bunny design :: art barn blog

she even wakes up happy

2008-09-04T04:21:38Z

Technorati Tags: baby

crawling & standing

2008-09-04T00:07:27Z

She officially crawls and now she pulls up to standing too! This girl is on the move.

Technorati Tags: baby

arata pumpkin farm

2008-08-30T05:12:13Z

On our way home we stopped by Arata Pumpkin Farm to check out the life-size hay maze. The farm felt like the set of a horror flick with run down unused stuffs scattered about and only one whack job guy working there — and not a pumpkin to be seen. I kept thinking "all work and no play" while seeing the hedge maze from the Shining in my mind. Huh. Anyway, for $5 each (he wanted to charge full price for baby Vivi in a carrier, but I pushed back! He still charged for our 3 year old!) we entered the maze. It's not an easy maze, I'll give them that. We spent about 45 minutes and only got half way. Turns out I was the best leader, but we couldn't finish because we all got too hungry, too hot, too tired and all that goes along with the monotony of going back and forth trying each outcome. But let me just say, this is the perfect activity for a group of say 12 year old boys!

Technorati Tags: Bay Area, travel

strawberry fields forever

2008-08-28T17:46:49Z

The next morning we decided to go to a pick-it-yourself farm. Max really wanted ollalieberries, but it turns out those are only in season in June and July. Late August is strawberry picking season and fortunately we all love strawberries too. Swanton Berry Farm doesn't look too remarkable from the highway, but once you get into the store and walk to the field you'll love it. They give you a few boxes and tell you to enjoy the picking and, of course, sample as many as you'd like. We strolled out to the field and had such a good time tasting and picking. Max was loving it and got really into finding the berries with the most unusual shapes. Afterward we all had pink stained faces and fingers. We took home $15 dollars worth (they sell by weight) which was the equivalent to 16 baskets. We'd normally pay about $3 a basket for organic strawberries, so that's $48 worth of strawberries! Once we got home, Mr. C immediately turned them all into a delicious jam, which we had on his fresh made popovers the very next morning. Mmmmmm so good!

Technorati Tags: Bay Area, travel

dinner at duarte's tavern

2008-08-28T06:52:04Z

Many people told us to try the artichoke soup and fruit pies at Duarte's Tavern, both were delicious in an old time, classic recipe kinda way. Max was a daring eater and tried smelt —he loved it too. We all were totally mad for the olallieberry pie, but Vivi was most especially crazy!

Technorati Tags: Bay Area, restaurants, travel

phipps farm, pescadero

2008-08-28T02:19:43Z

While the kids slept in the car we drove the coast highway. We tried to drive through to check out Ano Nuevo state park, but when you drive in it's about 100 yards to a dead end parking lot — you can't see anything special until you get out and start walking. Since we couldn't ditch the kids, this idea was a bust. We then drove up to Pescadero thinking we'd check out Phipps & Harley Farms once the kids woke up. Pescadero turns out to be a really quiet, sleepy little town — don't blink.

Max woke up on the grumpy side of his car seat. It took him awhile to warm up to the idea of exploring the Phipps Country Store. Phipps is a weird place. It's out of touch, run down and pretty depressing on one hand, while on the other, it's exotic, bizarre and creepy. The white haired, hunched over, thin and tiny old woman working at the cash register was the only employee. She was hardly doing much, not that I blame her, but it left the property feeling even more abandoned than it looked.

There were some gorgeous birds, like this lovely white parrot who repeatedly performed flip tricks for us, but then there were some horrific birds pecking and eating a dead bird. Yikes! This was one of the most obvious moments when we started to realize just how bad it is at Phipps. Once you tour the rest of the farm you'll see many chickens, peacocks, geese and other birds— plus goats, sheep and pigs who are all living in a really neglectful environment. You can see the abuse in the animals ugly behavior and their shredded, scarred bodies. Many looked so bad I had to avert my eyes. I felt too pained to document it so you won't see images of the horror here, but heed my warning and skip Phipps when next you are in Pescadero.

When you aren't horrified by the unhappily cages animals, you will find some neat old antique tractors scattered about the property.

Apparently Phipps is also well known for it's dried beans. They did have a large selection, but the store had the same run down and dirty feeling of the rest of property which really didn't inspire me to purchase anything. Instead I gave a donation to the animals — in the hopes they'll get fed.

We left Phipps hoping to make it to Harley Farms, but they'd closed shop just a few minutes before we got there. Bummer, 'til tomorrow...

