A gumnut baby!

Holly wearing a beautiful hat made from Cascade Pima Tencel, so its 50% pima cotton & 50% tencel - anyway it is supersoft & perfect for babies. My mate Shona helped me finish it & made the lovely litte gumnut on the top, she is eating her monkey friend- everything goes in her mouth these days. I had forgotten how tactile babies are but at least this time around I'll feel a bit more relaxed about the whole thing!

Woot an espresso??!!

No I don't think so... I have given up ever getting a decent coffee in this place. I lie, there is one excellent coffee maker & she is an aussie who makes an excellent flat white - yay! Anyway I saw this naff neon sign & had to winge again :)

Menlo Park - a connoisseur's summer marketplace

Yep yet another summer art festival, this one was downtown Menlo Park which was great as it had a lovely park to kick back & enjoy the old time tunes! Ash & James had a fun time on this ride going up & around a few times - for the many summer festivals we've been too this one was pretty cool!

Ashwins 4th July celebration

At Ashwins preschool they celebrated with a 4th July parade & Ash made this funky hat out of a paper plate decorated with American flags & stars with a matching flag on a straw. Here he is modelling his hat after the event! In the background is his easel with random drawings & Ashwins favourite critter to draw is a snail - think that is because we have them living in the garden with the tomatoes.

Rock on Ash!

Inspired by the emo (emotional hardcore?!) scene here he is in the flesh - oops where's the outfit, the eyeliner & the blackness?? Ashwin looks just like a rockstar in his upside down room or is it studio, hehehe! He loves his Dads guitar or as Ashwin calls it - his 'tar, maybe one day he'll get one of his own. We have our eye on a Hello Kitty guitar for him when he gets older, well that is if he is still likes Hello Kitty & Mimi (her sister).

Hey Miss Bubble...

bubbles, bubbles all over! Here is Miss Holly enjoying a relaxing bubble bath, looking very cute ;)

Hanging in the park

Holly at Tompkins Square Park with Ashwin - having fun on our last day in New York city. Hope we return some day!!

Head on down to the East Village

We started & ended our New York adventure at the East Village - this is the main drag. It was quite a cool place to hang out & we should have spent more time here. There is so much to see in this city & you need more than 5 days to check it out!

Heading on over to the Bronx

We had read about the Bronx Zoo in the Lonely Planet so we checked it out & it was worth the visit. Only problem it was hugely busy with summer camp kids on discount day! We checked out the butterfly house & here is Ashwin being a butterfly.

The windswept look

Who are these sexy boys on the ferry?? Love the hair - no product required just a gentle breeze to create the look.

Tripping to Staten Island

On another hot day in NYC we took the free Staten Island ferry across the Hudson River to check out the lady herself the Statue of Liberty - you can see her faintly in the background. We had all these plans on Staten Island but the connecting bus didn't show so we went & had a smoothie downtown & waited for the next ferry to show. The terminal was cool with a couple of fish tanks to check out, so anyone wanting a free ride & view of the statue catch the ferry over & then back again to Battery Park.

Everybody walk the Dinosaur

These guys are amazing, greeting you as you enter the American Museum of Natural History. This was definitely worth visiting when in New York apart from the art galleries that we missed out on as time was short & we were with a baby & a 2.5 year old. This is something that Ashwin did really enjoy & so did we, which was a bonus!

Here's the hot dog!

This is what they look like frankfurter, white bread & mustard. We wandered down to Central Park & sat by the pond watching the crowds go by. It was also time for Holly to have her feed too. It is a huge amount of ground to cover so we just stayed in the area closest to 5th Avenue & checked out the massive playground & climbing wall & even watched a local ball game while eating spongebob ice cream.

Oh my gawd - what a pretzel!

Now to our bargain lunch $10 for everything which included 3 hotdogs, a pretzel & a knish. I had been told that the best food you can buy is a hotdog so we took thought 'When in New York, do as New Yorkers do' so we tried them & yep they were good - well for $2 how can you complain. Here is Ashwin enjoying a supersize pretzel which was as big as his head! Think James is wanting to grab some too - see the grabbing hand.

