family – Blue Moment

Day 116: Pop the Cork

June 11, 2026June 11, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Europe, Family, Luxembourg, TravellingTagged 365 Project, family, Travel, WineLeave a comment

I enjoy sparkling wine in any occassion, but still it remains the drink I most associate with my mum. And, to a slightly lesser degree, to my sister.

We’ve drunk it together on many occassions over the years, but I think the connection was born in Luxembourg. Stuart and I lived there for a few years, and my entire family came for a spring visit. We spent a whole day in the Mosel wine region, walking, eating asparagus dishes and drinking wine – both sparkling and not. My mum, Noora and I bought a magnum-sized bottle to take home and top the weekend off. If I remember right, we ended up giggling a lot.

Day 115: The Last of First

June 10, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Alanna, Family, Kiara, Stuart, TraditionsTagged 365 Project, Alanna, family, Holidays, Kiara, Learning, Stuart, SummerLeave a comment

The last day of first grade: report cards received, flowers given to teachers. We all even survived singing Suvivirsi (you need to be a Finn to understand that).

Done.

Ten weeks of summer holiday deserve a celebratory pastry.

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 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 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 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!”.

Day 84: The Great Escape

May 2, 2026May 2, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Activities, Europe, Family, TravellingTagged 365 Project, Activities, family, TravelLeave a comment

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.

Day 83: Tallinn

May 1, 2026May 2, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Architecture, Europe, Family, Stuart, TravellingTagged 365 Project, family, Outdoors, Scenery, Stuart, TravelLeave a comment

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.

Day 61: A Peanut A Day Makes A Happy Parrot

April 6, 2026April 6, 2026Posted in 365 Project, Animals, FamilyTagged 365 Project, Animals, family, HomeLeave a comment

My sister has a parrot, a yellow-naped amazon called Niki. Occassionally, when my sister and her husband are both travelling, Niki comes to stay.

98% of the time, Niki is a very easy – and quite fun – houseguest. The only two exceptions are the times she starts loudly (and I mean loudly!) protesting for being excluded from the flock activities (eg., if she can’t see the dinner table from her cage) and when she needs to be moved.

For some reason, Niki does not like men. Any men. Even my sister’s husband is smart enough not to try to touch her. So, getting her from her “visiting cage” to her tiny travel cage is my problem. And Niki typically does not want to go into the travel cage.

Over the years we have become good enough friends, so she does not seriously try to bite me anymore. But it is a delicate balance of cajoling and being firm. And bribing. And in very tough spot, bribing a bit more.

Ps. My sister can handle her well. I guess Niki and I still lack a certain bond…