Family Hike

We have several nature reserves close by and we try to go on hikes there every so often. It's nice to feel like you're "away from it all" for a little while! Claire is now old enough to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. There is a lot to see and do!

Family shots!

Claire loves her Papa!

This tree was humongous. I was surprised Claire sat down long enough for me to get a couple pictures!!!

I think the favorite activity for Claire was walking across the bridges!

Park Fun!

One of our favorite family activities is going to the park. We have some really nice parks in our area. Both the girls have a great time on our park adventures!!

Claire has recently ventured away from just swinging to going down the slides. Now we can't get her off the slides!!

Anna had fun in this spinning thing!

LOVED the swing... we got some of the biggest Anna smiles I've seen!!

My girls swinging together!

This huge slide is near Grammy & Papa's house and they've taken Claire here several times! I can't believe how much she likes going down it!

Happy girl!!!

Berry Picking

Grammy & Papa took Claire berry picking last week. If you know Claire, you know she gobbles up the berries! It's like she can't get enough. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries... she loves them all! So when they took her berry picking I knew she would really enjoy herself! I'm pretty sure she ate more berries than she brought home. Grammy read her the book Blueberries for Sal after they went to pick berries (an adorable book for those of you that haven't read it!!). These pictures made us laugh when we saw them. Ben & I both said "Yep, that's our Claire" (referring to the picture with berries all over her face!!!). So funny!!!

Claire, sweetie, this is "berry picking", not "berry EATING". Did anyone explain this to her?

This is my favorite picture and pretty much speaks for itself...

Hmmmm... which berry looks the juiciest??

This one looks pretty good!

Yep... that was delicious!

She was so proud of herself carrying her own little pail for berries! Is she trying to hide while she sneaks another berry?

Papa and Claire trying to get only the best!

Time to go home!

(Where is her pail??? I don't think she actually put any in the pail!)

Claire & Anna

Just a couple pictures of Claire & Anna. Everyday I witness a deeper bond between my girls. As a mother, I think it's one of the most rewarding parts of being a parent!!

This water toys was one of the first things they both played with together, at the same time. They'd both hit it and squeal. It was so sweet!

Playing on our swing set!

Just relaxing on the couch together!

I don't match their clothes all the time, but every once in a while it's fun to put them in the same clothes!! This set is one of my favorites!!

Now that Anna is mobile and cruising, they play together so much more. Claire is actually really good at sharing with her sister! It's so sweet to watch their interactions!!

Newport Aquarium

Grammy has been wanting to take Claire to Newport Aquarium for months and we finally went on Friday! We had such a fun time. I wasn't sure if Claire would appreciate all the amazing sea creatures, but she was very interested and is still talking about everything we saw. We were able to see a variety of different sharks and fish, penguins, birds, eel, snakes, frogs, huge sea turtles, sting ray and much more. It was quite a learning experience for Claire and actually Anna, too. I was surprised at how aware Anna was of the animals! It was so cute!! She is very alert and interested in her surroundings! We all had a great time!!

It looks like Ben & Anna are in the tank with the shark!!

Group shot!

Mamma & her girls in the mouth of a shark! Wow... that was one large shark!

Our family

I couldn't believe Claire was so willing to touch different fish. Here she is touching a star fish. She also touched a small shark!! This is the same child that has a breakdown if a lady bug gets too close to her... go figure?!?!

Grammy & Papa with their sweet girls!

Anna watched this turtle for some time! She's going to be an animal lover like the rest of her family!

One of the most interactive parts of our visit was going into the aviary to feed the birds! Claire was hesitant at first, but quickly warmed up to the very friendly birds!

You can see Anna watching Daddy feed the bird.

Claire got up close & personal with this little birdie!

Claire really enjoyed looking at all the fish!

Holding a penguin egg, which she did not want to give back!

Cutie Patootie!

Afterward, we went to a candy store and had lunch at a restaurant on the Newport Levy. We ate outside because it was such an usually cool and beautiful day!

Grammy, Papa and Claire with the Ohio River as a backdrop!

Cute Anna Pics!

I took some outdoor pictures of Anna in the little outfit she was modeling! They were too cute not to share!

It takes Anna a second to get use to the grass! Look at that face!

In the next several pictures Anna shows off her crawling prowess!

Always exploring!