The Little Things: Living Small

As of last week we've been living in our apartment for a year. This got me thinking about how well the girls have transitioned from living in a relatively big house to a relatively small apartment. I had initially been worried about how they (and I!) would cope with the major downgrade in living space but they adapted to it really quickly and without fuss.

In Australia we lived in a 3 bedroom house with a decent sized backyard. Our living room, dining room and kitchen were all distinct separate spaces (although fairly open plan) and the girls had their own bedrooms. Our backyard wasn't huge by Australian standards but had enough space for a large cubby house, fruit trees and vegetable patches, a verandah, a paved area for the outdoor setting and BBQ, a double garage and lots of lawn for running around. Ok, by San Francisco Bay Area standards that sounds huge!

Ava in our old backyard with her cubby house and veggie patches (and very patchy lawn!)

A little more gardening...

Ava seems to have been bitten by the gardening bug lately.

As well as today's herb and tree plantings (which you can read about here) Ava has planted her own vegetable patch right in the middle of our lounge room. Now you might think that sounds rather messy but you see, these are special vegetables made with paper and markers. (On a side note, I really must get into the habit of using the word "marker" rather than "texta". No one here knows what a texta is. Must be an Australian brand name.)

These special vegetables popped up fully grown in the vegetable patch (a knit blanket) in the backyard of Ava and Lola's house (a fort made of chairs, tables, step stools, blankets and the couch).

Ava & Lola in their "backyard" with the vegetable patch

There are tomatoes on vines, carrots, lettuces, potatoes and even a pumpkin growing in the vegetable patch.

Vegetable patch

The girls have been harvesting their vegetable crop and making themselves salad.

Carrot, potato, lettuce, tomato and pumpkin

Delicious :)