Technorati Tags: Bay Area, travel

costanoa coast

2008-08-27T23:09:53Z

After breakfast we strolled along the trail behind the Douglas cabins and crossed highway one and made our way down to the beach. The day was gorgeous and we were all alone on a lovely beach. There wasn't much tide-pooling to be found but we did find lots of sticks, seaweed and rocks so there was plenty to do right there. We also each took turns splashing our feet in the icy cold waves. Another family came along a little while later with two kids just about the same age as ours and we all had an impromptu playgroup. It was great fun!

Technorati Tags: Bay Area, holiday, travel

camp costanoa

2008-08-27T05:24:31Z

We arrived just after 4 pm. It was an easy drive, just slightly over an hour but you'd never know you were so close to San Francisco — the feel of Costanoa is as though it's miles away from civilization. It took me a few hours to slow down and warm up to the pace of the place and to settle into my experience. I had imagined it to be more pampering and fancy since we had chosen a lodge room rather than tent or cabin — plus there's a spa. Costanoa is a pretty basic California coastal place, it's rustic and straight-forward. Keep that in mind when visiting and bring what ever extras you need.

We chose the no roughing it route and stayed in the lodge. After having thoroughly checked the place out, I think all the accommodations have their strengths and weakness. The tents are spartan but I kinda liked that about them. It'd be nice to treat the stay like a retreat and spend the time just reading or walking the many trails. Tents on the edges closest to the lodge were my favorite (Cypress) as they have the most trees and had chairs on the backside rather than chairs in the front facing the parking areas. The shared bathrooms are well crafted and clean plus each has a relaxing center hang out area with a fire going each night. The (Douglas Fir) cabins are much more spacious, protected, secluded, and have nice decks — some even have porch swings. Each cabin has two sides so it'd be ideal to rent the whole cabin with a friend or another family so you like your neighbors. The cabins don't have bathrooms so you have to walk to the shared facility. Check the map on the site carefully before booking.

If choosing a lodge room ask to be facing the backside lawn as it has the nicest view. The room we had was very spartan but fine. The lighting was pretty bad, especially in the bathroom, but that's my biggest complaint. My husband's biggest complain would be no cell phone service and spotty free wireless. There was a mini bar, coffee maker, clock radio with cd player and the lobby has fresh filter water cooler. The bathroom was big enough for us to set up the pack-n-play for Vivi and it had a rolling barn style door so we could get her to sleep early, close the door, and still hang out in the room. The king size bed was pretty comfortable and given that we normally sleep three in a queen size it felt luxurious to have to much rolling over space. Our room was really close to the hot tub which Max visted often and we all enjoyed our morning sunrise view. We saw deer, quail, and bunnies while looking out the glass doors. We also enjoyed hanging out each night in front of the roaring fire and toasting smores. Max made "dates" with different girls he picked up during dinner. One girl he simply called "pretty girl" (that one family was eerily unfriendly) two others he met were Katrina and Zoe. After smores one night, which Max graciously hosted, he asked Katrina to join him in the "hot pool" (aka tub). I'm so not kidding. Max is a smooth operator.

After almost every meal, Max insisted on exploring the life size chess game on the lawn behind the restaurant. There is also a quaint kids playground in the back where I pushed Vivi in a bucket swing. Max wasn't too into the playground, but he loved the chess set. In fact he loved it so much that if anyone tried to capture one of his pieces he broke down in tears. But by the end of our stay he finally started to enjoy capturing and succumbing — Katrina helped him get into and over it.

When we ate at Cascade, Max wanted to sit by the fireplace when ever possible. The staff was very accommodating to his request. In fact, I read a lot of reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor and heard from a few friends that the restaurant was pretty bad and that the service was slow to terrible — so my expectations were very low. We only had one poorly serviced meal while most of the staff who helped us were either normal or even super nice. The food was just fine — it's on par with Chow or Home. The fresh banana bread is particularly good, the lattes were enjoyable and I really liked the pasta primavera (had it 2x). Also they give you coupons for $8 off per person per breakfast which makes it a no-brainer to eat on site. The restaurant is filled with families so it's super kid friendly. We met many many nice people while eating there. Reviewers also complained about the general store, but again I disagree with what I read. The store has a little bit of everything from foods and sundries to sand toys, kites, music and clothes and they stock nice high end quality items not cheezy stuffs.

Technorati Tags: Bay Area, holiday, travel

costanoa

2008-08-26T04:38:13Z

We are off for a few days to nearby Costanoa — which they call an eco-adventure resort but I've been told it's pretty much fancy camping (or camping for wimps). I read about it originally here. Either way we are looking forward to retreating from "normal" life and enjoying some nature adventures of our own. We've got the new Bob Revolution for pushing Max long distances (it's amazing!) plus a kite — consider the fun already started!

