We had so much fun in July! Summer is in full swing and we had a good mix of fun, busy days and some lazy stay-home-all-day kind of days. We celebrated the 4th of July at the Fernley's annual pool party/BBQ bash and had a lot of fun. It's such a relaxing way to spend the 4th of July--the Fernley's throw great parties! We swim and eat and jump on the trampoline until we're tired. Light sparklers and on the way home we see fireworks shows going off all around us as we drive south on the freeway. Look at these two sisters in the photo above--they look so much alike to me, yet Clara has her own unique look now.
I loved catching up with cousin Emily who lives too far away! Love her.
Paul took the girls on two separate trips to Colorado and they loved it. He and Gwen went to surprise mom for her birthday. They were so excited and pulled it off well. While they were gone Kate had fun redecorating their room--painting shelves and hooks and rearranging things on the wall. We got the surprise all ready for Gwen when she came home. Then later in July Paul had to travel to Colorado again for business and this time Kate got to tag along. Gwen and I had fun going on a special date to Cafe Rio and the library where she got to read to a therapy dog. It was the sweetest. They were both spoiled by Mumsi and Grumsi and loved the individual attention.
We've spent several days at the beach. It takes a lot of work to get us there, but once we are there we all have a good time. Clara is happy to crawl around and eat sand. The girls love playing in the water, searching for sand crabs and building castles.
To celebrate my birthday mom treated us girls to a cooking class at Sur la Table. It was so much fun. I love cooking classes--you get to prepare and eat delicious food and someone else does the shopping and dishes!
We've been so lucky that Paul has been able to take several Fridays off in the summer. We've had some fun outings. We went up to the Griffith Observatory in LA. The girls loved riding ponies in Griffith park--Kate has a obsession with horses and has been begging to ride them. We rode the carousel there and went to dinner.
Another Friday we went for a bike ride around back bay in Newport Beach and visited their nature center. The girls found the coolest puppets and put on a little show for us. Another afternoon Paul took the girls to mud adventure playground where they got to play Tom Sawyer style on rafts in a muddy pond. We love having Paul with us on our outings!
Kate and Gwen squabble like all siblings do. One night we found this apology card that Kate had made for Gwen. These girls are so lucky to have sisters as best friends!
We had a cousin party day. We swam, rode scooters, made pizzas, smores in the microwave and had a movie night. Kate and Gwen wished the cousins could move in with us!
We celebrated Clara's 1st birthday! We went to lunch with Mimi, let her crawl up and down the stairs a few times--one of her favorite things to do and took naps. In true "3rd child" fashion, the only gift we bought Clara was new bibs. I did make her a delicious blueberry pie that she loved! She loves blueberries and ate the whole slice. Kate and Gwen had fun helping her open a present from mimi and papa. Clara has been such a joy in our home this past year. We all adore her. She makes us laugh every day and is such a sweet babe. At one year old Clara likes to wave and clap. She says a few words, mama, dada, uh-oh, all done, ni-night, and plenty of other baby jibberish. She is cruising around the furniture and crawls quickly! She loves being outside going for walks or bike rides. She loves the pool and puts her face in the water. She loves her big sisters and crawls around the house following them where ever they go. Our baby toys go mostly untouched. Unloading kitchen cupboards is so much more fun. We love our Clare-bear.
We had banana cake for dessert one night and Gwen requested a candle in hers, just because.
The girls have been working hard this summer on their jobs and goals. Mopping the kitchen floor is a favorite. Taking out the trash and dusting are not. Kate made peanut butter balls for all the neighborhood kids and loves to help in the kitchen. And Gwen requested this picture of barbie be included in our blog book. She loves her barbies. This barbie was all set up on her lounge chair outside to watch us swim.
