A Fun Family Friday.........

is what we had last week. I kept Max home from school (with the blessing of his teacher) to explore the beautiful area that we are so fortunate to live in. Pt. Reyes National Seashore is right in our backyard and at this time of year it is a zoo on the weekends. We used Friday to our advantage and before the crowds came rolling in we visited the Pt. Reyes Lighthouse. It was an incredible day and we were not disappointed. After driving through the beautiful rolling green hills and passing the happiest cows you could possibly imagine we parked and walked the half mile to the lighthouse.

After a windy walk we came to the top of the stairs down to the lighthouse. They say that the walk down is the equivalent to walking the stairs on a 30 storey building. Down was no problem, but walking back up was another story!!!

Up close the lighthouse wasn't all that thrilling but the view out to the Pacific was amazing.

These are my guys and in the distance you can see North Beach which runs along the outer edge of Pt. Reyes Seashore.




After the lighthouse - a quick trip to Drakes Beach. Unfortunately it was much to Windy for us to stay for long.

Wow, I feel so grateful to live in such a beautiful and inspiring environment. Moving here was a fluke but we know that this is the town that we are meant to be in. With all of the craziness in the world at least we know that our roots are in fertile soil.

In Gratitude,

The Year of the Tiger

Yesterday we went to San Francisco for the Chinese New Year Parade! My husband cannot stand crowds so I considered it a coup that he went with us :) The Boy just loved the sights and sounds of Chinatown, the crowds and excitement were so unlike what we are used to in our sleepy coastal town.

The Chinese Lion and Dragon dancers are my favourite. The colours and movements of the dancers are joyous,if you ever have a chance to attend Chinese New Year festivities I highly recommend going!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

fun and more fun

Last week we took a much needed trip to Tahoe. With over four feet of fresh snow at lake level, we had an amazing time and fun was had by all. Here are some pics of our family fun! We can't wait to go back, I've already made plans to go up for ski week :)

I had hoped to get my doll quilt for the DQS8 to the point where I could hand quilt it while we were in Tahoe but it was not to be. I get the feeling that my quilt needs to be more exciting.......

Snow!

It is snowing like crazy so we're heading to Tahoe early tomorrow morning! I feel like a kid - I am soooo excited. I can't wait to spend some time relaxing with the family.

This is a pic from our last trip to Tahoe, I hope we have as much fine this time!

Have a great weekend..............

Time Off......

Greetings from Santa Cruz, CA. Just sitting here outside of Coffeetopia on my wireless connection, drinking my latte, with my son and two dogs.

Last night we decided to be spontaneous and take a drive south to SC. During the summer we often come down here to play. Lucky for us a friend has a studio apt that we rent for a song during the warm season!

Today we will be garage saleing and heading to the beach (once the fog clears)

More crafty news tomorrow......

In gratitude for what mother nature has given us.

A

Spring Break........

What a wonderful Spring Break we had. Typically we stay local during school holidays but this year my husband mentioned that his friend had a house in Tahoe that goes almost unused! Aha, our Spring Break vacation was found! Here are a few pics of Max's fun.

We found this awesome sledding hill just a few miles from the house.

Although most of the snow at lake level had melted there were still a few patches dotted around. We found this one right outside the back door.

I am so grateful that our friend was generous enough to lend us his home, this trip made our break very special. Lucky for us we have an open invitation to use the house whenever we'd like so it goes without saying that we'll be back to Tahoe very soon :)

On Sunday we did this........

Amazing right!?! We spent Sunday at Stinson Beach playing in the waves and collecting sand dollars.

From sledding on Saturday to sitting on the beach in nearly 90 degree heat on Sunday. Only in California can you do that!

I did do some crafts this past week, mostly making wool felt balls for friends and our school crafts faire booth. My next project will be another Waldorf Doll and some figures for our nature table.

What Have We Been Up To?

I have neglected my blog for the past week, but I'm back! What have I/we been up to? Here's a quick overview:

A trip to the dogpark in Mill Valley. This is Rosie - she has a tennis ball in her mouth. Rosie is a very dedicated fetcher :)

A visit to "The Scoop". The Scoop is our very favourite ice cream shop and the local hot spot. They use Strauss Organic milk and ALL organic/as local as possible ingredients. It is a tiny ice cream shop that on warm nights can easily have a queue out the door and down the block. Believe me - it's worth the wait. My favourite flavour is Mexican Chocolate. Yum.

