Last Day of Kindergarten and 3rd Grade!

The school year is over and summer vacation has started!  It has been an amazing year for the kids and they have both grown up so much.

We are so lucky to have a great local school only 3 blocks away and that the kids enjoy scooting to school.

This year we even helped to host a school Sundae party. Liam liked scooping ice cream.

The last weeks have been filled with many fun things and many great open houses.  Elsa's class sang songs about growth mindsets and other fun songs.

Elsa had her spring concert.  Shallow was one of her favorite songs they sang, but I liked the Fight song.

While Liam's class had a potluck and played around the Kinder yard for the last time.

And now, Kinder and 3rd are over!

Spring Sports 2019

Spring is always a great time for sports.  Elsa plays softball, Liam plays soccer and Arne heads off to Volleyball Nationals. Elsa continues to enjoy playing softball.  She likes to hit the ball and run the bases.

 I am excited to watch her throwing develop.

 But she remains a grumpy picture taker!

Almost as fun as watching softball is watching Elsa with her friends, rapping on the way to practice.

 Liam is loving soccer. He is getting better with his kicks.

 But his favorite thing is playing goalie!

 I just enjoy watching him play!

And play after the game.

This year Arne got a bronze metal with the Burgees 40 team at Volleyball Nationals in Columbus, Ohio.

Mother's Day 2019

It was another awesome Mother's Day. We all made it down to Fort Funston for some special beach time.  The kids enjoyed building sand castles and playing in the waves.

 And it was nice that Summer dog was still able to join us.

After a sandy morning, we cleaned up and embarked on our other tradition, Mother's Day Strawberry Jam.  I love making the jam and giving jars of it to our friends and family.

Mother’s Day Strawberry Jam 2019 from Arne Stokstad on Vimeo.

All this came after after an amazing work trip to Japan, where I had one day of vacation at the end to explore.  I went to visit the Hakone Shrine on Lake Ashe. It took a bullet train, regular train, switchback train, cable car, bus, gondola, boat, and then walk to get there!

Easter 2019

We had another great family Easter hunt and brunch at my mom's house in Millbrae with the extended family.  Elsa and Liam looked throughout the yard for lots of eggs.

And then the counted them up.

 Liam was very disappointed that Elsa got more than him.

But after some cuddles, Liam and Elsa when back to playing in the yard, hiding eggs for everyone else to find and playing tag.

Then we gathered for a lovey brunch.

Elsa enjoyed playing with the ears.

Prior to our Easter day fun, the kids enjoyed blowing out eggs and decorating them.

Easter morning was highlighted with a great basket of fun from the Easter Bunny.

Liam got an "egg" made of pressed sand that had a hidden rock or gem in it. The package said 1 in 24 packages would have a real diamond in the egg. He actually got the diamond (a very tiny speck) in the egg!

It was a great Easter day.  Naps, fun, and family time.

Spring Break Ski Weekend 2019

This year we had two snow weekends. On Super Bowl weekend we did not ski because of Elsa's broken arm and constant snowing the whole weekend. Elsa's arm had healed by spring break week and there was still a lot of snow, so we headed back up the mountains for a ski weekend.

This trip we stayed at the Sugar Bowl lodge for the first time. We arrived Friday evening and went out to the snow to just play a little.

The kids took ski lessons on Saturday.  There was a lot of snow.

While they took lessons, we explored the mountain.

Then for the rest of Saturday and Sunday we skied the mountain with them.  In just 2 days, they really improved to be able to try steeper and more complex slopes.

It was great riding the chair lifts together.

At the end of a long day, we were able to enjoy a hot tub, while Elsa did some "snow-bathing."

We all had a lot of fun in the snow, but I think the kids liked throwing snow at me more than anything else!