Because when they get to the age where my thoughts and experiences can be of a bit of help in their lives they’ll probably find me really annoying, I’ve started writing down some thoughts for my daughters that I’d like to pass on to them. One day they’ll hopefully spend 5 minutes reading them and 5 minutes more thinking about them.

– Don’t let life make you forget about the dreams you had as a child. It is easy to forget but even easier to regret all the things you never got around to do. My biggest fear is waking up as an old woman and regretting all the things I never did, and this fear has brought me some great adventures.

– Read books. Long or short, pictures or not. Just read. It will keep your mind bright and hopefully remind you of me.

– Think before you act. What seems to be a great idea in the moment can sometimes end up being a really bad idea just an hour later. I still regret things I said or did before thinking, but I did learn something every time.

– Never be afraid of colors, but if in doubt, always go for black or white. It has worked for me for more than 10 years.

– Traveling is always a good idea, and if nobody wants to come with you, then go alone. It will bring you some of your greatest experiences, and I promise to try to not talk you out of it.

– Never stop creating. No matter what it is or even if it isn’t very good. It keeps your soul awake and your eyes clear and you love doing it. I know, because I see it every day.

– Remember that the most important things aren’t actually things at all.

– Don’t make decisions about your life based on other peoples opinions. Not even your parent’s. Your dad and I are often right, but when you grow up and become strong and independent young women, we might not know what’s always the best for you. And if I really don’t want to understand and except, show me this list, and I’ll try and remember that I too was young once.

– Be nice to animals. Most of them are nice to you and one of the things I wish I could have given you, was a childhood surrounded by animals of all kinds.

– Know, that you’ll have amazing experiences all over the world, but the biggest adventures are often found closest to yourself and in the middle of your everyday life. I have met a cobra in India, seen a wild tiger in the jungle, climbed a mountain in Nepal, travelled across the US in a bus and watched a sea turtle bigger than me lay her eggs on a Nicaraguan beach, still the two of you are my greatest adventure.

Today is our 1 year anniversary of living in New York and I thought it called for a bit of an update.

Even today while I’m ill at home, and my husband is in L.A for work and my daughters are both very concerned that Halloween with an ill mother is not going to happen or be fun, we still love living here. There are moments (like yesterday and today) where I miss my “village”, and everybody feels too far away, but most days things are great. 

Here, one year after we started out on this adventure, I felt like sharing some ups and downs about moving to New York.

We love the slow way of living that we have engaged in. I don’t mind that small things can take a long time, and I accept that some days I don’t even get as far as putting on mascara. 

We feel that this change of scenery has made us look differently upon so many things. At people, at relationships and at social connections. New York has turned both me and my kids into more open people, and should we ever move back, I hope to bring this with us.

I miss our friends, sharing a glass of wine with a bff or a Friday dinner with people we know so well and are comfortable with, that we don’t have to tidy up the living room before they come over.

I love that we live just a short walk from the amazing Brooklyn Bridge Park. Not many weeks go by without us going there at least once.

I miss nature. Not nature like in Central Park or Prospect Park, but real nature like the wild forest we go to when we’re staying in our summerhouse in Denmark.

One of the things I really want to do this second year in New York is to explore the amazing nature this city is surrounded by. We haven’t been good at doing this so far.

I love that I have been given an opportunity to spend this much time with my toddler. Even though having her at home half the week can sometimes drives me crazy and make me feel like I’m wasting my time, I think it’s the best investment I have ever made in myself and my family.

I have won over some simple fears I had when we first moved here. Like how do I take the subway on my own with 2 kids and a stroller and a hundred stairs.

I still don’t like going to the doctor here. Things are done in another way and although a check up is much more thorough here, there are things I still don’t fully  understand with the healthcare system.

Politeness is highly regarded, and my kids have learned to always say thank you and please which I really like. On the other hand, the rude people you sometimes bump into on the street are so much more rude here, than I have ever seen in Denmark. 

We get to celebrate Halloween in one of the most crazy Halloween settings you can ever imagine. 

We might not get to see our family every month, but when we do see them it’s for 10 nights instead of just one or two, and even though it can sometimes end up being a bit intense, it means that my children really get to know their grandparents.

· A small selection of  pictures from the last year ·

Exactly one year ago, we said a final goodbye to our old home. After months of trying to figure out all the practical things, and two weeks of intense packing, arranging and trying to get settled with the idea of leaving my beloved Copenhagen behind, we took off to London to spend a few days with my in-laws before moving to New York the day before Halloween.

