Katherine’s family has been going to the YMCA of the Rockies family camp in Estes Park Colorado since before she was born. We’ve carried on the tradition, getting up there once every year or two and even extending the tradition to some of Stu’s family. Here are highlights including another birthday party for Claire, visiting our old standby the Bald Pate Inn, cooking around the cabin including Persian food, fun with bubbles on the deck, lots of hiking, and a group selfie.
Claire turned 7 and decided that Build-a-Bear was where she wanted to have her party. So we packed six girls into the cars and headed to the local mall for a fun afternoon of animal stuffing and then a cupcake-laden dinner.
…the best. Here’s Claire and me about to head to one.
We’ve fallen behind posting pictures here. Thanks to Katherine’s photo organizing skills, we’ll be posting a half dozen catch ups over the next week or so.
Christmas 2013 took us to both Houston and Oklahoma City to see family. In Houston, we visited the Johnson Space Center with the girls’ cousin Will and had a fun Christmas morning (new pajamas!). We also got to visit Katherine’s old friends the Taylors and see their girls. Then it was off to Oklahoma City for much fun with the family there involving another Christmas morning, bowling, baths, and of course cheerio covered waffles.
Halloween 2013 was more candy-themed than usual. Claire went as a candycorn while Juliet was a lollipop fairy. There was also face painting, pumpkin patch visiting, and school halloween parties/parades. Finally, the girls picked out a 3-foot tall orange pumpkin lantern for the front yard.
This past July, Claire completed her first Kids’ Triathlon! Here are some highlights from the day.
We celebrated Claire’s 6th birthday with an arts & crafts party at our house. Claire, Juliet, and six friends created guinea pig gardens with our favorite art teacher, followed by cupcakes then some bouncing in the bouncy house. Click on any of the photos below to pull up the slideshow.
Claire’s been riding her bike, with training wheels, for a while now. Two weeks ago, she saw her next door neighbor and kindergarten classmate ride to school without training wheels. Claire got determined, and said she wanted to ride her bike to first grade this Fall “like a big kid” and would ride “every day for a half an hour” to get ready. I took the pedals off a hand-me-down “big girl bike” about 10 days ago to turn it into a “balance bike.” She scooted up and down the block with Katherine or me most days. Yesterday she asked me to put the pedals back on. Earlier tonight she hit her goal three months ahead of schedule! Click here for a video:
By the way, Katherine is on a trip to Russia right now and Claire wants to keep this a “secret” so she can surprise Mommy with her new biking skills. Don’t tell! 🙂
Knock-knock
Who’s there?
Boo
Boo Who?
Don’t cry, it’s only a ghost!
The girls got excited about knock-knock jokes this Halloween season. Other highlights of October included a visit to our local pumpkin patch, many fun parties with friends, and of course, trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Click on the photo of Claire and Juliet (aka Mermaid and Fishy) for a slideshow.
