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!

Another grad day for Ashwin...

Ashwins love to the Little Gym took him to a newer level & here he is graduating from the 'Beasts' on his last day of class. Unfortunately we had to stop classes as I couldn't carry him around due to the risks of having another pre-term baby, so once our little girl comes into the world he'll be able to get back to it!

A daytrip to Tiburon...

Since coming back from our trip home, it's been a long time since posts as the impending arrival of our baby girl has taken over our lives. Anyhow, in between trips to IKEA (grrrr!) we managed to get out for a daytrip to Tiburon to have lunch - as there is not a great deal to do there. Afterward we took the ferry back to San Francisco Pier 39. Still it was a lovely day to be cruising around on the bay.

Fun in Caloundra

Here's a roundup of pics from the fun in the sun at Caloundra where I spent most of my time in Queensland. We had an awesome time hanging out with Auntie & Uncle (as Ashwin calls Taryn & Lukey) & it was great for Ashwin to meet little Josie (from the UK). The surf was wonderful & the best in the world - from what I have seen anyway! And the relaxing time, well it can live on by breathing & meditation - aaaah could I still be there??!!

Nice shoes Ashwin!

Ashwin is checking out DVDs while wearing his cousins high heel shoes - they are just gorgeous with some maribou feathers decorating the toes. Looks just lovely with the green ensemble as well. The other shoe is in his hand, mmm no wonder he couldn't walk too well with both shoes they are fairly high for a toddler!!

Eureka - Melbourne!

Here is the newest Melbourne icon - Eureka tower, man it is huge 91 floors high. Something I didn't realise is that this is a residential building, accoring to the source Wikipedia. Oh you can also check out the observation deck (Skydeck 88) & see the views from 88 floors high, with a cube that extends out from the building 300 metres above the ground - eeek! Apart from seeing this building complete Melbourne is still it's beautiful self & we love it ;)

Boxing day posse!

Boxing day being a day of relaxing & catching up with pals, we did just that! Here is a crew of folks who hadn't seen each other for a very long time - up to five years for my friends Cory (taking photo) , Catherine & Josie from UK. It was so good to catch up with other friends too - Shane, Gen & Lily (Sunshine Coast) & Miss Rach (all the way from Mildura!)