Carry On Watson art suitcases

I met Catherine Bell, founder of Carry On Watson, at a friend's Christmas party recently and was so impressed with her beautiful suitcases featuring artworks that are real head-turners. Why own a boring suitcase, when you can carry one of these beauties. And never again wonder which luggage is yours at the baggage collection!

24 Hours in San Francisco with Kids

We usually stop off in LA on our way back from visiting family in the US, but this trip, we decided to stay overnight in our old stomping ground, San Francisco, instead. It's a pretty special place for us; we met and started our married life in the City of Love, and wanted to share some of our favourite spots with our girls - now six and eight years old. Read on for how we managed 24 hours in San Francisco with kids...

Bondville Does "USA: Seattle 2016

It's been kisses and cuddles all week visiting my new 4.5 month-old niece in Seattle. We've been to Seattle a few times before and ticked off some of the touristy activities, so this trip we were happy to stay fairly close to home in Redmond, WA with the bub. Here are some of the fun things we got up to with our 6.5 and 8.5 year-olds girls...

Things to do in Canberra with kids in 48 hours

What better way to spend the Australia Day weekend than in our nation's capital? Our girls have become really great at road trips (thanks to our Roald Dahl cd book collection), so we decided on a quick last-minute trip to Canberra last weekend. Read on for all the activities that we managed to cram into 48 hours, and some of things we have popped on our to-do list for next time:

Bondville does Canberra

We're in Canberra this weekend! It's our first time here as a family (and my first since I was about 19) and we're having a ball seeing all the national buildings. 

So far we have had an amazing lunch at wholefood cafe Local Press, an afternoon  at the National Gallery of Art and sculpture garden, and Mr Papa Peruvian food truck for dinner. We're planning on the Arboretum and Questacon. See all our pics over on Instagram - @sbond.

The Blue Mountains hiking with kids

I've been to the Blue Mountains several times before having kids, eating at cosy cafes and making the obligatory pit stop at Echo Point to jostle with the thousands of tourists to take a quick snap of The Three Sisters. This time, we went with family friends (four adults and four kids 5-8 years in total) and had the kids' interests firmly in mind. The plan was child-friendly hiking and good, casual food.

A Very Bondville Christmas 2014

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you are enjoying the silly season and relaxing with family and friends. We are enjoying the sunshine and warm weather on the Sunshine Coast with family - lots of beach time, catching up with friends, and a massage from the very best (my Mum!).

Come and follow along on Instagram, if you can stand looking at lots of photos of the beach and sunshine. Here's beautiful Peregian Beach where we spent Christmas Eve today:

Sun Smart beach getaway + WIN Australian beach shade and bags!

In my third Paint The Town Ford challenge as part of the Kidspot Voice Of 2014 program, our family of four drove up to Avoca Beach for a weekend getaway in my borrowed Ford EcoSport Titanium. We had glorious weather and spent lots of time on the beach with a cast of thousands.

We're always conscious of being Sun Smart, and covered up in style with great Australian products. Read more for details on our weekend, my favourite Australian-designed kids' swimwear, and how you could win the amazing Hollie & Harrie Sombrilla beach tent and stylish-and-practical waterproof beach bags from Project Ten.

Family Day Trip: 8 things to do in Dural and Brooklyn, NSW

I've been hugely lucky this year to be loaned a zippy Ford EcoSport Titanium as part of the Kidspot Voices of 2014 program and this weekend took advantage of the gorgeous Spring weather to take the EcoSport for a semi-rural escape/half-day trip to peaceful Dural, NSW.

Dural is only 36 km north-west of the Sydney CBD but feels like you've reached the country, with its rolling hills, horses, farms, and views out to the Blue Mountains. It's instantly relaxing and perfect for a Sunday drive - ours was in the Ford EcoSport Titanium - a small SUV, but a comfortable fit for our family of four (including child restraint and booster seat). I have to admit, being 157cm, visibility can be challenging in most SUVs, but I felt the EcoSport fitted me perfectly.

Next time you want a mini escape that's not maxi distance from Sydney, read on for my favourite stops in this Sydney suburb:

Bondville Does USA: Seattle Part II

There's something about the crispness in the air in Seattle that seems to make colours seem more vibrant. We were so lucky to have gorgeous blue skies and mild weather for our second pit-stop in Seattle, this time to spend a few days with my sister and parents who happened to be visiting at the same time. It's been non-stop family reunions for the past two weeks - how lucky!

Bondville Does USA: Roanoke, Virginia

Roanoke, Virginia used to be called Big Lick when it was a major rail hub, but now it's a cute southern town in Southwest Virginia, close to the border of West Virginia. It's a great place to spend time with family, and we always make sure we embrace the true down-home Virginia-ness when we visit.

Bondville Does USA: White Hall, Maryland

We had a fabulous time in White Hall, Maryland with the cousins, playing, putting on Frozen performances in the living room and crafting up a storm. The girls are having a ball. We also visited the cutest farmers' market including a hole-in-the-wall-of-a-barn coffee shop, fresh wild raspberries and sweet flower posies.

There were cornfields as far as the eye could see and the most charming red barns. Having all the family on one side together, we organised a photoshoot at Wallace Cross Mill, built in 1826. Can't wait to see!

Follow along on Instagram (@sbond) if you would like to see more pics from our trip. Next stop, Roanoke, Virginia. And yes, there shall be pie.

Check in here on 1st August for the first drop of brand new eeni meeni miini moh and e3-M for summer!

Bondville Does USA

We're on holidays! We've escaped the depths of Sydney's winter to spend some time with Aunts, Uncles, cousins, grandparents and extended family in the US. First stop, Seattle! Then White Hall, Maryland, north of Baltimore, then driving to Roanoke, in south-west Virginia.

