July

We flew home from Colorado on the 4th of July and decided to stay home and keep in mellow for the holiday. We had our own pool party and BBQ and played with sparklers. We put Clara to bed and then climbed on the roof of our addition to watch fireworks from a distance. The girls loved being able to go on the roof and we loved not fighting crowds.

Random scenes from summer. Free slurpees on 7/11 with friends, Gwen's "sale" where she sold artwork, cookies and lemons, ice cream cones, the beach, swimming with cousins and reading time. 

Clara turned 3! She's been anticipating her birthday for several months. She had a few specific requests. She wanted a watermelon raft for the pool, pink balloons and a Sofia cake. All her wishes came true! We spent a night at the Great Wolf Lodge that opened close to us and I will never forget her face light up every time she went down the orange waterslide. Her smile was just as big the 20th time she went down it as it was the first. 

Clara is such a joy and a blessing. She is mostly always happy. She loves her big sisters and playing with them. She has the cutest little voice and likes to talk a lot. She loves to read stories, especially If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series and Pete the Cat. She is a girly girl and loves dress-up, princesses, dancing, and painting her nails. We love you Clara!

More random scenes from Summer. Swim meets on Saturdays. Kate and Gwen were part of the Greenbrook Gators swim team and both had several improvements on their times. We are proud of the hard work they put into swim practice and meets. And it was fun spending time with other family friends on the team. We had cousins over and put on a little play, the big girls and I went to Sound of Music with Mimi and Papa and we hosted a kids book club with friends. In July we read one of my all time favorite books, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Beach days! We went to Victoria Beach in Laguna for the first time. It was so beautiful! We found rapunzels castle and a little baby pool just the right size for Clara. The big kids had fun playing in the shore break and exploring tide pools. 

Finally, swim team awards and a new found love for roller skating/blading! The girls saved money to buy roller blades (Kate) and skates (Gwen). We went to Fountain Valley Skate Center and it was just like the skating rinks I remember going to as a kid with neon lights and fun music. I still love to rollerblade and it was fun doing it with them.