Oakland Zoo - the animals!

More from Oakland - family stylie..

Kettle corn at Jack London Square just in time for a crab festival by the water - late lunch! Holly & Ashwin say hello to a tomato frog, hmmmm!

Let's hear it for the East Bay...

Way back in the beginning of March we went to the Oakland Zoo to check it out & it was very cool! The size is just right for little people & you can go round & see all the animals & chill out at rest areas for a snack... This pair of cute guys (frogs) are found in Panama - they are about the size of a 50 cent piece & were just fascinating to watch. After all the animal watching Ashwin was keen to go & ride the cars - finally he is over his merry go round phobia!

Look Mum I found a chocolate chip on the floor!!

Oh dear here is Holly's first experience with chocolate & looks like she loves it! An accidental spill & those eagle eyes do not miss a trick, especially when it comes to food :) This all happened one afternoon whilst baking some delicious whole wheat cookies from my favourite baking cookbook King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking choc full of wonderful recipes!

Stitches West 2009

Oh another fruitful year at Stitches West - this year I went solo as my knitting pal was pregnant & had to do the quick dash early... I decided to drop by on the Saturday - I finally got in & whew after a whirlwind shopathon, here is my stash! Some wool blend Italian yarn, handspun mohair, roving, silky malabrigo & a case for my knitting needles - oh yeah & a gorgeous pair of earrings by an Oakland glass blowing artist. Tiring, zzzzz!

Look out scrap

Poor old Scrap - I bet he didn't envisage the grief he would have to put up with in his older years, still the kids are slowly learning to leave him alone. This guy hasn't got the patience to deal with kidlets!

Heading on over to the snow...

Way back in February now... we went on a snow trip to Arnold - a town close to Bear Valley. We figured it'll be nice to hang out in the snow but not really ski so we got to a great vacation rental in this small town & relaxed. It was stunning to see the snow in real life & to walk in the snow it was so deep your legs just sunk, great exercise though frustrating! These are the driving pics - heading on up to the sno park & on the way pencil pines & almonds in blossom.

Relaxing by the creek ;)

To escape cabin fever I went out on a wander to check out the lake near the cabin. The lake was iced over but in the process of melting so no ice skating! Still it was lovely to see everything covered in this soft blanket of snow, so visually breathtaking. This is just beautiful with the reflection in the creek by the lake so I had to take time out here to sit in the snow & soak it all in!

On the balcony of the cabin

The whole snow trip Ashwin was sick with a terrible cold so he really didn't enjoy himself at all - this is a rare occasion when he did have the energy to come outside to make a snowman on the balcony.

A stripey baby...

When we went for our walk to Wilder Ranch it went on & on - a perfect track for mountain bikes. Shame we got hungry & had to turn around for some food still it is a beautiful view of the beaches & the ocean & worth a trip for some exercise... Wilder Ranch itself is an excellent place to visit too as it is an old farm with loads of animals for the kids to check out & some amazing old trees to climb.

The hugest starfish ever!

This is a sunflower starfish & it was gigantic - well not as gigantic as a giant squid but still it is huge as far as starfishes go. It moved very fast, well it's sheer size helped it move so fast!

Can you find the kelp crab?

He's right in the middle hanging on by his big claw - I loved watching him grab onto the kelp & hang on, it was a dance so delicate - I have never seen a crab do such things before. It would be so good to have a video to capture it in action.

Freaky skate!

This was taken at the marine lab - this freaky creature is a baby skate... you can see through it's skin & see all the insides, eewwww! It was fun to watch it swim around & see it's insides as it swam past :) you could even see it's heart & lungs moving.

Feed me Seymour!

Here is Ashwin at the touch pool at the Seymour Center at University of Santa Cruz - $6 per adult & free for Ashwin. We had a great time checking out the starfish, sharks, a whale skeleton & my favourite the kelp crab. This is a great little place to check out if you don't want to travel all the way to Monterey. I loved the view from the lab to the ocean with some amazing surf - lucky students to have a campus so close to the ocean.

An awesome vegetarian diner!