A toy paradise

We visited FAO Schwarz on 5th Avenue right next door to the Apple store (which is stunning in it's glass cube!) This is toystore heaven with so many different toys to play with - of course Ashwin loved the cars! I loved the dolls & the cute little stuffed animals. There were massive toy dinosaurs & Harry Potter creatures to put in your New York room?! Probably not a good idea as our studio apartment in Midtown was tiny.

Let's ride the subway

Oh the thousands of stairs to travel to hop a train on the subway & the deeper you go the hotter it gets. The joys of being in New York in the summer :) I had to carry Holly in the sling and Ashwin took one step at a time when we were doing the subway. Anyhow, here is Ashwin finally on the train with his new NYPD toy car - complete with siren (batteries soon to be removed!!) that he just loved to press.

Roar, it's a lion

Ever read Miffy anyone?? Well Miffy sees a lion at the zoo, we saw this lion outside the New York public library - actually there is a pair of them & they are beautiful. This is our first day venturing around the Big Apple & loving it. Unfortunately it was Sunday & the library was closed, which was a shame. Still we got to hang out on the stairs & enjoy the view.

A real New York bagel...

...this bagel cost $10, I savoured every mouthful of the salmon, tomato & cream cheese!! Washed down with real New York coffee, East Coast stylie with a bit of kick. I couldn't believe the price of the bagel but then I realised that they weigh the smoked salmon and add it to the price - thing was I was so mesmerised by the colours of the cream cheese that once the guy said smoked salmon, I was hooked!!!

Cheesy or Peachy???

Delicious peaches are in season now, fresh from the local Farmers Market. Ashwin loves Peaches!

Look out - giant balloon turtle!!

Quick call the LAPD there is a gigantic balloon turtle loose!! This cute little guy was made by a Balloon Master when we went out to breakfast in Menlo Park. This is actually a turtle bracelet, very cute - 'Heros in a half shell, turtle power!!'

Look out, millions of ducks in the river!!

We checked out the Silicon Valley Duck race - you buy ducks for charity & they race down the rapids & the first duck to finish gets the prize. Here are the rubber ducks on their trek down the lake, there was even a mascot 'cool duck' with shades.

Balloon dog please!!!

This lady in the street was making balloon animals for donations & as Ashwin likes balloons we got her to make him a dog. You should have seen him he got so excited, he was jumping up & down watching her make it. Finally he got it & it was his best friend.
The festival was really huge, spread around on all the streets in North Beach & you could even take your pet to be blessed. The kids area was enjoyed by Ashwin & he came home with a stained glass collage card.

Ashwin the photographer

At the North Beach festival as we were having ice cream & listening to some crap music, Ashwin took hold of the camera & took this great shot. Maybe we have a photographer in the making :)

Festival mode in full swing!

This time we are in North Beach, San Francisco! Here's Ashwin checking out the wine list at an Italian restaurant we went to for lunch. The lasagne was so good, I felt like Garfield scoffing it down - delicious!!

The summer festivals begin...

...as we went to the Sunnyvale Art & Wine festival there was some lady taking pics of people with a Polaroid - so this is our latest family pic. Holly is peeping out of the sling and Ashwin is having a cocktail smoothie, which was yum! James loved the Pontiacs on display & I'd have to admit that the American classic cars were pretty special too!
'Hey wazzup inner bogan!'

Amazing! Real Peonys

As I was shopping at the local Whole Foods they had my favourite flowers in season. This beautiful blooms are from Washington & are just so stunning! Finally found some so I could not resist (I have only seen them in this Peony book I have back home). These would have looked so gorgeous in a wedding bouquet too but they were really hard to find in Australia.

A lovely warm hat

I knitted this hat for a very good friend of mine who had a baby recently - Holly trying it on for size. She looks dubious :)

Mack attack!

Here's Mr Mack the neighbourhood cat - well he loves to get free pats from everyone!! He's checking out what he can catch for his dinner - so far it has been plenty of mice left on our doorstep, mmmm???!!

More painting please?

