Elsa's First Day of Kindergarten

Yesterday was Elsa's first day of Kindergarten.

We got up early and scooted over to Addison Elementary School, which is 3 blocks from our house.

Once we were at school, Elsa checked out the area near her classroom and started meeting the other kids.

Then at 8:15 she entered Room 1 and met teacher Karen.

At the end of the day, Elsa came home with a Certificate of Excellence for completing her first day.

We are off to a good start!

Camp Blue 2015!

Another year, another Lair of the Bear!  

 We returned to the Lair for one of our best years ever up at Camp Blue.

On Sunday night we took the family out on the sunset hike.  Arne and I did this hike pre-kids.  It is not much of an actual hike, but a great time to hang out with friends and family in the wilderness.

On Monday we headed up to Pinecrest Lake with Julia and her family for a paddle boating adventure. It was so much fun to jump and play in the lake.

Arne and I had fun playing volleyball.  I also enjoyed a little bit of softball.  In the staff game I hit a walk off homer to win the game.

We had our annual tie-dye fun.  This year Elsa decided on a theme of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, with some pink.  She designed the tie-dyes for the family and then once they were done, called them fireworks on the shirts.

Every day we had great pool time with the kids.  It was so much fun to watch how independent Elsa has become in the pool and also how much Liam enjoyed jumping into the pool.

One night was Disco Bingo.

Another night my Mom watched a sleeping Liam, so we could take Elsa out to a movie under the stars at Pinecrest Lake.  The next day we headed off on a creek walk.

Mackenzie continues to be Elsa's best buddy at the Lair.  It was so much fun to watch the girls go off by themselves and play games together.  Liam started to join in the fun as well. It was so sweet when Mackenzie asked to play the game family, where she is a sister to Elsa and Liam.

After a great week in the Kub Koral (KK) the 5 year olds parade in the dining hall, with both Liam and Elsa participating.  It was fun to see them playing together.

It was so nice to see old friends and enjoy time together.

It was also great to see all the wonderful staff shows at night.  Elsa and Liam were great in the KK Talent show and the Friday night show was a lot of fun to watch.

Arne has a great picture gallery of the Lair trip found here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskhv69KP

Elsa is 5!

We are so excited to now have a 5 year old!  She is 44 inches tall and 41.5 pounds of wonderful girl.

For her 5th birthday, Elsa had plans.  She started making these months ago and dictated to me a list to write down.  She wanted a My Little Pony party at her house, not the park.  She wanted to decorate the house, have games and activities, glitter tattoos, a treasure hunt, and a piñata.  Her drink choices were lemon, lime and tangerine, and her cake was also to be those flavors.  It was a tall order, but we did what we could.

The night before she turned 5, we made the cake.  Now Elsa does not like chocolate, but she does like colors, so the cake was 4 layers of color, blue, pink, green and yellow.  Elsa also does not like frosting, so the cake had very little frosting, and most of the frosting was used to create a picture of her.

The day of the party dawned, and I mean dawned, the kids were up at 5:45, excited for Elsa turning 5.  We finished decorating the house, put out the snacks and put out the "stations" - tiara making, My Little Pony playdoh, glitter tattoos, box decorating, and the sandbox with toys.  Daddy hung up the piñata.

She was ready for everyone to arrive, and at 10:30 her friends from school, the neighborhood and my friends starting showing up.  We had 17 little friends, lots of parents and the grandparents.

Elsa loved showing everyone her home, playing around, getting her glitter tattoos, and receiving presents.

At 11:45, we gathered all the kids for the Treasure Hunt.  They had to go to the Sandy Box, Look in the Giant Cake for the bags, stop by the Table to put their names on the bags, then along the HopScotch path find the Stick, then find the parent with the special Key for the Gate, avoid the Pool of Doom, to get to the Rainbow Piñata!

Once at the Piñata it was time to break it open, and after everyone had a chance to try, we tore it open and it rained down candy and toys!

Then it was time for Elsa's amazing cake.  It was big and beautiful and she and many of the little friends loved it.

We said goodbye to her friends and the rest of my family (Aunt Jan, Aunt Sherry, Auntie Amanda, Carter, Cousin Matt and Warren) came over for the After Party.  It was nice to hang out, grill some hot dogs and burgers, and just celebrate Elsa and family.

Elsa had a great day and so did we.  It was nice hearing from one of the parents "Elsa is a wonderful girl, she is caring, gentle and very smart."  We are lucky to have such a great daughter.  Next adventure for her - Kindergarten!