My sister raced and won, this weekend at Redwood Shores, this is a picture of her Varsity 8 Lightweight team taking the boat out of the water (she's in the grey t-shirt). She is a very talented rower who has been recruited for the Stanford Rowing team. We are SUPER proud of her and we're so happy that next year when she goes to University she'll be nearby. My other sister is at University of St. Andrews, Scotland and I miss her terribly.

Spring has definitely sprung!

I have been doing LOTS of crafting. I'll take pics and post about it Wednesday. Tomorrow morning I am hosting our third Craft Circle, I'm crossing my fingers that we have a good turn out, wish me luck!

Another Jaunt!

On Monday Max was off from school and we decided to take a trip to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It was a gorgeous day, we have a membership, how could I resist? We arrived at the front door and lo and behold - it was CLOSED! Ack! I suppose I should have checked before we left......

As I said, the day was lovely and the Palace of Fine Arts (where the Exploratorium is located) is a great spot for a stroll and feeding the ducks and swans. Here are some pics of Max having fun :)

Max and this duck made fast friends although it may have been due to the crispy noodles that Max was snacking on.

He also found this wonderful Cypress tree to climb.

I remember playing here as an eight year old when we lived in San Francisco.

The Palace of Fine Arts, designed by Bernard Maybeck, was originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. They are currently doing a lot of repair and restoration work so unfortunately we were not able to play under the main dome, maybe next time.

I have not been working a lot on crafts for the past few days but plan on getting back into the saddle asap. I'm inspired to work on a new Waldorf Doll and continue to make my lavender gnomes. What next?

Our Sunday Excursion..............

I am so grateful that we live in a place where so many museums, neighborhoods and cultural experiences are at our fingertips. I spent the first eight years of my life in San Francisco and then moved back on my own after for University. Max was also born in the City and loves to drive past the Hospital where he was born.

We live just a short 30 minute ride north of San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge - and yes it is even more spectacular in person. Often we go for quick jaunts into SF, which is what we did yesterday.

My mom, sister, Max and I took a trip to Japantown. This is one of Max's favourite places. He's 8 so for now he loves it for the food and the shops :) This year we plan on attending the 42nd Annual Cherry Blossom Festival (April 21st), George Takei will be the Grand Marshall. Remember him? He was "Sulu" on Star Trek and he's Hiro's father on the TV show Heroe's

Here are some pics from yesterday's trip:

This is the Peace Pagoda, it is the centerpiece of Japantown. The Peace Pagoda was designed by renowned Tokyo architect Yoshiro Taniguchi and donated to Japantown in 1968 by San Francisco's sister city, Osaka.

Godzillaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Max & my sister

At Japantown there is this place called PikaPika where they have dozens of photo booths. Each photo booth is different and offers different styles of pics. Once you take eight differentky themed pictures you can edit each one with stars, crowns, just all sorts of funny stuff. Here are our pics! For only $5 it's worth it!

No trip to Japantwon is complete without Sushi and a visit to our favourite shop, Ichibankan. Ichibankan is the most amazing shopped filled with just about everything. I love all of the funny logos and the style of their packaging. See the cookies shaped as mushrooms? Not only are they adorable but they are tasty too!

These are Max's favourites, little erasers that come in the shape of Pandas to Sushi

If you ever go to San Francisco be sure to visit Japantown. It is a lot slower paced than Chinatown but Parking is a LOT easier and the culture is amazing. They have done a wonderful job of telling visitors about the Japanes Culture in San Francisco, past to present through visual displays dotted all around the area.

Have a great week!

Last Minute Adventure..................

On Friday we planned a last minute adventure in Tahoe with friends. How lucky we are that the snow is just a few hours drive away! My husbands best friend and his family recently moved back to Tahoe after living in SoCal. Now that we moved south and they moved north hopefully our paths will cross more often. It was a big day for Max, his dad took him on his first snowboarding lesson, he ice skated and did some sledding.

Max and "Charlie the Monkey" on our drive to Tahoe. Charlie is one of my most recent projects.

Sledding and playing in the snow.

Our trip was last minute but very welcome. It was great to re-connect with friends. We were finally able to meet their little girl and Max loved playing with their son. :) What a great day!