Princeton in the Sierras 2015

This October we returned to Fallen Leaf Lake for another year of Princeton in the Sierras. It was a beautiful weekend near Lake Tahoe with a great group of Princeton alumni. We had a wonderful time exploring the lake.  I took both kids out on kayaks.  Elsa talked a lot about the Big Wind, that blew us around.  Liam and I went out to find a stick he threw into the lake.

Elsa enjoyed the age group activities, which included a boat ride with the other kids.

We had fun in the evenings, with great activities like the Disco Bingo. Elsa was always ready to go up and dance, just like her mom.

 Liam loved the campfire at the beach and eating graham crackers.

 Arne took wonderful pictures of all of the stars. It was wonderful to be able to see the Milky Way.

Both of the kids loved fishing for crawdads.  Liam was very excited to be a fisherman.

 But he was more excited to be naked.  He loved taking off his diaper and running around!

 Elsa and I did some bouldering, exploring in the rocks.

 We just had a wonderful time enjoying mountain life.  We look forward to returning next year.

The End-of-Summer Fun

Summer is now officially over. For the last month, after the start of Kindergarten for Elsa, we have had a series of wonderful family outings to enjoy the greater Bay Area.  In late August, we went up to the Russian river with some of my friends' families for fun in the redwood trees and river.

In early September we went down to Monterey for my triathlon and a visit to the aquarium - where each new thing Elsa saw elicited a "wow" and there were according to her endless "wows". That's a rave review from a 5 year old.

Then last week we headed down to Santa Cruz for fun on the Beach Boardwalk - Elsa loves the thrill rides like her mommy. Liam loved digging in the sand. Arne liked the 100 year old Wurlitzer organs that played at the carousel. One of them came from the original Playland in San Francisco.

While summer is now officially over, we are excited for the adventures fall will bring.

Elsa's First Day of Kindergarten

Yesterday was Elsa's first day of Kindergarten.

We got up early and scooted over to Addison Elementary School, which is 3 blocks from our house.

Once we were at school, Elsa checked out the area near her classroom and started meeting the other kids.

Then at 8:15 she entered Room 1 and met teacher Karen.

At the end of the day, Elsa came home with a Certificate of Excellence for completing her first day.

We are off to a good start!

Camp Blue 2015!

Another year, another Lair of the Bear!  

 We returned to the Lair for one of our best years ever up at Camp Blue.

On Sunday night we took the family out on the sunset hike.  Arne and I did this hike pre-kids.  It is not much of an actual hike, but a great time to hang out with friends and family in the wilderness.

On Monday we headed up to Pinecrest Lake with Julia and her family for a paddle boating adventure. It was so much fun to jump and play in the lake.

Arne and I had fun playing volleyball.  I also enjoyed a little bit of softball.  In the staff game I hit a walk off homer to win the game.

We had our annual tie-dye fun.  This year Elsa decided on a theme of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, with some pink.  She designed the tie-dyes for the family and then once they were done, called them fireworks on the shirts.

Every day we had great pool time with the kids.  It was so much fun to watch how independent Elsa has become in the pool and also how much Liam enjoyed jumping into the pool.

One night was Disco Bingo.

Another night my Mom watched a sleeping Liam, so we could take Elsa out to a movie under the stars at Pinecrest Lake.  The next day we headed off on a creek walk.

Mackenzie continues to be Elsa's best buddy at the Lair.  It was so much fun to watch the girls go off by themselves and play games together.  Liam started to join in the fun as well. It was so sweet when Mackenzie asked to play the game family, where she is a sister to Elsa and Liam.

After a great week in the Kub Koral (KK) the 5 year olds parade in the dining hall, with both Liam and Elsa participating.  It was fun to see them playing together.

It was so nice to see old friends and enjoy time together.

It was also great to see all the wonderful staff shows at night.  Elsa and Liam were great in the KK Talent show and the Friday night show was a lot of fun to watch.

Arne has a great picture gallery of the Lair trip found here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskhv69KP