Happy Birthday Claire

My first baby girl turned 9 on July 1st. She is such a special girl to us. I love how her personality has developed and how much she reminds me of myself. Claire is a happy person and very compassionate towards others. She is responsible and always so helpful with her siblings.  She loves reading and adores animals, especially cats. When she grows up, she now says that she'd like to be a vet. I truly enjoy watching her grow. I just can't believe she's already such a big kid. I love my Claire!

For her birthday this year we planned a fun party at home. We invited some of her friends over, made a cake, prepped a pinata, and got pizza. It was fun to watch a bunch of nine year old girls have fun together. It's so different from the younger kids that I've been used to. They talked about things at school and even hushed themselves a few times because there were "parents listening". It's crazy how my kids now have their own little lives away from me. It's good though.

It started storming right before the party. Thankfully it let up in time for the pinata.

We did the pinata, played frog and the detective, did mummy wrapping of kids, musical chairs, and danced to music.

Claire picked out a chocolate cake with purple frosting. 

I guess the new style beanie babies are all the rage around here. All the girls in her class collect them. We went from having one to having 8. I think we are set now. 

This new bike is her main present from us. She has been practicing and so far loves it. I think it's even better than my bike.

Happy birthday little Claire!

Shenandoah

This last weekend was another adventure for us. We really like to camp, so we decided to try out the famous Shenandoah National Park. Chris was able to take a couple of days off of work so that we could head out first thing on Friday morning.

We drove about an hour and a half to our first stop. A place called Lake Arrowhead, which we dubbed "the lake beach". As you can see in the picture, it was literally a small lake with a man made area for swimming and beach activities. It didn't look like much from afar, but it was absolutely PERFECT! I was pleasantly surprised. The swimming area was roped off and had tons of shallow areas for kids to swim in along with a perfectly sandy bottom. No weeds or grime. The other thing that made it so great was the water temperature. It was warmer water than most pools I have ever been in. That paired with a nice 80 degree day, made for a really fun afternoon playing in the water and sand. 

After our swimming, we got back in the car for about another hour of driving along the famous Skyline Road that runs along the ridge of Shenandoah National Park. The views were amazing! 

We stopped at one of the many overlooks before making it to our campground. 

It felt so good to be out of the humidity and heat of the city. Being so high up meant that temperatures were a very pleasant 70's instead of the upper 80's and 90's that we had at home. We set up our camp, and made the fire so that we could roast our dinner. Who doesn't like campfire curly dogs?

After dinner some clouds started to roll in. The kids decided to play cards at the table and there were a few sprinkles that started. It was at this point we decided we should probably be on the safe side and tarp our tent. We had been anticipating dry, hot weather, but it's better to be safe. 

I should mention that at this point we had realized that we had forgotten a few key items. This included not one, but two of our sleeping bags, our hatchet for chopping wood, our extra rope, and some cooking equipment. We are used to camping with other people who usually have extra things in cases such as this. This time, we were on our own. Thankfully, we made do. Since it was warm at night we were able to get by with just 3 sleeping bags. Chris slept with a blanket, and Neil slept in a stack of blankets. 

Unfortunately, things got a lot more interesting on that first night. The scattered raindrops that had started after dinner became heavier. Thankfully, our tent was tarped and ready for what came. As the kids played under the canopy we slowly started getting everything sorted for the night in case the rain continued or got heavier. We pulled the bikes in, picked up the cards, and started packing up food. 

I forgot to mention...this is bear country. We were required to keep anything with any kind of scent in our car at all times. I wasn't really anticipating this, so we had lots of containers that all had to go back in the van at night. I knew about the food. I just didn't consider deodorant, baby wipes, hand sanitizer, and other small stuff. I wish I had been better prepared for that aspect. 

Anyway, as we peacefully sat and watched our fire, the rain suddenly came with a vengeance. I am talking TORRENTIAL downpour. Within seconds the ground we were standing on was a giant puddle. We couldn't even ferry everyone into the tent under a giant umbrella without everyone getting totally soaked from head to toe. Chris and I had to somehow throw everything into the van and make for the tent. Nothing under our canopy stayed remotely dry. The rain came from every direction and it was incredible. Once inside the tent we had to strip down, find get in dry clothes, deal with terrified kids, and prepare for the worst. It was seriously the most rain I've ever seen at once. We looked out the front of the tent to see a giant puddle forming under the door. We devised a few solutions and strengthened our tarp. Then we picked up all of our things inside our tent in case we had any leaking. We all got in our sleeping bags and listened to the crazy storm that seemed to go on forever. I fully expected that we'd be wet in the morning, but we were committed at this point. 

We woke up to a nice morning. We, along with all of our stuff, was dry. Our tent/tarp held true. We had weathered one of the craziest storms I've ever been in while camping, and I've seen some doozies. I'm grateful for all the camping lessons from my Dad. Being prepared really came in handy. Even if we forgot some sleeping bags. :)

Thankfully, that was the end of the rain for our trip. We didn't take any chances though. We reinforced our preparations and were ready for more. The wet clothes were hung up to dry in the sun, and we had a really great Saturday. We hiked down to a really beautiful 80 foot waterfall. It was only 1.5 miles, but it was pretty steep. I forgot the camera, and we were totally unplugged from our phones as well. Afterwards, we headed to the small camp store for a lollipop treat and then had lunch. We spent the afternoon riding bikes, relaxing, learning lessons about fire, and catching bugs. Burgers and root beers were on the menu for dinner. We also started our quest for the perfect group selfie using the timer on the camera. 

