Our Family Photos

Disclaimer: This post is brought to you thanks to San Francisco Bay Area Family Photographer, Sarah Sloboda. All opinions are my own. 

I'm so excited to share with you today the photos from our recent family photo shoot! This was the first time we'd ever had real family photos taken, and I'm so happy with how they turned out. 

For our family photos I booked a mini shoot with San Francisco Bay Area Photographer, Sarah Sloboda. Our shoot was held outside Lawrence Hall of Science in the Berkeley Hills, with the simple 1960s lines of the building as a backdrop.  

As you can see, it was a pretty rainy, grey day when we had our photo shoot. At first I had worried that we'd have to reschedule for a day with sunshine predicted, but Sarah assured me that the overcast weather would result in beautiful light. And she was right! No harsh shadows, no one squinting... Just lovely diffused light.  

We had a mix of photos taken; some with all five of us, and some with just the kids. Of course, there were plenty of silly faces from the kids, especially Mathilde, and a few grumpy faces from Lola (she wasn't happy about being out in the cold at first), but these made for fun candid shots.

The rain wasn't particularly heavy so we braved a few shots out in the open. I really love the falling rain in the shot below. It almost looks like snow! We can pretend, right?

Our photo shoot with Sarah was just right for our family. It was pretty relaxed and the kids felt very comfortable with Sarah. The 20 minute long mini session was the perfect amount of time - especially given how cold and rainy it was!

Sarah offers seasonal mini shoots throughout the year at selected locations, as well as one hour packages at the location of your choice. Wouldn't a booking for a family photo shoot make a wonderful Christmas gift? You can find more details about photo shoot packages and pricing at http://sarahsloboda.com/.

Thank you so much Sarah for our amazing photos!

A Berkeley Staycation

With ten and a half weeks of Summer vacation to fill each year I'm always on the lookout for ideas to keep the kids occupied. With San Francisco so close (I can literally see the city out my lounge room windows) we tend to find ourselves crossing the Bay on a regular basis to explore the city.

The kids and I absolutely love San Francisco and enjoy spending time there but sometimes it's nice to stay a little closer to home. This got me thinking about all of the fun things that we can do right here in Berkeley. Our little city is full to the brim with a wide variety of fun activities and adventures for the kids.

So instead of hopping on BART and heading across (or rather, under) the bay to San Francisco, let's spend a little time here exploring our own backyard with a Berkeley staycation.

To make it feel more like a vacation, I've come up with a five day itinerary for the kids and I. Each day is filled with fun activities in one particular area of Berkeley. As we don't have a car I've tried to keep the activities relatively close to each other. Most things are within fairly easy walking distance (or bus distance) of Downtown Berkeley.

Day 1: Gourmet Ghetto, Live Oak Park & Indian Rock Park

Yes, you read that correctly. Berkeley has a neighborhood called the Gourmet Ghetto! I've always found this name a little odd, but as you can probably guess it's a neighborhood filled with fine cuisine. One of California's most famous restaurants, Alice Water's Chez Panisse, is located here along with many other well known establishments including Cheeseboard and the first ever Peet's Coffee. Chez Panisse may be a little out of our family's dining league but Cheeseboard fits us perfectly. In fact, because it's right around the corner from Ava's school we go there almost every day!

Start the day with a late breakfast or brunch at one of the Gourmet Ghetto's many cafes. We quite like Saul's Delicatessen. Then head to Cheeseboard to stock up on sourdough goodies for lunch. Our favourites are bialys, asiago schticks, zampanos and brioches. And don't forget the cheese!

Sun Prints

Ava is on Summer Vacation at the moment so I've been preparing all sorts of fun craft/science projects to keep her occupied.

Yesterday was warm and sunny so we headed up to the roof deck to make Sun Prints.

Sun Print paper + Cheerios = Fun print

Sun Prints are basically a very simple form of photography. Objects placed on the special Sun Print paper will leave an image behind when placed in the sun for a small amount of time. The Sun Print paper is made by Lawrence Hall of Science here in Berkeley. We picked up a few packs on our recent visit which you can read about here.

Lawrence Hall of Science

Time to cross another place off the "Bay Area with Kids" list...

A few weekends back we visited Lawrence Hall of Science here in Berkeley. 

Lawrence Hall of Science is actually part of the University of California Berkeley - let's call it Cal for short. Being a university town, a major part of Berkeley is made up of the Cal campus. And it is huge. 

Cal not only offers a learning environment for college students but is home to a large array of family friendly, community venues from Botanical Gardens, to sporting venues and science museums.

I wasn't really sure what to expect at Lawrence Hall but I had heard from other parents at pre-school that it's a hit with kids around Ava's age. Well, it certainly was a hit with Ava too!

Lawrence Hall is full of fun, interactive science exhibits that kids can get involved in. 

First up we made paper planes and attempted to fly them through targets. I say "attempted to" as I don't think we actually got any through the target! We had fun though and that's the main thing. 

This one looks like it might go through...