On the weekend, I had a lovely walk with my mom in Pärnu, Estonia. It felt like such a treat to step away from daily routines and just wander together. The city has this calm charm—wide streets, a gentle seaside air, and a pace that invites you to slow down. We didn’t rush anywhere. We … More A Walk in Pärnu
We’re still stuck without our car! 🚗 The hybrid battery is still causing trouble, and while Jānis managed to find a used part that might solve the problem, nothing is certain yet. And of course, the school year has already started… which makes life without a car a real headache. So what’s the solution in … More Still Without a Car…
Right now, the streets of Riga are alive with the heartbeat of Latvia — voices raised in harmony, feet moving in intricate steps, and a palpable sense of unity in the air. The 2025 Latvian Song and Dance Festival, known in Latvian as “Dziesmu un deju svētki”, is in full swing. Held from July 5th … More Celebrating Heritage: Latvian Song and Dance Festival in Riga
What a magical celebration we had! 🌿☀️ Let’s start with Linna’s Rhubarb pie, it was delicious. You can find the recipe here: Perfect Rhubarb custard pie. Yesterday we welcomed Līgo night with what might have been the biggest bonfire we’ve ever made – seriously, it was huge! Flames reaching high into the sky, sparks dancing in … More Our Līgo and Jāņi – Bonfire, Tradition, and Trout!
Working remotely has its perks, but sometimes it feels like I’m on a tiny island far away from the heart of everything. While most of my colleagues live close to Riga and occasionally gather in cafes for Tuesday work-togethers, I stay in Gulbene full-time. That means I miss out on casual chats, spontaneous coffee breaks, … More When a Colleague Cycles 108km/67miles to Visit You
Great Tit (Parus major) is the first and most frequent to arrive. Its familiar black-and-yellow plumage, framed by a bold black head, is a cheerful sight against the duller tones of the season. I’ll admit, the Great Tit feels a bit predictable—its visits so routine that I sometimes catch myself dismissing it as boring. But … More The Birds at My Feeder: The Great Tit…boring
As October arrives, Latvia transforms into a vibrant autumn wonderland. The air turns crisp, the days shorten, and nature’s colors come alive in gold, amber, and crimson hues. Birch trees glow with yellow leaves, while maples blaze in fiery reds and oranges. Leaf peeping is at its finest, with fallen leaves creating a rich carpet … More Embracing October: The Enchanting Transformations of Autumn in Latvia
Last night’s sunset at Chestnut Manor was nothing short of breathtaking. There’s a certain magic in the way the light kisses the land here, as if the day itself is softly saying goodbye before slipping into night. In the midst of this golden glow stood our caravan—our cozy hideaway throughout the renovation. It’s almost time … More A Bittersweet Sunset: Reflecting on Our Journey at Chestnut Manor
Our next stop was Salacgriva. We all wanted to meet my mom. Girls were sad when we left Gauja National Park, cause they meat wonderful friend Normunds and didn’t want to leave. But when I told that next stop is Salacgriva, they were so happy! Linna especially! So, after a one and a half hour … More Hometown Salacgriva
This summer we will be caravaning around Latvia. But first things first. I upgraded our caravan to be more like for us – two grownups and 3 kids under 6 years. Our flooring was carpet and it wasn’t easy to clean! Now it’s Vinyl flooring! It is easy to clean and it was easy to … More Caravaning – Vinyl flooring
I think I didn’t mention that we pulled out our caravan from neighbors barn (read Jani’s parents barn)! Towed to the car and brought it here! It feels like summer can begin! I know it’s far from summer cause wind just pull up our trampoline and throw into the porch… but still: good … More Our beloved caravan
This is something I thought of when Linna wanted to help me in the kitchen. I was in the hurry so I needed her to be off the “helping”. I asked Linna to wash potatoes while I was looking around (still mess in my kitchen – haven’t finished it!) for cookie cutters. I was lucky! … More DIY: Easy Potato Stamps
A small trip that made us smile. Made us happier, healthier and calmer. All cats need love – even old ones! A Lovely sunset at the end and all without crying went to bad. Summer, I love you! Ilze
We call it sea. But it’s a gulf.Doesn’t matter. Nelle calls it a big lake. Anyway… Girls were at sea again. It’s not that warm yet but Janis and girls love the sea and I think free time might be handy. So, I let them go and have fun in the sand…. not water! It’s … More Sea: Gulf of Riga
Today we had sunny weather here in Salacgriva. Still windy, but sunny! No rain! All the ground is soaking wet and muddy, so girls still need rain boots and the wind asks for warm fleece jackets, too. Baltic sea is 2 km away from us, so Janis took two bigger girls to the sea. To play … More A bit of the sun and the wind: Salacgriva
We are back in Latvia. But no at home. We will travel around here for a few weeks or so. The weather in these two days isn’t “good”. It’s rainy, windy and cold. We aren’t used to such weather after having +30 🙂 in Germany. Our last travel day was looooong. We drive 949km per … More Back in Latvia