We had a lovely arvo painting as we had to cristen a beautiful apron Ash got - what better way than to eat the paint!

Who's the log boy?

Is that Mr Ashwin climbing aboard a log that has been left on the beach - and this log was the length of a very tall tree.

Black ball flag

This flag was new to me but it is an international standard for beach safety & information - it means, Surfboards & other non-powered watercraft are prohibited. Kidlets can then go swimming, but only if they have a wetsuit & some sunshine?!

Organic goodness of Charlie Hong Kong

One of James' friends told us about this place as they had driven to Santa Cruz just for dinner so we thought mmmmm must be good - and it was! I had this pad thai which was so tasty that it disappeared in minutes, fresh lime is the best & James had a curry which was delicious also. Plus the added bonus is that they have the most scrumptious cookies - we tried the gingerbread & peanut butter, mmmmm!!

aaah the colonial daze...

This is a pic of what we experience the day we went to see the train. We got sucked in to pay $5 for entrance per person plus $7 for parking & man what a jip. Still it was an education in American history for me & check out these ladies in their garb from the day - quilting & embroidery was the thing!

The roaring campness of it all!!

This is where the steam train left from at the Roaring Camp railroad - mmmm chuck wagon BBQ doesn't sound that appealing, well we have a different meaning for chuck in Oz. Holly is in the carrier & Ashwin is being coaxed to relax as there was some weird stuff going down at the camp - a civil war re-enactment, so there were costumes galore & I think Ashwin was a bit shocked by it all!

Shiny shiny truck

If you look closely in this truck you will see our car in the reflection - it is a cool blue. This is on our way to Santa Cruz, I'm learning to appreciate the area with it's beaches & places to eat. We were actually on our way to see the steam train in Scotts Valley but as it turned out Ashwin was not too keen on the noisy train & we had to go, oh well will have to try again sometime...

and scrappa says...

... buzz off i'm trying to sleep. Yeah I know the feeling sleep for me is like a drug these days, I just want more!! As it has been a long time between posts - here is a pic of Scrap hanging out in the kitchen, enjoying the breeze. Anyhow all is well here & the kids are fantastic, coffee is my best friend these days as well as a G&T in the evening, aaaah!! Of course knitting is meditation while enjoying Angel (loved it) - we finally finished watching them all, Joss Whedon you are a legend!!

We are family!

As a request from my sister to capture a pic of the four of us for the family back home - here it is... Thanks Jane for taking the pic! It was hard to capture the moment as Ashwin doesn't stay still for long & Holly is still a floppy little bunny. Still we were enjoying the short summer spell on the weekend & Holly got to wear one of her cute spring/summer '08 outfits!

Crepes anyone??

On Saturday we tripped out to SF for the day - we checked out the Richmond district & found this awesome crepe place Genki. It was an amazing day weather wise as it was hot & no jacket was needed - unbelievable for San Francisco, so here is a pic to show the short sleeves. Oh that is Holly in the baby carrier, sleeping. And that is Ashwin hiding behind the crepe :)

who is mounting madonna??

The other day we went to outlet shopping hell out in Gilroy, just for kicks - 35 kms away from our home to "supposedly" find super cheap clothes! Mmmm it wasn't very good at all & we discovered one just the same only 15 mins from home! Anyhow we took the long way home through the mountains to show my mother-in-law the scenery. I just enjoyed this sign & I'm sure I've seen that capital M on one on Maddy's album covers :)

mr chopstix at it again!

While we were out at Japanese, Ashwin wanted to participate in the fun of chopsticks & try them out in his own way. Here he is enjoying some tofu & his absolute favourite is edamame, we generally have to shell them for him & as soon as they are on his plate they vanish! The restaurant we went to - Momoya was recommended by a friend of mine, it has the best sushi - so fresh & delicious that satisfied my 9 month craving!

annual sushi & plum wine celebration...

... this year I celebrated quite a low key birthday as I couldn't organise much due to the arrival of Holly - she was the best present! It was so good to enjoy some wine & scoff down a plateful of sushi!