During the last 8 months I’ve been asked lot of questions about moving abroad with small children, and since I haven’t always been the best at answering, I’ve tried to collect and answer some of these questions here:

What is the most difficult thing about moving?

It’s in no way easy to start a new life in a new city where you don’t know a lot of people. Both on a practical and on a personal level. You end up spending a long time trying to figure out how to deal with really simple things like how to make sure your child gets the necessary vaccines. My youngest daughter is in pre-school a few days a week, and spends the rest of the time with me taking art, music and yoga classes and going to the playgrounds. Even though I love spending time with her, it took me a while to get settled with this. I actually started Little Kin Journal as a way to accept that I would be spending most of my time in a child’s universe. It was my way of getting devoted to my new life and taking a step away from the life I used to live.

Do you miss your family?

Yes. But not as much as I thought I would. My parents have visited a few times, and my daughters and I spent almost 2 months in Denmark this summer, which we plan to do every year. In some ways, I think our relationship has ended up being more balanced since we moved. Because of the distance I can no longer rely on my parents to help solve my problems.

How did you decide on the area where you live?

That was a tricky one. When my eldest child was about two years old, we stayed in Manhattan for two weeks. She got stressed with the crowds and constant noise, so we knew that wouldn’t be the right place for us. Half a year before moving, we took two months off work to try out New York and figure out if this could be our new home. We ended up in one of the most child friendly areas of Brooklyn and we live really close to an amazing public school. Brooklyn Bridge Park is only 10 minutes walk away and we are 3 subway stops away from the Lower East Side in Manhattan. These things mean a lot to us, and even though we have to pay more for our apartment than one the same size in another area, it’s well worth it.

What do your children miss the most?

Their grandparents and our summerhouse. In the beginning my 6-year-old missed our old home a lot. My daughters were five and two when we moved, and neither of them were really attached to their friends. I think it’s much harder to move when children get older. I know some Danish people in Brooklyn who moved here over two years ago and their 13-year-old boy still misses his friends in Denmark every day.

Does your everyday life looks the same as it did in Denmark?

No, It doesn’t. If you want a good full-time day care in New York, it’s almost as expensive as a full time salary. At the moment my youngest is in pre-school (which is much more learning based than day-care) a few times a week, and for the rest of the time she’s home with me. A lot of people do it like that here, or you hire a nanny to take care of your children during hours they’re not in daycare. Since my husband is working a lot and his work requires a lot of traveling I take care of most of the practical things at home and with the children. The weekends we always try to spend together.

Did you keep an option open for moving back to Denmark if you didn’t like it?

We told our 6-year-old that she had to give it two month, and if she didn’t like it by then, we would move back home. A week after moving she said, she never wanted to move back home again. Before moving we decided to evaluate every year. In May this year, we decided to stay another year, and just a month ago, we decided to stay for at least two more years. My youngest daughter is starting school here next year, and both her and I would really like to see what that does to our everyday life.

Did you have things like schools, daycare apartment, work etc. settled before moving or did you just figure it out when you got there?

We had most of it settled before moving, except from daycare for my youngest, which is very different here, than in Denmark. Before moving, my husband went to New York for a few weeks to sort everything out, and after spending the first two weeks looking at a lot of awful and expensive places, he found a fairly spacious and very light apartment just one block from one of the best public schools in New York, which happened to have an open spot.

Do you ever regret moving abroad with small children?

No, and even if moved home tomorrow, I couldn’t imagine being without this experience. Before moving here, I sometimes questioned why we didn’t do it before we had children, but I never think of that anymore. I believe every family would gain and learn a lot from living abroad for a few years, and I think most children will end up seeing it as a positive experience.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I was convinced we would never have an apartment full of plastic toys like Barbie, Sylvanians and My Little Ponies. Now I know that was wrong in so many ways. We don’t have tons of toys, but we haven’t been able to avoid the commercial and popular kind, and since these toys often bring many hours of play time, I’m okay with having them around.
But as my children have been getting older, I’ve realized that they often appreciate the more unique pieces that are to be found in their toy collection. With this in mind, I’m trying to avoid buying anymore Barbies or My Little Ponies and instead focus more on hand crafted toys, either made by myself or bought from small companies or individual crafters.
Here’s a small selection of my favorite hand crafted toys, that I wouldn’t mind adding to the toy collection in our household.