This is the rear view of the Saturn Cafe in Santa Cruz - we did a trip out to Wilder Ranch & wanted to have a feed at a diner (which is always fun!) This place was excellent with loads of vege options & really yummy chips too!

Missy at 9 and a half months!

Here is Missy-mo in action mode as per usual... she is walking around everywhere, actually she started walking around at his age & is loving it - getting herself into mischief everywhere!

Where are the horses??

Look at this little country bumpkin checking out the horses in the paddock - well she looks a bit distracted.

Ardenwood - what a discovery

Over in the East Bay we went to this ol' historic farm called Ardenwood complete with peacocks, chickens, sheep & horses...

Ancient cookie cutters...

At this museum of American History was a collection of old kitchen utensils including a funky olive green mixmaster & this collection of metal cookie cutters - for all party occasions!

Look out it's a giant squid!!!

We joined our neighbours for a trip out with the kids to see a Lego exhibit at a local museum - here is a giant squid that lives out in the San Francisco bay, look out folks!

Grab your top hat & feather boa!

Of course there were accessories to wear for your photo shoot - I choose a glitter top hat for Ashwin & Holly scored the purple feather boa. How funky is that! We had such a good time in this booth, it was like rush hour at a photo studio... Then it was time to put the illos on which took a while & the kids were getting a bit antsy. "Hurry up mummy get it together & choose the pics!!"

There's a party in the photo booth

We went to this store Pika Pika with loads of Japanese photo booths to choose from. The mission here was to find a booth, take some pics & then choose a background or two! Man it was the best experience - listening to the music, waiting for the cameras to go off & then choosing your best pics in 10 seconds!!! Afterwards we choose some funky illos & backgrounds & voila a selection of wacky shots for your wall - wonderful... I just love Japanese quirkiness!

Tripping to Japan town...

As one of our first daytrips over the Xmas break was to go into SF & check out Japantown... Here is the best bookshop ever, full of gorgeous Japanese books & aaaah magazines (the fashion mags are so good!!) We spent ages in here just looking around at all the lovely things, it's just worthwhile tripping out here just to go to this book store. If you want to spend some cash go here...

Who is stealing my lamb?

Whilst I wasn't looking - Holly stole a piece of roast lamb for her own Xmas dinner! The little rascal.

Meat Pie - full o' flies

This was the best meat pie I have eaten in ages... well the vegetarian thing had no meat on my platter but these days - what has happened??!! I have a baby to feed! Check out this pie with the tastiest flaky pastry it was the REAL thing!

The annual Dickens Fair

Hallo, Hallo matey hope ya like this 'ere pirate 'at! 

Here we are (see Holly on my back) at the Bay Areas annual tradition - the Dickens fair. We enjoyed the costumes & walking ye olde streets of Victorian England - a lot of people really got into it with their amazing outfits. There were cute little shops, games & the best was the food - fish & chips, bangers & mash & the best meat pies mate!

The xmas mail run...

Scrap sits atop of our boxes of Xmas gifts to post to our family in Oz! There was over $200 in postage here & a couple of visits to the most dreaded place on earth - the post office! Lucky I have found a small post office who are very helpful & have their s**t together. Our local PO is always so busy & dreadfully slow. If only these cats would be helpful & do trips to the post office for me!!

Catch the bird!

Every day after a bath we have a play time together with the kids - here is Ashwin dancing & singing in Hollys cot trying to catch her bird mobile. He ended up pulling one of the birds off, thank goodness it was easily fixed!

Cheeky monkey

And what a cheeky monkey he is, this captures Ashwin in all his glory. He had his school photo recently & this was the outfit he wore - a great shirt from friends of ours in Melbourne who have terrific taste!

Rasta baby!

I found my long lost beret at last!! So I had to try it on Missy to see what it would look like, she looks Rastafarian man :) No dreadlocks on this baby yet - still it was funny to watch her wander around with my beret on!

More cheese for me!

When in Point Reyes visit Cowgirl Creamery for it's luscious range of cheeses. We tried their signature cheese the Red Hawk which is a tasty brie. You can go in to this building to checkout the cheese making & then try samples as well. 

