Rebekkah's Birthday Party

Rebekkah had a Birthday party out at her Papa's house, which happens to be on a lake. It was so much fun! The girls got to kayak yet again, and they figured out they could swim to the island in the middle of the lake. Isn't that every child's dream??? There was a rope swing they could swing on. Absolute heaven!

I love how happy Rebekkah is in this picture! The best part of kids' Birthday parties is the joy in their eyes- the love that they feel!

Five Mile Lake

It was a perfect day to visit one of my old stomping grounds: Five Mile Lake. Melissa had these great inflatable kayaks that were so perfect! Even Camille could paddle (and she loved it!).

Check out all those amazing trees! Simply breathtaking!

And, a little soccer!

Alaska Airlines

We pretty much always fly Frontier. It is typically as much as $1,000 cheaper to fly with them than anyone else, and I don't have any complaints.

But, for this particular trip to Seattle, Alaska Airlines turned out to be cheaper, and my girls quickly fell in love. They have TVs on every seat, and they gave the kids these great snack packs with applesauce, granola bars, and much more for free. It really was pretty cool.

Sadly, they are apparently phasing out these particular planes, so the free TV's might never be enjoyed by us again.

Simple Hike

I didn't expect today's hike to turn into a visit to a mausoleum and Avery giving an impromptu funeral sermon followed to a trip to Fat Shack, but that's what happened. You just never know what to expect with these sweet girls!

While Audra is At Camp...

The other girls also camp!

Random Week

Lots of random happenings this week...

Thanks to our HOA, we had to paint our fence Highlands Ranch Brown. Everybody hates it, but it doesn't matter. Ben wanted the girls to help. I disagreed, but he was right- and they actually really did help!

Then, Audra headed off to girls camp. She was so nervous! But, I know she will have an awesome time. Some of my best memories are from Girls Camp. And, as I dropped her off and saw all the incredible leaders she is going with, I know she is in excellent hands.  I know I have my complaints about our town, but when it comes to our church youth programs, we absolutely knock it out of the park. We are really, really blessed with incredible men and women who lead our youth.

And, Camille insisted I cut her hair short. I didn't want to. She wanted it even shorter. It does look super cute, though.

Claire's Birthday Party

For months Claire has been meticulously planning her Birthday party. She thoughts of every detail, and had incredibly specific plans.

What did she want? For me to go to HomeDepot and get a bunch of wood for the kids to build rafts and float down a river.

Hmm....

We settled on pool noodles and the only river in town I could of that could possibly work: Bellevue Park.

We sent out the invites, and Claire continued to plan. All kinds of plans! She was so incredibly excited!

And then, because it is the first day of summer, a major rain storm came in. Have I mentioned the weather has been horrid????? I AM SO SICK OF THE WINTER WEATHER THAT NEVER ENDS! We have had so many plans ruined because of this stupid weather. I was heartbroken for Claire that her party might be ruined.

On the way to the party, I told her to focus on her friends and how much they care for her and not worry about the weather, whatever happens.

We go down to the park, and there are two buses and about 200 day camp kids. UGH! They took every table (about 20) under the pavilion except two. I ran and grabbed those two. It was exceptionally loud and there were day camp kids EVERYWHERE. But, at least it wasn't raining- yet.

So, in order to try and get the games in that Claire desperately wanted, we did the rafts and raft games first.

While down at the river, the rain started.

The good news: That cleared out all the other kids so that Claire and her guests had the "river" to themselves. It wasn't really deep enough, but Claire took charge and figured out ways for the games to still work. I was very impressed with her improvisation.

The bad news: The rain really started coming down.

We headed back to the pavilion- along with 200 other kids.

We had an incredibly loud lunch, then went ahead and sang Happy Birthday (some of the day camp kids joined in), the rain POURED, and then finally- the day camp kids left! Hallelujah!

Everything that could go wrong was going wrong.

Thankfully, however, we were saved by Claire's all time favorite: The Donut On A String Game.

The kids loved it, and it made the party.

I think this party will be remembered forever: "Remember when we built rafts in the pouring rain and ate donuts on a string?"

Yup- that's Claire's 10th Birthday party.

We survived.