When the sun is setting, between dusk and darkness, there is a moment when the light turns blue. And the world stops for a heartbeat.
As said before, escape rooms are a thing in my family. The idea of going to Tallinn for an “escape trip” started off as a joke. But turning jokes into reality is also a thing in my family (e.g., annual the-most-useless-useful-Christmas-present competition).
One weekend, four rooms. Three of the rooms were actually hard, one was… an experience… We escaped three of the rooms, but are now trapped to a haunted orphanage for all eternity.
Luckily there was drinks after.
Tallinn is just a 2 hour ferry ride from Helsinki, which makes it a perfect weekend get-away with Stuart, my brother, sister, and brother-in-law.
Tallinn is an old Hansa city and the old town is just beautiful. As a tourist, one rarely wonders outside of the old town. However, one purpose for the trip was to solve a number of escape rooms – none of which are in the old town.
One down, three to go. And we got to see some of the modern Tallinn too.
When you are a twin, you share everything: attention, toys, clothes, most experiences – and birthdays.
In Finland, tho, there is an age-old tradition of celebrating name days. A few years ago, we picked up the idea and started small-scale celebrations to make sure Alanna and Kiara both have their own day.
Alanna’s name day was today. Alanna, as a name, is very rare in Finland (fewer than 60 in the whole country), so it doesn’t appear in the name calendar. Alina and Aida were the closest matches I could find.
As a treat, Alanna got a few small presents in the morning and chose a restaurant for the evening: Korean BBQ (smart kid!)
The Day was finally here. Harry Potter birthday!
The house was packed – at first with wands, owls, floating candles, Gryffindor colors and golden snitches. And later the chaos was completed by 127 excited little wizards and witches (or that is what it felt like).
The Herbology lesson (plant your owl pot) was popular, as was the Potions lesson (mix different color juices) and Levitation class (on the trampoline). But nothing was as eargerly anticipated as the opening of the Honeydukes candy shop after the other food was finished.
Our little witches loved the day – but I am happy it is a whole year to the next kids birthday!
Last year Santa brought the girls a trampoline. I was a bit worried it wouldn’t be used much, but I didn’t need to worry. Last summer, there was barely a day that girls didn’t go jumping, at least for a bit. Most days, there would be several friends bouncing with them.
We set the trampoline up again today (you have to take it into storage for winter). Thirty minutes later, you could already hear the laughter of four little girls.
Raking is pretty far down the list of my favourite things to do. But there is some satisfaction in having a tidy yard. At least it has been dry, which makes raking easy. Keeping girls at task was harder.
Long time ago, I preferred red wine. However, white wine has always been a summer drink. After I moved to South Africa and then Singapore, I lived in a long summer (comparatively) for several years. As a result, I only really drink white. Intellectually, I know reds are better and more complex wines. White just tastes better.
Stuart doesn’t care about temperature. He drinks red.
Warm milk has been a part of our bedtime routine since… well… since the girls were just born. We transitioned from mother’s milk to cow’s milk and from bottles to sippy cups to normal cups – but the routine stayed. It is a taste of calming down (most nights).
In my family, escape rooms are a thing. We regularly go with my siblings, their partners, and sometimes include our parents. The girls have tagged along for a few times as well – and keep begging to come again.
So this Easter, I built them their own escape-room-style egg hunt. They had to solve puzzles, break codes, search for clues, and even reveal invisible writing. Along the route they had to uncover boxes and find matching keys or number codes.
A few of the challenges were quite hard, but the girls managed to locate all of their eggs. Apparently, it was more fun that our “typical” hunt, so I have a feeling we may have started a new tradition.
A great addition the already existing tradition of spending the Easter in our summer cottage with my parents
Our house is in a nice suburb just next to the seashore and several small forests. Therefore, there are nice walking, cycling, and adventuring routes all around us.
Now it just needs to stop raining.
Blue Moment 