Sunday was also another really nice day. The forest was absolutely beautiful! We spent the morning hiking again. This time on an easier trail looking at flowers and rock formations.

We stopped at another overlook on our way back to camp. This particular one had a small trail that led down to the famous Appalachian Trail (2200 mile backpacking trail that goes from Georgia to Maine). We couldn't pass up an opportunity to say that we walked along it. Chris has always wanted to do the Appalachian hike. It may be a while longer, since it sorta takes about 7 months. 

We stopped again for lollipops at the camp store. I'm not sure if having unlimited access to more treats while camping is such a great idea. It was nice to enjoy them in the grass overlooking the large mountain meadow. 

 The rest of the day was spent making cheese ball crafts, blowing bubbles, reading books, and sneaking up on the deer. The kids managed to get really close to several deer. That night they even got to catch a firefly.

On Monday morning, we slept in until after 9 and made ourselves a tasty blueberry pancake breakfast. Then it was time to clean up and pack. It was almost noon when we rolled out of camp and stopped one last time for a lollipop. 

It really was a great little getaway even with the forgotten items and the crazy storm. I had been worried that we'd get bored without other people, but that never happened. We had plenty to do, and everyone had a blast. Camping is the best!

Kinder Graduation

It's almost the end of the school year around here, and with it comes all sorts of celebrations. Today we got to watch Grace perform during her kindergarten graduation. They recited the pledge of allegiance, sang a few songs, and then went back to the classrooms for individual certificates.

Afterwards, we all went outside for an ice cream treat and play time. Unfortunately today was the hottest day of the year thus far. About 97 with 50% humidity. It was just miserable out there. We missed having Grandmas around to invite, but Grace still had her day. She's so excited to move on to first grade. I can't really believe that my little girls is really turning into a big kid. Can we slow this train down a little bit? 

Adventure

For Father's Day weekend we did a few fun things. Thankfully the humidity went down and we had some gorgeous weather. We first hit up the National Archives where we got to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights among other interesting historical records.

After that, we walked across the street through a very cool sculpture museum/park. It has various works of art and is just a really neat place to relax, have a snack, or enjoy being outside. 

I was a little bit worried that someone would end up in the fountain. Thankfully, we managed to escape that scenario.

Cool silver tree and pyramid made out of stone blocks.

Once we were tired and hot, we headed inside the Air and Space museum again for a look at the Apollo missions exhibit. We also got some much needed grub. Then we headed to the Native American Museum. This was our first time there with the kids. I was impressed. They have a small area just for them that we really enjoyed. They got to make crafts, climb things, hear animal sounds, learn basket weaving, build igloos, and just interact with stuff. It was also the least crowded museum that we've gone through. Pretty nice and relaxing.

On our way out of the city we stopped in Georgetown to try out the famous Georgetown Cupcake. Chris dropped me off and found a place to sit with the kids while I stood in line for 45 minutes!!!! The whole time I was thinking, these cupcakes had better blow my mind. We tried the key lime, strawberry, chocolate brownie cheescake, carrot, vanilla, and chocolate. They were tasty, but pretty small for the $3 per price. It was an experience I guess. Now we can check that off the list. It was a great weekend!

Teeth, a bad bite, and monkey

Kind of a random post here. Lots of small things have been keeping us busy these last couple of weeks. With warmer temperatures outside we've been spending lots of our time at the playgrounds. My kiddos all love to swing. I think Grace would be happy to swing 7 hours a day if we let her. 

Grace recently lost her other front tooth. Now she talks a little bit different and she has the cutest smile. I'm not in a hurry for the new ones to come in. 

With her $1 from the tooth fairy she had a total of $4 saved up. She had her eye on a sparkly hula hoop at Walmart for a while now, but she was still one buck short. She asked if she could earn the extra dollar. So for one whole day Grace did all of the dishes including unloading and loading. It was worth it! Turns out she is really good at it too. There was a competition at school that she totally won.

Unfortunately, will all of this warm weather (85 and HUMID) lots and lots of bugs have come out. Poor Grace loves to be outside, and they really love to bite her. We've been dealing with lots of bites on her legs for a couple of weeks now. So much itching and misery. I've tried spraying her with bug spray, but so far no dice. A couple of days ago I got a call from the school nurse. One of her bites had gotten huge. It was red, painful and hard to the touch. I knew it needed a trip to the doc. Sure enough it was infected and needed a good round of antibiotics. Thankfully, it has almost completely healed. We need to step up our bug spray efforts for her. 

On Thursday I was able to go see Neil perform "5 Little Monkeys" at his school. He did such a great job in front of a big audience. I was really surprised that he even said his line quite clearly. He made such a cute monkey! I'm so glad for his new school and how much he is improving.

Yesterday, we took our car into a shop to get looked at. We knew something was wrong, and sure enough it won't be a cheap fix. :( I guess it's better than getting a new car. Neil and I waited in the van while daddy talked to them about it. 

Last night Chris went backpacking with the scouts so the kids and I are on our own. Hopefully we'll still get to do something later today when he gets home. For now we are just going to veg...