June Fun

June was jam-packed and full of fun! We started off with the kid's last week of school, followed by Brian's graduation, then a trip to Hawaii! We ended the month with Brian starting his job at Facebook. Here are some photos of our month of fun, and some videos from Hawaii:

Anna took a hula class:


More hula:


Even Colin joined the fun:



Anna brought her ukulele along to Hawaii:



All the kids wanted to do was swim, swim, swim!





Here are some more pictures of our adventures!

June fun

One more video...

I almost forgot to include our little zipliner, Anna:

Colin at 4 and a half

We're winding down another busy year. Colin is almost done with his first year of preschool at Sacred Heart and Anna is finishing Kindergarten and will soon be a big kid in the grades (we're not really ready for that yet)! Everyone is doing well and we've had a great year.

Colin is continuing to grow as a reader, working on harder and harder books. He's tackled more Mo Willems but especially likes anything about superheroes- Batman,  Superman, the Flash, Spiderman, he can sight read all the major characters' names. He's also working on his tree climbing and built a "treehouse" (a bucket and a rope in a tree). He still likes to get down by jumping, which gives us heart palpitations, but so far he's sticking the landings! He's become an avid storyteller, starting with people he know in situations that sound plausible... so you think they just might be true. He slowly starts to work in details that begin sounding more and more far-fetched and you begin to realize that the whole thing is made up.

Here are a few videos showing things Colin likes to do, with a few including Anna. Or you can check out our pictures by clicking HERE.

Colin trampolining:


Colin learning to roller skate:


Light sabering:



Visit from Stanford band


Anna soccer

End of School Year Videos

Anna's kindergarten class put on an end of year show two times. The first time was for the high school students at Sacred Heart. Here are a few clips:





Colin's class sang songs in the classroom on the last day of school. He even got a solo during "Fly."















Here are some more videos of Anna's second concert, performed for the parents on the last day of school:

Colin is a reader!

Colin's been reading full books himself! He's particularly fond of Dr. Seuss and Mo Willems. Here's a snippet of Elephant and Piggie's Are You Ready to Play Outside? He read all 57 pages!

Anna at 6 and a half

Our little girl grows bigger and bigger! For this installment of the blog, I thought I'd ask Anna for a summary of what she enjoys doing right now. Here is what she typed:

My favorite thing to do at school is play with my friends and my favorite thing to do is reading.
my friends are Fini, Elle, and Lelia.
I also like to play on the monkey bars.

We've had a great first two months of 2016. We enjoyed getting back into the school routine after our hectic holiday travel. The kids were sad it was a cold and rainy January and they could not play outside much, but we kept in mind how lucky California was to be getting some rain! February has warmed up and the kids are back to playing in barefoot most days on their beloved courtyard playground. You'll see some pictures from the annual Valentine's dance and some great video of the kids dancing!

This winter break we had the pleasure of exploring California more - first north to Chico to see Great Aunt Sandy and celebrate Great Grandpa Thompson's 90th birthday, then down to Disneyland! The kids loved it. Anna is a daredevil and goes on any ride she is tall enough to go on, including Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, the Matterhorn, and Indiana Jones. She loved the characters, hugging and posing with them all. Colin was more cautious in selecting his rides, generally opting for the old favorites like Pirates, Small World, and the carousel. He refused all interactions with characters - not ready for that! They were both troopers and walked many miles each day with no complaining. We all had an amazing time and loved spending time with Grandpa and Grandma Barb.

Here are some videos of what's been going on:

Colin has learned to pump his legs on swings and has developed daring dismounts!


 Colin found a corner at our ice skating party and worked really hard at skating that small distance, over and over and over:


Here's both Anna and Colin ice skating:


Colin learned to shoot a basket!


Anna continues to develop her uke skills!


Here's Anna dancing with her courtyard pal at the Valentine's Day dance:


More Anna dancing:


Colin's got moves too! (He learned them from Daddy!)


Here's the kids reaction to "snow" at a Disneyland Frozen show:


As we left Disney for the last time, we found the fire department band... the kids began to dance!


Click below to see more pictures of our recent adventures!

Anna is 6.5

Christmas 2015

Another fun-filled Christmas trip back east! We had a wonderful time celebrating first in California, a little bit early:





Then it was off to Maryland and Philadelphia. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins Logan, Nathan, and Nicholas and of course being spoiled by their grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Anna's big gift this year was a new American Girl doll, Maryellen, from the 1950s. She received several Maryellen outfits and a school set to play with, as well as some books. Other favorite gifts included My Little Ponies, a watch, and a Disney video game.

Colin's favorites included a big Playmobil Coast Guard set, Hungry Hungry Hippos, a Bruder crane truck, Start Wars legos, and an Alvin and the Chipmunks CD.

We had lots of adventures on our travels. We went to see light shows in downtown Philadelphia and  took a train with Santa in New Hope, PA with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop.

Grandma Jean took the kids to all the best playgrounds and for a wonderful winter walk.

Aunt Laura gave us a wonderful tour of D.C.

Uncle Ken gave the kids rock climbing lessons!

We had so much fun spending time with family and are so grateful for everyone for opening their homes to us, feeding us, and giving gifts to our children. We felt so loved.

Happy New Year!! Click below to see more pics!

Christmas 2015