So far we have flown right by Mt Rainier in Washington State, seen deer, owls, robins, chickadees, eagles and hawks in the woods at my sister's house, eaten our full of summer berries and serious (pizza) pie and visited the touristy-but-fun Pike Place Market in Seattle.

Now we're in White Hall, Maryland in Baltimore County on the east coast. Want to follow the journey? I'm posting pics along the way on Instagram (follow me @sbond). Check out the hashtag #BondvilleDoesUSA. If you don't have an instagram account or smart phone, you can follow the web version on any device right here.

There will be a few other posts while we're away, and you can keep up-to-date on Facebook too. See you on IG/FB/here!

Images: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville

Beautiful Kauai, Hawaii with kids

Instead of travelling to the mainland US, this year we decided to meet up with my husband's family in Hawaii. It's only 10 hours from Sydney, much cheaper flights, and a gorgeous place to holiday!

Two years ago we stayed in Maui, but this trip we decided on Kauai in the north-west of the islands. Lucky - Tropical Storm Flossie came through while we were there, but mostly dissipated by the time it reached the north-west. The weather was gorgeous and the intermittent cloud cover and showers didn't hamper our trip at all.

Here are some of my favourite photos (from my iPhone) and places from the trip that we visited with our 3 and almost-6-year-old girls. Click on the Read More link below to see more!

Sunshine Coast Summer holidays 2012

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you have had a lovely holiday and feel good about getting stuck into a new year. We had a great time at the Sunshine Coast with my parents, and drove home via Yamba and Forster, with a quick swim and a stop or two along the way. Here are a few of my favourite pics that I posted on Instagram over the last few weeks.

These were taken at sunset at Peregian Beach on Christmas Eve for carols by candlelight. The big surprise for the kids was Santa arriving by helipcopter!

Postcards from Roanoke, VA

I'm still going through all my photos from our trip to the US and Canada recently and wanted to share with you some of these images from our week in Roanoke, Virginia where Mr Bondville grew up.

Roanoke is a small city of 100,000 people in south-west Virginia, in the middle of the Roanoke Valley between Maryland and Tennessee and surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains and Allegheny Mountains. Hikers and scenic buffs know Roanoke as a pitstop along both the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is famous for it's big illumuninated star on Mill Mountain (Star City!) and is home to the Texas Tavern (serving chile, cheesy westerns and hotdogs since 1930). The larger Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area has a population of close to 300,000 and includes Roanoke and Salem (remember the rodeo scene from the Borat movie?), Botetourt County, Craig County, Roanoke County and Franklin County (the moonshine capital of the US). Are you starting to get the picture?

Pinball and Crabs in Baltimore

Baltimore, Maryland is one of those places that you don't hear much about, and when people visit the US they usually head to the big five - LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Las Vegas and New York City. But we had so much fun visiting our cousins in Maryland recently.

We had cupcakes and strawberry tea at a princess tea party next to a corn farm, stuffied softies at a Build-a-Bear Workshop, bowled duckpins at the bowling alley, swam at a great local pool stuck in the 1960's, drove downtown to the National Pinball Museum (amazing!), and went to the mall for a girls' shopping trip. I picked over those sales racks like a mad woman and found some great pieces including a really special beaded dress at Anthropologie. I'm now living in my neon rose toothpick jeans from J.Crew and mustard stripe cashmere cardigan from Free People and fell madly for everything at Madewell. Fun!

We were staying in Hunt Valley, MD, surrounded by red cardinal-dotted forests and the rolling hills of horse country. I went for a walk most evenings to take a few photos of the local flowers, and chase unsuccessfully after a hooting owl. 

And yes, there was food too. We went a little nuts eating Old Bay-seasoned blue crabs at Ocean Pride, and had a beautiful meal (fried green tomatoes and more crab) cooked from the kitchen garden at The Manor Tavern. Here are some photos from our trip...

Have you been to Baltimore and surrounds before? Any other places we should visit next time?

Images: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville

Granville Island Vancouver

Another amazing stop on our trip to Vancouver was Granville Island. Each trip, I love wandering around the aisles of abundant produce in the public market, which reminds me a lot of the Victoria Markets in Melbourne. This time we also discovered a great kids' playground, a beautiful restaurant serving local produce, and an hysterical Bacon window - get some bacon with your bacon!

Here are some photos for you to enjoy...

I can tell you that the blueberry white chocolate bread from Terra Breads was phenomenal - I could have bought their entire bounty of rustic breads adn pastries. Siegel's Bagels were also spot-on and perfect with the beautiful smoked salmon. We made the most of Vancouver's excellent salmon on our trip - it's really on another level. Did you spot the maple syrup-coated Salmon candy?

Have you been to Granville Island? Do you have a favourite store there?

Images: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville

Kitsilano Vancouver Colours

While visiting my sister and her husband in Vancouver, I was so inspired by the abundance of colour, especially in their neighbourhood - the very stylish Kitsilano. It seemed like every house had a glorious cottage garden and heavy peonies and rose heads dotted yards.

Even the sidewalk in front of the storefronts was ablaze with lush flowers and herbs. The rainbow colours were also reflected in fun stores like Cupcakes by Heather and Lori (they have their own kooky reality TV show in Canada), David's Tea (an amazing range of beautifully-packaged teas and brewing accoutrement), and Lululemon of course (a Kitsilano original - the first store opened here in 2000). Maybe all the colour is a foil for the often-grey sky and frequent rain showers? Or a product there-of. Here are some happy snaps from Kitsilano to brighten your day...

 

I can also highly recommend the vegetarian restaurant The Naam, Sophie's Cosmic Cafe, and The Boathouse Restaurant - all excellent. Have you been to Kitsilano? Do you have any travel recommendations for this great neighbourhood?

Images: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville