Local January Fun

 

This month we spent time exploring locally, as a county and statewide travel restrictions limited our ability to travel. We enjoyed visiting Filoli beautiful gardens we seem to visit every 3 years in the late winter.  It was nice to see the blooming flowers and take the kids out and about. 

Other weekends, we went out paddle boating on Shoreline Lake.  The kids talked a lot about all the bird poop.  The kids also enjoyed some backwards paddling.

I took Liam for a sunny afternoon at Ocean Beach - where both he and Elsa were baptized many years ago. 

And Arne biked with Liam to the dust bowl at Bzybee park and after our rains, had fun in the mud.

We are very lucky to have such great January weather that allowed us to really enjoy our area.

 

Christmas 2020

Christmas 2020

In past years we have spent Christmas Eve in Berkeley and this year was different. 

We opened presents Christmas morning in Palo Alto: 

The Stokstad/Winke family stayed in Michigan and the Stokstad grandparents in Berkeley. 

We all got together on Zoom instead: 

Later on Christmas Day we went to Millbrae and enjoyed a Nisewaner Christmas dinner together. 

Liam got a Pinball set.

Elsa got a cookie cutter. 

There's always time for a family photo. 

Sometimes not everyone smiles at the same time. 

The day after Christmas we drove to Berkeley and went for a walk to the park. 

Tonight, on New Year's Eve we stayed home alone and watched Home Alone.

Happy New Year!

Liam is 8!

 

Liam is 8!  On the shortest day of the year, we were excited to celebrate with Liam.  He woke up and came downstairs to an assortment of presents. 

He really enjoyed opening his gifts.  His first favorite was the chemistry set from his friend Lucas. 

His dad's favorite gift was the Turing Tumble. 

Then he got a big set of balloons in some of his favorite colors.

Grandma came over and brought him HexBug battle bots.

The day passed with him eating favorite foods (french toast and kiwi) and the Liam going to the park for some socially distanced kickball with his PE group.  

After play, everyone got some cupcakes! Yummy.

We came home and Liam baked himself a cake and then Elsa and Liam really enjoyed lighting all the candles!

After a happy birthday song, it was time to blow out all the candles and enjoy the cake!

Asilomar 2.0

On Friday after Thanksgiving, we drove to Asilomar, near Monterey. We love being by the beach. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Millbrae. 

We arrived in Asilomar just in time for a sunset stroll along the beach.  The weather was clear and sunny with a beautiful almost full moon rising.

That night, we enjoyed our fireplace and hanging out in our Asilomar "cabin."

The next morning, Arne and I went for a walk along the old train tracks trail toward the monarch butterfly sanctuary. 

Then we headed down to the beach to enjoy exploring the rocks.  Liam loved finding hermit crabs.

We are lucky to have such beautiful nature nearby.