Happy 4th of July

Well,

We finally got around to celebrating Clara's birthday on July 3rd; only 16 days late. That's not too bad, right? Especially since she doesn't really know what day it is. Anyway, it was July 3rd in Seattle so we were taking a terrible risk that it may be 50 degrees and raining. Happily, it was 62 degrees and overcast...but not raining! We got 2 dozen Top Pot doughnuts along with some coffee, sausages, fruit and orange juice. Below are a few highlights from the celebration.

Hadden hugs Clara while Ramona (with the tats) hits the Top Pot

Hadden rides on the spinny thing

Clara LOVES tending to baby Madeline

Hadden and Cole on the teeter-totter

Clara feeds baby Madeline

Emily and Clara on the jungle gym

Leslie, Cole and Madeline are here
Auntie Leslie and cousins Cole and Madeline are in town for 6 weeks. Or, you could say the in-laws are here. They are staying with Nona but we have had mucho fun visiting on a number of occasions. Hadden and Cole run around nonstop and Clara is obsessed with baby Madeline. She wasn't sure she wanted to go to Bainbridge Island for the 4th of July parade but she definitely wanted to go there to see baby Madeline.

4th of July Parade
We went to see the local Bainbridge Island 4th of July parade through Winslow the other day. A great little parade - reminded me a lot of the Kailua 4th of July parades when I was growing up. We had front row seats because Nona put out chairs on the street at 9am to reserve the best seats out front of her condo complex. There were a bunch of fire trucks and many of the local businesses and non-profits. LOTS of these organizations had candy they were throwing out. I thought Hadden would be all over free candy thrown his way but he was content to stay in his chair and watch the candy hit the deck...and let us clean it up later on. There was enough candy that some parade watchers were throwing it at others (in fun) and there was still candy on the road after the parade was over. Needless to say, although Hadden didn't fervently collect it he certainly hoarded the booty after it was all over. He and Cole split the cache with bubble gum,, half-eaten lollipops and melted tootsie rolls going in the trash. A good time was had by all. It was about 80F that day and my family was sitting in the sun. All 3 of them wilted after about 30 minutes - I have got to get everyone to Hawaii again.

Status Update

• Clara is now 2 years old. She often says her own name now, which is relatively new. It's "Cawa" with a long first "a". 
• Clara is now peeing on the potty! Not every time but often. Hooray!
• Hadden is still totally into Karate. He listens very intently in class - he's in the Kinder Karate zone. 
• Hadden can count well into the 30s without error now. 
• Hadden is now dabbling in Italian since Leslie/Cole/Madeline got him an Italian kids book. 

TTFN,

Steve