Mission Santa Barbara

On our recent trip away over Christmas we spent a few days in beautiful Santa Barbara. As we were there for Christmas and to catch up with friends who were visiting from London we didn't get out and about an awful lot. We did make sure to spend one day playing tourist though and out first stop was the Mission Santa Barbara.

A few years back we stopped by Mission Santa Barbara for a quick look on our road trip home from Disneyland. Given that we were spending that day driving along the coast all the way back to San Francisco we didn't have time to actually go in. I snapped a few shots of the exterior of the mission and we continued on our way. Since then I've been eager to get back to Santa Barbara and take a proper look at the mission.

Mission Santa Barbara is located up in the hills overlooking the ocean. The views from the mission are just lovely. We were lucky to have a sunny day with clear blue skies - or maybe that's every day in Santa Barbara! 

52 Weeks: Week 1

This year I have decided to take part in a 52 Week Project.

Each Wednesday I'll be posting a photo (or a few photos) showing a moment of our family life from that particular week. Ava, Lola and Mathilde will be the main focus and I love the idea of having a year's worth of their every day moments to look back on at the end of the year.

I look forward to sharing our lives with you over the next 52 weeks.

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Week 1: Karate class

Every Tuesday and Thursday Ava and Lola attend karate class after school. Their karate class is held in a park a few blocks from our home. I love that they get to practice their karate outside in the sun rather than in a studio. At this time of year the sun sets quite early so the park has a lovely golden glow.

Right now the girls are practicing for their next belt test. Ava is working towards her yellow belt and Lola is working towards her white belt with one black stripe.

Mathilde is working on boosting her immunity by sucking on the playground equipment as she watches her big sisters!

Hooray for karate girls!

Windmills & Christmas Trees in Solvang

On our recent trip away over the Christmas break we visited Solvang, a Danish inspired village in southern California.

I'd been eager to visit Solvang since I first read about it a year ago. A little slice of Scandinavian cuteness right here in California, Solvang is a popular tourist town. The town's center is filled with quaint European style architecture: wood shingled roofs, windmills and half timbered "fachwerk" (I only know the German name) abound making for postcard perfect streetscapes. The town was originally established in 1911 by a group of Danes however most of the Danish inspired architecture dates from the period following World War 2, much of it built with tourism in mind.

Christmas 2014

Time for a look back at our Christmas for 2014.

This year we were away on vacation over the Christmas break and we spent the big day in Santa Barbara. The idea of staying in a hotel room over Christmas felt a little weird so I organised a house through AirBnB to stay in rather than a hotel. The logistics of Santa visiting us while we all slept in the same hotel room just seemed too tricky plus I wanted to be able to make a traditional Christmas lunch. I found a cute house on AirBnB that was perfect for our family and the owner was even kind enough to leave up their Christmas tree and decorations for us. That certainly made it feel more like Christmas for the kids.

Elf on the Shelf: Week 4

Ok, Christmas is over but I still have a few more Elf on the Shelf photos to share with you. So here's a look at week four of Elfie Pokie Nokie in our home - and on vacation with us!

On the twenty second day we caught Elfie playing with Ava's Lego. Ava had built a wagon and it just so happened that it was the perfect size for Elfie to sit in. That poor horse seems to be struggling though! 

Eight Months Old

Due to our recent family vacation I'm a little late with Mathilde's latest update. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten.

For much of month number eight there wasn't a huge amount to report. Mathilde was growing and learning new things but nothing all that major. More just honing skills she'd already learned. And then about a week before she turned eight months old she pulled herself to standing against me (nothing new) and let go. And guess what? She didn't fall down! She just stood there, sturdy on her own two tiny feet. Since then Mathilde has been doing a lot of standing. Standing and clapping. The clapping is new too. I guess we applauded her standing so many times that she picked up on it. And now she applauds herself with a little clap too! I love how proud of herself she looks when she stands. Like she knows it's a big achievement. 

Mathilde refused to stand for me during her eight month photo shoot (I take the photos on my bed so it's a little squishy for standing) but you can see her here on Instagram. Are you following Little Hiccups on Instagram? If not, make sure to follow me to keep up with what we're doing when I'm too busy to blog.

Ok, back to Mathilde...

Happy New Year 2015

Happy new year!

It's been a little quiet here on Little Hiccups. Our family has been away on vacation and while I planned to blog about our adventures as they panned out it, it just never happened. A clingy baby who refused to sleep on her own, late nights for the big kids, and patchy hotel wifi don't make for the best blogging environment. Plus sometimes it's just nice to have a little break from the computer.

But I'm back now and I have lots of posts lined up.  I usually try not to post more than once a day but over the next week there may be a few extra posts (Mathilde's monthly update follows directly after this one, for example). Coming up I'll have posts about our adventures in Southern California, our Christmases (we celebrated twice: on Christmas Day in Santa Barbara and back home on New Year's Day), one more Elf on the Shelf update, a slightly delayed Christmas craft (inspiration for next year perhaps!)... Plus I have loads of other posts that I've been meaning to share. Can you believe that I still haven't written detailed posts about our trip to Seattle and Portland over the Summer?!