Pedalfest 2013

Time for a little break from the Canada trip posts - trust me, there are loads more to come!

Before we headed off on our trip to Canada we enjoyed a day of two (and three and four...) wheeled fun at Pedalfest in Oakland's Jack London Square. We had taken the girls to Pedalfest last year and they absolutely loved it so we knew that they'd be keen to go back. 

We jumped on our bikes and set off on the 11km ride from our place in Berkeley. This was the first time I'd ridden the bike in months (I didn't ride while I was pregnant) so I was a little worried that I'd be out of breath half way into the ride. I'm pleased to say that I made it there and back with no problem - although of course, I did make Kim ride the big bike with both girls on the back while I rode on my own!

Our first stop at Pedalfest was to check out the crazy handmade up-cycled bikes. Some of these we'd seen at last year's Pedalfest, some we'd seen at Maker Faire and some were completely new to us. The girls loved riding on what we called the "Bomb Bike". The girls and I sat on the bomb part of the bike which swung around as we took corners. They also rode the bomb bike with Kim. You can hear Lola's reaction to the back swinging around in the Vine clip below. 

Riding the bomb bike

Berkeley Chocolate and Chalk Art Festival

Today the sidewalks of Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto came alive with colour.

This weekend marked the 17th Annual Berkeley Chocolate & Chalk Art Festival.

Participants are invited to take part in decorating the sidewalks with chalk art as part of a competition. Entry to the competition is free and participants are assigned spaces along the sidewalk. It's all pretty flexible and as long as the spot is available participants can choose where they'd like their assigned space to be. 

Ava staked out a particularly shady spot under a tree near the start of the festival and set about creating her music inspired masterpiece. It's in front of 1625 Shattuck Avenue if you're interested. We were not sure beforehand what Ava was going to draw. In fact, I don't think she knew until she started! She had originally joked that she was going to draw a T-Rex biting someone's head off - lovely! I was a little worried that she'd settled on this idea however after a little staring at her blank canvas she started drawing a guitar. Much more civilised.

Ava's chalk masterpiece

Two Sparkly Ears... Finally!

Yesterday Ava finally got the courage to do something she has been wanting to do for almost two years - she got her other ear pierced! That's right, her other ear.

One newly pierced ear

Shiver me timbers... it's a pirate party!

Arrrgggh! It's pirate time!

This weekend my nephew Malachi celebrated his 5th birthday with a pirate party.

Ava was pretty excited to dress up in her pirate accessories: head scarf (or a bantana as Ava called it!), sword and of course, an eye patch. Malachi was very cute in a full pirate costume.

Both Ava and Malachi love drawing treasure maps so they were pretty excited to take part in a treasure hunt. Clues had been left around the house and yard with pirate themed gifts for the birthday boy attached.

Happy Mother's Day

Well today was Mother's Day and I was treated to lots of yummy delights.

For lunch Kim and the girls took me to Just Tickled Pink for a Mother's Day High Tea. Lots of little sandwiches with the crusts cut off, shots of soup, tiny cupcakes, scones with jam and cream, brandy snaps, chocolates, champagne and, of course, tea.

Delicious!