Clare Graduates from Preschool

On Friday Clare officially graduated from Rainier Christan Preschool. Nana flew over to join us and Clare said that this was such a special day because Nana was here. It was a fun affair. The kids sang and the teachers gave each one a diploma and made a prediction about their future. Ms. Carolyn, Clare's teacher, said that she is the girl who loves to perform and that she is often singing and dancing in front of the mirror. She thinks Clare is headed to Broadway. Who knows...anything is possible.

Memorial Day in Chelan

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Chelan with Nana. The weather was pretty good...and from what I hear it was amazing compared to Seattle and Spokane. It was dry, mostly sunny and about 68 degrees. We stayed at Campbell's Resort and had a great ground floor room that opened right to the grass and the beach. The big girls spent hours playing in the sand. They each played in their own style. Clare made a restaurant and served us food and drinks. She had tables and chairs and an oven and a payment system of leaves. It was quite well developed pretend play. Molly sat in the sand, threw sand, tried to do forward rolls in the sand....I think she even ate the sand. She was covered from head to toe and it took a while to get it all out of her hair, but she was happy so we were happy. Gretchen mostly watched from afar and enjoyed the warm sun and the lake breeze. We all swam in the pool and both girls were quite proud that they could hold their breath and put their faces in the water.

I have decided this is my new favorite water destination. As much as I love the ocean the Washington (and Oregon) coasts are so cold and damp that it is hard to always enjoy the water. Chelan was sunny and beautiful. I am certain we will return and if I can talk Tad into it we will go again this year.

***One note for others who might like to visit....Memorial Day weekend in Chelan is VERY busy with "young" people. Everywhere was crowded and there were security measures in place at the hotel, but we didn't have any trouble and all the people didn't bother us. There were lots of other families, too and the kids played and played.

Clare plays tennis

Clare has been going to a tennis class through Auburn Parks. She really swings her racket hard and has made contact with a few balls. I am not sure if she loves tennis or just the idea that it is a sport you get to wear a skirt to play...anyway, it is a lot of fun to watch her.

A Trip to Spokane

While I still have time off the girls and I headed to Spokane for a long weekend. We had a great time. It was Chloe's 14th birthday so we got to celebrate with a BBQ at Papa's house. Chloe was very gracious and allowed the Clare and Molly to "help" unwrap the gifts and blow out the candles. Nana, the girls and I made the cake and we had a great time baking it (see the sampling below). Nana bought Gretchen a new walker and she was all smiles watching us in the kitchen. We also had a nice breakfast and visit to Manito with Grandma and Grandpa Heinen. Besides the last hour of the car ride home.........it was a fun trip.