Wild Waves and Claire's Birthday

 Claire said she wanted to go to Wild Waves for her Birthday. Lucky for her, the stars aligned and the weather was perfect, we got a good deal, and we were to go with her cousins.

It was the BEST day! Honestly, it was SO MUCH FUN. I very much love Disney, but to go to an amusement park where you didn't have to rope drop at 6 AM, you didn't have to spend months mapping out a fast pass plan, and you didn't have to get a degree in Mickey was wonderful. We just went and did what we wanted. It wasn't super crowded, the lines simply didn't exist, and we had so much fun. Oh, the memories of all the trips there I went to as a kid! I'm so glad I can share it with my girls!

It was fun going with different nieces (and 1 nephew) on different rides. I got some good Katie time in!

I think that is Olivia and Audra on the toilet bowl.

Camille going down the rapids- one of my favorite rides:

Audra and Olivia:

For Claire's Birthday, I bought cookies for everyone. We sang "Happy Birthday" and then enjoyed some cookies.

That's Camille, Bridger, Tabatha, and Katie.

And, Alicia, Olivia, and Audra:

Claire and Makenna:

Alicia and I laughed so hard on the Kanga-Bounce! It was my favorite Enchanted Village ride.

Camille was the only one short enough (and she was right on the line) to go on this. One adult can go, but that spot was already taken, so it was just Camille while everyone else jealously watched:

Audra is up there, upside down, somewhere with all of her most daring cousins:

Tabatha and Claire were the not daring cousins so they did the ferris wheel instead:

Bridger and Camille on the Kanga Bounce were the cutest:

Camille was very proud of her bumper car driving ability. I was scarred for life.

It was exhausting!

Then, everyone came over and we had pizza and another dessert- cake, that Claire picked out. She is spoiled!

I didn't have candles, but Melissa did- but not enough. So, she got a "5" and 7 more candles to get to 12. Claire was pleased.

We were Skyping Ben so I couldn't get pictures of all this, but Claire was pretty happy to celebrate with everyone.

She opened up her gift from Ben and me- a set of nice leather scriptures with her name engraved. Bridger yelled, "I don't want that! Never Ever!" I about died laughing!

At 12, here's Claire:

-She is still very witty

-Her creativity is off the charts

-She has lots of big ideas, and she can follow through with them (see Creative Cooks) if driven enough

-She loves to read. She likes fantasy. Her favorite book is The Hunger Games.

-She definitely wants things done HER way and she can be quite bossy about it.

-Her favorite thing in the whole world is still Piggy. She brings her everywhere and can not sleep without her.

-She is strong. She held a plank for over 6 minutes at girls camp!

-Her favorite color is pink

-She wants to be an author when she grows up

-Her favorite sports are soccer and volleyball

-She is an absolute spitfire who I'm pretty sure will change the world someday!