Happy Birthday Jia!

Our sweet girl turned six on the 11th. SIX! We spent this past week with my family at a cabin in northwoods Wisconsin, and visited the town of Hayward for her birthday celebration. It was a HUGE day.

We started off by opening presents. Jia modeled some of them:


New dress and sparkly pink shoes:

We then all went go-carting. It was the biggest hit of the trip for her! Everyone loved it.




After, we visited a rock shop where the girls got a geode to split, and then played at a park for lunch:

We later selected sweets at a humongous candy store:

The Lumberjack Show was after that:



We returned to the cabin for swimming. Then, Jia relaxed reading a book from her new Ramona set:

For dessert, Jia chose key lime bars.

It was a big day for a little girl (who is getting less little by the minute), and she enjoyed every second of it.

Jia, you are creative, kind, silly, cuddly and smart as a whip. You have boundless curiosity! You are beautiful inside and out, and we love you so much!

Sewing Week

Jia, especially, could not wait for sewing week. It was a hit!

We started off the week with these kits:

Stuffing her Snoopy:


Proud of herself for threading the needle!

Sewing him up:


Done!
Stuffing her Woodstock:

Done!

Time for needlepoint!

Getting help from their wonderful sitter, Grace:

More needlepoint with Great Grandma Marguerite:



Jia hand-sewed this dress for her bear - proud of her!

Then we sewed some pillowcase dresses!



My grand ideas also included sewing matching dresses with ruffles for the girls, and making fancy dresses for them out of my old bridesmaid dresses. We ran out of time! Nevertheless, we had a great week!

Camp!

Jia attended Camp Kici Yapi again this year. Willa attended Science Camp the same week during the mornings.

To prepare for camp, we made some Campfire Cupcakes the weekend prior:

We took a bunch of cupcakes to an outdoor movie night and camp-out that some friends hosted. Their daughters attended Camp Kici Yapi and Science Camp too.

The movie we watched was Monsters, Inc. - a good choice.

We took some cupcakes to a fun dinner at our friends' house as well. Their daughter also attended camp with Jia.

Willa's camp was terrific. They focused on learning about the earth, sun, animals, etc. She loved it! She also tried to get on the bus with Jia every day. She can't wait until she is old enough to go next year!

The activities at Jia's camp included: canoeing, climbing a rock wall, swimming, tie-dying, campfires, arts and crafts, fort building, etc. To say that she loved camp is a huge understatement. She adored everything about it. She said her two favorite things were the giant slide and archery! It was especially fun this year because she attended camp with six of her friends. Everyday she came home exhilarated and exhausted.

Speaking of exhausted, today was her last day and she fell asleep on the long bus ride home. When it was her stop, she woke up, walked up a few steps and then crawled into another seat and fell asleep again!

Waiting to board the bus on the first (steamy) day of camp with some of her good buds.

Crammed into the seat and ready to go!

Lots of face painting:


Monkeys at the bus stop (the bottom monkey is Willa):


An ice cream treat after a great week!

We love camp!

Oceans Week

We are obviously quite landlocked, so I had to laugh when the girls suggested Oceans for our theme for the week. We had help though from some very thoughtful friends from Florida! Diane, Maggie and Molly brought the girls sand from the beach, ocean-themed bracelets and ocean coloring books! It was the perfect way to start our Oceans week!

We visited the new penguin exhibit at the zoo.


And the ocean area there:


We later visited the Minnesota Sea Life Aquarium.




There was lots of looking upward:

At sights like this:

and this!

We also made our own little aquariums.




Anchors aweigh!