Lately

The last days of the action-packed month of April had been booked for months as the weekend when Sarianne would give The Swede his birthday present: a cruise to Helsinki! It was to be Sarianne and the girls (Magnus had to stay home to take care of their dog), Mama and Papa Swede, and us, and it was a total surprise for The Swede. I also got a major surprise when, after we left land behind us, I discovered that Annemor and Matt were also on the ship! Sarianne had coordinated with them so that they could also join us from England. 





Jamie was thrilled to hang with his cousins, and we all enjoyed an awesome show, a swanky dinner on the Segerstens, and some tax-free shopping on Friday night.

When we landed in Helsinki the next morning, we split up. Elin, Matt, Annemor and I took a cab to the Temppeliaukio church, a really cool, modern church built into a hill right in the middle of the city.

While I can't say that this particular church was my cup of tea architecturally, it was definitely unique and I'm glad we took the time to check it out.

On the way back to meet the rest of our group, who had spent some time at a department store, we admired the way Helsinki chose to advertise that KISS was coming to town.

The weather in Helsinki was horrible and the boat was rocking like crazy for the rest of the trip, but we were too distracted by the all-you-can-eat buffet we enjoyed on the way home to care.

Also, Sarianne debuted her new camera and now her photos look better than real life.

Since we had been out of town every weekend for over a month, we were really looking forward to taking it easy this past weekend. And, oh my goodness, it was so glorious not to have anywhere to go on Saturday.

Then, yesterday, we went to Parken Zoo, one of our favorite warm-weather destinations, for the premier weekend. 

We went ahead and splurged on season tickets this year, so we have to go back a couple more times this summer to get our money's worth, so be expecting that.

It's been snowing a bit off and on today, but yesterday's zoo trip felt like the official start of the warm season, the one with a bank holiday every other week, summer vacation, lilacs, Molsta, Jambo's birthday, long evenings with lots of light, morning walks, Aperol spritzes, birds, watermelon, sandals! AH, I love it! Yay for spring!