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? 

Lake Tahoe Snow Weekend

The weather here in the Bay Area is so beautifully warm and sunny at the moment that it feels a little surreal to think that we were in the snow just a few days ago. But sure enough, we were.

This past weekend we finally made it to Lake Tahoe. I can't believe that it's taken us almost a year and a half to get there. The north shore of Lake Tahoe is only a three hour (and a bit) drive from the Bay Area and during the cooler months it truly is a beautiful snow filled Winter wonderland. Apparently in Summer it's just as beautiful. I can't wait to go back in the warmer months and see for myself, but for now let's have a look at our weekend in the snow...

Looking over Lake Donner

My Mother's Day 2012

Now that I've shown the cards we made to give out on Mother's Day I thought I'd share what my girls made for me. Ok, what Ava made for me. Lola's still a little young for much creative input :)

Ava decorated a plant pot a grew a petunia from seed for me at pre-school. It had two lovely pink flowers on it when she gave it to me but I didn't get around to taking a photo of it before they fell off. As you can see from the photo she had a little help from her American teachers with the spelling on my card!

Ava also made me another lovely card featuring the girls and I at the park. I love the shape of the dresses we're wearing. Very 1950's party frock!

Another little crafty surprise that Ava made for me is a little treasure box full of pictures and jokes to make me happy when I'm having a bad day. Ava made this at a workshop at the newly opened Family Book Lab here in Berkeley. You can see Ava's little creation there on their webpage :)
One little envelope in the treasure box contained my favourite joke...
Q. What happened to the blind skunk?
A. He fell in love with a pop off!
I hope the teacher got a little giggle out of that one when she wrote it out for Ava!

I was also spoilt by Kim and the girls on Mother's Day with a gift of my favourite luxury splurge item: a Diptyque Baise candle. Our house smells like heaven :)

And then there was the gift to myself, a much overdue cut and colour. Goodbye year old regrowth!

Mother's Day with my girls (and my new hair) in Yerba Buena Gardens

We had quite a quiet Sunday at home for the most part. We did venture into the city for a little iceskating in the afternoon though. Kim entertained Lola while Ava and I skated around and around the rink. Ava tried giving me tips on how to do swizzles, backwards swizzles and one foot glides but I was content with just making it around in one piece! No need for tricks! I need a bit more practise yet before I'm at the same level as my little skater :)

Ava and I on the ice

I hope all the mums (or moms) out there had a lovely day :)

Updated Calendar

Last February I put up a post about the daily "calendar" that I had made for Ava.

Ava's "calendar"

This calendar, which is more of a daily schedule, shows what the day has in store for Ava i.e. preschool, swimming, playing with friends... I made the calendar just before Ava turned three in an effort to stop the repetitive "What are we going to do today?" that she would come out with every single morning.