockholm

Taken from the deck of the Viking Line Ferry on way back to Turku, Finland

Sea Kayakers enjoying the placid bay

The beauty of Sweden

Nice choice for a summer home

Beautiful day for cruising

Old Beef Eater Inn Pub-- Stockholm, Sweden- No mother-in-laws allowed

Cathedrals in Stockholm are around every conrner

Old Town chocolate shop-- we tried the tira misu bars-- It was a good choice.

Old Town shopping district-- Stockholm

Kamryn with her crown in front of the Royal Palace

The Puma Boat-- which was in 2nd place at the time of this picture in the Volvo around the world Boat Race

Ericsson Boat-- which was in the lead at the time of this picture

This will be a short week of preparation for the Crocodiles as we prepare to play the Turku Trojans at home on Friday night. I have a long trip of about 4 hours each way over to Kuopio on Friday before the game. It will be the last of my 3 speaking engagements that I have done since being here. The sessions focus on team building and increasing motivation in the business environment.
Practices are going okay this week, but we are really banged up right now. We had only one offensive lineman dress out for practice yesterday. I also have a nice dilemna on my hands as we have 4 American players on the roster. We are only allowed to play 3 at a time, so someone is going to be sitting this weekend. Basically, somebody is going to be very angry and probably threaten to leave. It is the kind of decision where I just might flip a coin because none of the 4 guys deserve to sit.
If the weather stays nice, we are going to spend the weekend in Helsinki. There are some sites that we want to take in and we don't have too many weekends left for roadtrips.
Here are the last of the pics from the Scandinavian trip.

Victory is sweet

On one of the ferry transit boats in Stockholm

View looking out from Gamla Stan island in Stockholm

Vasa museum in Stockholm

Norsk Museum-- Stockholm

The architecture in Stockholm is spectacular

The stern of the Viking ship recovered from Stockholm harbor circa 1960-- This ship sat underwater for hundreds of years and is the best preserved Viking ship left in the world today

This museum was full of artifacts that were found on the ship as well as detailed info on how the ship was raised from the bottom of the sea-- Unfortunately, she sank on her maiden voyage.

She still looks seaworthy

This boat conjured up images of Viking warriors who are out to seek treasure and fortune on the high seas.

Sea side amusement park in Stockholm

Swimming aboard the Vision of the Seas

Testing the waters

The real fish of the family who learned to swim at 2 years of age in Arizona.

One of the lounge areas on board the cruise ship

I thought I would post some more pics from the trip last week. However, I must first take a moment to congratulate the Crocodile players on a great game yesterday. We traveled to Porvoo on Saturday and defeated the defending champion Butchers in a hard fought 21-14 game. It was a physical hard-hitting game. We had a lot of adversity to overcome over the past 3 weeks and the players rose to the occasion. The only people that probably thought that we could beat the Butchers were the 25 or so players who made the trip. It was nice to see the guys smile after the game and enjoy the victory. We must now get ready to face the Turku Trojans on Friday night of this upcoming week. The Trojans are led by a QB who played his college ball at USC. I believe he was a backup to both Carson Palmer and Matt Leinhart, who are now both playing in the NFL. We are also looking forward to welcoming a few new players to our roster. We are hopeful that they will arrive before our game this Friday. Both of the new guys are defensive players and one of them spent last season with the San Diego Chargers. I will follow up with more info. on the new guys once they arrive in Seinajoki.
The weather in Seinajoki has been absolutely beautiful over the past several days with temps in the low to mid 80's. The air is dry and there is a light breeze. We ended up spending most of the day Sunday with my defensive coordinator on the Crocodiles coaching staff and his family. We went swimming at a lake near their home and then retreated back to their place for some food and more swimming in their pool. We also got some lessons on the rules and basic techniques of Finnish baseball in the back yard. They have two children who are close in age to Kamryn and Kodie, so the kids had a good time playing together. The kids don't share a common culture or language, but that sure didn't get in the way of them having fun and enjoying each others company. Thanks again to the Martinmaki family for your warm hospitality.

Lights out.

Few more trip pictures

Looking out from one of the upper decks on the cruise ship

One of the two pools on the ship

The main theatre where the nightly entertainment was held. Nightly shows featured an excellent magician, world champion juggler, and Vegas style dance/music shows

One of the pirates on board

Near the Town Square in Tallinn, Estonia

One of the many churches in Tallinn

One of the sidestreets off the Town Square

View of Tallinn Old Town from St. Olaus Church

The Baltic Coast of Tallinn

The beautiful medieval landscape of coastal Estonia

This climb makes the one to Conwy Castle in Wales seem easy

Kodie climbing one of the 258 steps on the way to the top of the St. Olaus Church

Time to begin the descent

Ready to head to the muster station

Ready to board the Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas

Narrow alleyway in old town of Stockholm

Picture of a picture-- one of the Volvo around the world racing teams broadcasting from the sea

View across one of the many harbors of Stockholm

Kodie taking part in one of the sponsor activities. These were part of the festivities for the Volvo around the World Boat Races, which had a stopover in Stockholm, Sweden.

Brother and sister getting ready to sail

Nice day for sailing

This event sponsored some great activities for kids.

Not a sign you will encounter in America

Coffee break in Stockholm

Getting ready to explore on our return trip to Sweden

The heat has arrived in Seinajoki. The last few days have been in the 80's and it feels great. It might be time to get the Speedo, uuhhhmmm, I mean the swimming shorts out again. Life has settled into a rhythm here and the days seem to go by quickly. I am nearing the half way point of my stay here in Finland. Quite honestly, the season hasn't gone very well thus far. There have been key injuries, some off the field player conduct issues, and an overall lack of depth. Some of our import players have been sent home, so we are competing with about 23-25 players now. The bottom line is that we are 0-3 and in desparate need of a win. We travel to Porvoo to play the defending Finnish champions tomorrow, so things don't get any easier. We will overcome this adversity.
At the end of the day, life is still good. I am thankful to have a great family here with me in Finland and for my improved health. It is amazing how fragile life really is. Just hearing about the passing of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson in the last few days made me do some reflecting. It made me think a bit more about what is really important to me. It made me consider my own vulnerabilities and insecurities. The other reaction or perspective that I gain from such events is this burning desire to really go after the things that I value and the dreams that I carry inside of me. The randomness of events or tragedies that might occur such as the D.C. metro accident or Air France crash remind me that life can change in a split second. Nothing is guaranteed and tomorrow is never a sure thing. I will close with my advice for the day. Live each day like it is your last and always eat dessert first. Happy pictures