February Fun

We have had a wonderful February of adventures at home and around the neighborhood.  Elsa and Liam continue to love park time.  They also love having scooter races around the courtyard.

At home, the fun game the kids came up with is called "Amaze Jumps." They love to jump off high places and amaze us with their jumping skills.

 Liam was very excited to get a ribbon for graduating from Swim Essentials to Level 1 Swimming. He can jump in the water, roll over to float on his back, roll back to his belly and kick to the wall. 

Elsa got a haircut and then I took the kids for some "fancy pictures." 

In the evenings, the kids like to cuddle with me in bed and look at my phone while I do "work."  A current favorite thing is watching "Tasty" (cooking) videos.  Sometimes we then make the food, like the Apple Upside Down Cake. 

 It is great having so many fun pictures with the kids.

Ski Weekend 2017

This year we headed up to the Lake Tahoe Area for a long weekend of fun with friends in the snow.

We stayed near Sugar Bowl and for two days the kids took ski lessons.  After her lessons, Elsa was very excited to ski more runs with me, showing off her turns and stops.

Liam had fun trying to ski.

Back at the cabin the kids all had fun together, building a snow cave and other fun snow stuff.

The last morning, we stopped by Planet Kids at Soda Springs, for some more fun snow time and tubing. 

I loved watching Liam make a snow angel.

The kids really enjoyed the chance to play in the snow.

Christmas 2016

We once again had a wonderful Christmas weekend in Berkeley.  I enjoyed getting to see the cousins together.

We started the weekend with some play time at a park in Berkeley, before heading out to Christmas Eve Service, which my family also attended. Then it was home for a family feast and videos for the kids.

Christmas morning was so much fun, watching the kids open all the great gifts.

Then we headed to my Mom's home for a second Christmas morning.

My sister brought her new dog Zoe Bear.

Christmas night was at Matt & Warren's home in Oakland, with my cousins and aunts.  It was so nice to have the whole family together.

On the Monday after Christmas we headed out to Children's Fairyland for some family fun time.

Then Monday night, the brothers and wifes had an amazing dinner at Chez Panise. 

What a great holidays!

SoCal and the Rose Parade

Once again for the New Year's weekend, we headed down to Southern California, starting off in Santa Monica, with fun times on all the rides at the boardwalk.

The Ferris Wheel was fun, but scarier than the roller coaster.

The next morning we started by exploring the beach and found the Santa Monica Rings and Beams.  Elsa was in heaven, mastering several sets of rings.



After a morning at the beach we headed to mid-town and the Museum Mile. We checked out the giant rock at LACMA.

 Next we explored the Pearson Auto Museum.  Liam loved the old cars!

We then wandered through the La Brea Tar pits and their museum.  Both kids loved all of the bones on display.

We then headed to our hotel in the Hollywood Hills and a quiet evening out of the rain. We did take a trolley up to Universal City Walk for dinner, which was fun for the kids too. 



 On Sunday, the Stokstad family gathered at Aunt Miriam's home for a big family lunch.

 Once again, Uncle Erik was amazing with Liam, playing several rounds of the game of Life.

 After lunch, we all went to Travel town to explore all the trains!

 And then had fun at a Mexican dinner place.  The kids love looking at screens.

Monday morning we got up very early to head into Pasadena for the Rose Parade.  Liam enjoyed my warm lap while we watched all the floats go by.

 One final group picture together and then we headed off to the LA Zoo.

 The kids enjoyed playing at the zoo.

And it was nice to see all the animals, even some babies.

 It was another wonderful trip south!