A new bed for Ava

Before we moved to America we promised Ava that we would buy her bunk beds. Well, here we are almost a year and a half later and still no bunk beds. Poor Ava must think that we've forgotten.

We haven't forgotten though. Bunk beds are ordered and on their way... from Denmark! It took a little while to find the perfect bunk beds that suited my taste and budget - not an easy task at all! By the time I finally decided to place an order the bunk beds were out of stock nation wide with the distributor and we've had to wait for the next shipment which, fingers crossed, will set sail any day now. Let's just hope that ship uses an engine rather than sails!

Anyway, in the meantime Ava has been sleeping on an Aerobed inflatable mattress. We've been pretty happy with the Aerobed as a temporary bed for Ava, however in the last month it has developed "speed bumps". Speed bumps? On a bed? I'm not exactly sure how to describe what has happened to the bed but it does look like it has speed bumps, and trust me, it's about as comfortable as sleeping over a speed bump. Poor Ava.

So with the Aerobed all but destroyed (I'm hoping there will be an easy fix) and the bunk beds a month away from delivery we found ourselves a little stuck. Or at least I thought we were stuck until the logical solution was pointed out to me - have Ava's mattress delivered now instead of waiting for the bunk beds to arrive. So simple. Why didn't I think of that?

Ava's new Sopora mattress was scheduled for delivery yesterday and we were all excited waiting for its arrival. I'd been advised by the store I ordered it from that the foam mattress would be delivered with the air compressed out of it and I couldn't wait to see just how squished it would be.

Sure enough, the mattress arrived squished into a box. You wouldn't believe that a mattress would fit inside such a box, but it did.

Ava was pretty excited to receive her new mattress.
Check out the "speed bumps" on her old bed in the background!

Chinese New Year Parade 2013

Every February San Francisco plays host to one of the biggest Chinese New Year parades in the world.

This year's parade was held last Saturday and was attended by thousands of spectators who lined the streets along the route.

Just like last year we headed to Kim's work for a bird's eye view of the parade from the 21st floor. Last year the parade route just missed going directly past Kim's work however we still had great views along the sides of the building. This year the parade was changed slightly bringing the festivities directly past the front of Kim's work. Perfect!

Ava and Lola meet some of the parade characters 

Oakland Zoo

A few weekends back we took the girls to the zoo. Oakland Zoo that is.

We're really lucky here in Berkeley to be surrounded by so many fabulous places to take the kids. There really is just so much to see in the Bay Area. And we don't just have one zoo within easy access, we've got two. Well, at least two that I know of. Every day a new and exciting place to take the kids pops up on my radar.

For Christmas last year my parents organised a membership for Oakland Zoo for our family. I love the idea of giving experiences as gifts so I was really excited about this particular present. As we live on the opposite side of the world to our family and have a relatively small apartment experiences really are the best gifts. No expensive postage costs from Australia, no extra clutter in the apartment and a great day out for the entire family. Perfect!

Ava climbs on a frog statue in the Children's Zoo

Dolores Park on sunny day

Dolores Park in San Francisco's Mission District is always an interesting place to spend a sunny afternoon. Yesterday was no exception. Whenever the sun comes out so to do the crazy hijinks!

We had organised to spend the day in Dolores Park with friends from Berkeley. It was a beautiful day and we soaked up the sun (a little too much for my poor shoulders unfortunately!) and sights as the kids played in the amazing playground, rode their scooters and balance bikes, kicked balls, threw frisbees and took it in turns sitting on a police motorbike.

Little bikie gang

Happy Valentine's Day 2013

Happy Valentine's Day!

This has been our second Valentine's Day in America and therefore only the second time we've ever done anything to celebrate it. Well, the kids have celebrated it, that is. I still can't bring myself to fall for all that mushy, lovey-dovey couple stuff that Valentine's Day means for so many people. I do however, like that kids celebrate all of the people they love on this day. 

We started our day with lovely little bouquets of hyacinths for the girls. As you can see below Lola was pretty excited about her flowers!

Happy little Valentines

Birthday Thank You

You may remember that Ava celebrated her 6th birthday last weekend.

To thank all of her friends for coming along to her party and giving her such lovely presents Ava wrote out thank you notes today. We also included a photo from the party of Ava with each of her friends. The photo booth backdrop that we set up for the party was perfect for this. Fun photos with a bright colourful background.

Thank you notes ready to go. Never mind the spelling mistake ;)

Japanese Tea Garden

Last Monday Ava had a student free day. We took the opportunity to head into the city and do a little sight seeing.

We had originally planned on first going to see the Rudolf Nureyev exhibition at the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. Little did I know the De Young is closed on Mondays. Oops. Never mind. Right next door to the De Young is another place that we had on our list of places to visit - and it was open. Bonus!

We spent the afternoon exploring the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. It's such a lovely, peaceful spot and the girls enjoyed crossing over the many little bridges, following the meandering paths, watching the koi fish in the ponds and spotting friendly squirrels.

Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park

Happy Birthday Ava

Today was Ava's 6th birthday. I can't believe that my oldest baby is 6 years old already!

Seeing as today was also Superbowl Sunday we celebrated her birthday yesterday with a party on our roof top. You may remember seeing it here.

Today had we planned to take Ava and Lola to Oakland Zoo as a birthday treat. We ended up having to put those plans off until next week due to track work on BART causing delays. Never mind. After such a busy day on Saturday it was nice to have a quieter day today. Ava unwrapped presents, we went for a bike ride, we played in the playground at Ava's school, we ate pizza from the Cheeseboard for lunch, we posed for some more photo booth shots and went out for Japanese for dinner. A nice day, even without all of the animals!

Photo booth fun for sisters

Here's a look at Ava's birthday...

Ava's 6th Birthday Party

Today is Ava's 6th birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated with a rainbow coloured party with some of Ava's good friends.

Hello! It's my birthday party!

Ava had a fantastic time with her friends. They made sparkly, feathery crowns and beaded necklaces. They decorated Ava's cake with edible markers. They posed for funny photos in front of a colourful, spotty photo booth backdrop. They sang happy birthday. They ate yummy food. They had fun, fun, fun!

Here's a little look at Ava's birthday party...