Summer Fun

Summer around here is filled with lots and lots of sunshine and water. Claire is surely a fun in the sun kinda girl.

We went camping again right around our family day.  Can you believe that it's been three years since our little angel was placed into our arms.  It still brings tears to my eyes when I think about the journey to bring her home.  She did great this year, but we were better prepared.  I think we bought out the entire section of bug spray in the store.  Claire also jumped from the platform at the springs all by herself for the first time.  She knows how to swim now, but we told her that in the springs she has to wear some type of floatie b/c it's so deep.  She listened and had both her floaties and a doughnut around her waist...it was too precious.

We were also able to meet in person a family we met on the net.  Their little girl was also adopted from the same orphanage.  The girls hit it off and played and played despite the rain.  Really it rained and rained...and rained...but it didn't stop these beauties from sporting the barbie jeep and then "washing" it with sand.  Good times...Good times

Summers still not over and in Florida we have many more months...but the next big trip is...wait for it...
We're going to brave D*i*sney for her fourth birthday...that's going to be an adventure, especially since she tells us everyday "I three....when I turn four...we going to D*i*sney world..and see the princess castle, and Mic*key, and G*oofy, and they gonna be big, and we ride on D*umbo...and..and "  Oh she's gonna have a ball.

It's been a long long time

It's been such a long time, but the time just seems to be flying by.  Claire is growing like a weed and it's amazing.  She is a spirited young girl that is always on the go.  We never rest, but it's a good kind of exhaustion.  These past months have brought much growth in her development, skills, and speech. At one point I felt that she was a little behind in her speech, but she has definitely caught up. She NEVER shuts up now.  And she's able to tell us stories about her day and has a great imagination. 

She takes gymnastics and has been for a while.  She had her first Ribbon day which is like a recital.  She was a little nervous at first as there were a lot of people there to watch.  I think Claire had the most family members there to watch her, Grandparents, Aunt, cousins... but she did great and nailed several of her moves.

She was so proud to get her own little trophy and ribbons.  Her Daddy got her her first bouquet of flowers and she was particularly proud of those, telling us "Daddy give me my own flowers...they for me".  Then we all went out to eat in celebration.  So proud of her.

We recently got a small above ground pool in our backyard.  Being a Peds nurse I was a little weary about her inability to swim yet. I see things at work that are so preventable.  So aside from the other safety measures...like taking the ladder out when we're not using it and extra high locks on the exit doors for the house.. we pushed her to learn to swim without any assistive devices like floaties or noodles.  Our little angel learned to swim in one week(now we have had her in the water a lot consistently since bringing her home).  So on Father's day after everyone left our house, she took a huge breath and swam the length of our pool.  Pictures will follow..Like I said...growing by leaps and bounds