Growing Up

I was in the middle of making cupcakes for a baby shower this week when I had to stop what I was doing and document my sweet girl. She had chosen her outfit, had me put her ponytail holders in just where she wanted, and sat down to write a list of "at" words for a reading contest she was excitedly planning. (I'm beginning to think she's an event planner in the making. She's planning something everyday...races, parades, parties...)She just looked so old. And I knew that when I thought back someday to the time she was 4 years old, this was just how I'd remember her...

Fourth of July! (OR Reason #2864 to move to our neighborhood!)

We actually did a lot of our Independence Day celebrating on the 3rd of July this year. Every year our community throws an AMAZING carnival and parade, and this year it was a day early. As always, we had a great time participating in the parade and enjoying the carnival.

Grace was very excited to run into her good friend Julia within seconds of getting to the parade "staging" aka "chaos" area. Grandma stopped by to see all of her grand kids getting ready to ride in the parade.
Ready to go!

Goofballs!!

Is it time yet?!?!
And we're off!

Our own cheering section! Even little Lily didn't miss the big event!
Train ride at the carnival

Grace rode a pony. This has historically been her favorite part of the carnival, but not this year! She still liked it, but she found something later that was even more fun! (Charlie, of course, wouldn't come within 50 feet of these big scary animals!)

Do you see the mountains in the background? Seriously, people, if this doesn't convince you to come be our neighbors, I don't know what will. Oh, did I mention that all of this is FREE!??!

Time for some lunch!

Face painting!

Bouncy Houses! (This was Charlie's favorite part!)

And THIS is what topped the horse rides for Grace this year. I can't believe that a year ago she was too timid to go in the bouncy houses. I waited in line for over an hour for her turn, but it was totally worth it to see her grin as she bounced way into the air.

We had such a fun time enjoying all the activities, but for me, the best part was really feeling a sense of community. Everywhere we turned there was a familiar and friendly face to talk with. The kids had friends they were excited to see...both from the neighborhood and those who had made a special trip up to join in the fun with us. I truly felt so blessed to be surrounded by so many great people, and I know I'm always advertising this place, but it really is an amazing place to be!

The next day we spent the evening with family at a barbecue at my Uncle Brooks and Aunt Dorothy's house on Lake Washington. We had a great time, but unfortunately, I didn't capture any good pictures of our time together. I was WAY too busy eating all the amazing food!

Lake Chelan

A few weeks ago we spent a fun weekend in Chelan with Jeff's family. We had so much fun enjoying the sunshine, playing in the pool, and just spending time together. A few of my favorite memories are...

• The night we got to the condo, both kids were beyond excited. I've never seen their energy level quite that high. They literally ran from end to end of the condo, yelling and screaming. They jumped on the bunk beds, looked at every inch of every room, and were just plain wild. It probably didn't help that we fed them Frosties about a half hour before arriving. :)
• The first morning we were there, both kids were out of bed by 5:3o, and Grace had her swimsuit on shortly after asking if it was time to go to the pool yet. We managed to hold her off until about 9:00, but it was a lot of work.
• When Jeff took his shirt off and was just wearing his swimsuit, Grace got a look of shock on her face and said, "Daddy! That's SO UN-BARRASSING!"
• As we packed up to leave, I looked over and saw Grace with tears streaming down her face. I asked what was wrong and she said, "I'm not ready to leave yet!" She cried the first few minutes of the car ride home. It really was such a fun trip and was hard to go home for all of us!

Grace found a pair of water wings near the pool and had a blast being able to "swim" around on her own. (It's true. She's been deprived. She's never had water wings before and has actually spent very little time in the water.) She soon had her own pair of "water muscles", and so did Charlie. The only time they took them off was to sleep or to go in the pool. (Yes, you read that right. They didn't like to wear them in the pool!) Charlie, of course, loved snack time by the pool.
The kids always had lots of people to play with them in the water. Ryan, Lindsay, Grammy, and Bop all spent lots of time pushing them around on their rafts.

Charlie LOVED going for fast "Lightning McQueen" rides...that is until the raft flipped over and Charlie went plunging into the water. Jeff rescued him in about a half a second, but he never did quite recover.

Break time!

On our last night, while everyone else attended a wedding, we took the kids out to dinner. Grace thought it was such a treat to get to eat outside!
Thanks, Grammy and Bop, for such a fun trip! Grace is saving her money so that she can take us all back next year!