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| Home made super bounce balls |
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Super Bouncy Fun
Ava and Lola love super bounce balls. In fact Ava loves them so much they made it onto her Christmas wish list last year. As much fun as super bounce balls are I wasn't really keen on buying her a box of them for Christmas. I just knew that I had to come up with something a little more creative than that. Imagine my delight when I came across The Bouncing Ball Factory kit a few months back. It was absolutely perfect!
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Little Projects: 2012 Recap
A few days ago we had a look back at all of the Little Adventures that kept us busy over 2012. Now let's have a look at the Little Projects and Little Crafts that filled in the rest of our free time...
Valentine's Day
For Valentine's Day we baked little heart shaped sugar cookies for Ava's friends at pre-school. We packaged them up in little bags with a picture of Ava the baker on the label. The label read "Sweet Hearts for my Sweetheart". Ava thought that this was absolutely hilarious. I think that it was just the right amount of cheesiness for Valentine's Day!
You can see more here.
Valentine's Day
For Valentine's Day we baked little heart shaped sugar cookies for Ava's friends at pre-school. We packaged them up in little bags with a picture of Ava the baker on the label. The label read "Sweet Hearts for my Sweetheart". Ava thought that this was absolutely hilarious. I think that it was just the right amount of cheesiness for Valentine's Day!
You can see more here.
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| Sweethearts for my Sweetheart |
Saturday, 5 January 2013
Little Adventures: 2012 Recap
It's the start of a new year and that means it's time to look back on what the last year held.
2012 was quite a busy year for us with so many new things and lots of adventures. Most of those adventures were small ones around the Bay Area and a few saw us heading further afield.
Let's have a look back at the Little Adventures that kept us busy at Little Hiccups over the last 12 months...
January
We started off 2012 with a day trip to nearby Limantour Beach on New Year's Day. A trip to the beach in January for us would usually mean a day of swimming, body boarding and hiding from the sweltering heat under some form of shade. Of course, here in America it's Winter in January so this trip to the beach was very different from what we're accustomed to. No swimming, no body boarding, no sweltering heat. I must say I'm happy about that last bit! I'm not a fan of hot weather.
2012 was quite a busy year for us with so many new things and lots of adventures. Most of those adventures were small ones around the Bay Area and a few saw us heading further afield.
Let's have a look back at the Little Adventures that kept us busy at Little Hiccups over the last 12 months...
January
We started off 2012 with a day trip to nearby Limantour Beach on New Year's Day. A trip to the beach in January for us would usually mean a day of swimming, body boarding and hiding from the sweltering heat under some form of shade. Of course, here in America it's Winter in January so this trip to the beach was very different from what we're accustomed to. No swimming, no body boarding, no sweltering heat. I must say I'm happy about that last bit! I'm not a fan of hot weather.
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| Cheesy family shot at Limantour Beach |
Thursday, 3 January 2013
Yo ho ho... We're hunting for treasure!
Ahoy there mateys!
Today we be pirates searching for hidden treasure! We found a treasure map that lead us all around our courtyard to a treasure chest full of gold doubloons. Pirate booty for sure!
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| Yo ho ho, treasure hunting we will go! |
Here's a look at our search for the pirate treasure...
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
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.
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.
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| USS Hornet (CVS-12) |
Snow and Reindeer in San Francisco
Christmas may be over for another year (in fact, it's already new year!) but our advent calendar still had one more activity for the girls. Some time in the week before Christmas the advent calendar's activity for the day was "Visit the reindeer at California Academy of Science". Unfortunately we were a little busy with Christmas preparations so we had to put our visit off until the end of last week. On Friday we made the most of our annual membership and visited the Academy one last time for the year.
That place has got to be one of our favourite destinations for an afternoon of exploration - especially during the holiday season. Snow flurries in the Piazza and live reindeer in the East Garden are just a part of the 'Tis the Season for Science exhibit - our favourite parts no less!
The girls were enchanted by the snow flurries in the Piazza. Ava worked out pretty quickly that the "snow" was really just some sort of soap foam (shampoo according to her) but she still enjoyed it none the less - although she refused to try and catch it on her tongue like Lola and their friend Solly!
Here's a look at the kids enjoying the flurries...
That place has got to be one of our favourite destinations for an afternoon of exploration - especially during the holiday season. Snow flurries in the Piazza and live reindeer in the East Garden are just a part of the 'Tis the Season for Science exhibit - our favourite parts no less!
The girls were enchanted by the snow flurries in the Piazza. Ava worked out pretty quickly that the "snow" was really just some sort of soap foam (shampoo according to her) but she still enjoyed it none the less - although she refused to try and catch it on her tongue like Lola and their friend Solly!
Here's a look at the kids enjoying the flurries...
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| Ava, Lola and Solly in a flurry of snow |
Happy New Year
It's officially 2013!
All day I've been seeing photos appear on Facebook of my friends ringing in the new year back home in Australia and I felt a little like I was living in the past. Well, for about half a day we were in different years!
A few hours ago it was finally our turn here in California. San Francisco celebrated the start of the new year with a spectacular fireworks display. The roof top garden of our apartment in Berkeley was the perfect viewing spot for said fireworks and, just like last New Year's Eve, I discovered that hardly anyone in our building was home to make use of it! Apart from a handful of revellers taking in the fireworks I pretty much had the roof to myself as I snapped away with my camera. Fourth of July had been a different story with the roof completely packed for the fireworks display so I was glad that this New Year's Eve was the same as the last.
All day I've been seeing photos appear on Facebook of my friends ringing in the new year back home in Australia and I felt a little like I was living in the past. Well, for about half a day we were in different years!
A few hours ago it was finally our turn here in California. San Francisco celebrated the start of the new year with a spectacular fireworks display. The roof top garden of our apartment in Berkeley was the perfect viewing spot for said fireworks and, just like last New Year's Eve, I discovered that hardly anyone in our building was home to make use of it! Apart from a handful of revellers taking in the fireworks I pretty much had the roof to myself as I snapped away with my camera. Fourth of July had been a different story with the roof completely packed for the fireworks display so I was glad that this New Year's Eve was the same as the last.
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| Fireworks over San Francisco |
