Fall update

We took in a Twins game with fousin (favorite cousin) Hazel. Claire ran into her friend Lexi at the Science Museum. Holly introduced Claire to Underdog and he was a big hit. So Pete made a costume and Claire has been running around the house saving her stuffed animals from danger. What a hoot.

Look out Olympics

Claire will be starting gymnastics on 9/11 for the school year. She is very excited as she will be taking this will her good friend Alyssa.

Busy Summer

Claire has had a very busy summer.
- many trips to beaches
- safari camp at Como Zoo
- birthday parties
- a puppet show in a park with friends
- a day at Mall of America (best photo ever of Claire in a car)
- tennis lessons with Hazel
- boating with Grandma and Papa
- kindergarten testing (rocked)

Whew! And we're about to start two week-long vacations.

Long Overdue Post

Claire's class took a trip to Hugo Animal Farm. They saw a lot of animals, took a hay ride, ate lunch, jumped in a hay loft and pet a few of the cute animals. They rode school buses to and from the farm too (big hit).

 Here is Claire with her preschool teacher, Ms. Susan, showing off her graduation certificate.

 We went to the Minnesota Zoo to see the dinosaur exhibit. Claire was scared of the roaring beasts at first, but she got over the noise in a hurry. It was a rainy day, but that didn't stop us from going through the tour twice.

 To continue with Claire's dinosaur obsession, this is Claire's birthday cake.

Claire had been begging for a pinata for a year and we kept telling her she had to wait until her birthday. Of course, it had to be a dinosaur. Better yet - a T-rex!

 A shot with all the Pichners and Dufrenes at the double party. Claire and Ryan share the same birthday.

 Claire took her first plane ride and she was very excited. She was a little anxious, but didn't get too scared. We flew into San Jose.

 Our first stop on vacation was to the beach in San Fransisco. Running from big waves in the soft sand was a huge hit after a long plane ride. We stayed at Pat and Trudy's house the first night.

 Then we drove to Yosemite park. We couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to splash in this beautiful river on the way in. It was another nice break after a long car ride.

 This was one of three short hikes to various waterfalls. Claire was a trooper and walked much of the time. Claire also attended her first wedding. She didn't know what to think of the whole ceremony (Jewish wedding), but she really like the dancing afterwards.

This was a long hike, but it was worth it to see the giant Sequoias. Claire was impressed. She's still talking about and drawing pictures of the trip.

New haircut

Before and after

Play date pals

This group has been getting together since they were babes. They met at their first ECFE class and have continued getting together ever since, even after the group moved onto different preschool programs and families moved to different parts of the NE metro.

I truly hope they can stay connected as they enter different schools. At least the girls will all be in the same school district (even if they are at different elementary schools). It will be interesting to see how things work when they get to junior high (which is a long ways off).

As someone who is still friends with two of her classmates from preschool I firmly believe in the power of long-lasting friendships!

Happy May Day!

Baskets for our neighbors!