Very quick recap of our trip to Auntie Dorothy's...

fun in the backyard

Rotary park

hopscotch

more chalk fun

showin' off his ink

new friend at the zoo

Clara, Leo and I spent 10 days in Auntie Dorothy's company. It was a great vacation; we were very relaxed but still managed to keep busy. We hit library story time twice, borrowed lots of books and movies while we were there, visited the Pickering Museum (a small scale pioneer village) and did a craft and game time there, we swam at the municipal indoor pool, played at two local parks, ran around the splash park, went to the Bowmanville zoo, went to the neighbors 8th birthday party complete with fireworks int he rain, and visited with D's friends. Yup, we kept plenty busy :) There was also time to watch Treehouse, make tents in every room in the house, rummage through D's crafting stores, sew, play computer games, cook and more!

If you ask Clara and Leo what the highlight of the trip was, they are liable to say the sugary cereal I let them pick out on the first day of the trip. I'd been putting them off for months, every time we'd go down the cereal aisle Clara asks for crappy cereals and every time I tell her she'll get some on vacation... well it happened and Clara and Leo chose the most sugary, awful, junk there was to buy... Chocolate Lucky charms! They were in heaven LOL

The cat party stats:

• 9 kids
• 6 adults (Karen was specifically invited by Clara B herself)
• 1 craft
• 3 games
• 2 cakes (well, sorta)
• Lots of giggles and smiles

Kitty cake by me

We sang in English, I realized later it would have made more sense to sing in French considering the demographic of our attendees LOL

Les cadeaux!!!

I've created a monster... Clara was very into our theme and into the party planning. She wrote this up about a week before the party!

Here is my 6 year-old. How will I ever get used to saying that??? Her birthday was certainly one to go down in the history books. There were some very clear highs and one low. These pictures show the good times...

Awake, dressed, fed and waiting for her birthday presents.

Admiring her Polly Pocket set.

I never did reach out the camera again after our morning photo shoot. That my friends, is the sign of a busy day :) I wanted to spend Clara's birthday doing something she would enjoy so we decided on the wading pool (she would have preferred a full sized pool but I knew Jayne and Moiya were planning on a get together at Parc Jeanne Mance so I steered us in that direction). To sweeten the deal I suggested we take our first bike ride as a threesome. This went great... on the way to the park.

We had a lovely communal picnic lunch, and spent some time splashing about in the wading pool. Then we got ready to bike back home. With Jayne and Max waving us off Clara head down the path that crosses the middle of Parc Jeanne Mance. This nice, wide, smooth path is a bit deceiving. It is also on a pretty steady decline. As we picked up speed (I was riding behind Clara) I saw her start to waver, then wobble then..... OUCH ouch ouch ouch. it was awful. she went flying off her bike and landed with a wail right in front of 3 old Portuguese men. We all rushed to her in a flurry of panic and I picked her up. Jayne and Max came running down the path and there was a whole lot of concerned glances passed between us grown ups. Of course, all that was coming out of my mouth were reassurances "it's okay sweetie, you're all right, I've got you, etc." In the end my six year-old celebrated her birthday with two very skinned knees (she'll have the scars to prove it) and some road rash on the palms of her hands. We went back to Jayne's house where we patched up my brave girl and ended up spending the remainder of the afternoon playing.

Since it was her birthday and there was a big 'ole lemon-marscapone cake waiting for her at home, Clara invited Jayne and Max to come home with us for dinner. On the way we met up with Yannick, Eva, Lea, and Naomie and invited them all over for cake. It was a lovely end to a special day.

Sunday in Bromont

hanging out in the tree house

chef Ann Marie preparing her gourmet meal in celebration of Papa T's birthday

The final product

happy customers

in the backseat on the way home after a full day