The local yarn store at Point Reyes station

Where is the local yarn store?? Down the main drag at Point Reyes Station there is a store called Black Mountain Weavers, a place where you can find all sorts of treasures & plenty of handspun yarn which is just so wonderful. You also found plenty of artwork produced by local artisans. I couldn't help myself & had to purchase some handspun by lady who guarantees there is cat hair in her fibre - yay!

Who stole the egg??

On our last day in the house we had eggs for breakfast - Ashwin loves them hard boiled. Here he is in his PJs enjoying his egg, he loves to take the shell off himself & just bite into it. 

A crazy family pic!

Thanks to the tripod we captured a shot of the four of us... well it was supposed to be for our Xmas card but there was no way this was going anywhere except here. The kids were so tired by the time this pic was taken, which explains their expressions. 

Tamales Point - Ranch

Whoo spooky where are we... This was an historic dairy ranch shrouded in fog early in the morning - a very cold morning at that! This hike at Tamales Point is known for Elk spotting for we were on a mission with camera at hand.

A diner - Where is Agent Cooper?

He was no where to be found at this great diner where we had breakfast, I had a huge one for our hike for the day. The food here was delicious & the service was just the best, easy & quick just how I like it. This place is worth a visit just to check out the decor as well, so when in Point Reyes check it out!

We are on the edge of the world...

We went on the Chimney Rock hike near an area where you can view seals. You were surrounded by a beautiful inlet on one side & the Pacific Ocean on the other. We finally made it to the area where the inlet met the sea & it was an incredible view.

The 300 steps!

One of our daytrips at Point Reyes was a trip out to the historic lighthouse. To get to the edge you had to go down 300 steps - whew talk about a workout! Holly was enjoying herself in the sling on James back as she just had to hold on!!

Point Reyes holiday

For the Thanksgiving break we finally had a break ourselves so we booked into a beautiful vacation rental at Point Reyes National Seashore. It is certainly a very special place with some excellent daytrips out in nature right next to the wild Pacific Ocean - this is Limantour beach, down the road from our house at Inverness.

Delores Park

One beautiful Sunday we went for a daytrip to the Mission in SF - it was one of our 50 walks with kids cards. First it was Delores Park & then ice cream at Bi-Rite Ice Creamery - simply the tastiest ice cream around! Had a great sugar hit there & then we had a Mexican for lunch... There was this great local thrift shop where Ashwin picked up this great yellow metal truck for a couple of bucks!

A thanksgiving feast, mmmm!

Here is a feast and a half at Ashwins school for Thanksgiving. Everyone at the school bought along a dish for potluck & there was so much food! Plenty of pumpkin pies - which are way too sweet for me though Ashwin loved them. Here he is in his class room pigging out on some pie :)

Sunny photo shoot...

I needed some shots of the kids together for an Xmas gift I was making so here is a rare shot of the pair of them together. They look quite relaxed in this shot, think it was just before Ashwin attacked Holly & she cried! This seems to happen a lot as Ashwin does not realise his own strength when it comes to playing with a baby, still she is learning to stand up for herself?!

A cool puppet show at Berkeley

Recently we visited Habitot childrens museum in Berkeley for a puppet show. It was such a great show, we even got to see a behind the scenes of how the puppeteer works his magic. This is the main star a bug who wanted to be BIG.

A car costume for Halloween

This is at Ashwins school with his teacher Miss Margaret for the annual Halloween parade. Ashwin & James made his cardboard car costume & Ashwin added fine details like colouring & stickers - looks good!!

It's missy swinging!

Here she is modelling a gorgeous purple coat from friends of ours in Melbourne - wish they had this in my size! We recently went for a swing 'trial' to see how Missy enjoyed the swing... by the look of this pic, she loved it! Fly Missy - fly & be free :) This is the baby park I used to take Ashwin too when he was Hollys age, she is still a bit young to climb but she has fun in the sand.

The haunted house...

...if you want to be scared at Halloween come here. It is the DC Cemetery is one of the scariest haunted houses in America! The boys were keen, unfortunately the night they were going it was rained out - hey there's always next year.

Chill is in the air...

...the tree just outside out apartment has dropped it's leaves & is looking bare, brr winter is around the corner. Still this is California so the sun is still shining even though the woolies are out for some action.