Welcome our little girl Holly...

at 9:13am on March 30th 2008 born in da Valley a baby Peach was born... This pic was taken half an hour after Holly was born. After waiting patiently for Holly to be poked & proded, I finally got to hold her & look into her eyes full of eyedrops! 

Last luxurious lunch...

A big thank you to Sarah for organising a last lunch with the girls before I disappeared into the land of the newborn bub. It was a lovely time catching up with everyone & very luxurious being without the kids :) 

Here's mama...

Here I am trying to capture my huge belly - really I shouldn't be wearing the big brown tunic to get a good view of the size. Still there is an indication of a big belly beneath, now with only 2 weeks to go till our little fatso (due to the fact she will be twice the size of Ashwin when he was born!) arrives & we are counting down, hoping she will come sooner rather than later.

A great American lunch...

Check this out from the cafe at Happy Hollow - one of the non-meat items available. This is a pretzel with salt, yep the white stuff that looks like rocks is salt - talk about needing to quench your thirst after this feed. The yellow melted stuff is not mustard but cheese, orange American cheese - the dude at the counter recommended it saying it was good. Well it was fine once but I don't think we will be trying this feast again!

Ashwins first merry go round ride!

Look closely at this composition & you will see the excitement on the face of Ashwin about to take a ride on the horsey on the merry go round. Then in the next shot he is crying his eyes out screaming for Daddy. James thought he would be fine to go on by himself but as soon as the ride started, Ashwin started screaming & crying to get off the ride. I would have been there with him but in my current state of pregnancy a ride that goes round in circles doesn't really thrill me either. So poor little Ashwin will probably be a bit weary of merry go round rides in the future :)

Roar & welcome to Happy Hollow...

As we are trying to get in some daytrips for Mr Ashwin while we still have time, we took the trip out to Happy Hollow Park & Zoo in San Jose. Here is the jaguar - she is just beautiful prowling right up to the edge of the glass to say hello. Ashwin enjoyed checking out the animals & was a bit scared for most of them, his favourite was an asian squirrel - I suppose he could relate it to its cousins here in America. The zoo is going through a reconstruction phase at the moment & it does need a lot of funding to keep the zoo & the park going - it is a great place for a daytrip for kids & if they are a bit older than 2.5 years they can have fun on most of the rides too! Ashwin was a bit scared as you will see in the next post...

Stitches West 2008...

Shona & I did the mission to Stitches West this year without the baby to get bored (except for the one in my belly!) We had an awesome time checking out all the yarns this country has to offer - it is the best thing to do especially if you have a yarn addiction!! Here is Shona with her stash from the day including some seriously soft alpaca. That was also my fave find of the day some baby alpaca yarn to make a gorgeous wrap, I just could not wait to fondle it & get my new project started. Other favourites were the guys from Texas Brooks Farm Yarn with their super soft merino yarn and amazing colour palettes - just too much to be left behind. All in all it was a fantastic day for a yarn addict & now the stash is well & truly topped up!

The socialite!

Over the last couple of months there have been a few kids parties Ashwin has been invited to. The great thing is that he gets to eat cake... Here he is in fine form with half the cake all over his face. It's been good for us too to hang out with the adults while the kids are getting some sun shiny exercise. Best thing is, the weather has been just lovely to hang out down the park getting high on sugar and snacks!

Drinking the Kool Aid

This could be similar to the Kool Aid acid test from the 60s but whatever you do, don't drink the stuff! This is mostly sugar and I would not feed any kids this unless I wanted them on a sugar high, mmm let me think about that one??!!
Anyhow I bought a few packets from the local Safeway to try my hand at dying yarn - certainly a learning experience... I had great fun doing it but think it would be better if I wasn't pregnant crouching down on the ground painting yarn with a syringe. The method I tried was microwaving the colours to set on the yarn which created this psychedelic orange variegated yarn that will be fine for childrens accessories. Still the experiment was fun & I made two balls of yarn & I still have more to play with. There are many great tutorials on the internet to learn this dying method. The fact that it is chemical free is excellent plus the fruity smell of the yarn is an added bonus!