1. Handmade Waldorf inspired doll I made for my youngest daughter. 2. Hungry bear doll / Coral and Tusk  3. Handmade ragdoll / Dancey Pants Disco  4. Cat headdress / Animalesque  5. Bunny in bloomers / Yume Creations  6. Camera / Fanny and Alexander  7. Fox mask / Coral and Tusk  8. Stacking toy / Toto  9. Wodden thief doll /  Sketchinc  10. Ragdoll / Tippitoetailor  11. Play tent / Such Great Heights

I used to think that spring was my favorite time of year. As a spring-child, I’m born to love the feeling of new things blossoming. The ease with which April and May seem to flow by while days get warmer, evenings get lighter and people you love and cherish get sun kissed noses and start spending all their time outdoors.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve changed my mind. Fall has moved to the top of the list of my favorite seasons, and though I love barbecuing in our summerhouse garden, swimming in the sea or drinking my morning coffee in the summer sun, nothing beats the melancholic and gloomy feeling, that comes with falling leaves, the first fall storms and the woolly sweaters you suddenly feel like wrapping yourself and your children in.

I love red cheeks on my children’s faces when we have been outside playing in the park all day. I love kicking the fallen leaves, and throwing them in the air and letting them rain down on me. I love sitting on a blanket under a tree, enjoying one last picnic before the winter really kicks in. I love freshly picked apples. I love New York all dressed up in the most amazing rusty red colors. I love drinking my coffee hot again. I love to watch my children explore nature in another way that they did during summer. I love to watch squirrels bury their acorns for winter. I love that I can wear wooly sweaters, light jackets or even a long pair of pants without sweating and overheating. I love that I can wear shoes and boots (this morning i walked out only wearing sandals, and I was actually feeling cold). I love that it’s now ok to stay in all day and do little projects like drawing, painting and sewing with my kids. I love pumpkins and houses all dressed up for Halloween. But most of all, I love that fall will be followed by winter, which will be followed by spring, then summer and then fall again, and that i’m living in a city, where seasons are so explicit and changes so radical as here in New York. Those are the things I love about fall

I have always dreamed about growing my own vegetables. When I was a child, I knew of nothing better than eating a fresh carrot that still had it’s top on, and I remember days spent in my grandmother’s greenhouse, watering and cleaning the cucumbers and tomatoes and then afterwards going outside to pick bowls full of tasty strawberries. At the age of 86 my grandmother is still growing vegetables in her greenhouse and if my youngest daughter had the chance, she would happily eat every single tomato in there straight from the vine.

Before moving, I got to live out a bit of my dream in our summerhouse garden, where our old fruit trees and bushes would keep both us and all the deers stuffed full of fruit all throughout fall, and many a fruit pie has been baked with freshly picked apples and pears in our little cottage-kitchen.

When we moved to New York, I assumed nothing homegrown would find it’s way to our home anymore, except maybe a bit of basil.

This was until I discovered the Green Markets Farmers Market New York. Here, small family farmers sell their locally grown products directly to the consumers. The concept was founded back in 1976 and today more than 50 markets take place every week. Once a week, my youngest daughter and I will take a trip to one of the many markets and load up on freshly grown fruits and vegetables, homemade jam and locally produced honey. For me, taking the subway to the Farmers Market somehow seems like a bit of a contradiction, so instead we will pack a lunch box, take out our comfortable Mutsy-stroller and comfortable walking shoes and go visit markets in new neighborhoods and do some exploring along the way.

Come winter, we might stick to our local Farmers Market, which is only a few minutes walk from Alma’s pre-school, but for now, we love combining the trip to the Greenmarket with a long walk and some city exploring.

Read more about the Farmers Market New York or the amazing community gardens which are also run by Grown Nyc right here.

When you live in New York with two young children, October easily ends up being all about pumpkins, ghosts, skeletons, spooky costumes and Jack-o-lanterns. If you, just like me, want to get through October without having your whole house plastered with tons of tasteless decorations, and would like to avoid spending most of a month salary on costumes and halloween treats, I have put together some halloween inspiration that most children and adults will like.

DYI links for my Halloween inspiration:

Carmen Mirande Costume  //  Llama costume  //  Printable monster cup cake holders  //   Sailor costume  //   Field of flowers costume   //   Mini ghost pinatas  //   Baby octopus costume //   Glow in the dark treat bucket  //  Trick or treat bucket