Happy Birthday, Karsten - part two

To celebrate Karsten's big birthday, we went to Blue Harbor Resort with Aubriella and family. We had a blast!!!

The kids even drank "beer" (apple cider).

Natalie picked out Daddy's cake - I think she chose the perfect one!

The kids had such a blast...

I wonder if Karsten made a wish...

Karsten let each kid have a "tool" from the cake.

Karsten seemed to enjoy the day. It's always good to be surrounded by friends and family. 

Of course, we spent a lot of time in the waterpark:

Natalie is such a good swimmer.

She also loved the waterslides. She did them both on her own, and with Karsten. One time, after the two of them came down the slide, I was in the right spot at the right time with the camera:

That's Natalie behind that innertube - tipping it over...

You did it - no, you did it...

It's all good - so many giggles!

Snowy Christmas

This year, we definitely had a white Christmas. On Christmas Eve day, Natalie and I went outside to play:

Snow angel.

Get ready...

Get set...

Go!

And get ready for the next round!

Natalie had a whole story about the snow:

Camping in the back yard

We had so much fun camping this year that we decided to do it again - in our back yard! Labor Day weekend was the perfect time for sleeping outside in the tents. But first, we had a lot of fun:

We had water balloons for the kids - a definite hit.

The pool was also lots of fun.

But you really can't go wrong with water balloons!

The girls went exploring. Best friends, off on their own adventure.

Brayden helped Karsten build a fire in the firepit.

The girls went digging for stones in a box with stones, sand, and water. They spent a lot of time on that!

The next morning, the kids were running around again, making us grown-ups tired just from looking at them...

The kids thought it was loads of fun to get Aubriella's Mom wet with water from the pool...

But I think she got her revenge!

Last day of camping - going home

On the last day of camping, we had to pack up the cars again. This gave the girls another chance to do some gymnastics outside while us grown-ups were packing and cleaning inside:

The balance beam!

Brayden loved stealing Karsten's cap.

Of course, we had to have our traditional picture with all three kids. It only took about thirty pictures to get one where they were all looking at the camera and looking reasonably happy:

Cheese!

After checking out, we stopped by the Bears cottage again. We had some arwork to drop off:

Mail for the Bears.

Then we went back to the mini golf course:

Hole in one many, many tries.

On the way home, we stopped for lunch at a gas station / Subway. After a healthier lunch, it was time for a dessert for Natalie:

That's a big donut - with multi-colored sprinkles, of course.

When we got home, Natalie was happy to clean up a bunch of rocks while I unpacked. I think the idea for this came from the rocks we had been looking at at the campground:

So focussed...

Ready for drying and organizing.

Camping day three - afternoon and evening

After lunch, Brayden needed a little quiet time for a nap, so the girls and I went on a picture walk:

Ready, set - picture time!

First, we walked down by the water. The girls got a lot of photos.

They were also very curious about the water. First they dipped their toes in...

... then their hands.

There was also a great lookout spot. Of course, the funnest part was to run up and down the bridge to the platform!

Of course, we also had to get a picture with the big Yogi Bear statue - the girls sure know how to ham it up!

We ended up with some time at a playground. Natalie's favorite activity was the monkey bars - no surprise there!

In the evening, we brought out some glow in the dark bubbles. We were way too busy playing with them and having fun to take pictures - but we did get this one afterwards.

 I guess Natalie spilled a little of the glow in the dark bubble solution on her dress.

Camping day three - morning

On day three, we went on the hayride in the morning. Actually, we had to wait for a little while first - which was a great opportunity for pictures. Here's one of my favorites:

Just hanging out...

We also played on the playground for a while. The slide is always fun.

After the hayride, it was time to raise the flag and visit the Bear's cottage. Natalie got the honor of holding one of the flags:

Such a big girl - so responsible!

We got to go inside the bears cottage and meet the bears:

Natalie and Aubriella posing for a picture with Cindy Bear.

Of course, Natalie wanted to explore some more - so she climbed up to take a look at the top bunk.

Back at the cabin, we had time for a little playtime. Can you tell that it was right around the time of the Olympics, and we'd been watching a lot of gymnastics on tv?

Then it was time for the pool again. The girl can swim! On her own! And once she started, she wasn't going to stop for a long, long, time...

... In fact, the only thing that could make her stop swimming was the idea of jumping into the water with Daddy - again and again and again...

But I figured I'd finish this post with one of the cutest videos ever. Brayden can be such a charmer... 

Camping day two - evening

In the evening, we hung out at the cabin, just chillin'...

The girls worked on some art projects.

They also worked on each other's hair. I can just imagine them as teenagers, sitting just like this and still doing each other's hair...

Brayden got a hold of Karsten's cap, and he was having fun wearing it and hiding behind it while hanging out at the fire.