I've gathered some recommendations of things to do while there:
Eat:
Duarte's Tavern
Davenport Roadhouse
Arcangeli Grocery Company/Norm's Market
Mercado & Taqueria De Amigos (wow amazing yelp reviews!)
Gazo's Grill

Visit:
Seashore & tidepools
Ano Nuevo State Reserve
Pigeon Lighthouse
Harley Farms Goat Dairy: tour and milk goats, sample goat cheese. Need reservations — weekends only.
Arata Pumpkin Farm
Phipps Country Store & Farm
Coastways Ranch (for olallieberries) and Swanton Berry Farm (organic strawberries)
Bonnydoon Vineyard: Wine tasting and picnic — other wineries for more of the same
Roaring Camp Railroads: Ride steam trains through the redwoods or take a beach train through Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Seymour Marine Discovery Center
Rancho Del Oso State Park and Nature & History Center

Study:
Marine Biology primer for preschoolers

Technorati Tags: california, travel

gocco printing

2008-08-25T06:08:05Z

Above is the original image concept for Aunnie's bridal shower invitation. It's a simple message — pure and sweet — just like their love. Lexi and Rey have the real thing!

Mr. C had a great idea, which was to print the bridal shower invites using our DIY gooco machine. It's the modern version of the japanese woodcut print. But oh my gawd, as fun as it is, it's really time consuming and a totally imperfect art.

Many thanks to my fabulous neighbor Yoriko who got this machine for me (xxoo!!) . Riso has stopped making them so I feel really lucky to have one. I found an abundance of supplies at ARCH in Potrero Hill, online you can order stuff at Paper Source.

After reading many tutorial's and examining these wonderfully helpful sites, we were on our way.
Felt Cafe Turorial
Get Crafty Tutorial
The Small Object Tutorial
The Lab Partners Process
e-How Process
gocco techniques

Here's the original xerox positioned in the screen, it was made haphazardly at our local kinkos and didn't turn out quite right. I bet using a laser printer would yield better results. There's also the gocco carbon pen to consider —though the ones that came with our kit are super fine tipped so big solids would be a pain to fill. In the future I now know not to try a distressed look without using a halftone screen because the distressing really didn't translate well. In the end it looked like we didn't ink the press properly rather than the vintage weathered look we were going for. Oh well!

One really important detail we learned was to NOT leave the original carbon xerox attached to the screen after exposure. The first screens we exposed by holding down the gocco for about 5 seconds. Afterward we left the originals attached for many minutes while we mixed ink. When we were ready to ink the screen we tried to remove the xerox paper original and found that the paper was so so so stuck it wouldn't come off and that the dark solid areas had cause a complete carbon screen fusion — see the hearts screen image above. We then did the exposures again and this time pulled the original paper off the screens as fast as possible, eh voila, see-through perfection! See below:

Next we mixed inks and then did the first pass of printing which was the pink hearts. The ink took a long time to dry so we weren't able to do the second ink run until early this am. In fact as I write this entry the cards are still drying.

The final cards are drying...keep an eye on your mailbox.

Technorati Tags: craft, gocco

zoo day

2008-08-23T00:04:58Z

Into the fog we went to enjoy the morning strolling through the zoo. Nadia, Tommy and Max all had a great time and I enjoyed hanging out with Aunnie and Julieann. But that miss Vivienne gave me a run as she refused to sleep and wailed through most of the route — joy. I thought these two peacock portraits were amusing. They show a glimpse into Max's mercurial mind and his amazing morphing facial talents.

Technorati Tags: boys, preschooler, San Francisco

cool globes

2008-08-18T20:25:44Z

Today Vivi and I strolled along the Chrissy Field beach path and came across a public art show called "cool globes: Hot ideas for a cooler planet" What a fun way to educate and inspire the public about alternative fuels and other ways we can reduce, reuse an recycle in the hopes we can make mother earth healthier. Above are my favorites— including the one for knitters titled "wear a sweater!"

Technorati Tags: art, San Francisco

first bowl

2008-08-18T04:12:49Z

After months of playing too much wii bowling, Max finally talked us into playing a real set. He'd been asking to play for weeks it seemed. We headed to Yerba Buena's bowling alley. Though the lightest ball - a six pounder- was too heavy for him, he managed to bowl fairly well. We were all thankful for the gutter guards. Most importantly he really enjoyed himself. He cried when we said no to another game, but we promised to return again soon.

Technorati Tags: San Francisco

san juan batista

2008-08-15T07:32:54Z

grassy grins

2008-08-14T07:11:22Z

The never napping (!) Ms. Vivi seen here enjoying herself on the grass near the San Luis Obispo mission.