Hannah's 4th Birthday Party

Hannah's birthday is this Saturday and since this weekend is a long weekend we had her party a week early. There was a big thunderstorm and it poured rain the night before her party... I was stressed that the weather would be bad and I would end up with 20 kids plus parents inside my house! Sunday morning it was cloudy and dark out... Hannah was upset and crying because she was worried that the kids wouldn't be able to swim in her pool. Last year it rained on the day of Hannah's birthday party and the kids didn't get to go in the pool so Hannah was very upset that it might happen again.

By the afternoon the sun was shining and it was HOT :-) We had a BBQ and all the kids were swimming in the pool all afternoon.

Hannah chose 'Madagascar' for her party theme this year and I borrowed a big 'African Safari' mural from the church which we hung up on the fence in the yard. The kids also had fun smacking the Madagascar pinata and then gathering up all the candy that fell out of it :-)

Tanya made Hannah's Madagascar themed birthday cake and it turned out great :-) Thanks again for making it Tanya! You know you have an annual cake making job now right?!?!

Hannah received lots of great gifts from family and friends. She has spent the last couple days rummaging through all her loot. Hannah had even been letting Victoria play with some of her new toys so we are making a bit of improvement in the sharing department :-)

Buggy got Victoria a little present so she had something to open too. A new raincoat and boots for the fall. Victoria loved them and she was walking around in her bathing suit with her boots on! She wants to wear the boots every day now... it is like the helmet all over again!

We are in the middle of a heat wave this week... temperatures in the mid 30's every day! The kids have been swimming in our pool lots to keep cool and last night I took them to the local outdoor pool and we all went swimming. Hannah swam the entire width of the pool on her back!!! She was so proud of herself and I was proud of her too. She has really been working hard at her back glides since her last set of lessons when that was what held her back from passing to the next level.

Victoria was wearing her water wings and she was really swimming around well too... she was jumping into the pool without anyone having to catch her and then swimming to the side of the pool to climb back out and do it again!

I recruited my neighbour to come with us to the outdoor pool because Dave is working afternoons right now and I need an extra adult in the water to help me with the kids. Hannah wants to go back again tonight and I told her we can't go unless we have another person to come with us... she is busy now trying to think of who she can convince to come with her!

For Hannah's real birthday on Saturday my parents are going to come over and we are all going to go out for dinner and then go to see the RCMP Musical Ride afterwards. I am looking forward to it... I remember seeing the RCMP Musical Ride in Fort McLeod, AB when I was about Hannah's age :-)

Thanks again to everyone for all the wonderful gifts... Hannah is one spoiled little girl!

Here's a recap of our 'vacation at home'...

Monday the weather was cloudy and looking like it might rain so we took the kids bowling. Hannah did quite well and was able to bowl without any help. She scored a 68 and all of her balls made it to the end of the lane. Victoria walked up to the line and her first ball overhand like a baseball! We had to show her how to roll the ball and she got the hang of it after a few turns.

Tuesday we all went to Playland and Kara came with us. The kids really liked having Kara there and she ended up joining us on all of our day trips for the rest of the week :-) Everyone rode lots of rides all day long... Victoria is turning into a little dare devil just like Hannah. Both girls loved the kiddie roller coaster... Hannah was a bit upset that she couldn't go on some of the bigger rides. She really wanted to go on the pirate ship but she still isn't tall enough. The nice thing about having an extra adult around was that Dave, Kara and I could ride the big rides and trade off watching the kids :-)

A friend of Dave's from his work gave us some free passes for Splashdown Park so on Wednesday we went to the water slides... it was nice and warm which was good since the water was COLD! Hannah and Victoria were both able to go on all of the water slides except the tube slides since they weren't big enough for those ones. Both girls rode the kiddie slides on their own and went on the bigger slides on somebody's lap. My camera battery died after I took 2 pictures so this is all I have from Splashdown...

Thursday we left early in the morning and drove down to Seattle to go to the Woodland Park Zoo. We have been to a lot of zoos but we hadn't been to that one yet... it was really good! There were lots of animals that we don't have at the zoo here and the trails and paths were nice and shady with trees and bushes. It was a hot day so the shade really helped keep us a bit cooler. Hannah walked the whole zoo which was about 12km in total! We spent 7 hours walking around and she was pretty exhausted when we left! Both of the girls chose stuffed animals and outfits for them from the gift shop. Hannah's is a Crocodile named 'Princess Peach Pea' and Victoria's is a lion named 'Hot Guy'... they love them :-)

Yesterday we went to a BBQ and then visited with Uncle Les who was here for the weekend. Always nice to get a chance to see him when he is out here even if it is a quick visit :-)

Hannah has been practising her swimming. Here is a little video of her today out in the pool...

This Sunday is Hannah's birthday party... she is VERY excited about it. I have lots to do this week to get ready for her big day :-)

Busy Weekend... and Upcoming Week!

We took the kids to Second Beach in Stanley Park yesterday and we all had a really fun day :-) We spent 2 hours swimming in the outdoor pool, had lunch and then spent another 2 hours playing on the beach.

Dave and the kids made sand castles... the kids loved kicking them over. Then they splashed around out in the ocean. I preferred to stay on the sandy part of the beach... no yucky ocean water for me! Although I did walk in the ocean up to my ankles before I headed back to the blanket... I prefer chlorinated water which is why Second Beach was so great because there is an outdoor pool (chlorinated!), the beach and the ocean all in one place.

Today we wet to the Vancouver Canadians baseball game with Kathleen, Ed, Brooklynn and Baby Kamryn. Another fun day! The kids all got hats and we had real 'foot long' hot dogs for lunch... Nat Bailey Stadium still has foot long hot dogs :-)

Victoria downed her Root Beer float in record time... I couldn't believe it! She must have had a brain freeze afterwards.

After the game the kids all got a chance to run the bases out on the field and then Hannah and Brooklynn got one of the players to sign their hats.

Dave has this week off work and we have lots of fun things planned... Playland, Waterslides, Seattle Zoo and a few other fun things :-) Plus it is our 7th wedding anniversary tomorrow and we are going out to dinner and to a movie... without the kids which is always a treat!