Halloween 2019

This Halloween season started with many different ideas about costumes.  Elsa was interested in being an astronaut. But then for my office holiday party, Elsa ended up a firefighter and Liam a police officer.

On the way home from the office, they decided to update the costumes to be an army guy and a flamingo piranha.

The weekend before Halloween was spent carving pumpkins.  Elsa had a plan for a cool snowman/scarecrow pumpkin.  Liam just liked carving.

 Then, on Monday, they carved some more at AKC.  Gooey hands were fun!

 On Halloween morning, we headed early to breakfast at school and the great parade!

 It was great to see them all dressed up with their classrooms.

In the evening we met up with friends to trick or treat.

What a collection of candy (plus a plush tiger and snake) for the Switch Witch to trade out for a present in the morning.

Shattered Tooth!

One week ago, in the early afternoon, I got a call from Elsa's after care program.  They called to tell me Elsa fell into a chair and shattered one of her front teeth!  I was so upset.

We visited the dentist that afternoon, and luckily, the nerve did not appear to be damaged. So, today we went back to the dentist for a 75 minute appointment, where the dentist rebuilt her tooth.

Now Elsa has her big smile back!

Sixth Annual Princeton in Sierras Trip

Six years ago we went to the first Princeton Club weekend in the Sierras at Stanford Sierra Camp on Fallen Leaf lake in Tahoe. We've been back every year since. The weather is usually wonderful - warm days and crisp evenings. This year there was snow on the mountains peaks. We kayaked, paddle boarded and Elsa insisted on jumping in the lake and so Karna had to too. Even Liam joined them. We enjoyed seeing and eating with friends we see there every year. Saturday night we celebrated Karna's birthday. She turned 2D in hexadecimal.

Elsa made Karna a birthday card. 

Click here for more pictures.

Hoedown, Hamilton & Rocket Building

Fall is in the air and that means the return of the Addison Hoedown.  As a 4th grader, Elsa's class raised money for the spring trip to Coloma through the big bake sale.  She was very excited to make 48 cookies and work the back sale.  The other big part of the Hoedown is the dance.  Liam danced a little, but Elsa loved it.

The weekend fun continued on Saturday with Arne taking Elsa to see Hamilton!  The Girl Scouts of Northern California had a girl scout day at Hamilton.  They had a lot of fun.

While they were at Hamilton, Liam was building a rocket at his first Tiger Den meeting for Cub Scout Troop 57.  It was fun to watch him play with all the new cub scout friends.

The weekend was completed with the kids picking out favorite glass pumpkins at the glass pumpkin patch!

Labor Day Weekend at Sea Ranch

We spent Labor Day weekend in Sea Ranch with our good friends the Dumbra family. The drive up the coast was beautiful. We enjoyed stopping in Valley Forge for some awesome cheese, and then continued past Bodega Bay to the lovely community of Sea Ranch, where we rented the Mermaid House. After arriving on Friday night, the first thing Arne did was take Elsa down to the beach to watch the sunset.

Saturday morning we walked to the beach to check out the starfish and collect shells.

In the afternoon, our friends arrived and everyone went swimming at the pool. 

Once again we spent the evening at the beach in the beautiful sunset glow.

Sunday was more fun family time, with big meals all together and it was great to see all our kids together.

The boys played with spinning tops called bey blades.

Sunday night we walked to another beach for a sunset stroll and play in the waves.

It was a lovely and relaxing weekend.