My Morning with Oakland Coffee

So, today I had planned to spend the day finishing Halloween costumes. But then late last night I saw an email that changed all of that. Mike Dirnt from Green Day would be at a local Costco promoting the launch of his coffee brand Oakland Coffee!

Being a huge Green Day fan, and having missed out on tickets for last week's show at the UC Theatre, I just had to go! So costume making plans were pushed aside and Mathilde and I headed to Costco in nearby Richmond straight after school drop off.

Mathilde, being a toddler, had no idea who we were there to see, but when Mike pulled up in his little Volkswagen truck she was pretty excited. Not to see Mike, of course, but to see the truck! I mean, that is a pretty cool truck - and she is slightly obsessed with anything with wheels.

Fall Family Photo Shoot

Disclaimer: This post is brought to you thanks to San Francisco Bay Area Family Photographer, Sarah Sloboda. All opinions are my own. 

Can you believe that we've never had family photos taken before? Crazy, right? We have plenty of terrible family vacation snaps taken at touristy spots by passing strangers (who never seem to be able to hold the camera still or compose the photo nicely!) but when it comes to professional photos the only ones we've ever had taken were newborn photos of Ava when she was two weeks old! Oh, and our wedding photos! Considering that we're now a family of five (and have been for two and a half years), I don't think either of those really count as family photos.

So this year I decided we needed to do something about our lack of family photos. I'm excited to say that we'll be working with San Francisco Bay Area Family Photographer Sarah Sloboda on a family photo shoot in November. I can't wait to share our photos with you, but in the meantime I want to share some of Sarah's work with you.

When I was a kid, family photo shoots meant dressing in semi formal outfits and standing awkwardly with your family in front of a pretend background in a studio. They also involved lots of forced smiles that looked more like grimaces! I can assure that I grimace every time I see the family photos at my parents' house. Sorry Mum! But, I can also assure you there will be none of this for our family photos. 

What I love about Sarah's family photography is that the personality of each person shines through. Her casual style results in photos that feel natural rather than forced. The little quirks are what make the photo in my opinion. That cute toddler poking her tongue out below? Totally the highlight for me! Knowing Mathilde, we'll definitely end up with more than one tongue poking out shot! And knowing Lola, there may just be duck face too. 

Halloween Candy Bunting

Earlier this year the girls and I made Easter bunting for our front door using bunny shaped Peeps. The colorful bunting was a big hit with the girls, so when I spotted ghost shaped Peeps for Halloween in the supermarket recently, I just knew that we had to get creative with squishy marshmallow again.

So, yesterday Lola and I made Halloween bunting out of ghost shaped Peeps and that Halloween candy that everyone loves to hate - candy corn.

The instructions for making this bunting are pretty much exactly the same as out Easter bunting (which you can find here) but I thought I'd share them again.

Camping at Pinecrest

Disclaimer: This post made possible thanks to Toyota. All opinions are my own. 

The weather here in the Bay Area is finally starting to cool down. I love the cooler weather, but it has got me thinking about our last adventure of this Summer: our camping trip to Pinecrest in the Sierra Nevadas over the Labor Day long weekend. If you follow Little Hiccups on Instagram you would've already seen a few of my favorite shots from that trip, but I figured it was about time I shared all of it here on the blog. 

Our camping trip to Pinecrest Lake Resort was our first proper camping trip with the kids. We've camped out in our tent several times at the Hoes Down Festival, but this was our first time at a proper camp ground, cooking our meals over a fire, and roasting marshmallows for s'mores in the cool mountain air. It was such a fun experience and the girls are keen to do it again soon - although not with weather like we currently have, and definitely not in the mountains over Winter! The early morning temperatures over our camping trip were approaching freezing even at the end of Summer. I can't imagine how cold it must get over Winter!

Lola's Rainbow Unicorn Party

Yesterday we celebrated Lola's 6th birthday with a rainbow unicorn themed party on our roof deck.

After the grey and rainy weather of last weekend (when it was actually Lola's birthday), we were in luck with perfect weather for the party. It was a little overcast, and the view over the bay was foggy, but the sun was shining and the temperature was just right. Not too hot, not too cold. 

P is for Places: An ABC of Travel

It's no secret that we are a family of travelers. There's nothing I love more than packing our bags, hopping on a plane and finding ourselves in a new location, with new and exciting things for the kids to discover. Sure, travelling with kids can be stressful at times, but what we gain from the experience makes it all worth it.

Travel really is such a great way to educate kids about the world. It gives them the chance to learn about different cultures, different environments, different foods... But that education doesn't have to begin and end with the travel itself. My kids love to learn about places that we'll be visiting before our trip even begins. We read books, watch documentaries, and search the internet to learn about where we'll be going. Not only do the kids learn something new, but so to do I.

Once we're back home from a trip, the learning doesn't stop. We still read about the places we've visited, we look through our photos, and we talk about what we've seen and experienced. I often make photo books of our vacations and it got me thinking about how else we can use our travel experiences for education. Then it occurred to me... An ABC book of all the places we've been! 

I've always loved the idea of making an ABC book featuring my own photos of items/people/places that the girls are familiar with. Considering that we love travel so much, an ABC book of places was the perfect fit. 

Orange & Green Karate Belts

My two karate kids, Ava and Lola, had another belt test yesterday and I'm happy to say that they both passed. Hooray! Ava is now a green belt and Lola is an orange belt. These kids are accruing karate belts faster than I ever imagined.

The girls and their classmates did such a good job. Everyone passed the test and we now have three green belts and three orange belts in the class. The test was held in the park where we meet for classes. There were quite a few other people around but the kids were so good at staying focused and weren't bothered by all the people watching them or the kids and dogs playing nearby. As you can see, it was quite late in the day so the sun was starting to set as the test progressed. It made for the most beautiful light.

Hoes Down Harvest Festival 2016

Last weekend we left the city and headed to Fully Belly Farm in Yolo County for the annual Hoes Down Harvest Festival. This was our third time attending the festival and it was just as much fun as it was in previous years. Even better - it wasn't scorching hot like it has been in the past! And it wasn't stormy overnight like last year, so camping out was a little more comfortable. 

Stop Motion Animation Fun with Goldfish

Between swim team and karate classes, my girls are generally pretty busy after school. Weekends, however, are a different story. I like to keep weekends free from regular activities so we can be free to do whatever we want without having to work around a schedule. We tend to spend a lot of our weekend time just hanging around at home relaxing. It's nice to have a little down time after such a busy week, but at the same time it can get a little, well... boring! To keep the kids from heading straight to the tv I like to have a few activities up my sleeve to keep them busy. Simple things like painting, coloring, building with Lego, playing board games, or making puzzles generally go down pretty well, but sometimes they want to do something a little bit different.

A while back we visited the Children's Creativity Museum in San Francisco and the girls made their own animated movies. They had a blast making their little movies and have been asking if they can make their own at home. Stop motion animation is actually really easy to make at home with just a few items: a camera (or smart phone/tablet), a tripod, a background, and small items to be the star of the show. You can really use anything: toy animals, dolls, building blocks, toy cars... even food! We decided to go down the food route and made Lola's animation with one of her favorite snacks. Goldfish crackers!

Goldfish crackers are a big hit in our home when it comes to snack time so we've always got a pack or two in the pantry. They're oh so moreish and the whole family loves them. With their smiley little faces, Lola decided that Goldfish would make the perfect characters for her animation. Well, that, and it gave her a fantastic excuse to them afterwards!

Here's a look at how we made our animation...