Family – Page 8 – Blue Moment

Day 114: Räyh!

June 9, 2026June 9, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Activities, Alanna, Helsinki, KiaraTagged 365 Project, Activities, Alanna, Food, Helsinki, KiaraLeave a comment

Girls’s night out.

For dinner, Alanna and Kiara chose a sushi – one of their all-time favourites.

After dinner, we headed to a Hevisaurus Musical. I think Hevisaurus is a concept that could really only exist in Finland… Its a band dressed up as dinosaurs, playing heavy metal for kids. And they are pretty good too!

Alanna especially was into every song. She knew the words to half of them and danced passionately to the rest.

As did most of the audience.

I am not sure if I’ve ever seen that many 5-8 year olds headbanging before.

Räyh! is their best song. Or the ballad, ‘Goodnight, Last of the Mammoths’ (Hyvää yötä, viimeinen mammutti). Both are worth a listen.

Day 110: Summer Cottage

June 5, 2026June 5, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Alanna, Asikkala, Family, Finland, Kiara, Nature, OutdoorsTagged 365 Project, Alanna, Children, family, Finland, Kiara, Nature, Outdoors, Summer, Summer CottageLeave a comment

Swimming, boating, fire-cooked crepes, sauna, bbq, hammering, hand-picked wildflowers, ice cream – long days outside and never-ending bedtime giggles.

A perfect day for little people.

Day 106: Drip By Drip

May 30, 2026May 30, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Everyday objects, Family, WaterTagged 365 Project, Children, Everyday objects, family, MakroLeave a comment

People are always curious what is the hardest thing in raising twins. They expect me to describe jealousy, trouble finding own identity, or sharing (or not sharing) friends and hobbies.

No-one ever understands that the hardest thing is to stay patient in the face of stubborn insistence of getting exactly what the sister does.

Exactly.

Even when it makes no logical sense.

The biggest daily fight in our household is whose turn is it to wash teeth first. Every night!

Somehow it remains irrelevant that the other one will go 2 min later.

Day 105: Best of Friends

May 30, 2026May 30, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Friends, KiaraTagged 365 Project, Children, KiaraLeave a comment

Kiara and Bailey have been best friends since they started school. Now Bailey is moving to Sweden and Kiara is heartbroken.

Luckily, we’ve known for a while, so there has been time to get used to the idea. Plans for video calls and visits are already in place.

The only possible upside is that Kiara might accidentally become a little more focused in class.

Day 103: The First Is The Best

May 25, 2026May 25, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Espoo, Family, OutdoorsTagged 365 Project, family, Finland, Food, Outdoors, SummerLeave a comment

The first ice cream of the summer!

Well, of course,we have had ice cream in the past months. Actually, in the past week. But not from an ice cream kiosk. (At least, not most of them. A mall kiosk does not quite count.) And we had not eaten any outside. (Almost none) And nothing in our T-shirts, with the sun shining.

Hard to explain why, but this was definitely the first ice cream of the summer. And it was great.

Day 98: A Year’s Worth of Circus

May 17, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Activities, Alanna, Espoo, Family, Kiara, People, TraditionsTagged 365 Project, Activities, Alanna, Children, Espoo, Kiara, Learning, SpringLeave a comment

Every spring, the circus school Alanna and Kiara go to puts together a final performance. The performers vary in age from 3 to 20+, and in skill from total beginners to the performing group, but the energy and enthusiasm are always there.

Unfortunately, the lighting looked great live but was less kind to photography. Any presentable picture required at least a fraction of a second of stillness, and there wasn’t much of that.

Day 96: Gentle Walk

May 16, 2026May 16, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Alanna, Espoo, Nature, OutdoorsTagged 365 Project, Alanna, Espoo, Finland, Nature, OutdoorsLeave a comment

Alanna is still recovering from her cold. And I am still working long hours.

Luckily this time of the year means the sun is still high when I end my day. Good time for a gentle walk to the seashore.

Day 94: When the cat is away, the mice get sick

May 14, 2026May 14, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Alanna, HomeTagged 365 Project, Alanna, family, HomeLeave a comment

Stuart flew to Kenya for business today and, to no-one’s surprise, Alanna is now sick.

Luckily, she is already pretty independent. But even when I shorten my workday and work from home, she still ends up entertaining herself for most of the day.

A boring day for my little one!

Day 93: Khinkali

May 12, 2026May 12, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Cooking, Espoo, StuartTagged 365 Project, Espoo, StuartLeave a comment

Georgian is one of my favourite cuisines. And khinkali might be the best thing it has given the world.

The girls agree. When Alanna was maybe four, we took them to a Chinese restaurant. She promptly burst into tears after discovering that the dumplings had no “soup” inside. She still asks every time.

So, for Stuart’s early birthday – Georgian it was.

Day 92: Queens of the Carousel

May 11, 2026May 11, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Activities, Alanna, Family, Helsinki, Kiara, Outdoors, StuartTagged 365 Project, Activities, Alanna, Children, family, Helsinki, Holidays, Kiara, Outdoors, StuartLeave a comment

With a long weekend of Vappu celebrations and sun behind us, no one plans a trip to amusement park on the Sunday when the forecast promises rain.

Except us.

And it came together perfectly: the weather stayed clear, the rides were practically empty and, best of all, the girls had finally passed the next height limit, which opened up a whole host of new rides.

To use girls’ own words: ” Everything was the best!”.