Bunchland

Bunchland is kicking down your front door and invading your home sweet home. Well, after you’ve politely invited us in, served us tea and offered to show us your family’s treasures.

Rebecca and Marc both grew up in Toronto. The official story is that Rebecca met Marc on the subway, but in fact they were in the same class in kindergarten. Six years ago, they bought their first house in the city’s west end. The family is all about their neighbourhood, and they love supporting local businesses and being able to walk to school and the grocery store. Bunch headquarters is located in the family’s living room, and as a result the blend of work and fun lends itself to frequent displays of wackiness, like when delivery boxes get made into forts.  Read more...

Bunchland families could teach you a thing or two about playing. You see, for them, hangtime is serious business. We ask families about their top five ways they have fun together and get an amazing illustrator to draw them, and we get blown away every time.

Marta and Jay met on a message board eight months before they met in real life. When they finally did, they were married four short months later. Marta describes their insanely good-looking kids as “mutts,” as they are a mixture of Mexican, American, Dutch and Canadian. Their family playtimes are full of indecision and ants-in-the-pants syndrome: so many fun things to do, the only problem is where to start!  Read more...

Celebrities stage comebacks all the time, but we at Bunch were particularly excited to find out that Paul Reubens a.k.a. Pee-Wee Herman would be doing a live theatre version of his popular kids’ show in Los Angeles this month. And when we found out a Pee-Wee movie is coming to the big screen in 2011, it was enough to make us strap on our huge platform shoes and do a tabletop dance to “Tequila.” But in light of Reubens’ 1991 indecent exposure arrest, we wondered how parents felt about introducing a new generation of kids to Pee-Wee. Blogger CynthiaK shared her thoughts with us.

“I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel.”

What’s the secret word of the day, Conky? Scream real loud! Mekka lekka hi mekka hiney ho! If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then you must have missed the most unique Saturday morning children’s show from the ’80s, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.  Read more...

Bunchland loves to hop on our imaginary jet plane and take imaginary trips to amazing places all over the world. Sometimes the families who live there even show us around. How cool is that?

Kevin Hehir came to Newfoundland ten years ago to go to grad school and never left and doesn’t plan to. Cab drivers still ask him if he’s enjoying his stay. His wife, Cara, is a native Newfoundlander. Their bunch currently resides in a neighbourhood that was once a busy commercial area.  Many of the businesses have since shuttered, but there is a renaissance happening, and every spring brings out more and more strollers.  Read more...

Bunchland likes to give props to families who are going that extra mile to save the planet. The ones who really knock our organic, pesticide-free cotton socks off get our coveted Gosh Darn Green! Award.

Rick Smith is the co-author of the eye-opening best-selling book about the toxins found in common housebold products, Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health. His wife Jennifer fights to protect Ontario’s Greenbelt, and their two kids, Owain and Zack, have grown up attending rallies.

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We at Bunch were very interested in how families around the world celebrate Martin Luther King Day. Via Twitter and Facebook, we asked you to share your stories about this holiday with us. Janet Sangare wrote to tell us about how her family sees the day not just as time off work, but an opportunity to serve others. Her story made us feel touched, inspired and educated about this very important day.

Drawing of Martin Luther King Jr. by medium as muse/Flickr.

I have two sons. They are now 21 and 17. Since they were very young, I have tried to pass on the significance of the figures who sacrificed their time and lives in order for black people to have dignity and equal rights. I use the term “black people” because I arrived to the U.S. as a child of Caribbean immigrant parents. My first visit to the U.S. was about one year after the assassination of Dr. King. Washington, D.C. was a burned-out ghost town. It was through my mother that I learned of the civil rights struggle and what Dr. King had done to help his people. My mother impressed on me that the suffering of African-Americans was like no other within the African diaspora.  Read more...