Alameda Christmas Tree Lane

A few weekends back we took a stroll down Alameda's "Christmas Tree Lane".

The 3200 block of Thompson Ave in Alameda is one of the East Bay's best spots to check out houses decked out for the holidays. Almost every house on this section of the street is covered in lights with displays covering the front lawn.

Many of the houses have a particular theme and feature beloved characters both from Christmas stories and popular movies. There are snowmen, reindeer, Santa, elves, candy canes, and characters from Marvel comics, Peanuts, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Grinch who stole Christmas and Frozen. Snoopy, Jack Skellington and Elsa all on one street? Lola was in heaven!

Here's a look at some of my favourite displays on the street.

The Little Ice Rink

This post is sponsored by The Little Ice Rink. All opinions are my own.

Last Sunday was our day of wintry fun. We started the day with a trip to the "snow" at the annual Snow? In Berkeley? festival (which you can see here), then spent the afternoon ice skating at The Little Rink in Alameda.

The Little Rink is located at Alameda's South Shore Center and is a great spot to spend the afternoon.
We skated for just over an hour as the sun began to set and it was perfect. Ava is our little skater girl and despite the fact that she hasn't had lessons in a year and a half she took to the ice like a pro. Within no time she was showing off with one foot glides and attempting spins. Lola is still a little nervous on the ice and needed help but I could see her confidence growing as she skated.

The Little Ice Rink Giveaway

Can you believe that the holiday season is almost upon us?

December will be here in just over a week. That means I'm going to have to get cracking on this year's advent calendar. I'm a big fan of giving experiences as gifts and our advent calendar is no different. Rather that filling the calendar with chocolates or candies I like to fill it with vouchers for fun activities for the kids: writing letters to Santa, visiting the Giant Gingerbread house, baking Christmas cookies, making Christmas crafts, decorating the Christmas tree...

My all time favorite activity that appears every year in our advent calendar is ice skating at an outdoor rink. Having spent most of my life in Australia I'm used to hot, Summery Christmases with ice skating only possible indoors. I absolutely love that Christmas falls in Winter here. Even though we don't have white Christmases here in the Bay Area, there's just something magical about Christmas in Winter. Being able to take part in wintry Christmas activities like ice skating outdoors makes it feel even more magical.

This year we'll be visiting The Little Ice Rink at Alameda's South Shore Center for our outdoor ice skating. I can't wait to take the girls and they're pretty excited about it too. My favorite thing about skating at The Little Ice Rink is "Bobby" the Seal skating aide (you can see it pictured below). Ava took ice skating lessons for a year and a half so she's a pro on the ice, but Lola has only skated a few times and is not so confident. Usually when we go ice skating I spend half my time hunched over holding Lola's hands. With "Bobby" Lola will be able to skate around on her own with confidence - or take a rest and be pushed around! How cool is that? 

USS Hornet Museum

Time for a little more exploring around the Bay Area with the kids...

On Saturday we visited the USS Hornet Museum on Alameda Island. If you're not familiar with the Bay Area, Alameda is where much of the tv show Myth Busters is filmed. It sits in the Bay just off Oakland and boasts some pretty spectacular views over San Francisco. No myth busting for us on this visit but we did have a fun time.

Now I'm not going to claim to be an expert about, well... anything when it comes to ships. And I certainly know nothing about planes and helicopters. Or the armed forces. But I do know that when you add all of those things together you get a decommissioned aircraft carrier that makes for an interesting day out.

USS Hornet (CVS-12)