Hollys first Halloween...

...look closely at the tee 'Ghouls just want to have fun' - that is just so bad that it is good. I found this bright orange tee at the local goodwill for a couple of bucks, how can you go wrong! 80s inspired Halloween vamp, it is all there in bright orange. Don't know if Holly really appreciated the joy I found in this tee but still at least I didn't fork out the cash for a crazy costume which she will outgrow.

A Howl of a time!

To celebrate Halloween we went down to Sunnyvale for their annual Howl'o'ween Pet Parade - it was so much fun! Here is a hot dog, there were also plenty of small pumpkin dogs, fairy dogs & the costume fave was super dog!

TLC Ranch trip

At the end of October we went for a farm trip to a chicken & pig ranch owned by one of the farmers at the local farmers market. They had an excellent setup with loads of little brown hens & their coops in the background (which they rotate for fresh grass). Ashwin found an egg & attempted to shell it only to find out it splattered everywhere - ewww!

Dude wassup!

Yes this pic is a bit blurry but it adds to the rockstar appeal - here are some pimp sunnies we picked up for Ashwin at the local funky store. He broke them the minute they came home. Lucky we had some insulation tape to fix the arms! Now they don't fold but hey he can wear them around the place & look oh so cool.

Tasty table

Now that Holly is on solids she has taken it to another level... here she is eating the IKEA play table in her leg warmers (BabyLegs, they are the best!) These days she is just holding the table with one hand & cruising along. It won't be long before she is walking which will be fun! Two little people to chase - yay!! I'll have to increase my sessions at the gym to keep up!!

a different looking French toast

Doin' it American style, where everything is better with bacon! This was so good after our walk through the redwoods - all day breakfast, how can you go wrong! French Toast with icing sugar & of course to top it off maple syrup, mmmmm.

Hot chocolate!

Well is it really that good... yeah according to Ashwin. This was my hot chocolate, I just did not want the cream on the top so Ash was there ready for some creamy goodness. This was at Rockys Cafe at Felton - finally a place where we could go & get a decent breakfast outside in the fresh air. Rockys was a converted old house with a massive verandah, on highway 9 - look 'em up for a great meal & excellent service :)

Balancing on the roots...

...of a huge tree! Mr Ashwin is practicing his balancing skills wandering around the base of this tree. There wee some wonderful areas in this park just to explore & play. The other bonus is that you can take a regular street stroller through the paths in the park. So Holly enjoyed the ride while Ashwin had to walk but eventually they played swapsie.

Hiding in the redwoods...

Da da here's Holly, appearing from behind a big tree! We recently went on a relaxing walk through Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park where there are some amazing trees about 1400 to 1800 years old. It is a sight to behold and experience, I know these guys are small fry compared to others that are in this great state of CA. Yep we'll get to see the biggest at Sequoia National Park some day soon... still have a couple of years here so we'd better get planning before it's too late!

Holly the peeper...

Here's Holly at Ashwins birthday picnic all rugged up. There was way too much going on for Holly to be hanging out in her stroller & she wanted to be with Mummy. So I had to have her sleeping in the ergo carrier which she loves.

Blowing out the candles in the wind!

The day of Ashwins birthday picnic in the park was quite a cool & windy day, so windy in fact that we could not light the candles. So the crew got together & devised a tube to light the candles in so they didn't blow out & it worked! Here is the action itself, Happy Birthday Happy Birthday!

What the heck is that?

This is the cake I made for Ashwins 3rd birthday - the idea being a racetrack... It ended up being a dirt track with milo & licorice allsorts & store bought icing that I coloured. It was a tasty whole wheat butter cake inside which was delicious!

Catching up with da crew...

Hey wazzup! was what we used to say to our pals back in Melbourne who we hooked up with for a quick visit to SF with their own little sweetie. We had a tasty lunch & a few laughs & Ashwin had the best time playing in the little village.

Can you see the owl?

There he is on the far corner on the right - it is a burrowing owl. These guys nest & roost in burrows in grasslands & they have a home at Shoreline Park just near us. This little guy was hanging out at Coyote Point Museum, San Mateo.