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.