We left our favorite free parking space and headed to the another one. We parked here at 11 pm and it was so cold and dark we went straight to bed. We were woken by unheard sound… the wind was blowing away our solar panel! Or at least wanted to! Our solar panel is safe … More Few hours in rainy Hessigheim
We were woken up by bells of the church at 10 am. How do you like that!? At 10 am! We stayed for one more day in Leidersbach. The weather was so nice – not hot, not too sunny, cool and partly cloudy – not raining. That playground and horses I wrote about yesterday weren’t in … More Day 2 at Leidersbach: Laundry and Walk
Today we decide to stay for one more day in Leidersbach. It was raining and I wanted to clean the caravan. Janis did the grocery shopping and girls “helped” me with the cleaning. At the end, we find few more books and unused stickers…and we didn’t finish with the cleaning! So, doesn’t matter: we are … More Day 3 at Leidersbach: Rain
No way! After having a good time in Lich, we couldn’t head back home. It just didn’t feel right. We all felt like we need to travel a bit more…. just a bit more before we head back. We drive a bit down (away from Latvia) and stayed at a funny small city called Leidersbach. It’s … More No way! Leidersbach
Germany is big so we decided to go closer to Latvia from Ramsthal…. Why? Janis vacation ends up on 8th of June… but he can take few more weeks off without salary. We still got money to travel a bit and small village Lich that offers a big & free playground is a place we … More Are we heading home? Lich.
e tWe decided to go to Ramsthal…. Why Ramsthal? I have to ask: Why not!? There should be free parking with necessary facilities. Will see… It is so easy to travel like this. Just go where the road invites you. After an hour drive, we were in Ramsthal – beautiful village in between mountains. The … More Between mountains: Ramsthal
Did laundry without losing a sock …. today was a good day! It was an interesting experience. And I can say it’s something that takes all day. We bought our portable washing machine for camper and tried it already while at home. It didn’t work as planned but I guess my expectations was higher than … More Laundry Day & Playground
Now we are free. Free to go whenever we like. We left family friends and the beautiful/magical garden and drove to the closest shop to buy some food and water. We wanted to visit the city and see the castle up the hill. The frequent need of toilet spoiled all the so called plan. We … More Without a destination
As you know we were in the Berlin for a few days and the main reason was to see Viola – Nelles Godmother and to celebrate Nelles 5th birthday. We decided to leave the caravan near family friend’s house and drive all the way (more than 400km) to the Berlin just by the car. That … More My happy place
Berlin. Oh. I am surprised! I can’t even describe my feeling. First of all – I haven’t been in a big city for a long long long time! These past 3 years living in the countryside made me country girl! Nelle met her godmother and we stayed with here. She tried to convince me to go out and … More Having fun & walk in Berlin
Since we had long, long drive through Poland and we all were tired we decide to drive “slower”. Making more pit stops along the way. We didn’t want to develop disgust for traveling to our girls… It was hard. It seams that I also need time “off the car” and we stopped every 30-50 km 🙂 … More Crossing the border and pit stopping a lot
Oh it looks like it is getting worse! We started our journey today. And that’s good! But there is “BUT”. Janis is getting ill. He is having angina and he looks tired. Can’t swallow, can’t speak… His body temperature is getting higher and higher. And… he is the only driver! We are in Lithuania and … More Getting worse!?
We are still in Latvia. Can’t start our journey. Yesterday Janis installed solar panel on the roof of caravan. We where happy – finally it’s there and we can go. But then suddenly our caravan started to blink like a Christmas tree. Safety first! 1am Janis discovered where the problem was and started to fix … More Worried
Yesterday we packed first two suitcases for upcoming caravan trip… and packed two more bags for small get away to my hometown: Salacgriva. We decided to visit my mom and “change the decorations”. About Salacgriva: It’s a small town located near Gulf of Riga (Baltic Sea), close to Estonian border. See here. If you ask me – … More Hometown
Winter is still standing behind springs shoulder. It was snowing yesterday! Easter snow?! Never happened before (or maybe I can’t recall…) Yesterday the ground was wet and warm and snow didn’t stay for long. But today I woke up to the white ground…. and it is freezing cold outside! -7C! The lowest temperature on April 18 … More Snow, freeze, and Christmas… I meant Easter!
This is THAT day! Finally, we can’t wait any longer and decide to bring our caravan home to clean it up and start to install solar panels on the roof and move in. Here is the video how it looks inside and my feelings…. It was easy to clean… it wasn’t dirty and it’s about … More Getting ready: cleaning treiler / caravan
a day in the life of a latvian mom 