Claire FINALLY Turns 4!

We flew home from Seattle on Claire's Birthday. We let her open up one present on her Birthday, but mostly we were traveling and adjusting to being home.

So we celebrated her Birthday the day after her Birthday with Ben's family. Ann made a nice dinner and had a cake. For those counting, this celebration was the FOURTH time we sang and celebrated her Birthday. That is one lucky girl!

We got Claire a princess wagon that she can play with in the backyard. I think she'll like it.

At four years old, here are some things that make Claire special:

-She will not eat rice, olives, avocado, or lettuce/spinach
-She still tantrums A LOT- that definitely continues to be a struggle. We're trying different things, but I am hoping she outgrows it soon. A lot of people have told me that their difficult children outgrew their tantrums by 4 1/2. We'll see if we can last that long!
-Even though she tantrums, she is AWESOME with other adults. She did great in pre-school, and she is amazing in Sunbeams
-She still LOVES to color- and she is really good, too
-She loves princesses and pink
-If we are in the car for a long drive in the afternoon, she will almost always fall asleep and then wake up grumpy
-She LOVES hugs. She seems to need the pressure that she gets from hugs. She is a GREAT hugger.
-She LOVES Camille and is generally really sweet with her. But, because she is only 4, she can be a bit aggressive and get into trouble.
-If Audra can do something, so can Claire. I really couldn't believe it when Claire was able to go across the monkey bars after watching Audra. It was impressive.
-She is very observant and smart.

It's been rough because she is a feisty one. She will be the CEO of a fortune 500 company one day, but in a 4 year old it's tough sometimes. But, we sure love that girl. She keeps us on our toes, but we really are blessed to have her in our family.

Claire's (Almost) Birthday- Again

We flew home from Seattle the on Claire's Birthday, so we decided to celebrate Claire's Birthday with my family the day before. We didn't do anything grand, just sang to her and had some dessert. We have never celebrated any of my kids' Birthdays with my family, so it was really nice.

My parents didn't have Birthday candles, so we used a real long-stem candle instead.

Fourth of July, Part 1

The 4th was nice because everybody had the day off, so we got a bonus day of spending time with my family. After much deliberation, we decided to go to Dash Point on a hike and to play on the beach. The weather was colder than anticipated, but we still managed to have a great time.

The Tourists

On Wednesday Ben decided that he wanted to be a tourist. I indulged him, even though I realized I don't really like being the tourist. At least not in America, where you have to worry about driving in busy and unknown areas and parking. In Europe you can easily decide where you want to do, hop on a train, and magically arrive safely at your destination. That is not the case in America.

Seattle is no exception.

But off we went.

We decided to take a ferry to Bainbridge Island (not to be confused with a "fairy", which totally threw the girls for a loop when we ended up boarding a boat and not a nice pretty lady with wings).

We chose Bainbridge because they had a Children's Museum right off the ferry. It ended up being a really nice day.

 Those silly girls...climbing walls and thinking they are SpiderGirls.

 Camille pulled out all her super-cuteness powers when she found a grocery cart and started shopping:

 I'm not sure if you can tell, but it was really windy on the way back to Seattle

When we got home we looked up prices for houses on Bainbridge. They actually aren't too horrible. We are now in negotiations about whether or not we should move here. I mean, really, how can you not want to live in such a beautiful area???

Lake Tapps

Tuesday morning Ben flew into town- not a minute too soon according to a conversation I had with Claire on Monday night:

Me: Tomorrow Daddy is coming to town!
Claire: Whose Dad?
Me: Your Dad.
Claire: Grandpa?
Me: No. Your Dad.
Claire: Whose Dad?
Me: Dad, dad. Your Dad. Ben.
Claire: Grandpa?

This went on for about 5 minutes. She was so confused! It was hysterical- except the part where she forgot that she has a dad.

Anyway, he flew in Tuesday morning and we had a day at Lake Tapps with my friend Adina.

I have known Adina since 2nd grade, so it is always great to get together with she and her family. She now has TWO middle schoolers! Wow, we are old.

The weather was perfect again, and the lake was gorgeous. It made me desperately want to move back to Seattle and buy a house right on Lake Tapps. Perhaps someday!

I realized in putting together this post that my pictures are almost all of Camille. Well, she is the cutest one in this family...

Here's some video of Claire and Camille playing soccer together:

Five Mile Lake

On Monday we went with Melissa and her girls to Five Mile Lake. The weather got into the 90's, so it was definitely a great day to do so! The girls all had a great time, even though it really was hot.

I have so many memories of going to this lake growing up! It has changed quite a bit- no more dock to jump off of, but it was still a blast- and that's what I remember most about that place!

 Camille kept dunking her face in the water and eating the sand.

 Claire mostly just wanted to play in the sand. For being such a water loving girl, she was all about the sand!

 With their cousin Olivia:

 Camille finally got tired enough to fall asleep. Melissa and I both loved how she rested her head in her hand:

Point Defiance Zoo

Last Tuesday night we had a sleepover with Melissa's girls. It was a huge success- the girls all had a blast. They were up a little late and up a little early, but what do you expect at a sleepover? It was Audra and Claire's first one, which was awesome for them.

The next day we got up and I went with my baby sister to the zoo. The girls were so excited. But, we quickly realized a big problem: Rain.

We got a lot of rain and had to take lots of stops to wait out the rain. Because of that we weren't able to see a lot of animals, but that did not deter the kids excitement.

Until the end. Claire had a huge meltdown at the end, and it was time to leave. Then Audra started crying because I had said she could play on the playground, but with the rain and Claire's meltdown it just wasn't in the cards.

When we got to the car I said, "Audra, I am really disappointed in you and Claire's behavior." She looked at me and exclaimed in haughty indignation: "Well, what did you expect? We were up late last night because of the sleepover, and up early this morning, so we're tired!"

Well, I guess I got told.

 The girls got to brush the goats which was awesome! I've never been to a zoo that let's kids do that, so it was pretty neat for the girls:

 When Camille saw the goats, she was all sorts of excited. If you know Camille, this is her excited pose: Head sticking forward, shoulders back, and squealing "uh, uh, uhhhhhh!"

 The pictures are not blurry. It is just how fast she is shaking in excitement at seeing the goats. It really was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. I love this girl!

Fun day- until the end. But still worth it!