Our last month in Santa Barbara, California, coincided with the start of the ‘Fall’ season (though the temperatures and local foliage were hardly indicators of autumnal weather!). With only weeks left, before our return to Wellington, New Zealand, (just in time for spring) I definitely felt the need to indulge in some autumnal fair before […]
We’ve enjoyed some wonderful moments at the beach in Santa Barbara this week. I often head out for a run when hubby gets home from work, finishing up on the beach, where he then meets me with our daughters. Our youngest two are joining in with a children’s sand race at Ventura Beach soon, as […]
Our oldest daughter has just turned 11 and she celebrated in sunny California (her first ‘summer’ Birthday – as she was born in the middle of New Zealand’s winter – on a particularly wild day in Wellington!). She has grown tall enough to have her first proper bike, with gears and all that jazz, for […]
It’s normally at this time of year, in New Zealand, that I’m rugged up with a Pinot Noir, glaring at a flickering candle and wishing I was somewhere warmer. There’s a certain romanticism of tucking up and hunkering down for winter – but it wears off pretty quickly (unless of course there’s a ton of […]
It was one of those Sundays that just ‘worked’. The only pre-planned event was my first ever morning yoga class on the beach (bliss). After I returned from my yoga class, feeling very zen and at one with Universe (carrying Blenders smoothies with a supplement of bee pollen for everyone in the family), everything else […]
The other week, on a drive down to Disneyland California with a friend, we stopped off on the Pacific coast for some sand dune action. The children went up to the top with no hesitation, before pelting it down in a storm of sand! Fantastic fun. I would have joined them, but I was limping […]
Guess where we are? Known as ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’! Disneyland! This visit I am the happiest I’ve been visiting Disneyland California, and it’s not just because of the dashing man by my side (though of course he is a big part of the reason!). It’s also because our Miss 4 has finally reached the […]
Okay, last weekend we had a blast. I turned forty in style, celebrating in Santa Monica, California. My daughters LOVED the beach gym that brings the community and tourists together for some active fun. There were some serious gymnast types, flexing muscles on the ropes and swings cirque du soleil style. I was in awe […]
My Facebook feed was flooded with lovely messages of ‘welcome to the club’ and ‘forties are the best’ this weekend. It’s been like reliving turning eighteen again, as I’ve watched friends slightly older than me party into their forties and then, last weekend, it was my turn. It was a fabulous weekend away in Santa […]
Between the game play (Minecraft), the crafting (Rainbow Looming) and all the preschool arts and crafts (baking ginger-bread men, sand play, painting, imaginary story telling and so on…) there’s been a lot of action in the house in California this week. My New Zealand born children have been energised with slightly cooler temperatures and rain […]
Any expat will understand that Christmas (that is if it is a holiday that means something to you) is hard away from your home. This year, our first Christmas in Santa Barbara, California, USA, could have been twice as hard – particularly for my British husband and I. We spent our growing up years, till […]
Dare I say, ‘I’m getting used to this place’? Where the weather barely changes – apart from the length of light in a day. Where clouds are cause for exclamation – and rain is a rare, yet welcome, distraction. I’ve come from a place that knows big weather, where a person learns to dress in […]
It’s been many years since we’ve seen so many Christmas trees in the build up to Christmas. Visiting Disneyland in the festive season was, as you’d imagine, mind-blowing in a sensory overload of lights, baubles, ribbon, glitter and a touch of fake snow – even in sunny southern California – for good measure. It’s also […]
They arrived today! Our wonderful New Zealand neighbours. Our children are ecstatic and it’s magic for us adults to see them all together. Their ages span from three to ten, but all five children (three of them being our crazy girls) are like a little family in their own right. They mix up play between […]